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Andy runs through the wrestlers TNA MUST sign to boost their roster after landing their new TV deal.
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00:00Hello there, my very good friends. Andy here for WhatCulture. Today we're talking about TNA
00:04because this company is in a pretty blooming interesting place heading into 2026. They've
00:10just secured their new TV deal, which means their revenue is going to go up, which means they're
00:14going to have more money to spend on wrestlers, theoretically. You'd imagine that with their big
00:20AMC debut looming in early January, they will be looking to make something of a splash and maybe
00:25beef out their roster with some signings here and there. Some wrestlers who will improve maybe the
00:31in-ring calibre of the average TNA show. Maybe some big names who can help draw eyes to the product
00:37as they look to firmly establish a foothold in the top three American pro wrestling promotions. I think
00:43it's great for everybody involved that they've landed this TV deal because more places to work
00:48means more opportunity for wrestlers gives you more choice as a viewer as well. And now that they've
00:53got all this extra cash lying around, they have the scope to expand and build on that roster.
00:58So what I've done today is I've put together a quick list of some wrestlers that I think could
01:03go over there tomorrow and make an immediate impact in that promotion and kind of help it boost its
01:10profile in 2026. So with that in mind, let's kick this thing off with entry number six, who's Priscilla
01:17Kelly, who you may be more familiar with if you're a WWE fan as Gigi Dolan from NXT. Of course, she was
01:25released by WWE earlier this year. Her WWE run primarily comprised of Toxic Attraction, although
01:31she had the spell later on where she was aligned with Shotzi, who'd also be a good signing for TNA,
01:36by the way, and Tatum Paxley as well, who's obviously still there in WWE. The thing about Priscilla Kelly
01:42is that at the time she signed with WWE, she was considered not only one of the most improved
01:46wrestlers in the world, but one of the most exciting young prospects in North America. So
01:51it's a shame really that the WWE run didn't work out long term. However, now she's had the opportunity
01:58to get back on the Indies and get back out there and reestablish herself in that regard. And I think
02:03she'd make a really good addition to the knockouts division as a whole. She's got the TV experience now
02:09from working WWE for so long, NXT primarily, of course. She already had the skill and the
02:15in-ring ability and the versatility to do crazy hardcore matches as well as just your regular
02:19ass wrestling matches on TV. The knockouts division has long been one of the biggest strong points
02:26of TNA in general. Why not add somebody like Priscilla Kelly, who I believe her best years are
02:31definitely still ahead of her in pro wrestling. Throw her in there. I think she'd be a great addition
02:36to an already pretty talented group. And look, it's all about raising your week to week standards,
02:42right? It's all about raising the floor as much as it is the ceiling. And I think Kelly
02:47would be a tremendous acquisition in that regard as well.
02:50Number five, Kevin Blackwood. I think that TNA should be looking to the Indies if they're
02:55looking to expand. There are some bigger names on this list that I'm talking about here as
02:58well, including one at the end, who is very big. Large gentleman, indeed, in terms of name and stature.
03:03But if you're going to go looking in the Indies, I think you should pick up the best guy in the Indies.
03:07And for me, that's Kevin Blackwood, who has been grinding at this for years and years and years and
03:11years. Fits in extremely well with the modern action heavy style. I mean, his strikes are absolutely
03:18tremendous. Jaw rattling kicks, forearms and everything in between. But beyond that as well, I'm a particularly
03:24big fan of what he did around his recent Prestige World title win when he faced Judas Icarus and
03:31leaned really heavily into Vegan Straight Edge, which is a huge part of who he is. Came down to
03:37Bloomin' Earth Crisis Firestorm, for goodness sake. But they went as far, Prestige did, to build heat
03:42for this whole deal by Kevin Blackwood issuing a statement saying, hey, fans, don't you dare eat meat
03:48and drink beer while I'm doing my wrestling match. Which, of course, is like, what are the wrestling
03:52fans going to do in response to that? Right? It's something that can really, you know, an aspect
03:57of his personality that can really set him apart in wherever he goes. Obviously, we've seen, you know,
04:04CM Punk kind of pioneered being a Straight Edge wrestler and we've seen the vegan side of things with
04:09Bryan Danielson, Daniel Bryan as the Planet's Champion in WWE. I mean, it's a really, really
04:16strong voice that can set people aside in wrestling. So not only is Kevin Blackwood, first of all,
04:21it's a travesty that this guy hasn't been signed yet. You watch an indie show that he's on, you're
04:26guaranteed something exciting and fun and high caliber. But, I mean, if you're TNA and you're
04:32looking to pick somebody up who has all the chops in the world and is long overdue getting an
04:37opportunity with a contract, for me, it's Kevin Blackwood. I'd throw him straight in the X Division,
04:42probably have him win the belt, to be perfectly honest. I think he'd be a great pickup. The next person
04:47is somebody completely different. Number four, Dakota Kai. When I say completely different,
04:51I mean somebody we know the quality of in terms of being on screen for a long period of time. She
04:55was in WWE for years and years and years. She was like Go earlier this year and she has not wrestled
05:01at the time of recording since then. So Dakota Kai is something of a known quality to most of you
05:06watching. That's why I differentiate the entries a little bit. But also, I've long thought that there
05:11is great potential within Dakota Kai to be the lead babyface of her division. She's just excellent,
05:18excellent at drawing sympathy in that position. Going back to her previous time wrestling around
05:23the world as Evie to some of her time in WWE as well. Obviously, a lot of her time in WWE was spent
05:28being a heel, being that part of damage control or her turn on Nixon Newell, Tegan Nox back in the day,
05:34which was just a tremendous bit of business. But yeah, I still think we haven't missed the boat on
05:39on Dakota Kai yet, man. I still think that's within her. Obviously, she's had some injury troubles,
05:44you know, over the years. Hey, maybe she's not the athlete she was before. Who knows? Personally,
05:50haven't seen much evidence of any decline in her work, her latter work in WWE. I think she'd be a
05:57great boon to the knockouts division. She's potential, you know, division leading standard
06:01wrestler. First of all, I think it's mental that Tony Khan hasn't been on the phone to try and get a
06:05hold of her for AEW. But AEW could be that could be their loss and TNA's gain in this situation.
06:11High hopes for Dakota Kai going into 2026. Hope she's still fired up for wrestling. Hope she still
06:16wants to do this because she's really good. And I think that if she jumped into TNA, she could be an
06:20immediate fixture, somebody the fans are already familiar with. And she has the potential to be a
06:25real standard bearer for that division in 2026. Number three is LeBron Cozone. Now, if you've not been
06:32paying super close, I mean, not even super close attention, just any kind of attention to the indie
06:37scene. DPW, Deadlock Pro Wrestling may have gone a little bit over your head. So over the past couple
06:42of years, this promotion has really done just the best job of any company, I think, since peak Ring
06:47of Honor in the 2000s of establishing itself as a company with a clear wrestling identity, with a
06:56self-contained almost universe of characters and stories and things that are built just kind of
07:03really simply, but really effectively and really satisfyingly in a pro wrestling context. They
07:09keep their simples relatively, their stories, sorry, relatively straightforward, but they always deliver.
07:14And you know when you tune into a DPW show that you're going to get two to two and a half hours,
07:19maybe six or seven matches. None of them are going to overstay their welcome. All of it is going to be
07:23killer. No filler whatsoever. It's a great company with a wonderful epos and I'm going to be really
07:29sad when it shuts down later this month. But one of the guys who has been a real figurehead for this
07:35company throughout its many years, a guy they kind of, not really plucked from obscurity, but took from
07:42a place where he wasn't particularly well known to where he is now seen as one of the best guys on
07:46the indies is LeBron Cozone. He's the company's ace in my opinion. Obviously, they have a lot of great
07:51wrestlers working there from Kevin Blackwood to Trevor Lee, to Haiyan, to Danny Luna, to Adam Priest,
07:58to Jake something. But for me, one of the most satisfying things watching DPW over the past few years has
08:03been the rise of LeBron Cozone. He is a tremendous pro wrestler. He's got good size for TV as well.
08:08You can put him in there with anybody and he will deliver a very good match indeed. And I think he is just
08:14waiting for that contract before he is sent to the very top of the pile in pro wrestling. I think
08:20even though he's in his 30s already, I think he still has all the potential in the world and he's
08:24exactly the kind of guy. Look, if TNA wants to seem fresh, relevant, exciting, the place you can go to
08:30to see these new stars as they are unearthed, it needs to pick up guys like LeBron Cozone. And I think
08:36for a lot of you watching, if they did sign him and you tuned into TNA and you saw him within a couple of
08:41weeks, he would be one of your new favorite wrestlers as well. So that's one of my picks
08:45for somebody that TNA should absolutely try and sign in 2026. Number two is Duke Hudson,
08:52a guy who's been very quiet since leaving WWE. Saw him wrestle earlier this year in the flesh
08:58for Paradigm Pro, not Paradigm Pro, I'm speaking rubbish, Pandemonium over WrestleMania weekend,
09:03which was fun. Just fun seeing him step out of the old Duke Hudson shell into his new frame
09:08as Duke Hanson. He's a real untapped potential guy as far as I'm concerned. In terms of like
09:15charisma, personality, being able to portray that on television, being able to fit a number of
09:20different roles, I thought his role in Chase U, he was a tremendous hot tag in particular,
09:24and really somebody that should be on major companies' radars. I think there's a lot you can
09:31do with a guy like that on your TV show. And to me, he just fits TNA like a glove as an all-round
09:37entertainer. So obviously there are sometimes factors into people's lives. Maybe there's
09:43good reasons. They haven't gone elsewhere as of yet. But to me, yeah, I mean, this is the most obvious
09:48guy on the list, really, in terms of he could just show up and he could be a great character on your
09:53TV show from day one. He's a perfect sports entertainer. For me, it's a bit mental that WWE let
09:59go of him because, yeah, you know, maybe he's not going to headline WrestleMania one day, or maybe
10:02he is. Who knows? You don't know what people are capable of until you push them. But you need people.
10:09Not everybody needs to be Steve Austin, you know? You need people who are just wildly entertaining,
10:14have big personality, can play a number of different roles. And to me, Duke Hudson is that to a
10:19T. So he's not necessarily somebody that TNA might put on the show and immediately a million people.
10:23What? I would watch. I'd be among that million if they did. But he would add so much value to that
10:29show at the top, bottom, middle of the card, wherever you presented him. And I think it's very
10:33silly that nobody has signed Duke as of yet. Number one, Braun Strowman. Now, this man might just be
10:41done with wrestling. He's got a very successful cooking show, food show on the go at the moment on
10:46television. Outdrawing some of the biggest wrestling shows around. Good for him. I love seeing people
10:50land on their feet. However, if you're TNA and you want a big name and you want a big dude to make a
10:56splash for your big debut on the new network, it doesn't get much bigger than Braun Strowman,
11:00Adam Sher, whatever he would wrestle as previously. WWE let him go again, which to me is a shame because
11:06I think he's still good, man. I think he's still a really good, effective monster powerhouse wrestler.
11:11Yeah, maybe, you know, when he runs around the ring these days, maybe he's not quite as fast and explosive
11:16as he used to be, but that's understandable. He's a big dude who used to do powerlifting. Of course,
11:19his knees are thrashed, man. He's had a few injuries here and there as well that I'm sure have hurt him
11:24and stuff in the ring. But if Braun wants to wrestle again, I think that TNA is a great landing
11:29spot for him. He could be the main event monster guy in this company from day one. He is still very,
11:35very effective in that role. And I don't get all this nonsense either about how it's hard to book
11:41monsters in 2025. No, it's not, man. They squash people, they win, they look dominant, and then opposite
11:47them. You build up the person you want to beat them so that they look like a beast when they slay
11:51the beast. Then the monster goes away for a while, you rebuild, you wash, wins, repeat. It has worked
11:57since the freaking 1920s or something. It can work still in 2025. I think that people are making things
12:05really overcomplicated when it comes to booking the big guys in the year of our big guy, 2026. Get
12:13Braun in, man. He would do a tremendous job. You could use him to enhance some of your smaller
12:17wrestlers. He's still very much got it. And also, he's a big name that people will be drawn to for
12:23your first show and hopefully thereafter as well. So, obviously, the long-term goal of signing these
12:28big names is that they then elevate the people who are already there and then the people who are
12:33already there become stars in their own right. So you're Leon Slaters and, you know, people like Mike
12:38Santana who would benefit immensely from rubbing shoulders with these people. So, hey, look, that's
12:44my list. What's on your list? Who should be on TNA's shopping list in 2025 heading into 2026? Let me
12:50know in the comment section below. Have a wonderful day and I will see you soon.
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