PWMania.com previously reported that Steph De Lander and Mance Warner decided to leave TNA. At the time, it was reported that they quit because TNA would not allow De Lander to return to the ring.
De Lander has not wrestled since May 2024 and announced in September of that same year that she was out of action due to a neck injury. In January of this year, she mentioned that her surgeon had cleared her, but she still hadn’t been able to get back in the ring.
De Lander recently spoke with TMZ Inside the Ring about various topics, including her departure.
De Lander said, “Look, it’s been a crazy couple of days. It’s not what I expected my next career pivot to look like. But I feel confident in my decision and you know, I do believe everything does happen for a reason. So yeah, it’s been a whirlwind, but I feel good. I feel confident.”
On her decision to leave:
“So basically, I’ve had a neck injury for a while, and I’ve actually had two neck surgeries and no one knows that. I only posted about one, but I actually had two. My surgeon wanted to put a little bit more hardware in there. But fully recovered, fully healed. I actually went to WWE’s spinal surgeon to do the surgeries. And I got clearance a few weeks ago. So I had been pitching storylines and working my way towards my in ring return with TNA. But then I received a phone call on Monday of this week that basically they never wanted to let me wrestle at TNA again. They just didn’t feel comfortable with that. So then I made the decision to leave, and my husband did too in solidarity.”
On if they made the decision right away:
“Yeah, pretty much. I had a feeling that this was the way it was going. Because every time I broached the subject about my in-ring return, I felt like the higher-ups were avoiding the question. And we were snowballing towards the projected date and I was not getting any answers. So I felt like this was coming. So I reached out actually and was to my boss and was like, ‘Look, if there’s been a conversation about me not wrestling again, just let me know.” And yeah, he Carlos called me on Monday and told me, ‘Look, you know, we’re just not comfortable with you wrestling.’ And I was like, ‘Well, I’m literally fully cleared.’ And he said, ‘Yep, not into it.’ And then I asked, ‘Do you know what my injury is?’ And he didn’t know. He couldn’t tell me what my injury was. So It’s definitely based off personal feelings. I have not been evaluated by any medical professional on the TNA end. They have a chiropractor at the shows, and I think one other doctor who I’ve barely spoken with. So they haven’t evaluated my medical history. They haven’t contacted my surgeon. They haven’t looked at any of my medical stuff. It’s just they made a personal decision. And so yeah, that’s where we are now.”
On paying for all of it herself:
“Yeah, so I’ve paid for both of my surgeries. I paid for PT for both of them. Like, my insurance maxed out, so I currently have a $9,000 Advent Health bill sitting there that I’m going to get to at some point. But yeah, it was 100% covered on my end. And you know, if you’re not working at TNA — I was not on a salary. I was not getting paid every week regardless. If you’re not there, if you’re not on the road, if you’re not working, you don’t get paid. So, yeah, financially it was a very big hit as well.”
On why she thinks TNA isn’t honoring the clearance from WWE’s surgeon:
“I think it’s because they don’t have a budget set aside for injuries and a proper medical team. Like, at WWE or AEW, there is a fully staffed medical team. They have doctors, they have PTs, they have all sorts of people whose job it is to take care of the wrestlers when they get injured. To rehab them back to full health and then to let them continue their careers as wrestlers. Unfortunately, TNA does not have a setup like that whatsoever. As I said, majority of my communication about my injury was through their chiropractor. Who, you know, I spent 18 months trying to get a return to the ring protocol out of. And I only got it a month ago. So they really don’t have a setup for injuries, especially for spinal injuries. And that’s honestly why I wanted to be open about my story is A, I want people to know the truth of the injury and the situation. Because I’ve already seen a whole bunch of misinformation online. So I wanted to set that straight of I had a one-level cervical spinal fusion of my C5C6… vertebrae, which is like the most basic straightforward neck injury that so many wrestlers in WWE and AEW have had before fully recovered and returned to the ring.”
On the belief she broke her neck:
“I did not break my neck. That’s not what happened. Even though you know my boss told me I broke my neck. I did not. Just to clear that up, I had a fusion because I had a bulging disc. So I wanted to clear that up, but I also wanted to — by being open about this situation, hopefully for some level of change so for the next person that has a serious injury like this working at TNA, that they have more support than what I had.”
You can check out the complete podcast in the video below.
(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)
