More has emerged regarding those who left TNA at the end of last year.
In December, it was revealed that Trent Seven, Jade Chung and KUSHIDA were among those set to leave TNA when their contracts expired at the end of 2024, with Rhino also announcing that he’d parted ways with the company following his match with Ryan Nemeth. Now, more has come out regarding what led to the departures and how TNA viewed their contracts.
Per Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, it’s believed TNA thought that those who left the company at the turn of the year were overpaid by deals given by Scott D’Amore, with the company offering less pay or a change in structure in order to renewal the contracts.
“From the TNA side regarding the cost-cutting, those who left and were offered new deals with less pay or to be switched to per-event from guaranteed deals were from their standpoint people “overpaid” in deals that Scott D’Amore had signed. Those deals with Rhino, PCO, Trent Seven, Kushida and Jade Chung who departed had their contracts expire at the end of the year and were offered renewals at less money. This was a similar situation with Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin, who were close to D’Amore. D’Amore had also supposedly promised certain things to talent that once he was gone, the new management didn’t go for.”
This comes just weeks after PCO attempted to destroy the TNA Digital Media Championship at GCW’s January 19 show following his own contract disputes with TNA’s new management. The report notes that PCO is believed to have been promised a world championship win at one point, either by D’Amore or after his departure, which caused further frustration when the company continued to negotiate his contract downward.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on the recent TNA departures as soon as we hear more.
