A Look at a Very Elegant Debut at TNA's "Hard to Kill" Event

Wrestling fans witnessed a landmark moment on Saturday, January 13, 2024. The Hard to Kill event marked the return of TNA Wrestling after seven years of being known as Impact Wrestling, with the TNA name's return being announced months prior at Bound For Glory. The event was quite big for TNA's Knockouts Division. For one, the main show kicked off with the Knockouts Ultimate X match, which was won by Gisele Shaw. I saw this coming; Gisele had been gaining a lot of good elevation in the last year. 2023 was good to Gisele, and I had a feeling that 2024 would see that elevation continue to improve.

We also saw a surprising Knockouts World Tag Team Championship contest between MK Ultra (Masha Slamovich and Killer Kelly) and the reborn Decay (Rosemary and Havok), with the latter winning to capture the tag belts. This was a surprise in more ways than one, as Rosemary and Havok had been competing together as Courtney Rush and Jessicka for several months. The main bout for the women's division was the Knockouts World Championship contest between champion Trinity and Jordynne Grace, which was months in the making after Jordynne won the Call Your Shot Battle Royal--the first woman to do so.

Prior to this match, we saw someone make her entrance; her back was turned after she left the limo, though I found myself wondering who she could be. After a while, we would learn who it was, and we were absolutely delighted!

The name she was going by was "Ash By Elegance," but we all knew and recognized her as Dana Brooke. She simply stood among the crowd and watched the title bout, which was back and forth and captivating, and ended with Jordynne Grace crowned as the new champion. This was an outcome I saw coming, because there have been rumblings that Trinity could be on her way back to WWE. For Jordynne, the win begins her third reign as Knockouts World Champion, and her first under the returning TNA banner.

Ash By Elegance was impressed by what she watched, and I'm still beaming over the fact that the woman formerly known as Dana Brooke in WWE is now in TNA. Dana Brooke had been in WWE for a full decade; signed by WWE in 2013 and debuted in NXT in an alliance with Emma. After three years, Dana had been called up, but the original plan was for her and Emma's alliance to continue, but Emma was sidelined due to injury. Dana ended up paired with Charlotte Flair and served as The Queen's evil henchwoman for over a year, until Dana turned face due to being tired of Charlotte's attitude. She actually worked as a face for the remainder of her WWE career, which would see her in various angles and end with Dana back in NXT, though I still say she was on the verge of turning heel before her release.

So we are now introduced to the renamed "Ash By Elegance." The name and her look definitely suggest that this is a villainous gimmick, and it's already drawn comparisons to Toni Storm's current gimmick in AEW, though--to be honest--this is a better version of Toni's gimmick. In 10 years in WWE, Dana was hardly used and never pushed. Hell, fans in attendance were even punished for supporting her; I still remember WWE confiscated a "Give Dana Brooke a Chance" sign from a fan. I actually thought that Dana being back in NXT would be the start of something good for her, but that wouldn't be the case, either.

I see some big things for the renamed "Ash By Elegance" in TNA. She's going to get a quick push, because that's what TNA usually does ("WWE won't push you? We will."). She definitely deserves it. Ash By Elegance should be immensely over in TNA, especially as a heel. Again, I already think it's better than Toni's gimmick in AEW, and Ash pulls it off much better. Time will tell where this goes, but I'm very excited to see more of Ash By Elegance in TNA!