TNA: Joe Hendry on WWE & TNA Working Relationship Can Be Beneficial for Both Companies, Matt Hardy Confirms The Hardys are Free Agents, Mike Santana

Jun 20, 2024

Joe Hendry Comments on TNA Talents Being Treated Exceptionally Well by NXT and WWE & TNA Working Relationship Can Be Beneficial to Both

As noted before, TNA talents Joe Hendry and Frankie Kazarian made surprise appearances at Tuesday’s WWE NXT show. Besides Hendry and Kazarian, TNA Knockouts World Champion Jordynne Grace has also made several appearances in NXT as part of WWE and TNA’s current talent crossover partnership.

A recent episode of the Busted Open Radio podcast featured Henrdy as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Hendry’s thoughts about the current working relationship between WWE and TNA.

“I can speak on behalf of everyone at TNA that we were treated exceptionally well and this is proof that this working relationship between NXT and TNA can be absolutely beneficial for both sides, Including Jordynne as well. We’ve all brought it and demonstrated value and it’s been an amazing thing for all parties involved. Long may it continue. Everyone is winning. The fans are winning. For me to have WWE’s most liked video on Twitter is insane, but I think I can top it.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

Matt Hardy Comments on Jeff Hardy’s Return to TNA & Confirms The Hardys are Still Free Agents

A recent episode of The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy podcast featured co-host Matt Hardy giving his thoughts about his brother Jeff Hardy’s recent return to TNA Wrestling.

“Jeff was still with AEW. I was saying, ‘let me match up with his deal. When his deal ends, I’ll work through that.’ If something works where I can go back to AEW and we can team together, that’s cool and we could do that. I was talking with those guys and we came to two or three different offers, and nothing was quite what I wanted. I was doing all the negotiating for myself and Jeff. I was trying to set myself up for something new when Jeff’s contract ended. I ended up doing Against All Odds. Let me do a program with Moose, we’ll have a killer blowoff match, and I’ll put Moose over.
I said, ‘I’ll come in, we’ll build up an angle, it’ll get me hot. It’ll rebuild equity back with myself’ because myself and Jeff had been devalued for so long, like the last year. ‘Let me build some value for myself and I can put Moose over. It’ll be a win-win.’ That was the plan. As time started going on, Jeff started telling me, ‘No one has reached out to me.’ ‘Are you going to reach out to them?’ The only time they offered Jeff a deal is when they offered me a deal. Jeff didn’t care. Unless they offered him something that he liked, he was good. He wasn’t going to reach out. As Jeff was saying, ‘No one has reached out, my deal might be up.’ I said, ‘I’m enjoying my time in TNA. Jeff isn’t looking to re-sign, no one has reached out, Jeff doesn’t feel like he’s necessarily wanted there.’ Jeff is an interesting cat. He thinks differently. If someone is not trying to reach out to him, ‘Hey, we really want to do this.’ If you’re sitting back or not trying to contact, he goes, ‘Well, they must not want me. I’ll move on.’ I told [TNA], ‘I would love to extend this.’ They said, ‘If Jeff’s deal is coming up, would he be interested in doing this?’ I told Jeff, ‘TNA said whenever your AEW deal is done, they’d be interested in doing something if you’d like to.’ Jeff got back to me, ‘Yeah. When my AEW deal runs out, if they don’t offer me anything, I’d be up for that.”

Hardy also confirmed that The Hardys are currently not under contracts with TNA and are still free agents.

“We’re both free agents. We don’t have any contract. We’re just doing TNA programs right now. We have agreed to work with them for a couple of months and we’re not opposed to extending that. If they wanted to offer something, we would have a conversation with them.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

Mike Santana Comments on Having Conversations with WWE Before Signing with TNA for TNA Return

As noted before, former AEW talent Mike Santana made his official return to TNA Wrestling at this past April’s Rebellion 2024 event in Las Vegas, Nevada.

A recent episode of the WhatCulture Wrestling podcast featured Santana as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Santana’s thoughts about having talks with WWE prior to signing a contract with TNA for his return to the company.

“It was mainly [a feeling out]. There were conversations. It was nothing concrete, just seeing where both of our heads were at and seeing how things go. Every conversation that I had was great.”

Santana also gave his thoughts about just wanting to get his feud with Ortiz over with in AEW so that he could start a new journey for his wrestling career.

“Not my show. It was one of those things…I’m thankful I’ve gotten to a point in my life and my career that, I’d say a couple of years back that would have rattled my brain. So much history (between us), but it’s like, ‘Alright, cool. Let’s get it over with so I can start on my new journey and keep it pushing.’ That’s exactly how I looked at it. We had a good couple of week build up. We had that good match. We let out what we needed to let out, and it was over after that. I wished him the best and for me, it was no hard feelings, no nothing. It was the end of a chapter and the beginning of a new one. That was it for me.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com 1 & 2