Steph De Lander Addresses WWE NXT Return Amidst TNA Collaboration

Steph De Lander has gained considerable recognition in the indie wrestling scene through her talent and commitment, but she was released by WWE back in 2022. Recently, she has addressed the possibility of returning to NXT, particularly in light of NXT’s collaboration with TNA.

The partnership between WWE and TNA is making waves in wrestling. Both promotions are frequently swapping talent, and at TNA Slammiversary, three NXT wrestlers—Charlie Dempsey, Tavion Heights, and Myles Borne—will team up to take on The Rascalz (Wes Lee, Zachary Wentz, and Trey Miguel) in six-man tag match. Wentz and Miguel also recently appeared on WWE NXT on July 16.

While speaking with Women’s Wrestling Talk, Steph De Lander talked about WWE’s increasing collaboration with other promotions. She highlighted the unprecedented nature of WWE’s cross-promotion, mentioning appearances by Jordynne Grace, Joe Hendry, The Rascalz on NXT, Tatum Paxley on TNA, and recent matches involving AJ Styles and IYO in Japan.

De Lander suggested that this cross-promotion might be contributing to TNA’s success, including the sell-out of Slammiversary, and she believes WWE also benefits by featuring top TNA stars on their shows. She likened it to a mutual benefit where both promotions support each other.

“I think it’s a cool time in wrestling because we’ve never seen this before, we’ve never seen WWE so openly cross promoting with other promotions in this way. We’ve had Jordynne Grace and Joe Hendry and The Rascalz on NXT, we had Tatum Paxley on TNA, we had AJ Styles and IYO just wrestle in Japan this past week. There’s so many moving parts for everyone. I don’t see a drawback, I don’t think it would be ignorant to say that there’s probably a part of TNA’s extreme success of selling out Slammiversary and how well they’re doing right now, I’m sure part of that could be this new buzz with the WWE crossovers. I think WWE is benefiting too by being able to take the biggest stars from TNA and use them on their show. I feel like it’s one of those things where it’s kind of like they scratch our back and we scratch theirs.”

De Lander made it clear she is open to participating in such crossovers, though she emphasized that her interest would depend on the circumstances. She is more focused on exploring compelling storylines and unfinished business rather than simply having a notable match. De Lander mentioned that there are a few people with whom she has unresolved issues, both in reality and storyline, and hinted that any potential appearance in WWE would be something to watch closely.

“As far as whether or not I’d be interested in doing that too, it would all come down to circumstance. I feel like there are some interesting story beats that could be explored at some point and that’s really what I care about more than anything else at this point. I’m not really interested in having a cool match with whoever, I don’t really care about that. For me, it’s more like, who there do I have unfinished business with and there actually is a couple people that I do have unfinished business with in reality and in storyline. Whatever happens, if I were to show up in WWE, it would definitely be something worth keeping your eyes on for sure.”

Steph De Lander continues to be a shining light in the TNA Knockouts division and she would definitely fit well in a storyline on NXT television, so only time will tell if she will return to NXT eventually.

Do you want Steph De Lander to make her WWE return as part of their collaboration with TNA Wrestling? Let us know in the comments section below!