TNA President Carlos Silva On Pulling Talent From Matches: “They (AEW) Tried To Block Us In Arenas And Venues”

A few weeks ago, news came out that TNA President Carlos Silva had pulled a few of his contracted talent from their originally-planned upcoming matches due to “partner conflicts.”

While speculation to why happened ran rampant – especially after the matches and finishes were already agreed to – while speaking with Busted Open host Dave LaGreca, Carlos Silva addressed pulling TNA talent from matches with AEW talent:

“It was super tough, and look, all these business decisions are tough. I don’t like being called a little b*tch on social any more than anyone does. But it’s okay, you do take the goods with the bads, and you gotta make some hard decisions. My job sometimes is to make hard decisions. And for the fans and for all of you, our locker room, we’re gonna make decisions that are good for TNA. And we gotta protect TNA. As Kevin Plank and Under Armour used to say, you gotta protect this house, and it’s a real slogan.

We’ve had some other folks come at us and they’ve moved into our nights, they’ve made some decisions, they’ve tried to block us in arenas and venues. That stuff’s real and it’s out there, and it’s okay because everyone’s gotta make the decisions for their business, but we’re also just not gonna lie down and not make decisions that are good for our business. And unfortunately sometimes, those decisions are tough.

We’re very thoughtful about them, and we try to do the best to make good when we have to make those decisions. And in the case of Nic and Leon and a few of the matches that had to get shut down, we tried to make good and make calls and take care of the business as best as we could.

It was my decision. I take full ownership. I’ve got a great team and we talk about these things together, but sometimes, I’m the guy that has to make that decision and then you move on. You go to work the next day and you work hard again and get stuff done.”

H/T @WrestlePurists for transcription.

One of the matches in question would’ve seen current TNA X Division champion Leon Slater defeat former AEW National champion and former WWE star Ricochet as part of the WrestleCon show.