When Jordynne Grace walked out into the WWE Performance Center to challenge Roxanne Perez for the NXT Women's Championship at Battleground, it created all sorts of dream matches fans were desperate to see should the two promotions choose to collaborate further.
Could Drew McIntyre win the TNA Title once more and become a two-time TNA World Champion? Or maybe the New Day could finally wrestle for a title outside of the WWE Universe and go against The System or the Rascalz for the TNA Tag Team Titles? Speaking of the Rascalz, could they reunite with Wes Lee once more, finally making the faction whole again for the first time in years?
While plenty of fans will be tuning into Battleground explicitly to see if any more Forbidden Door shenanigans take place, one performer who is actively lobbying for a spot in NXT is none other than Moose, the current TNA World Champion who, according to Jordynne Grace in an interview with Fightful, asked her to put in a good word with the “Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels for him ahead of the big show.
“Moose called me and was like, ‘Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you tell me you were doing this?’ I was like, ‘Moose, you have the biggest mouth out of anyone I know.” Jordynne Grace told Fightful. “That would have gone out five minutes after I told you.’ He was like, ‘You should tell Shawn Michaels that I want to come over.’ Yeah, I’ll go ahead and do that, Moose.”
Whoa, could we see Moose versus Trick Williams in a title versus title match down the line? Or would it make sense to bring someone down from the main roster for such an honor, maybe someone like Bron Breakker, who has a family lineage loaded with TNA memories featuring his uncle, the “Big Papa Pump” himself, Scott Steiner? If HBK and the company want to take things in that direction, it's clear there's plenty of appetite for collaboration on the TNA side of the equation if NXT and WWE come correct.
Dave Meltzer reveals TNA's struggles amid Jordynne Grace collab.
Article Continues BelowSpeaking of the collaboration between TNA and NXT, Dave Meltzer discussed the state of the former promotion on his Wrestling Observer Radio show and let it be known that, while sending Jordynne Grace appears to be a no-risk opportunity for the promotion, it's actually one of the few chances they have to recapture their footing before Anthem further pulls back on their financing.
“They have no marketing team, they have no live events team, they have nothing booked after… the first weekend of April – they have a taping booked in Tampa, but there's nothing after that. What that means? Don't know. In theory WWE is sending them talent for the next pay-per-view in exchange for Jordynne Grace working three dates for them, for WWE. I mean, everyone's kind of waiting, they know something's up, but they don't know exactly what,” Dave Meltzer explained on WOR via WrestleTalk.
“Scott D'Amore was let go, and when that happened, it raised a lot of eyebrows. And D'Amore knew it was coming, tried to buy it, and got turned down. From there, everything we had heard is that Anthem was trying to spend less. So I think the situation was… whatever the losses were, they were more than Anthem was happy with to keep the number one rated show that they have. In recent weeks they haven't even made the Top 150 on Thursday nights, so I don't even know what their ratings are other than number 150 is 0.01 so that tells you that they're either 0.01 or 0.00. It means as far as 18-49 it means 19,000 or less in 18-49 in the whole country. Clearly, very clearly, Anthem is looking to cut back on expenses for this project, for this company, and what that means long-term remains to be seen.”
If TNA is really drawing less than 20,000 fans weekly in the key demo, then this pairing with NXT might truly be the deciding factor in whether they can progress forward or not into the future, as if even 10 percent of HBK's audience tunes in to see someone like Brooks Jenson debut in the Impact Zone at some point in the future, it could double or even triple the promotion's viewership. If that's enough to help get the promotion on track and keep the show solvent heading into the future as they pursue future opportunities, well, belt up any NXT star that comes their way, as it could be the difference between 10 more months of TNA or 10 more years of the promotion.
Dave Meltzer on TNA Wrestling cutting several top executives in recent days:
"They have no marketing team, they have no live events team, they have nothing booked after… the first weekend of April – they have a taping booked in Tampa, but there’s nothing after that.
"What… pic.twitter.com/M90orCwJzg
— WrestleTalk (@WrestleTalk_TV) June 2, 2024