That Time Jim Cornette Prevented Seth Rollins From Coming To TNA In 2010

Despite this being a trope that every professional wrestling company has incorporated over the years, TNA (now Impact Wrestling) was well known for signing up almost every former WWF/E star that the promotion has either let go or had a problem with.

This would led to fans and journalists alike feeling divided because on the one hand you don't want to be a company who scoops up WWE's sloppy seconds and booking them better at they expense of your homegrown talent; On the other, this has also led to many of those ex WWE wrestlers finding fame and success they never would have found in Vince McMahon's company.

There have also been current WWE superstars who almost became a part on TNA Roster and one such name is multi time world champion and former Money In The Bank winner, Seth Rollins.  

Seth Rollins 

Of course many of you reading this are familiar with Seth Rollins due to his many years within the WWE as a member of The Shield, former Money in the Bank winner, multiple time world champion and the significant other to fellow WWE superstar Becky Lynch.

Many may also be aware of Rollins' work outside of the WWE were he competed from 2005-09 under the name of Tyler Black; Rollins/Black's time pre WWE saw him working in promotions like the NWA, Full Impact Pro and Pro Wrestling Guerilla where became a tag team and world champion.

Plus, he even wrestled in a tag team match for TNA back in 2006 in a losing effort against Homicide and Hernandez.

Black would eventually take his career to another level when he joined Ring Of Honor in 2007, where he wrestled with current All Elite Wrestling star, Jack Evans in a dark match on PPV but that wasn't his first appearance for ROH.

Earlier on that same pay per view, Tyler Black, Jimmy Jacobs and Necro Butcher would create the faction known as 'Age Of The Fall' after the group attacked The Briscoe Brothers and then immediately hanged one of the Briscoes upside down in the middle of the ring whilst his blood trickled down onto Jimmy Jacobs, who was cutting a promo whilst wearing a white jacket...needless to say this got a lot of people's attention.

Following this, Black's career in ROH saw him and Jimmy Jacobs win the ROH Tag Team Titles two times before later feuding with each other, have a series of matches with Nigel McGuinness and Austin Aries with led to a time limit draw and then later winning the ROH World Championship before losing the belt to Roderick Strong on the way out.

 

Jim Cornette In ROH

James 'Jim' Cornette is a man who needs no introduction as his decades of work within the business has seen him take on a host of jobs both behind and in front of the camera.

Cornette has also appeared or signed with almost all of the major wrestling promotions in the United States like the WWF, WCW, NWA, TNA and ROH while at the same time leaving those promotions in controversial fashion like the time he was let go from TNA Wrestling over a number of issues with one of them being Vince Russo's idea of making Eric Young TNA World Champion.

Soon after his firing from TNA in 2009, Cornette would join with Ring Of Honor were he started out as an executive producer for the company before moving his way up to being head booker and later an onscreen authority figure.

 

During Cornette's time as an authority figure, he would ban wrestlers from using the piledriver and hitting each other with chair shots, he even went as far as to mention that those who did so would be hit with a $5,000 fine. 

He also became minor part in Tyler Black's success in ROH after a previous match between Black and Austin Aries for the ROH World Title ended in a time limit draw, Cornette would announce a rematch between the two men at the company's eight year anniversary which would see Black become Ring Of Honor Champion for 210 days. 

As to be expected, Cornette would be gone from ROH for a number reasons and eventually took a break from professional wrestling as well. 

Coming To TNA?

Okay, so you might be ask how does everything that was previously mentioned have to do with Rollins/Black not getting signed with TNA, well during Black's run in Ring Of Honor he and Cornette had a mutual respect for one another until the day he left ROH.

According to Jim Cornette who has mentioned this before in the past, around 2010 Tyler Black was being offered a contract with TNA Wrestling at the time but the future Seth Rollins reportedly called up Cornette about the contract he was given by company and while Jim doesn't mention into detail what was in the contract, he would mention that the pay he was 'insulting' although Rollins himself would mention that the company gave him a big offer on Edge and Christian's podcast in 2019.

Jim Cornette even suggested to Black to asked Terry Taylor, who was a backstage agent for TNA at the time a series of questions.

So why Did Cornette tell Black to ask questions? Well Cornette believed (and rightfully so) that the WWE would give Tyler Black a tryout but he hadn't heard anything yet, so Cornette suggest to Black to ask Taylor these questions to see if the company really wanted Black onto their roster, but in reality Jim hoped that this would stall enough time for the WWE to give him an opportunity to work them and sure enough Tyler Black signed WWE and the rest as they say is history. 

What Could Have Been?

Considering his one of the biggest stars in the WWE and met his current wife there, you can understandably say the Seth Rollins/ Tyler Black made the right call but, you also have to ask what would have happened if the WWE didn't give Rollins a tryout and he actually signed with TNA Wrestling back in 2010.

Well for starters you could of possibly seen Tyler Black wrestling against names like AJ Styles, Kurt Angle, Mr. Anderson and Abyss which would be considered back then and even today dream matches that Impact could upload on the Impact Plus App or YouTube as content to enjoy. 

Also it's not to farfetched to imagine Tyler Black becoming a stable within the company's X Division as he competes against names like Amazing Red, Jay Lethal, Shannon Moore, Douglas Williams, Brian Kendrick and Frankie Kazarian for the prestigious X Division Championship

On the other hand, considering how the Young Bucks described their time in the company in 2010 and the mishandling of Nigel McGuinness during his run with TNA at the same time, there also is the possibility that Tyler Black would have been another young and talent wrestler who saw his career flounder during the Hulk Hogan/Eric Bischoff era of TNA.

Or maybe he would have been the exception and actually did better than his fellow Ring Of Honor Alumni as Rollins has mentioned in that same Edge and Christian podcast episode in 2019 that Dixie Carter wanted to make Seth Rollins 'The Face of TNA'.

While we may never know for sure but one thing is for certain, if Tyler Black hadn't signed with Vince McMahon's company then the modern landscape and history of the WWE would have looked very different from what we see now.