Multiple TNA talent are reportedly leaving the company.
Earlier this week, Rhino made a social media post indicating that his match with Ryan Nemeth would likely be the final time he will ever wrestle in a TNA ring as the 49-year-old revealed that he and the company had parted ways. This announcement marked the end of Rhino’s second stint with the company, and it seems that it isn’t just ‘The Man Beast’ who is believed to have finished up with TNA.
According to a series of reports from PWInsider, it was first revealed that ring announcer Jade Chung had informed company official of her intention to leave TNA when her contract expires.
“PWInsider.com has confirmed another departure from the company. We are told by several sources close to the company that Jade Chung, who had been the company’s ring announcer, informed company officials in Atlanta over the weekend that she would not be signing a new deal with the company and would be exiting.”
-PWInsider
Then, the departures continued as it was said that Trent Seven had exited TNA.
“British star Trent Seven has exited TNA, PWInsider.com has confirmed with multiple sources.”
-PWInsider
Lastly, it emerged that KUSHIDA had finished with TNA, instead choosing to focus on his New Japan Pro Wrestling commitments moving forward.
“We are told KUSHIDA will be primarily focused on New Japan Pro Wrestling going forward and left TNA on good terms, so the door is open for potential appearances down the line. Contractually, however, KUSHIDA is done.”
-PWInsider
Attempting to shed some light on the situation, Dave Meltzer spoke on Wrestling Observer Radio to reveal that many of TNA’s talent have been asked to take a pay cut. While no specifics were mentioned, it’s believed that this is one of the reasons that Rhino decided to leave the company.
“There may be more coming. One of the thing’s that happened is a lot of the talent were asked to take pay cuts, I don’t know how many. That was among the reasons Rhino left, his last match was on Saturday I believe.”
-Dave Meltzer
Along with those mentioned, Josh Alexander is still expected to leave TNA when his contract expires in February. The situation is certainly one to keep an eye on in the coming months especially with Jordynne Grace’s contract also expiring soon.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on the recent TNA departures as soon as we hear more.
H/T to WrestleTalk for the Wrestling Observer Radio transcription.
