Ash by Elegance Says WWE Gave Her PTSD and She Didn’t Trust TNA at First

sh by Elegance is opening up about how much emotional baggage she carried after leaving WWE—so much so that she didn’t initially trust TNA when they offered her a fresh start.

During her Busted Open After Dark interview with Denise Salcedo, Ash got real about the dark place she found herself in after WWE let her go. When Denise asked what the hardest part of her journey was, Ash didn’t hesitate to admit the mental toll WWE took on her.

“To be honest with me, coming from WWE—I just, you know, when I got that call, it was just like a dark cloud. And I was like, man, like, can I do this? Or should I continue to do this? Like, what… what am I doing?”

She eventually decided to take the leap and reinvent herself completely. But the trauma stuck with her—even when the TNA opportunity looked good on paper, she still questioned whether it was legit.

“And then I was like, you know what, let’s go for it, let’s go for it and let’s just reinvent this whole—like right now is the time. Let’s start fresh, start new, have this new persona, this new look, this new character.”

Ash gave credit to TNA’s Tommy Dreamer and Gail Kim for believing in her and reaching out, but said her WWE experience left her hesitant to believe it was more than just talk.

“It was a blessing when Tommy Dreamer and Gail Kim reached out to me. Tommy… got on that phone and was like, ‘I believe in you. I know what you’re capable of.’”

Even then, she admitted she felt conditioned not to trust anything until it actually happened.

“But it’s like this PTSD coming from WWE over into a new promotion because it’s just like—okay, well, am I just getting fed all this stuff or is it actually going to happen?”

It wasn’t until she actually experienced TNA’s follow-through that she began to let her guard down.

“And over in TNA, it happens. What they say goes. When they give you an opportunity, they give you a shot. They give you a chance.”

Ash’s honesty pulls the curtain back on something most fans never get to hear—how real emotional trauma from behind the scenes can follow a wrestler long after their contract ends. It’s a side of the business that often goes unspoken, and her words show just how deep the scars from WWE can run.

Have you seen other wrestlers open up like this about life after WWE? What do you think companies can do better to support talent once they move on? Drop your thoughts in the comments.

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