Disliking the people you work with at your job tends to happen to us all, whether it be for personal reasons or a lack of professionalism between one or both parties.

The world of wrestling is no stranger to this as backstage politics, ego, misunderstandings or someone abusing their position of power can often make for a tense and uncomfortable working environment.

Considering the company’s been around for over twenty years it’s not too surprising to hear that TNA Wrestling has experienced it’s fair share of animosity amongst it’s workers. The following ten are examples of how things aren’t always great behind the camera and that the wrestling world really needs an HR department.

#10. Austin Aries vs. Sami Callihan

The self-proclaimed “Greatest Man that Ever Lived” is no stranger to contraversy with the most notable being him no selling the finish to the main event at Bound For Glory 2018…Fast forward a few months and Aries who was no longer with the company got into a war of words on social with a certain Death Machine.

In February of 2019, Aries and Callihan verbally got into it on the site formerly known as Twitter with the latter accusing the former of “taking his ball and going home” following the previously mentioned BFG 2018 no sell.

Aries took offence to this by calling Sami a ‘mark’ and the feud went on from there with Sami mentioning how he was wrestling in three different promotions at the time before Aries responded by calling Callihan a grunt boy before asking what major TV channel is the promotions his working for on and calling him out of shape for wrestling in a T-shirt during a match these two had in Ring of Honor.  

The insults continued onward but since then neither man has made any comments about each other although some have speculated that the issues arose from Sami match with Pentagon Jr. at Slammiversary 2018 after Aries called out Callihan on Twitter for having his match with Pentagon Jr. go longer than expected.

#9. Ivelisse Velez vs. Tessa Blanchard

Although this feud didn’t actually start in TNA, the tension between these two could be seen as a possible factor as to why the former AEW star wasn’t brought back into Jeff Jarrett’s promotion.

During a 2018 interview, Ivelisse was set to make her long awaited return back to TNA after a brief run in the company back in 2013, however at the last minute she was told that she would no longer be needed and any communications between her and the company had ended. While a reason for the last minute cancellation has never been confirmed it can be speculated that her previous beef with third generation wrestler, Tessa Blanchard may have something to do with it. 
  
According to a now deleted documentary that was on TNA’s YouTube page, Tessa mentions that a certain individual told her that “I never had a family name. I had to work for everything I have from the streets”. Tessa also mentions that she felt unsafe working with this individual during their time in Lucha Underground.

Many believe the individual Tessa was referring to was in fact Ivelisse and that she may be responsible indirectly or otherwise for Velez’s return to TNA getting scrapped.

Considering the reputation both women have garnered over the years over their professionalism and in Tessa’s case her treatment of others in the locker room, it’s possible that Ivelisse’s return was canceled to avoid any bad feelings from resurfacing.

#8. Angelina Love vs. Brooke Tessmacher

Angelina Love and Brooke Tessmacher had a lot of similarities in their careers as both ladies had short and uneventful runs in the WWE, both went to TNA, both won the Knockouts Championship multiple times and both were top stars during their time in the company; However there is one thing that these two lovely ladies completely disagree with and that is having tattoos on certain parts of your body…allow me to explain.

In 2013, Brooke Tessmacher was responding to a bunch of comments on Twitter when a fan asked Brooke on her opinion on having tattoos on your hands; Brooke responded in a now deleted tweet where she said “On ladies no. Tats should be coverable. Classy not Trashy.” 

Somehow this tweet caught they attention of Angelina Love, who is a very much covered in tattoos and responded by saying on Twitter “Laugh of the day! Ppl who don’t know the difference between “classy & trashy” giving opinions on what’s “classy & trashy” LOL”. 

The situation started to intensify when Brooke responded back with a vicious tweet saying “Eating is important, save the surgeries 2ur face when they are actually needed, age gracefully, don’t over tan (leather skin) b proportioned”. She then liked a tweet that was made by a fan over how Angelina was “butt hurt” about the whole thing.

Love, who reportedly had weight issues growing up took major offense to this comment but she would get help in the form of her tag team partner and best friend, Velvet Sky who showed her support by posting a photo of her hands that had a thumbs up tattoo on it.

It’s unclear if or when this issue between Angelina Love and Brooke Tessmacher was ever resolved but considering the fact that Velvet and Angelina would wrestle Brooke in a number of matches between 2013-15, it’s a safe bet that the physicality and tension was certainly there and it’s a wonder how things didn’t get worse between Angelina and Brooke in the process following their verbal catfight.   

#7. Scott Steiner vs. Hulk Hogan

Hearing that Scott Steiner hated someone throughout his career isn’t too surprising especially if that person is one of the most influential figures in all of pro wrestling.

Steiner’s problems with Hulk Hogan all stemmed from Hogan’s time in TNA where Big Poppa Pump accused Hogan of ruining the careers of many young and talented stars in TNA as well as putting his real life daughter, Brooke Hogan in a position of power in the company.

In 2015, the feud went from bad to worse as Steiner was accused by Hulk Hogan for harassing his wife in an airport but a lack of camera footage supporting these claims led to Steiner not being charged of anything.

Steiner would then go on to make remarks about Hogan being racist after his sex tape scandal revealed that the Hulkster was using racial slurs against African Americans in regards to his daughter dating a black man not to mention that Steiner threatened to kill Hulk Hogan at one point…so it’s a safe bet that these two wouldn’t be resolving their issues anytime soon.

#6. Dixie Carter vs. Billy Corgan

2016 was year of two halves for TNA Wrestling: One on hand the company produced some incredible matches, it saw the Debut of Rosemary and was also the year of Matt Hardy’s Broken Brilliance with the Final Deletion.

On the other, the company was going through a financial crisis which allegedly lead to wrestlers being paid late and various amounts of cost cutting which began to derailed the company’s momentum and credibility.

Going into Bound For Glory 2016 the biggest issue wasn’t if the wrestlers would be paid but if they would have enough money to run the show in its entirety which they did thanks to Smashing Pumpkins Frontman, Billy Corgan providing the cash.

However the celebrations were short lived when it was revealed that then TNA President, Dixie Carter had swindled Billy Corgan out the money in exchange for the promise of having creative control of the company.

When this happened a lawsuit was filed by Corgan against Dixie leading to more problems within the company.Though the suit was settled and Corgan went on to take control of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), the lawsuit and scandal behind it all resulted in bad blood between the two parties which only further dragged the company’s reputation into the mud.

#5. Hania the Huntress vs. The Knockouts Locker Room

When wrestling fans know you best as the wrestler who was reportedly let go for being too difficult to work with then you know that something seriously went wrong.

That was the case in early 2018 when indy wrestler, Hania the Huntress was let go from TNA Wrestling following an alleged myriad of reasons like refusing to take part in matches, failure to show up at the events and causing problems for people in the back specifically the Knockouts locker room.

Reports suggest that Hania refuse to lose matches to names like Taya Valkyrie and Su Yung whilst also arguing with TNA Hall of Famer and TNA Wrestling executive, Gail Kim which you can imagine wasn’t the smartest career move to make. 

Hania would be gone less than a month after making her appearance on TV and although she claims that her dismal from the company has been mutual, she hasn’t appeared for another major professional wrestling company since…That’s what happens when you disrespect Gail Kim and the Knockouts locker room (allegedly).

#4. Awesome Kong vs. Bubba “The Love” Sponge

In January of 2010 an earthquake had devastated the country of Haiti, which led to an outpouring of support by people the world over; however one person who wasn’t so supportive about the whole thing was Bubba, who is quoted as saying: “I say f### Haiti. Why do we have to take care of everybody? Our country is in shambles.”

This didn’t go down well with a lot of people in the locker room chief among them was Awesome Kong who was fully supporting the idea of helping Haiti following the tragedy. Things ultimately came to ahead during one of the tapings in 2010 when Kong reported punched Bubba in the face and beat him up, which presumably got Kong over with the people in the locker room.

Not too long after this altercation, both Kong and Bubba would be gone from TNA but of course Kong would make a return to the company in 2015 before leaving in 2016 and eventually entering the TNA Hall of Fame in 2021.

Meanwhile Bubba’s name would resurfaced in the headlines again thanks to the Hulk Hogan sex scandalin 2015, which saw the Hulkster using racist language whilst sleeping with Bubba’s wife during a sex tape. 

#3. Reby Sky-Hardy vs. Awesome Kong

The former Knockouts Champion and Hall of Famer makes onto our list for a second time but instead of getting into it with one of Hogan’s friends, it’s wife of the most over wrestler in the company at the time.

Reby Sky is notorious for her remarks on Twitter/X which has seen her go too far when it comes to matters involving herself or her husband, Matt Hardy like the time she tweeted about Jeff Jarrett’s drunken history and the “F### that Owl” comment she made back in 2017 regarding the new company logo the promotion had at the time,

The issues between Reby and Kong go back to 2013 when the Awesome one made a comment referring to Sky as a ‘Ho’ during an interview with “Youshoot” and Reby Sky calling out Psycho Sid for no showing an indy event and calling Awesome Kong a lot of horrible names.

In 2016, during a TNA taping in the UK, Reby Sky got into an altercation with Awesome Kong after the two ladies were made to share a locker room together; The story has it that Kong threw Reby’s bag out of the locker room and led to Kong either making an unsuccessful run for Reby or Kong choking her up against a wall before a road agent for TNA attempted to break it up…Oh yeah and Reby’s son, King Maxel was there to see the whole thing.

Kong was unsurprisingly fired for this but as mentioned previously would come back to the company to be the 2021 inductee into the TNA Hall of Fame.

#2. CM Punk vs. Teddy Hart

CM Punk’s short run in the early days of TNA was brought up in 2023 when it looked like the company was attempting to sign Chicago’s favorite wrestler to a contract leading to that year’s Bound For Glory which was taking place in you guessed it…Chicago Illinois.

However Punk’s brief time in the company is best remembered for it’s his infamous fight and hatred for fellow wrestler, Teddy Hart.

The origins of this beef between Hart and Punk can be trace back to their time in ROH when wrestlers like CM Punk and Samoa Joe began to despise Teddy for an infamous moment that occurred at a Ring of Honor show in Elizabeth New Jersey which saw Hart do multiple moonsaults off the top of the cage before vomiting both in and outside of the ring on the final attempt which angered not only fans but also Samoa Joe, who was scheduled to wrestle next.

Teddy ended up wrestling in TNA around the same time as Punk but according to former employees and even Teddy Hart himself, the fight between the two stars happened at an eating establishment when a fight sudden broke out.

Teddy delivered a takedown maneuver to Punk but the fight didn’t last long as many who saw the fight including ECW legend Sabu was there to break it up, but the general consensus is that the fight was absolutely one-sided with Teddy getting the upper hand and Punk never having a chance to fire back.

#1. Vince Russo vs. Jim Cornette

Could it be anything else….The most well known and infamous case of hatred between coworkers in TNA has to go to two of the most polarizing bookers in all of professional wrestling: Jim Cornette and Vince Russo.

Much like the Tessa/Ivelisse feud, Russo and Cornette’s problems began way before the crossed paths in TNA but became problematic once they had to work with each other again.

In 2007, Jim Cornette signed with TNA as an on air authority figure, but his issues with Russo continued on with Cornette having to constantly deal with Russo’s the wild and crazy style of booking which caused a large amount of stress and weight gain for the former manager.

Jim Cornette wasn’t any better as he would get into shouting matches with almost anyone and everyone in the locker room with names like Dutch Mantell, Jeff Jarrett and Dixie Carter getting involved either as peacemakers or witnesses to the numerous arguments that happened behind the scenes.

The boiling point came in 2009 after Jim Cornette complained about a proposed idea Russo had which centered around putting the TNA World Title on Eric Young (who was less World Class Maniac and more comedy babyface).

Cornette was released from the company and Russo would be gone some years later with some speculating that Dixie Carter’s decision to bring him back led to the company being kicked off of Spike TV in the mid 2010’s.

Since then both Vince Russo and Jim Cornette have become blacklisted in almost every major wrestling promotion in the world whilst continuing to antagonize one another via social media, restraining orders and on various podcasts.

Cornette has even gone as far as to say that he want to live long enough to take a piss and shit on Vince Russo’s grave when Russo dies…I mean if that’s not hatred I don’t know what is.

Make sure to follow Lace ‘Em Up on X @laceemupoffice You can follow me also on X @hakeemfullerton for wrestling related articles like this and I’ll see you next time.