TNA Wrestling President Carlos Silva gave a revealing interview this week on The Ariel Helwani Show, touching on everything from the promotion’s red-hot crossover with WWE NXT, to the upcoming Slammiversary 2025 event, the departure of Gail Kim, and TNA’s ambitious media future.
Silva praised the ongoing TNA-WWE collaboration, calling the cross-promotional momentum between TNA and NXT “spectacular” and a key driver of the company’s current visibility.
“You’re seeing our wrestlers on CW on Tuesday nights, on NXT shows almost every week,” Silva said. “They continue to support us. We continue to support them.”
When asked if the WWE-TNA alliance was motivated by WWE’s desire to compete with AEW, Silva downplayed the notion:
“If they really want to do it against AEW, that’s not really how I see it. I think we’ve built such a great partnership together… They see the value in building up stars.”
He credited Paul “Triple H” Levesque, Shawn Michaels, and Johnny Russo for their roles in developing creative synergy between the two brands.
Silva provided a promising update on TNA’s search for a new media rights deal, confirming that the company has partnered with Creative Artists Agency (CAA) to secure a bigger platform.
“We want to find a bigger platform. We’ve been working on it since the beginning of the year… it’s accelerated over the last 60 days,” Silva said. “We’re actively in the middle of it.”
He revealed a 60–90 day window for a deal to be finalized, with changes coming into effect by the end of 2025. The goal? Air Impact Wrestling live 52 weeks a year.
“Many partners have asked for that. We’re working through how we would do it.”
Silva addressed the controversial release of TNA Hall of Famer Gail Kim, who departed after 17 years with the promotion. He explained it as part of a necessary internal evolution.
“You have to look at what’s working and what’s not working. I had to make a couple of hard decisions… to reinvigorate what I think was already going well.”
Acknowledging the locker room’s emotional reaction, Silva admitted:
“Of course it wasn’t an easy decision. It was the most difficult one I’ve had to make at TNA so far… but I think what’s important is how you bring people together afterward.”
Silva also gave updates on Anthem Sports Group’s other properties, including:
Invicta FC: The all-women’s MMA promotion is targeting 10–12 events per year on CBS Sports.
Fight Network: Anthem plans to expand into the U.S. through its FAST channel model and by acquiring more live content rights.
TNA’s next major pay-per-view, Slammiversary, will emanate from the UBS Arena in Long Island, NY on Sunday, July 20. The event is expected to be a major milestone in TNA’s modern resurgence and will showcase crossover talent from WWE NXT.
