25 Worst Wrestling Moments Of 2025
9. The TNA/NXT Showdown Storyline
The problems with the TNA "invasion" of NXT were manifold, and long before the two sides went to tepid war on a special edition of the latter's TV show that underwhelmed on even measured expectations.
A working relationship had already existed between the two sides going back years was never going to scan as a believable battle, but both sides gave up trying literally seven days before a "Showdown" special when GM personas Ava and Santino Marella were booked as mates ostensibly just messing with the lives of the wrestlers on either side. The muddled state of the TNA title pictures meant that NXT wrestlers holding TNA gold were on different teams pending their storylines, to the point where plot holes opened up in the booking and multiple performers looked as if they'd forgotten how to wrestle in botch-laden cross-brand matches.
In the aftermath (which ended in a draw), the two sides went back to just working alongside one another anyway, with the net positives being entirely to do with TNA's alleged business growth rather than anything that could simply be enjoyed by an engaged viewing audience. WWE shamelessly trying to elevate TNA to a point where it stifles AEW is a strategy in keeping with their usual corporate chicanery, but it's hobbled the quality of the developmental brand to an infuriating degree.