NEWYou can now listen to Pakinomist articles!
Elayna Black was one of the hottest free agents on the pro wrestling market when she left WWE in 2025.
Formerly known as Cora Jade in NXT, Black hit the independent circuit and appeared in places like Atomic Legacy Wrestling, Black Label Pro and Game Changer Wrestling before taking time off. Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) was an opportunity for Black, and she was very familiar with the company’s programming.
She told Pakinomist Digital that she grew up watching TNA and became a fan of Jeff Hardy and the female faction known as The Beautiful People.
COMPLETE PRO WRESTLING COVERAGE ON Pakinomist DIGITAL
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 … I started watching WWE first. At first it was the only wrestling company I knew. When you’re a kid, you don’t really know anything else. And then slowly I discovered TNA and you realize, oh, Jeff Hardy was in WWE and I was young, so I didn’t know. So I just discovered that I loved Jeff Hardy because I was into polish and being black. I was getting into my little emo phase at the time. So I loved Jeff Hardy.
“But my all-time favorites were The Beautiful People, especially since it was the three of them at the time. It was Angelina Love, Velvet Sky and Madison Rayne. They were like my gods. You couldn’t tell me anything. I was supposed to be The Beautiful People. I was supposed to be in The Beautiful People. I remember my first phone ever, like a flip phone, this little pink phone that my parents got in fifth grade when I was in the Beautiful People’s song. my first ringtone ever, when i was 12 years old and tried to be the first youngest member of Beautiful People, obviously they never responded, but here i am now.
Black finally became a main roster talent for TNA in January.
She told Pakinomist 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 really feel like signing anywhere,” she said. “Obviously eventually I knew I wanted to be somewhere just because it’s what I love to do,” she said. “But I think for a while, my mindset was just wanting to prove myself different. And I had a little fun on the indies, but life happens, some personal stuff came up, and I felt like I really needed to take a break just for my mental health. I started training with wrestling when I was 15. I dropped out of high school to do that.
“The only time I’ve ever had time off was with an injury. So, that’s been my life forever. And growing up wrestling is kind of hard, too. So just taking time for the first time, and I’m 25 now, so 10 years, to just sit back and reflect after losing everything that I’d just worked for was probably the best thing I could have done, where I just wanted to take that time for me.”
Black said she was initially hesitant to sign with TNA because of its partnership with WWE. She was just coming off a WWE run and at first thought she would be able to do something on her own without WWE.
Elayna Black tries to pin Indi Hartwell at Slammiversary 2026. (TNA Wrestling)
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON Pakinomist
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 WWE partnership. And that’s not against WWE at all. I loved my time there, but it goes back to me saying I wanted to prove myself somewhere else, and I kind of wanted to be as far away from WWE as possible at that point just to prove who I was without them because I was there for so many years before those years or a few years,” Black. “At the end of the day, TNA seemed to have the best environment. I wanted to help bring TNA to the forefront and help TNA grow.
“They got this AMC deal, and I was lucky enough to be a part of the AMC debut, which was great. But I’m not the one who built it. You know, I showed up at the debut. So many years of hard work went into getting TNA to the AMC debut, and everybody that’s hard-working and everybody that loves to wrestle, and that wants to do something that I want to challenge myself and that I need to be able to challenge myself. When they’ve been in WWE for a long time, they kind of have what they want and obviously you have input as well, but TNA is very, very open to ideas and stuff, so when I thought about everything, I was like TNA, that’s probably the place for me, which is great.
Black credited TNA with spearheading women’s wrestling. Gone were the days of bra and panty matches or other risky types of angles. TNA expanded 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 environment in the women’s division. Not only that, but the women give one hell of a performance every single time,” she told Pakinomist Digital. “I think a lot of times TNA maybe doesn’t get the credit it should for being on the forefront with the women, at least in my opinion. I think TNA did things that other companies didn’t do with women for a long time in the beginning. I remember watching TNA as a kid and even noticing that I was like, I’m going to do what the coolest things can do and that they like.
Elayna Black plays to the crowd at Slammiversary 2026. (TNA Wrestling)
“So I think a lot of times TNA maybe doesn’t get credit for putting the knockouts at the forefront very early and trying to show what they can do. So that’s something that I’ve always wanted to be a part of. That’s something that I’ve always noticed, even as a kid, that TNA puts a lot of trust and belief in the women and something that I always think is great and I always think is great. place that every women’s wrestler should want to be because they really believe in the women, and I think the women are incredible, and we all push each other to be better.”
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE Pakinomist APP
Black is now a contender for the TNA Knockouts World Championship. She is one of the mainstays on “Impact” every Thursday night on AMC.
