WWE is no stranger to running their PLEs in major markets, but now the smaller promotions are following suit, including TNA.

The 22-year old company announced to fans on Wednesday to mark their calendars as the company plans to run some of its major PPVs in both Los Angeles and New York City. Not only that, but the PPVs will take place at notable arenas in both cities. TNA Rebellion will take place on April 27, 2025 at the Galen Center, home of USC Trojans basketball, and TNA Slammiversary will hail from the UBS Center, the homebase of the New York Islanders on July 20, 2025.

In the press release, TNA World Champion Nic Nemeth expressed his enthusiasm for the forthcoming year with TNA.

“I am beyond excited to defend the TNA World Championship from coast to coast, in the two of the most iconic cities in the world, Los Angeles and New York City. This is a groundbreaking day for TNA Wrestling. I cannot wait for the ride that TNA will be on in 2025.”

Major market announcements have been the ongoing trend for wrestling as 2024 comes to a close. WWE is just on the cusp of returning to New York City for Saturday Night’s Main Event on December 14 and just this week, MLW revealed they’ll be heading to Los Angeles for Battle Riot VII in early April. MLW will also be back in NYC this weekend for One-Shot which will have Eric Bischoff steering the ship.

TNA is making some big moves when it comes to free agency but unfortunately it isn’t transferring over into PPV buys via television.

Just this past Saturday, the company had it’s Rebellion PPV and it featured the main event of TNA World Champion Moose defending his title against Nic Nemeth. The card also featured Josh Alexander taking on Hammerstone in their rubber match which was a Last Man Standing fight.

According to Dave Meltzer, Rebellion saw a massive drop in PPV purchases in comparsion to TNA’s return PPV earlier in January, Hard To Kill. Hard To Kill had over 66,000 buys on TV and streaming, which happened to be a record for the promotion. Unfortunately, Rebellion had only 500 TV buys at air-time, that’s an 89% drop in comparison to Hard To Kill which had 22,400. However, the streaming buys have yet to be released so TNA should see at least a little boost with the combination.

Although the buys of down, the perception of TNA is very positive with acquisitions such as Nemeth, Hammerstone, AJ Francis and Mustafa Ali. Rebellion also saw the major returns of Matt Hardy and Mike Santana into the company fold.

Nemeth said in an exclusive interview with SEScoops, noting how much he believes in TNA as a company and the promotion’s long-term booking plans. Nemeth isn’t signed to any contract with TNA, but noted his primary goal is getting the company over and its roster of rising stars.

You can check out the full interview with Nemeth below:

Matt Hardy says his TNA return is a way to showcase that genuine surprises can still be delivered in wrestling even in today’s age.

The Attitude Era star spoke to Busted Open Radio on Sunday where among other things, he also discussed his return to the Anthem owned promotion during the Rebellion PPV on Saturday night.

Hardy first reiterated that he loved working for Tony Khan during his time with All Elite Wrestling and that they are still negotiatiating a potential new deal:

“I will start by saying I love AEW, I loved working with Tony Khan. He’s a great guy. My contract ended up expiring and we hadn’t reached a deal yet. We’re still in the midst of talking. I have literally, in the last week, I have talked to every promoter from every promotion that there is.”

Pro Wrestling Is Best When It’s Unpredictable: Matt Hardy

Speaking about his surprise return at the TNA PPV, Matt Hardy claimed that they started talking about it on Wednesday and the deal only came together within a couple days:

“So last night was me showing that pro wrestling can still be unpredictable. I popped up. This was done in a couple days notice. we kind of started talking about this on Wednesday. Then this kind of materialised over a couple days doing some shots for TNA and a little story arc. Pro Wrestling is at its best when it’s unpredictable.”

The former WWE star also revealed that he hadn’t even told his brother Jeff Hardy about the appearance and Jeff only found out after the show was over.

Matt Hardy confronted TNA World Champion Moose during the PPV event and delivered a Twist of Fate to him. The altercation sets up a match between the two but an official announcement for the same has not been made yet.

Matt Hardy has confirmed that he is still a free agent despite his return to TNA.

The company had been teasing the reveal of a ‘lights out mystery’ over the past few weeks. The secret was finally unveiled at Saturday’s Rebellion PPV event.

Moose defeated Nic Nemeth to retain the TNA World Title in the main event of the show. The lights went out after the bout and Broken Matt Hardy made his surprise return to the promotion. He delivered a Twist of Fate to the World Champion and the PPV ended with Hardy holding the title.

After the PPV event, the wrestling veteran shared an interesting ‘Matt Fact’ graphic reading that he is in no rush to sign a new contract. In response to a fan, Hardy further confirmed that he remains a free agent despite his return:

No. I’m a free agent. I will appear when I want to appear.

— MATT HARDY (@MATTHARDYBRAND) April 21, 2024

Matt Hardy Is A Free Agent

Matt Hardy had seemingly been unhappy with his position on the AEW card for a while and he even spoke up about things such as backstage issues hurting the goodwill of the company.

The Attitude Era star made some headlines again when he attended a pre-WrestleMania Raw last month. When the news of his AEW contract expiring came to light, many believed that he was on his way back to the TKO-owned promotion.

The wrestling veteran, however, has since confirmed that he is still in talks with Tony Khan’s promotion in addition to weighing his options elsewhere.

If the latest development is any indication, Matt Hardy seems to be looking for creative satisfaction more than anything else at this juncture of his career.

The TNA appearance seems to be the start of a program. It won’t be a surprise if Hardy stretches his free agency further and we don’t hear news about him finding a new long-term home anytime soon.

You can relive Hardy’s TNA return below:

TNA Rebellion 2024 went off the air with the reveal of the ‘Lights Out’ mystery as ‘Broken’ Matt Hardy made his stunning return to the promotion.

In the days running up to Rebellion, a mysterious video teased that something known as ‘Lights Out’ would be appearing at Rebellion. The video left fans trying to decypher clues to learn of what was behind the eerie video.

In the main event of Rebellion, TNA World Champion Moose retained his title against Nic Nemeth. As Moose celebrated while The System watched from the stage, the screens flickered as fans awaited the arrival of ‘Lights Out.’

Hardy’s signature laugh then aired and when the lights came up, the ‘Broken’ version of Matt was in the ring with Moose and leveled the World Champion with a Twist of Fate. Matt ended the show by holding the TNA World Championship.

DELETE THE SYSTEM! @MATTHARDYBRAND has returned to TNA! #Rebellion pic.twitter.com/3uZvpfclcR

— TNA Wrestling (@ThisIsTNA) April 21, 2024

In a backstage video, The System was unhappy with Matt’s return and Moose spoke about never having things go right for him in Vegas. The champion is referring to his title victory at Hard to Kill in January in Paradise, Nevada, which saw his post-match celebration interrupted by Nic Nemeth. 

Hardy’s TNA return comes mere days after it was confirmed that he had left All Elite Wrestling following a four-year run with the promotion. It had been rumored that Matt would be returning to WWE, given that he had been teasing involvement with the ongoing QR code mystery, believed to be the return of Uncle Howdy.

Instead, Matt has returned to TNA, the promotion in which he has his greatest singles success. Matt is a two-time former TNA World Champion and seems set on adding a third title to his collection. 

More Returns

Matt wasn’t the only notable name to return to TNA Wrestling at Rebellion 2024. During the show, fellow AEW alum Mike Santana returned to face Steve Maclin. Santana had been with TNA from 2017 to 2019 before he departed to join AEW. 

.@Santana_Proud IS BACK in TNA Wrestling! #Rebellion pic.twitter.com/bpPHeg6QlY

— TNA Wrestling (@ThisIsTNA) April 21, 2024

Sami Callihan also made his TNA return at Rebellion. The former World Champion returned as part of the chaos surrounding the TNA Knockouts World title match. After The Good Hands and Kon interfered on Steph De Lander’s behalf, Callihan and PCO came out to even the odds. Jordynne Grace retained her title soon after. 

THE DEATH MACHINE IS BACK! @TheSamiCallihan #Rebellion pic.twitter.com/glYqOcmLFt

— TNA Wrestling (@ThisIsTNA) April 21, 2024

Hammerstone was already the face of one wrestling promotion and the former MLW World Heavyweight Champion looks to continue that trend in TNA.

The recent TNA signee first made his TNA debut without any deal by facing Josh Alexander at Hard To Kill, the company’s first PPV since their jump back to the old TNA letters. Hammerstone came up short in that exchange but got his revenge as TNA Sacrifice as he defeated ‘The Walking Weapon’ and took Alexander’s signature headgear as a “scalp” to pin on his wall. Now the rubber match takes place Saturday at TNA Rebellion. This time, it’s a Last Man Standing match.

I spoke with Hammerstone this week about Rebellion, his goal to be the new face of TNA and so much more. 

Hammerstone says there was no better way to show up in TNA than being thrown right into the deep end. Even in a promo before joining the company, He made clear that he’s a shark that’s on the hunt and was ready to take on all comers as a free agent. The big man didn’t have to wait for long as TNA did end up signing him. When asked if he looks forward to the notion that he could potentially be the face of another wrestling company, Hammer was more than willing to oblige.

“Listen, there’s no time in wrestling where I’ve ever shown up and just wanted to get paid and have a match and go home. Every place I go I want to get to the top. I want to conquer. That’s my goal. That’s my mission statement from day one.”

Hammerstone notes that it will be a tough hill to climb on the TNA roster and that there are a lot of names who have been there longer than he has. However, that won’t deter him from keeping his eyes on the top of that hill.

“I’m not intimidated. You know, I have a feeling if we have this same conversation this time next year, we’ll be talking about myself being the face of TNA.”

Hammerstone had a bit of a warm-up match on the go-home episode of TNA Impact as he took on Little Guido who recently just unveiled a new version of the FBI. Unfortunately for Guido, Hammerstone manhandled the maybe mafiasio.”

TNA Sacrifice airs this Saturday at 8 PM ET on PPV.

.@alexhammerstone absolutely dominates @nunzio_guido with a Torture Rack, sending a clear message to @Walking_Weapon ahead of #Rebellion! #TNAiMPACT pic.twitter.com/bXMNi9Nm9L

— TNA Wrestling (@ThisIsTNA) April 19, 2024

Nic Nemeth has shown to be quite the rebel so it’s only fitting that ‘The Most Wanted Man’ is challenging for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship at Rebellion. Nemeth with go mono-a-mono with Moose, allowing Nic to potentially achieve his first World Championship outside of WWE.

Nemeth has been a busy man since his WWE exit as he’s competed in high-profile independent matches, but also have already achieved big notoriety in New Japan Pro-Wrestling.

In a SEScoops exclusive, Nemeth gave some details as to how his TNA deal came to be. Nemeth noted what exactly allured him to the company were several components: the talent, the long-term booking plan, the rebrand back to TNA and the company plan all intrigued him. Nemeth felt like he’d just been through the ringer for nearly two decades with WWE and the former World Champ wanted some time to explore his newfound freedom.

“I go, ‘Man, I don’t want to be tied down.’ I want to be like a hired gun that bounced around because I just got out of a long term relationship. 19 years, most abusive relationship of my life. I just got out of it.’ So I said, ‘I don’t want to like, put down it like, for the next three years I’m stuck in this deal. Whether I hate you or you hate me or it all works out,’

“I go, ‘Let me just do the dates. I’m not going to screw you guys over. I’m rooting for you and I want to help. So I did a certain amount of dates and then re-up for double dates.’ I go, ‘I believe in this product. Let’s go.’”

Ready For Rebellion

Nic Nemeth may have a great deal of notoriety, but he knows he’s not the big man under the TNA umbrella. Both literally and figuratively, Moose is that man, but Nemeth knows he’s ready to square up against the former NFL star.

“He has that break speed like a linebacker and I’m trying to think I go, What the hell do I have that he doesn’t?’ I’m shorter and maybe I’m faster, but here’s the best part: this jaw right here – I can take a punch. So he’s not ready for someone like me to be able to take a punch or a headbutt or a kick or a driver onto the floor because I never stop coming back up.”

TNA Rebellion 2024 takes place this Saturday, April 20 from Las Vegas and will stream live on TrillerTV pay-per-view ($39.99).