Shelly Martinez did not walk away from TNA because she had lost her passion for wrestling. She quit because she was staring down an eviction notice and needed enough money to survive.
Speaking on her Too Much Information podcast, Martinez reacted to Awesome Kong’s comments about the low pay received by members of TNA’s Knockouts division on Darkside of the Ring. Kong said some champions were forced to work outside jobs despite regularly appearing on television. Martinez said Kong’s story hit home because the two women regularly discussed their financial struggles while working for TNA.
“Kong and I go way back, and we were able to reconnect by working with each other regularly at TNA. We would talk about these things. We were two broke-ass bitches just trying.”
Martinez stressed that they were far from the only wrestlers struggling to keep their lives together. Her financial situation became so bad that utilities inside her home were regularly shut off.
“We weren’t the only ones. It was rough. Going back to why I quit—to refresh the listeners and viewers out there—I was just struggling.”
“I constantly was getting things shut off in the place I was living. The gas would be shut off a lot, so I had to take cold showers. I was grateful to be able to take a shower, but it’s rough when that shower is cold and there’s no temperature.”
Martinez’s TNA contract included a $100 increase if the company renewed her for another year. That was not a fortune, but she said every additional dollar mattered at the time. The breaking point came when she was offered a role in an independent film. The production needed her for approximately one week, and Martinez planned to use the money to pay her rent. At the time, LAX was involved in a program with Team 3D ahead of a Canadian pay-per-view. Martinez emailed Terry Taylor with an idea that would allow TNA to temporarily remove her from television while she completed the movie.
“I told him, ‘Look, I’ve got this gig coming up. I need it to pay my rent so I don’t get kicked out. Can I just go through a table at the pay-per-view, and then I’ll be out for TV so I can go do this movie?’”
Taylor told Martinez they would discuss the situation when she arrived, which she interpreted as a rejection. Martinez then offered another solution. She would cancel the movie if TNA gave her the $100 contractual increase early.
“I said, ‘Look, I’ll flake on this gig if you give me my $100 bump now.’”
According to Martinez, Taylor said the company could not give her the increase early. That left her with no clear way to pay her rent. Martinez said the decision was driven by panic, not anger or ego.
“That’s when I said, ‘Well, then I’m going to have to quit because I was counting on that money from the film to pay my rent, because I was already getting an eviction notice.’”
“I had to have that money. I felt like if I got at least that bump, I could go to the landlord and be like, ‘Look, I just got a raise.’ I had something to work with.”
“That’s why I quit. It was out of fear. It was out of, ‘What am I going to do?’ I needed something that would buy me another month to figure it out.”
Martinez was appearing on national television, working physical matches and representing one of TNA’s featured acts, yet she was still one missed payment away from losing her home. Her exit was not a dramatic wrestling storyline. It was a real-life financial emergency.
What do you make of Shelly Martinez quitting TNA because she needed money to avoid eviction? Let us know your thoughts and leave your feedback in the comments.
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