TNA World and Tag Team Champion Nic Nemeth has shared his thoughts on TNA being left out of WWE’s upcoming Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic.
WWE announced that the tournament will feature teams representing Raw, SmackDown and NXT, but no TNA teams were included despite the working relationship between the two promotions.
During an interview with Adrian Hernandez, Nemeth was asked whether TNA’s absence from the tournament bothered him. While he isn’t personally looking to participate because of his current workload and championship responsibilities, Nemeth admitted that he would have liked to see TNA represented.
“It doesn’t because myself and my brother are comically busy at the moment, but it does as a TNA wrestler, not being the tag champs. Yeah, it does because there’s a relationship there. We’ve had some moments where we got a lot of NXT people who were brand new, gave them a shot, gave some TV time, got those reps in. It would be nice to see it replicated, but of course, it’s not always the time and place for it. There were times for months where we were going back and forth all over NXT. Our guys and gals were, and all over TNA NXT guys and gals were, and some people were going to Raw and SmackDown. And it led to Leon Slater getting some cool moments and Joe Hendry getting some cool stuff when he was still with us. So all of those moments can still happen, and they will when the time is right. It would be great to be represented out there, but also I’m super busy right now, and I am not interested in doing NXT as the world champion and tag team champion. But down the line, I would love to see more of an interaction if we continue that relationship because it was really fruitful for both sides. I was very impressed with some young up-and-comers getting some reps with us and getting to see our guys. We, you know, we got to see Cruz Montana showing up on NXT before he showed up at NXT. So, he’s doing, in theory, his own vignette to let that audience know, ‘When you see me next time, I’m gonna be kicking everyone’s ass.’ And that’s why you get that emotion and that reaction, because he got to be over there a few times before that. So, it’s been really positive for us. Hopefully, it’s been as positive for them, and I would like to see more in the future.”
Nemeth ultimately described the WWE-TNA relationship as a positive experience for both sides, pointing to the opportunities it created for wrestlers to gain exposure and experience across different audiences.
While he has no interest in entering the Dusty Classic himself while carrying both the TNA World and Tag Team Championships, Nemeth made it clear that he hopes to see more crossover between the two companies in the future.
