Moose has spent 10 years helping build TNA, but he doesn’t expect to spend the rest of his career there. In fact, he says the day he leaves is inevitable—and when it happens, he hopes fans understand why instead of pointing fingers.
Speaking on Busted Open After Dark, Moose was first asked about spending a decade in TNA and watching countless roster changes, management changes and creative shakeups over the years. Instead of focusing on the names who have left, he explained that turnover is simply the reality of professional wrestling, even if fans sometimes take every departure personally.
“It’s just one of those things. It happens. I mean, wrestling’s a revolving door, right? Somebody new leaves, somebody new comes in. I wish our fans knew that a little bit more than the boys do because it tends to be when somebody leaves or asks for their release or their contract is up, you go on social media and everybody’s blasting TNA about, ‘Oh my God, this person’s leaving.’
But I’ve been in TNA for 10 years, and I wish I could tell you it’d been different. It happens every single year. Somebody we love is gonna leave, and somebody new that we get to love is gonna come in.”
That naturally led him to something he knows will eventually apply to him too. Moose admitted there will come a time when he leaves TNA, but he doesn’t want that moment to become another story about the company somehow failing to keep its talent.
“I mean, there’s gonna be a day when I leave TNA, you know what I’m saying? I don’t know when that day is. And I don’t want fans saying, ‘Oh, TNA messed up by not keeping Moose,’ or by not… No. I mean, it is a business. It’s what happens.”
For Moose, there isn’t always one dramatic reason a wrestler moves on. Sometimes it’s about money, sometimes it’s about fresh opponents, and sometimes it’s simply because you’ve accomplished everything you wanted in one place.
“You get tired of staying in the place. You want to get more money. You wanna have new, more different kind of matches. You wanna wrestle newer people than the people that you’ve been wrestling. There’s so many different reasons why people leave and why people come in. So you can’t get mad at the company when that happens.”
To drive his point home, Moose pointed to his time in the NFL, saying roster turnover is simply part of professional sports. From his perspective, wrestling isn’t any different, which is why he hopes fans don’t immediately blame a promotion every time someone decides to move on.
“Just know it’s a business and it happens everywhere. I mean, I played in the NFL for seven years, and I was with the [team] when we had, I believe, 120 transactions in one year. So it happens. It’s life. It’s a job. So just bear with us. There’s gonna be new faces coming in, there’s gonna be old faces leaving. It’s just part of the business.”
Once Moose acknowledged that he’ll eventually leave TNA, the obvious follow-up was whether he actually wants to wrestle somewhere else. He admitted those conversations happen every time his contract comes up, and they’re discussions he has with both his family and the people closest to him.
“Oh, yeah. I mean, yeah. It feels like every year when my contract is up, this is a conversation that I have with my family and I have with people internally closer to me.”
Moose didn’t dance around the question. He openly admitted there are dream matches waiting for him in WWE, AEW, New Japan and Mexico, but said his decision to stay in TNA has always been exactly that—his decision.
“I mean, yeah. Do I wanna wrestle other places? Yeah. I mean, there’s matches that I would love to have, like in WWE or in AEW or in Mexico or in New Japan. There’s a bunch of matches I would love to have.”
Moose didn’t stop there. He also pushed back on one rumor that has followed him for years, making it clear his career hasn’t unfolded the way some fans think it has. According to Moose, the idea that other major promotions never wanted him simply isn’t true.
“And it’s just one of those things that, for one reason or another, I haven’t done it yet. And I know fans are gonna sit here and say, ‘Oh, Moose never got hired by this company because of his past,’ and ‘Moose never got hired by this company ’cause he sucks,’ and just know that I’ve been offered by every company out there.”
Moose said there has always been a reason to stay. Even when opportunities elsewhere came up, he felt there were still personal goals in TNA that he hadn’t accomplished yet.
“It’s just my decision to stay in TNA. It’s for personal reasons, for things that I wanted to achieve that I haven’t achieved yet. And it’s coming down the road. I’m older now. I’ve achieved a lot in TNA, and we’ll see when that time comes again what I decide to do.”
One goal still keeps pulling him back. Despite winning the TNA World Championship three times, Moose has only experienced life at the top as a villain. Before he leaves, he’d love the chance to find out whether a babyface championship run suits him just as well.
“I mean, I know a goal of mine just with TNA that I’ve never done, and whoever has followed my career, I’ve been champion, world champion three times in TNA. Actually, all my championship runs in TNA, I’ve been a bad guy.
So I want to know what the experience is being a champion as a lovable character, you know, because I’ve never experienced that. Would I be good at it? Would I suck at it? I don’t know, but that’s a goal of mine.
And I hope before my time is up, whenever that is with TNA, I get to accomplish that. But if I don’t in TNA, maybe I’ll accomplish it somewhere else, you know?
But there’s still a lot of Moose to show the world. There’s still a lot of bumping and giving people bumps and flipping and doing Spanish Fly in this 6’6″, 250-pound frame. So I’m gonna enjoy it till the wheels fall off.”
Moose has never hidden his loyalty to TNA, but he also isn’t pretending he’ll be there forever. Whether that next chapter begins in WWE, AEW, Japan or somewhere else, it sounds like the former TNA World Champion already knows one thing—he still has unfinished business in wrestling, even if that business eventually takes him away from the company he’s called home for the last decade.
If Moose eventually leaves TNA, where would you want to see him wrestle next? Let us know 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.
