Former TNA World Champion Reacts To Being Excluded From Team TNA

The superstars of TNA and NXT go to war this Tuesday.

After months of superstars for each show visiting and invading the other, they finally do battle this Tuesday on the CW. The story reached a boiling point when TNA superstars raided the ending of Trick Williams versus Oba Femi in a Winner-Takes-All double championship match for both the NXT and TNA championships.

NXT still holds the TNA World Championship with Trick Williams. The last time he successfully defended the TNA World Championship before Oba Fami was against Moose at TNA's Emergence.

Williams and new NXT Champion Ricky Saints lead Team NXT while Moose leads Team TNA. But there is a former one-time TNA World Champion who wondered about his exclusion from the show.

Steve Maclin waits for bigger role

Former TNA World Champion Steve Maclin sat down for an interview with Mark Hoke and vented about his exclusion from TNA's clash with NXT.

“I’m hoping for the best for Team TNA and everybody involved. Obviously, I’m not there. I wasn’t picked for the team, which makes me wonder what’s going on in that situation. I don’t know. I guess not all soldiers, in a way, or Marines, are going to go to fight the war at the same time."
Steve Maclin

Maclin may have been excluded from being able to defend TNA's honor at Showdown, but his pride for TNA Wrestling has not wavered one bit. He remains optimistic and hopeful that he'll receive a bigger role in the story before it's all over.

"So I guess I’ll just sit and wait for something a little bit bigger on that end. But I got my fingers crossed that Team TNA will do their thing, and we’ll see what comes out of that.”
Steve Maclin on waiting for bigger role

Maclin is a one-time TNA World Champion

Maclin will miss the Showdown card completely. Other matchups on the show include a Women's NXT versus TNA tag team match, Ethan Page versus Mustafa Ali for the NXT North American Championship, and a Winners-Take-All Tag Team Championship match between The Hardyz of TNA and Darkstate of NXT.

Maclin became TNA World Champion in 2023 by beating KUSHIDA for the vacant title. The title had become vacant due to an injury to champion Josh Alexander. Maclin enjoyed a two-month reign before losing the championship to one half of the Motor City Machine Guns duo Alex Shelley.

NXT Showdown airs live on The CW this Tuesday night at 8:00pm Eastern.

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