Elayna Black is looking back on her bloody steel cage match at TNA Lockdown and the physical toll it took on her.
Black challenged Xia Brookside for the TNA Knockouts Championship at last month’s Lockdown event in Chicago. Competing in her hometown, Black came up short in a bloody encounter with Brookside inside the steel cage.
During an appearance on the I Love Wrestling podcast (see video below), Black revealed that she felt the effects of the match for roughly two weeks afterward.
“I’m feeling good now. You know, it was like two weeks of feeling like I got hit by a truck. But we’re finally, finally on the ups,” Black said. “I had a spa day, a little massage. Obviously had to wash my hair excessively and get rid of all the blood. But, you know, we’re here. We’re moving on and moving up.”
While Black would have preferred to leave Chicago as Knockouts Champion, she remains confident that winning the title is in her future.
“Obviously I would have loved to come back out of Lockdown with the title. Number one, being in my hometown in front of all my friends and family, and number two, that’s been my goal from day one in TNA, to win the Knockouts title,” she said. “So obviously that would have been great, but I’ve said it before. It’s my first year in TNA, I’m 25 years old. I have no doubt that that title will be mine.”
Black added that despite her feelings toward Brookside, she was proud of what the two accomplished inside the cage.
“I think Xia and I — despite my feelings about her — I think we really put it all out there, and I think we put on a great show,” Black said. “We both were extremely passionate going into that match and we wanted it to be great, and we did whatever we could to make sure that it was great.”
For Black, the match also gave her an opportunity to show fans a different side of herself.
“It’s something I’m proud of because I feel like it was something that, I don’t want to say that I needed to prove myself, but I think it was maybe a different side of me that people haven’t seen or, you know, kind of have doubted me and maybe didn’t think I had it in me,” she said.
“I think we did a great job and I’m very proud of that. Like I said, would have loved to have come out with the title, but it was a very special night regardless.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Black discussed her TNA debut and revealed that she had known for months that she would be appearing on the company’s AMC premiere.
Black had previously announced that she was taking a break from wrestling, but some fans interpreted that as her retiring. Once she knew a TNA debut was coming, Black decided to play along with the misunderstanding to protect the surprise.
“I had known for a few months prior that I was going to debut on the AMC premiere, but everyone kind of — because I said I was taking a break. You know how the internet is. They take one thing and run with it or twist it or whatever the case may be,” Black said.
“At first it bothered me because I’m like, ‘Do you not read? Like I said, I was taking a break. I didn’t say I was retiring.’ But then it got to the point kind of where I was like, when I knew I was coming to TNA and I knew I was coming back, that I kind of just started to run with it because I didn’t want anyone to know.”
Black said she even went along with fans who approached her at meet-and-greets believing she had retired.
“I wanted it to be a surprise. I wanted it to be completely out of nowhere. So when people were coming up to me at meet and greets and asking why I retired and/or tweeting me or whatever the case may be, I was just kind of running with it,” she explained.
“I was like, you know, ‘Yeah, sure, I’m retired, whatever,’ because I knew that I was going to be coming to TNA in January and having my debut on AMC. So I think it came off great. I think everyone was truly surprised, which is what I wanted.”
