Subhojeet Mukherjee on April 9, 2026
The real story behind the canceled MJF vs. Nic Nemeth match just came into focus—and it all comes down to a last-minute call from TNA.
After the planned MJF vs. Nic Nemeth match for Create-A-Pro’s May 1 event suddenly fell apart, Nemeth has now explained what happened from his side. According to Nemeth, he only found out the match was off while he was flying in, and the reason came down to TNA protecting existing partnerships and contractual commitments.
That’s the update here. Not just that the match is canceled, but that Nemeth says the call came late and was tied directly to TNA President Carlos Silva making what he described as a difficult business decision.
While speaking on Busted Open, Nemeth made it clear this was not something he saw coming ahead of time. He said he was excited for the match and only learned it was dead while traveling.
“You know, I was really looking forward to this. I was really, really excited… But yes, as of yesterday, as I was flying in, I found out it’s because of certain partnerships and brands. TNA President Carlos Silva had to make a difficult decision and protect a couple of brands down the line and things that are actually contractually obligated to happen.”
Nemeth also suggested the situation may have changed after earlier approvals were already in place. He explained that what might have worked before no longer worked once multiple moving parts collided.
“Ya can’t just kind of do whatever we want, even though I think some things were approved at a different time when it became the situation that it is now with a couple of different things happening at once…”
He did not hide how disappointed he was either. Nemeth said flat-out that he was crushed the match could not happen, while also confirming that Create-A-Pro is still moving ahead with adjusted plans.
“I’m crushed. I was very much looking forward to doing this but, it’s unable to happen at the moment so, we’re still doing the Create-A-Pro show and refunds will be available and also, MJF’s gonna do an open challenge there and he’s still gonna (be) signing and doing all the things at Create-A-Pro for that big show, and all of those things will happen.”
He also admitted the situation exposed a communication problem. Nemeth said this should have been handled earlier and made it clear that talent and companies alike need to stay sharper when it comes to restrictions tied to outside bookings.
“I’m going to wrestle Bear Bronson for the first time ever. I hate that it had to come out this way, I hate that this wasn’t all taken care of in the past but, that’s something we can all work on. I gotta start reading some fine print and we have to protect people that we actually work with and we have partnerships with.”
Nemeth kept going from there and pointed to the bigger issue for TNA wrestlers, which is that many of them rely heavily on indie dates outside the company. That made this situation feel even bigger than one canceled match.
“Usually, I’m pretty great about that so, I’ll stay on that for everything that we do because a lot of different things that TNA talent do, two out of three weeks or three out of four weeks are independent shows and getting paid that way and being able to go out there and have that leeway from the company but, we just need to be a little bit better communicating with each other going forward and I’m bummed out. I’m gonna try and make this match happen one day, and hopefully soon, but at the moment, it is currently not happening but, Friday, May 1st, I’ll still be there, Melville, New York for Create-A-Pro…”
At this point, the match is dead for now, Nemeth is moving on to Bear Bronson, and MJF is pivoting to an open challenge. But Nemeth also made it clear he still wants the match to happen down the line, which means this story may not be over yet.
Do you think TNA made the right call here, or should Nic Nemeth vs. MJF have been allowed to happen? Drop your thoughts in the comments and leave your feedback.
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