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Elayna Black was one of the hottest free agents on the professional wrestling market when she left WWE in 2025.
Previously known as Cora Jade in NXT, Black hit the independent circuit performing at venues such as Atomic Legacy Wrestling, Black Label Pro and Game Changer Wrestling before taking some time off. Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) was an option for Black and she was very familiar with the company’s programming.
She told Pak Gazette Digital that she grew up watching TNA and became a fan of Jeff Hardy and the female faction known as The Beautiful People.
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Elayna Black enters the ring at Slammiversary 2026. (TNA Wrestling)
“At the time I started watching TNA, Jeff Hardy was in the company,” Black said. “So, I was a big Jeff Hardy fan… First I started watching WWE. At first, that was the only wrestling company I knew. When you’re a kid, you don’t really know anything else. And then, little by little, I discovered TNA and you find out, oh, Jeff Hardy was in WWE, and I was young, so I didn’t know. So, discovering Jeff Hardy was crazy because I was like, I love wearing black nail polish and I was entering my little emo phase at the time. So I loved Jeff Hardy.
“But my all-time favorites were The Beautiful People, specifically when it was the three of them at the time. They were Angelina Love, Velvet Sky and Madison Rayne. They were like my gods. You couldn’t tell me anything. I was going to be The Beautiful People. I was going to be on The Beautiful People. I remember my first phone, like a flip phone, this little pink phone when I was in fifth grade that my parents gave me, The Beautiful People’s theme song was my first ringtone. I sent a TNA email when I was like 12 years trying to convince them to let me be the first youngest member of the Beautiful People. Obviously they never responded, but here I am now and maybe one day they can accompany me to the ring or something.
Black finally became a TNA main roster talent in January.
She told Pak Gazette Digital that she didn’t necessarily want to sign anywhere and was trying to do what was best for her.
“I think for a while I didn’t want to sign anywhere,” he said. “Obviously, I knew I eventually wanted to be somewhere just because that’s what I love to do,” he said. “But I think for a while my mindset was just wanting to prove otherwise. And I was having a little fun on the indies, but life happens, some personal things came up and I felt like I really needed to take a break just for my mental health. I started training wrestling when I was 15. I dropped out of high school to do it.
“The only time I had time off was because of an injury. So it’s been my life forever. And growing up in wrestling is kind of hard, too. So just taking the time for the first time, and now I’m 25, so 10 years old, to just sit back and reflect after losing everything I’d worked for was probably the best thing I could have done. And taking that time, I was just thinking about what would be best for me.”
Black said he was initially hesitant to sign with TNA due to his association with WWE. She had just left WWE and at first thought she wanted to be able to do something on her own without WWE.
Elayna Black tries to pin Indi Hartwell at Slammiversary 2026. (TNA Wrestling)
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But after recalibrating, she said she believed TNA had the best environment for her and gave her an opportunity to thrive.
“At first, I was a little hesitant about TNA just because of the association with WWE. And that’s nothing against WWE. I loved my time there, but that goes back to me saying I wanted to prove myself somewhere else and I wanted to be as far away from WWE as possible at that time just to prove who I was without them because I was there for so many years or a few years before that,” Black said. “At the end of the day, it seemed like TNA had the best environment. I wanted to help bring TNA to the forefront and help TNA grow.
“They got this deal with AMC, and I was lucky enough to be a part of the AMC debut, which was great. But I’m not the one who built that. You know, I showed up at the debut. There were a lot of years of hard work to get TNA to the AMC debut and everyone there is very hard-working and they all love wrestling, and it’s very creatively free, which is something I think I wanted and needed to do to be able to challenge myself. Being in WWE for a long time, they’ve got what they want, and obviously you have input too, but TNA is very, very open to ideas and all that. “So when I thought about all that, TNA is probably the place for me, which is great.”
Black credited TNA for putting women’s wrestling at the forefront. Gone are the days of bra and panty combinations or other types of daring angles. TNA grew its Knockouts Division and helped make women’s wrestling more than just filler matches.
“I love the locker room. I think TNA has a great locker room atmosphere in the women’s division. Not only that, but the women put on an incredible performance throughout,” she told Pak Gazette Digital. “I think a lot of times, TNA maybe doesn’t get the credit they should for being ahead of the curve with women, at least in my opinion. I think TNA was doing things that other companies weren’t doing with women for a long time in the beginning. I remember watching TNA as a kid and I even found myself thinking, I want to do what the Knockouts are doing. They can do a lot more interesting things and all that.
Elayna Black performs to the crowd at Slammiversary 2026. (TNA Wrestling)
“So, I think a lot of times maybe TNA doesn’t get the credit for putting the Knockouts at the forefront from the beginning and trying to show what they can do. So, that’s something that I always wanted to be a part of. It’s something that I always noticed, even as a kid, that TNA puts a lot of trust and faith in women, which is great and something that you don’t always see. I think TNA is a great place and a place every female wrestler should want to be because they really believe in women and I think that women are amazing and we all push each other to be better.”
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Black is now a contender for the TNA Knockouts World Championship. She is a mainstay on “Impact” every Thursday night on AMC.
