Carlos Silva Contradicts Himself Explaining Why He Pulled TNA Stars From Matches With AEW Talent

TNA President Carlos Silva's latest reasoning for pulling his talents from independent matches with AEW stars contradicts his initial explanation.

Earlier this month, multiple independent events featuring matches pitting the stars of TNA Wrestling and AEW were canceled when TNA pulled its talent from their respective matches.

Nic Nemeth was set to face MJF at Create A Pro, while X-Division Champion Leon Slater was set to face Ricochet at a charity event in Las Vegas during WrestleMania weekend.

Carlos Silva tells me that TNA wrestlers have been pulled from some shows due to "partner conflicts"
— Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com (@SeanRossSapp) April 8, 2026

Reports would quickly emerge that Carlos Silva was upset about AEW Collision moving to Thursdays and cutting into iMPACT's viewership. This reasoning seems unusual, as AEW doesn't control its weekly schedule to move nights; Warner Bros. Discovery handles moves like that for special events like college basketball and the NHL playoffs.

When asked for comment by Fightful's Sean Ross Sapp, Carlos Silva said the talent were pulled from these events due to "partner conflicts." This led fans to believe either AMC or WWE stepped in to prevent these matches from taking place.

Carlos Silva now says he made the call to pull TNA talent out of matches with AEW stars

TNA President Carlos Silva was a recent guest on Busted Open Radio. When asked what went into that decision and whether it was a tough choice, Silva admitted it was, but openly said it had to do with AEW "moving into our night," confirming the original reports.

"It was super tough. And look, all these business decisions are tough," Carlos Silva said. "And I don't like being called a little b---- on social any more than anyone does, but it's okay. Yeah, you do take the good with the bad, and you got to make some hard decisions. My job sometimes is to make hard decisions, and for the fans and for all of you, and for you, Mike, and our locker room, we're going to make decisions that are good for TNA, and we got to protect TNA.

"As Kevin Plank and Under Armour used to say, you got to protect this house. And it's a real slogan. And we've had some other folks come at us, and they've moved into our nights. They've made some decisions, they've tried to block us in arenas and venues, and that stuff's real, and it's out there. It's okay, because everyone's got to make the decisions for their business, but we're also just not going to lie down and not make decisions that are good for our business.

Carlos Silva responds to why the decision was made to cancel the Nic Nemeth & MJF match.#bustedopen247 pic.twitter.com/nGEVG8MqYz
— SiriusXM Busted Open (@BustedOpenRadio) April 29, 2026

"And unfortunately, sometimes those decisions are tough, and we're very thoughtful about them, and we try to do the best to make good when we have to make those decisions. And in the case of Nic and Leon and a few of the matches that had to get shut down, we tried to make good and make calls and take care of the business as best we could."

When straight-up asked if it was his decision to pull the TNA talent from these matches, Silva confirmed that to be the case.

"Yeah, it was my decision," Carlos Silva said. "Yeah, I take full ownership. Look, I've got a great team, and we talk about these things together, but sometimes I'm the guy that has to make that decision, and then you move on, and you sort of go to work the next day and you work hard again and get stuff done."

So which one is it, Carlos Silva?

Now, within a matter of weeks, we have two separate explanations from Carlos Silva explaining why the TNA talent were pulled from these matches against contracted AEW talent.

I think it’s cool that you can just lie.

my turn.

I think Kevin knight has a shot at beating me at 8pm sharp and I also think Darby Allin is a GREAT champion.

🙄 https://t.co/AHjLzp4kVs
— Maxwell Jacob Friedman™️ (@The_MJF) April 29, 2026

So which one is it? Was it truly partnership conflicts with the likes of WWE or AMC? Or were the initial reports of Silva being upset with Collision airing on Thursdays the catalyst for this change?

Regardless of which one it is, Silva should clarify once and for all the proper reasoning. While fans are seemingly happier when they have someone to blame, pointing fingers in multiple directions only causes more headaches for everyone involved.

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