Road Dogg Looks Back On Time With TNA, Its X-Division Talent

WWE Hall of Famer "Road Dogg" Brian James spent a number of years in TNA Wrestling, now known as Impact Wrestling. On a recent episode of "Oh... You Didn't Know," James was asked which young star from TNA he thought would be a superstar.

"That AJ Styles and Samoa Joe, they could've been somebody if they stuck with it," James joked. "They were alright. And Sting, still doing his thing, I guess." Joking aside, James believes that TNA was loaded with young, underutilized talent, and nowhere was that more apparent than the company's X-Division.

"To me, it was the X-Division show," James explained. "It gave a lot of those smaller guys who could work really good a platform on television. There's a lot of guys who are still in the game because they're good at it. Christopher Daniels, Dusty Rhodes was there for a minute...everybody came and went through there." 

According to James, the X-Division continued the spirit of WCW's Cruiserweight division, where smaller wrestlers and luchadors got a chance to compete, noting that wrestlers like Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin were able to hone their craft in the days after WCW's purchase as WWE wasn't giving as many chances to the diminutive, athletic wrestlers. Without the initial platform of TNA, James believes a lot of talent wouldn't have been able to make the contributions to the business that they have.

"There were a lot of guys there where they either did become a superstar or they work behind the scenes still at one of the major companies," James explained.

If you use any quotes from this podcast, please credit "Oh... You Didn't Know" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.