Elayna Black got bloodied, beaten and denied the biggest championship win of her TNA career at Lockdown — but good luck convincing her that story is over. Black says she’s only 25 years old, still in year one with the company and has absolutely “no doubt” the Knockouts World Championship will eventually belong to her.
Black addressed the loss while speaking with Justin Woolwine on the Isle of Wrestling Podcast, where the conversation immediately turned to her brutal hometown fight against Xia Brookside. Black came painfully close to walking out of Chicago with the title, but Brookside escaped the steel cage with the Knockouts World Championship after a dirty finish that had the hometown crowd unloading on her.
Black didn’t pretend the loss didn’t sting, especially with friends and family sitting in the building expecting to watch her biggest career moment unfold. She also made it very clear that one bad night isn’t changing where she believes this whole thing is headed.
“Yeah, you know, obviously I would have loved to come out of lockdown with the title, you know, 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. So, obviously that would have been great, but you know, 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 may not have gotten the belt, but she wasn’t walking away acting like Lockdown was some complete failure either. She believes the cage match showed fans a version of Elayna Black they hadn’t seen before — and maybe proved something to people who doubted she had that kind of fight in her.
“Um so, that aside, um it was a very very special night. Just uh you know, like you said, do it in front of my friends and family. I think Gia 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. And I think, you know, we 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.”
The damage certainly backed that up. Black walked out of the cage looking like she’d been through hell and later showed off the bloody aftermath of the Lockdown fight, but she says the performance gave people something else to think about besides the result.
“And you know, 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, you know, maybe a different side of me that people haven’t seen or, you know, kind of have doubted me and haven’t, you know, maybe think I had it in me.”
Black wasn’t finished there. She said she remains proud of what happened inside that cage despite wishing the night had ended with championship gold around her waist.
“So, um I think we did I think we did a great job and I’m I’m very proud of that. And like I said, would have loved to have come out with the title, but it was a very special night regardless.”
That confidence didn’t disappear once Black left Chicago either. On the August 27 episode of iMPACT, Black again made it clear that she believes becoming Knockouts World Champion is only a matter of time, saying she was disappointed by Lockdown but reminding everyone that she’s only 25 and just getting started in TNA.
Lockdown left Black without the championship and with plenty of blood to clean up, but it clearly didn’t knock an ounce of confidence out of her. She’s not talking like somebody wondering whether she’ll ever reach the top of TNA’s Knockouts division — she’s talking like somebody already counting the days until that title finally lands around her waist.
Do you think Elayna Black is destined to eventually become TNA Knockouts World Champion after what she showed at Lockdown? Let us know what you think and leave your feedback in the comments.
This transcript was produced exclusively for Ringside News from the original recording. Republishing the transcription in full is prohibited. When using excerpts, provide prominent credit and a link to this article.
