Every Wrestling DEATH Ranked By Stupidity

17. Taya Valkyrie Is Sealed In A Casket (TNA)

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TNA

First, some more latter-day TNA madness.

In 2023, Taya Valkyrie was on her way to AEW for a program opposite then-squash match machine Jade Cargill. To wrap up her time in TNA (at least for the time being), Valkyrie dropped the Knockout Tag-Team Titles alongside her Death Dollz partners to The Coven (KiLynn King and Taylor Wilde). That's when the fun really started.

Taya was promptly sealed in a casket and "taken to the undead realm". Being honest, calling AEW Rampage "the undead realm" was a trifle harsh. OK, enough jokes. This was no laughing matter for Valkyrie. She posted an emotional message on social media afterwards thanking TNA for a wonderful experience across multiple stints, and she must've been hopeful that she'd go on to bigger than better things under Tony Khan's guidance.

There was something distinctly Undertaker-meets-Lucha Underground about the whole TNA angle. That's not meant as criticism at all, and it's perhaps unsurprising given Taya's ties to LU chaos a few years before. More on that later. 

Valkyrie would go on to compete largely for AEW's TBS Title before moving down the ladder to Ring Of Honor. She's also done some work with CMLL this year, but hasn't worked on flagship show Dynamite since December 2024; a few Collision bouts are all Taya has had to shout about as far as mainline AEW lately.

She had a memorable demise as part of the TNA lineup though, at least. Being locked in a coffin and taken to some mysterious otherworld was infinitely better than sneaking out the back door en route to episodes of Rampage.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.