On June 1, Cora Jade and a number of former "WWE NXT" stars became free agents. As such, Jade, now performing under her original Elayna Black ring name, is preparing to make her first moves outside of WWE, with several independent dates already lined up. Given her previous appearances in TNA Wrestling, some fans were hoping that Black would dip her toe back into their waters for an extended run as well. As revealed on the "The Ariel Helwani Show," however, that move may not come until further down the road.
"I'm not closed off to that by any means," she said. "My only hangup is I feel like I was just there, and now they're kind of doing a WWE and TNA [partnership], so it almost feels like I need to step away from all of that for that world for a second. I love TNA, will definitely work there again in the future. Just right now in time, I feel like they're too close-knit together right now. It'll be better for me to kind of branch off and just kind of figure it out."
Through WWE's partnership with TNA, Black chased after the TNA Knockouts Championship in the early months of 2025. Along the way, she defeated Hyan and Xia Brooksdie on "TNA Impact" in singles competition while also picking up a tag team win with Tessa Blanchard by her side. At TNA Sacrifice on March 14, Black challenged Masha Slamovich for the Knockouts Championship, but fell short.
Like TNA, Black is also open to returning to All Elite Wrestling, where she previously wrestled a pair of matches in 2020. Regarding territories she has yet to explore, Black is especially interested in heading to Japan, where her fellow former WWE colleague Blair Davenport frequently competed in from 2017 until 2021.
Elsewhere in the interview, Black weighed the potential of coming back to WWE in the future. Despite experiencing some frustrations during her four-year run in the company, Black asserted that she'd be keeping the possibility on the table.
"I feel like it's only normal as a human and as someone who is a passionate adult in their workplace, there are going to be things that bother you and frustrate you. It's only nature. If there wasn't anything that bothered me or frustrated me, then I don't care enough," she said. "I cared and things bothered me and frustrated me because I loved it so much and I still do. I'm definitely not closing the door on that ever. I loved my time in WWE. I have really nothing bad to say other than there were a few things here and there that I didn't like, but did that mean that I never want to be back there and it was the worst place? Absolutely not.
"It was my dream. All my best friends are there. There's no ill will or anything like that. If anything, I need this time and I'm excited for this time."
Looking ahead, Black is already scheduled for a number of appearances on the independent wrestling circuit, including Game Changer Wrestling and Black Label Pro. Amidst her WWE stint, Black notably enjoyed one reign as NXT Women's Tag Team Champion alongside her on-again, off-again friend Roxanne Perez. Her last WWE match came at an "NXT" live event when she unsuccessfully challenged Sol Ruca for the NXT Women's North American Championship.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "The Ariel Helwani Show" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
