Tommy Dreamer Details Phone Call With Ash by Elegance When She Told Him That She Could No Longer Wrestle

Dreamer and Ash reflect on her having to step away.

As a part of TNA Wrestling’s Victory Road special, there was an appearance from then-Knockouts World Champion Ash by Elegance. She revealed that due to an undisclosed health issue, she would be relinquishing the title and stepping away from in-ring competition.

Fight Network and TNA rolled out an ‘Immersed’ mini-documentary episode about Ash’s journey through TNA and having to retire from in-ring action. TNA creative team member Tommy Dreamer was interviewed for it, and he recounted when Ash called him and shared that she could no longer wrestle.

Dreamer: “It was one of those phone calls that, you know, when you get ‘em, they’re so early in the morning, right away you’re concerned, and she’s like, ‘I can’t wrestle anymore,’ and I was like, ‘What?’ Basically, tells me she’s no longer medically cleared to wrestle, and I could hear the heartbreak in her voice. She said she was really nervous and upset. Feeling that she had let me down and I was like, ‘You never let me down,’ and she reminded me so many times of, like, how real and powerful this thing called professional wrestling is because she’s going through some health stuff. But her biggest concern is representing the women’s division and being champion. But, there is a bigger picture.”

When Ash returned backstage following her announcement, she gave the following comments:

Ash: “I thought winning that title was hard. This was the hardest thing I ever had to do in my career. Going out there and being vulnerable to the crowd, being vulnerable to myself… and I’m getting emotional now. That’s what I said when I knew TNA was a family and that locker room was a family and that’s what I’m gonna miss. I’m gonna miss that so, so much, and I will be at the front and center so each and every woman can feel what I felt tonight and the love and the support and the appreciation, and I think I left my legacy in the ring. Like I said, I don’t know what happens from here. But my home is here. My home is in TNA. Feels so weird to take that last step out of those ropes, and not have my title. I didn’t know a title meant so much, but that ring means so much more. The message doesn’t change. I said it in the start and I’m gonna say it now: Never give up.”

Ash stated during a virtual signing that she is retired from in-ring action. She is still appearing on TNA programming alongside The Elegance Brand (Heather by Elegance, M by Elegance & The Personal Concierge).

She was on the 11/6 show, and the group is now looking for Mr. Elegance. That individual will receive a one-year contract with TNA.

If the quotes in this article are used, please credit Fight Network with an H/T to Fightful for the transcriptions.