Rich Swann was released from TNA Wrestling.
The news wasn’t particularly shocking since the former TNA World Heavyweight Champion hadn’t wrestled for the promotion since August 3, 2024. Then, Swann took on Mike Bailey for the X-Division Championship and he came out on the losing end.
A short time later, Swann was suspended after recently a public intoxication charge that forced him into rehab. The writing was on the wall when he didn’t return from his 30-day suspension. It also didn’t help that Swann was competing with everyone else except TNA. Despite the release, there’s no hard feelings about the way his relationship ended with the company.
Swann spoke on K100 about the end of his TNA run for the first time since his release and explained what happened with his contract.
“So this is the thing, I wasn’t released,” Rich Swann began. “The thing was I got suspended and everything like that, and afterwards, I didn’t hear anything from the management, but what I had found out was, you know, later, basically the management was being shuffled around and the guys that I had dealt with.
“When they told me the 30-day suspension and afterwards, we would talk about my contract because it was coming up at the end of that December and it was going to be a rollover decision on if they would want to keep me for one more year or, you know, if I wanted to leave or anything like that, and it was gonna be a bump in pay.
“But the one thing that I was told by the person that was released from IMPACT was that they were switching the way that they were doing their business and their contracts, and models, and they didn’t want to have anybody on a guaranteed contract. At the same token, I’m somebody that’s going to take responsibility for my actions and for myself. As a company, you don’t wanna have somebody that has on their — as a stain. Oh, he’s being arrested. The alcohol and everything…”
Swann would actually go into detail about the incident that got him arrested. The former TNA star seems to be in a good headspace these days. Though he’s no longer with TNA, Swann noted that he’s also a year sober, so it’s great that he’s managed to get his personal life back in order. Swann is still very active as a wrestler, though it wouldn’t be surprising if he popped up in TNA in the future. I highly recommend that you check out the full interview!