TNA Wrestling Called a Career Reset for Overlooked WWE Stars

Steve Maclin knows exactly what TNA Wrestling is—and what it isn’t. In the same WrestleBinge interview where he called for AJ Styles and Drew McIntyre to “cross the line” back into TNA, Maclin also took a deeper dive into what makes the promotion stand out in today’s crowded wrestling scene.

While reflecting on his journey from WWE castoff to TNA standout, Maclin described the company as a reset button for talent that never quite got their due on a bigger stage.

“That’s just what TNA Wrestling’s always been about—it’s a place for reinvention. It’s a place for people that have—not to say they were misused—but they just weren’t used at the time, because they weren’t fitting the role they were put in at that moment. So now you get an opportunity somewhere else to kind of show the world, and people go, ‘Oh wow, he’s actually really good,’ or ‘She’s really good—I didn’t know they could do this.’”

Maclin went even further, linking TNA’s approach to wrestling’s territorial roots, where moving from promotion to promotion gave talent new chances to shine.

“And that’s just pro wrestling. You had the territories back in the day. Now you have different companies everywhere.”

The conversation then turned to how today’s nonstop wrestling content makes it harder for performers to stand out. Maclin didn’t hold back about the pressure to keep up—and get noticed.

“That’s also the hard thing too with the internet now, with wrestling fans. Like, I couldn’t imagine being a wrestling fan—because what happens on a Monday, you forget about by the time it’s even Wednesday. There’s so much Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday TV… and even Saturday. So it’s like—you can have a 60-minute Iron Man match on Monday, and it’s the best match ever… and then it’s not even talked about within a few days.”

Maclin’s own career arc proves his point. After being left adrift in WWE’s Forgotten Sons, he rebuilt himself in TNA into a hard-hitting, respected main event player. Now he’s using that platform to push for dream opponents and amplify what makes the company different.

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