Shotzi Blackheart was talking to TNA before she even left WWE in 2025.
She wanted to use the partnership between the two companies to get back to wrestling regularly after several months out of action with a serious knee injury.
In an interview with The G, Shotzi said she went as far as begging WWE for permission to work for TNA while she was coming back from ACL surgery.
“Yeah, you know, I was kind of talking to TNA when I was still signed with WWE. When I had just gotten back from my ACL surgery, I was just really hungry to get in the ring, and I was begging WWE to let me have a run with TNA.”
Shotzi tore her ACL in February 2024 and was medically cleared that December. She told Chris Van Vliet that WWE granted her request to return to NXT first, where she worked alongside Gigi Dolin and Tatum Paxley.
Her NXT run was supposed to be temporary. Shotzi expected to return to SmackDown and was led to believe she would start a storyline with Chelsea Green, but WWE scrapped those plans.
WWE ultimately didn’t renew her contract in May 2025.
But her ties to TNA remained. As previously reported, Shotzi signed with TNA in October after her MLW contract ended.
On Thursday’s iMPACT!, Shotzi made the save for Allie after Kiera Hogan turned on her former partner and attacked her alongside Tasha Steelz.