TNA President Claims Major Growth, Fires Shot At AEW Over The #2 Spot

Written by Marc Middleton • Published Jul 09, 2025 18:02 EDT
TNA President Carlos Silva, AEW President Tony Khan

World Wrestling Entertainment has dominated the wrestling industry for at least two decades now. Total Nonstop Action Wrestling held the #2 spot for many years, despite WWE being far ahead, but that changed when Tony Khan launched AEW in 2019. TNA recently underwent significant internal changes, while growing a blockbuster partnership with the Stamford-based promotion, and now Carlos Silva is revealing interesting goals and ideas after a few months on the job.

TNA made massive improvements in recent years, following a popular rebranding and unprecedented partnership with WWE. Parent company Anthem Sports & Entertainment fired Scott D’Amore from his role as TNA President in early 2024. The decision was met with major backlash from fans and talents, but after another shake-up earlier this year, Carlos Silva took that spot. The veteran sports executive began with Anthem last December, and the announcement of his promotion was met with more heat due to the release of several long-term talents such as Christy Hemme, Josh Mathews, and Gail Kim.

Silva made several curious statements in his new appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show. Silva was asked if he thought TNA could become the #2 wrestling promotion, taking the spot from Tony Khan’s AEW. After a one-word response, Helwani then asked if that was a goal for Silva.

Sure. [Helwani: Is that a goal?] Look, it’s always a goal to get better,” Carlos Silva said.

Helwani interrupted and acknowledged how no one starts out wanting to be second. He pointed to how WWE dominates the industry, and asked again if the second spot was motivation.

And I say #2, obviously no one shoots to be #2, but obviously WWE is the big dog, right? [Silva: Sure] They’ve got a massive head-start, but there was once a time when TNA was #2 in this country, and around the world. Is that part of the motivation?” Ariel Helwani asked.

Silva, who did commend AEW for their work, declared TNA to be one of the major league wrestling promotions, and claimed the company was experiencing growth every 90 days, if not every month.

Look, the motivation is to get better every day, and land where we are, and be TNA. Like I said, we’re one of the major leagues. We’ve got a great partner in WWE, and I think we keep getting bigger every three months. I think in the last six months, we’ve gotten bigger every 30 days, and I’m a really big, sort of, ‘What do you deliver in 30-60-90 days?’ It’s how you set your short-term goals, you can’t just be thinking three years out.

You gotta think about that, but you gotta really grind it out every single day. There’s no one thing that makes you win, it’s a little of everything, and yeah… Look, I want TNA to continue to be big and strong, and if I come on your show in six months, and you want to tell me that we’re the #2 promotion, I’m going to say, ‘Yeah, I think you’re right,'” Carlos Silva said.

WWE-TNA Partnership Continues This Summer

WWE is set to present its 13th Great American Bash PLE this weekend in Atlanta, held under the NXT banner. The show will feature a contract signing between TNA’s Mike Santana and Joe Hendry, plus NXT’s Trick Williams, the current TNA World Champion. The three will battle for the title at Slammiversary XXI on July 20, which also serves as a celebration for the company’s 23rd anniversary.

WWE Evolution II will be held this Sunday, also in the Georgia capital. The all-women’s PLE will see NXT Women’s Champion Jacy Jayne defend against Jordynne Grace. The winner will then advance to Slammiversary to face Knockouts World Champion Masha Slamovich with both titles on the line. Masha is expected to be at Evolution.

NXT stars will be featured on Thursday’s TNA Impact episode. Slamovich and Lei Ying Lee (fka Xia Li) will face Jayne and Fallon Henley. Meanwhile, Trick Williams will do commentary during the main event, which will feature The Hardys and The Rascalz vs. First Class and The Nemeths.