Dani Luna on why TNA Wrestling is ‘exactly what I needed’ after WWE NXT UK run

At 24 years young, Dani Luna has been wrestling for nearly a decade but it feels like her career is truly just beginning. 

After beginning at just 16, Luna got her first big break as part of the now-defunct WWE NXT UK when she was 19 — just three years after she began training.

Luna now finds herself as a full-time member of the TNA Wrestling roster with title aspirations on her goals for 2024.

In our 20-minute interview you can watch on YouTube above, Luna and I talked about her TNA pay-per-view debut in a high-risk match, her NXT UK run, and those aforementioned goals.

She believes being with TNA is “exactly what I needed at this point in my career.”

“It was terrifying more than anything.”

The England native signed with TNA Wrestling in December 2023 after working for the company during both their Canadian and UK tours earlier that year.

She made her PPV debut at January’s Hard to Kill in an Ultimate X match with five other women for a future Knockouts title shot.

While she said the opportunity was “cool,” she also said it was more “terrifying than anything” due to fear about falling off the structure — something she wished she had done earlier than later in the match to get it out of her system.

“…The fear of falling off of that thing is so much worse than actually falling off of it. But, it was it was so cool…the amount of things you can do in a match like that. If you think of all the things you can do in a match and then you add six other people and then you add this huge structure that you can all hang off of….there’s just so many ways to get around it.”

“And obviously I was sharing it with some incredible women too, lots of women that I had never even wrestled before. So that was a whole thing in itself. But yeah, it was crazy. It was it was a great time, but I reckon I’d like to do another one, but maybe not loads of them.”

The night was a big one for TNA as it was the first following their rebrand from Impact Wrestling back to their iconic naming convention. The match was also first on the PPV, something that wasn’t lost on Luna.

“It did really kind of throw me into the deep end a little bit. So many people that might not have even been watching TNA at the time who tuned in because this was the first PPV back, and then I’m one of the first people they see and they might not have even never heard of me. So, it was a really nice way and a really good showcase for me to show what I’m all about in a really exciting way.”

Luna is still early in her TNA run, but has already found a friend in Jody Threat. The two teamed up last month and Threat backed her up following her win over Killer Kelly on Thursday’s Impact. It’s a partnership she hopes has gold in its future.

“I think our goal for 2024 is to win the Knockouts Tag Team Championships and I don’t think that’s completely out of left field. I think is absolutely something we could do. I think we’re starting to build a really good tag division in TNA now and I would love to get there on a bigger stage with her. She’s one of my favorite people in the world so I would love to hold gold with her in TNA this year.” 

The NXT UK years

Luna first became a fan of wrestling when she was 14 after her brother introduced her to it. Two years later, she was in wrestling school at just 16. Three years after that, she was signed to a WWE deal for the NXT UK brand where she made her home from 2019 through 2022.

She went on to say that while she learned a lot in NXT UK, she was too young to be on a stage of that level and that it was a lot to handle.

“I don’t think I was necessarily ready for that sort of stage at my age and my experience level, but it gave me so many tools that I think now I can bring to somewhere like TNA where I’m a bit more grown up, a bit more experienced, and a lot more prepared for it.”

The Big Vinny V Show: TNA Impact review featuring Kazuchika Okada’s return

I am back reviewing another episode of TNA Impact on this week’s Big Vinny V Show.

Our main event sees “The Rainmaker” Kazuchika Okada return to TNA for the first time in a decade to team with the Motor City Machine Guns. Also, after 20 years in the business, Nic Nemeth wrestled his first match outside the WWE umbrella.

Plus, Jordynne Grace defended the Knockouts title against Trinity in what turned out to be a Royal Rumble preview, and we got one of the wackiest tag teams of ex-WWE guys you could ever imagine.

All this and more on The Big Vinny V Show!

Click Here to Listen (sub needed)

Rhino on 27 years in wrestling, planning to wrestle for five more years

On his 27th anniversary in pro wrestling, I spoke to the “War Machine” Rhino. With nearly three decades as a professional wrestler, Rhino (real name Terrance Guido Gerin, 46) has seen and done it all in this business.

Rhino on what keeps him motivated to keep wrestling after 27 years in the business

Rhino explained that he keeps wrestling because he’s afraid that there won’t be any wrestlers left to connect between the older and newer generations of wrestling fans. He also explained that is why he never changed his appearance.

“That’s another reason why I never tried to change my look, or style, or my hair color or cut my hair, the only time I wear my hair down is when I wrestle and I can’t wait until the day that I can cut it. I try not to change too much, you never want to see your heroes get older, that’s why I try to keep the same look so I don’t change,” Rhyno explained. “I am that connection from when a kid went to watch me in ECW with their dad, and now they are taking their child to watch me wrestle twenty years later.”

Rhino says he plans to still wrestle for five more years

Currently Rhino is still an active member of the IMPACT Wrestling roster, so I asked him what he still would like to do in the wrestling world. He informed me that he would like to wrestle a few more years and slowly transition to a producer role to help younger talent.

“Well hopefully, God willing, I can have five more years in the wrestling business, I wanna slowly taper off, and then move more to the behind-the-scenes as a producer and along the way work with people and boost up their careers and and help them get on the path that they are supposed to take,” Rhino said.

When asked about who he would like to wrestle that he has never wrestled before, Rhino named Kevin Owens.

Rhino says he left WWE In 2019 when his contract expired because he was unhappy

Rhino confirmed in our conversation that he was offered double the money to stay with WWE in 2019, however due to the lack of house show appearances and traveling, he decided he would rather take the pay cut and do more for the business outside of WWE.

“Well I was very fortunate that they were even thinking of signing me, and doubling [the pay],” Rhino said. “I am not in [the pro wrestling business] because I am looking for glory, I am in it to be in the ring with the younger talent to show them a little bit here and a little bit there, and I also learn because I never stop learning.”

“With WWE, I would have been sitting at home more, because they had I wanna say close to 250 people under contract,” Rhino added. “And I understand that. I never wanted to be a focal point. I would have liked to do the live events and travel with some of the guys because you learn the business in the car traveling town to town [without having] to be on TV. But the thing is they wanted guys to get experience, so when I was only on the road once a month I was starting to hate life. So I chose. Do I collect a paycheck or do I leave, make less money but make more of an impact in wrestling to help other guys, to go on the indies, try to find the next Rock, the next Stone Cold, the next Lita. So that’s what my decision was and IMPACT was such a good fit because Scott D’ Amore is the guy that trained me, and I had seen how he built this roster. If you look from 2019 to now, the roster is a world series team.”

You can check out the entire conversation with myself and Rhino below. 

TNA Impact Wrestling Results: Bobby Lashley vs. Shera, Davey Richards vs. EC3

Last week, EC3 beat DJZ and Uno lucked out a win over Gail Kim. Davey Richards pinned Bram with a small package, while Shera beat Eli Drake. Bobby Roode worked heel for one match and lost by V1-ing Matt and eating a Twist of Fate, while Godderz cheated to beat Kong, and EY beat Kenny King. In the main event, Lashley beat Drew Galloway. We get a recap of last week’s matches to set up tonight’s matches, including Lashley vs. Shera. A tale of the tape makes them seem very similar. Josh talks about building up a lot of momentum just by winning, which Shera has done. Well, he’s done one of those things. Pope calls him a household name as well. Josh and Pope debate whether it’s the Shera Shuffle or Shera Shake before Josh just decides that Shera Shuffle is trending. Lashley comes out in Wal-Mart workout gear for the World Title Series. Josh talks about Drew and uses the captain moniker for him a ton. Why is Drew the Captain of TNA? Shouldn’t he be the Dollar General?

Mahabali Shera vs. Lashley

Shera dominates Lashley in the corner while a “Maha-bali!” chant breaks out. He gets a Frankenstein’s monster choke in the corner. Shera spends a long time to set up mounted punches, but he eats a powerbomb. Lashley clubs away in the corner. Floatover snap suplex gets 2 for Lashley. Lashley punches him down for an ad break. They brawl on the floor for a bit after the Shera Shuffle backfires. Josh hypes up that that World Title Series is completely on Youtube. Lashley dives off the apron and Shera grabs him and slams him down. A fan in a purple Macho Man shirt is either doing the Shuffle or summoning a genie. Shera lifts him up and lands the scariest press slam in a decade on Lashley. Lashley recovers, spears him, and wins. Josh tells the “young man” Lashley to pack his backs because he’s moving on. 

Pope talks about how fast and powerful Lashley is, and that he’s a two-time former TNA World Champion to fill the show with more content that they’ve already talked about. Josh sends us to an “in-depth look at Tigre Uno versus Eric Young”, which doesn’t seem possible. This “world class maniac”-filled video proves that it isn’t. We get a very echo-filled promo of Eric Young saying threatening words. The Knockouts division returns in a cheesecake video for the holidays. We see a preview of a Dixie Carter interview with Josh talking about the importance of the TNA World Title. Matt Hardy vs. Jessie Godderz is previewed with a recap of Jessie beating Kong. Tigre Uno comes out to face Eric Young, who is in fact the bearded terror according to Pope.

Eric Young vs. Tigre Uno

Eric has fashioned his hair into an awful pseudo-mohawk and has gigantic bags under his eyes. EY tells him to leave because it’s his ring and his world. EY calls him a coward, and Uno responds by springboard dropkicking him out of nowhere. A running rana gets 2 for Uno, while EY chops away and yells “LUCHA!” He lands a series of forearms to the back and neck in the corner. One-armed backbreaker by EY gets 2 for an ad break. EY clotheslines Uno while Josh plugs the 2016 Impact tapings. EY tosses him to the floor and punches away. EY goes for a moonsault to mock Uno, but it misses. Uno hits a rana to the floor onto EY. Tigre gets a low blow legdrop off the top for 2. They fight up top and EY eats a super rana for 2. EY blocks another rana with a powerbomb for 2. The piledriver hits and EY wins. He faces the winner of Hardy-Godderz. Josh and Pope recap why EY is a world-class maniac and a bearded terror. Recap of Matt Hardy’s World Title Series matches. We see clips of Dixie talking about having the best women’s wrestlers in the business. EY logically points out that Tigre’s attack to start the match was cowardly, and then the Canadian rants about Uno being “foreign scum” and blames him for possibly ending Uno’s career. Josh and Pope pick the winners in a guessing game. Jessie Godderz comes out to no reaction to face Matt Hardy, who gets an okay one. 

Matt Hardy vs. Jessie Godderz

Matt grinds away at the neck, but Jessie tosses him off. Matt grinds away on the arm while Josh talks about how the World Title Series has been compelling and it’s all due to Dixie. Matt lands a series of slams and does the V1 pose before making the mistake of posing like Godderz. Matt gets a Russian legsweep for 2. They fight to the floor and Jessie eats the apron. Jessie shoves Matt’s back into the steps before Jessie dropkicks him and Matt sends his head right into the steps for an ad break.

We come back to see Jessie stomping away on the back. He attacks the back more with forearm shivers. Matt’s knee buckles as he goes for a slam and Jessie gets 2. Bearhug to Matt lasts a while and they talk about it being a setup for the Adonis Crab. Jessie clamps on a reverse bearhug and uses the ropes. Matt elbows out of it, and Matt gets an iffy Side Effect. Matt gets a sleeper slam for 2. Matt gets a snapmare off the top for 2. Flying standing elbow hits for 2. Matt goes for the Twist, but Jessie tosses him into the ropes and gets 2 off a dropkick. Jessie gets a partial dropkick/enzuiguri and goes for the Adonis Crab. Matt gets to the rope, so Jessie stomps away. Matt goes up top, but gets pulled down into a fireman’s carry, which he counters into a Twist of Fate for the win. Pope and Josh talk about Matt Hardy having passion. The Dixie interview is next.

Josh talks about how exciting 2016 is while happy music plays. Dixie said that 2015 was a year with a bit of everything, and the year started off strong with the debut of Drew Galloway. Dixie talks about how she respects Matt for winning the title in his hometown holding his baby high .She brags about the knockouts division and she says that the semi-finals and finals of the World Title Series will be held on the live show in January. Pope talks about Twitter predictions and Bracket Brawl. Because the show needed more filler, we get a recap of the BFG match and World Title Series. Next week, all of Future 4 faces Group X Division. There will also be a four way cage match between guys who aren’t feuding for some reason. We get a recap of tonight’s matches. Davey Richards comes out to face EC3 in the main event. EC3 says it’s time to separate the wolves from the winners. Davey says he’ll kick EC3’s head off his shoulders and says it’s time for the hunt to begin.

EC3 vs. Davey Richards

Josh asks if Davey has ever been this close to the World title and Pope says “not here”. Basic headlock and armwork to start. Davey gets a dropkick and EC3 goes to the floor. Davey gets his leg picked by Tyrus and EC3 attacks for 2. Davey lands a series of nice forearm strikes, but EC3 sidesteps him and sends him to the floor for a Tyrus attack. EC3 elbow smashes his neck on the apron and stomps a mudhole in him in the corner. Davey eats a Bret Hart-style turnbuckle smash and flips backwards. EC3 locks on a chinlock while Josh hypes up EC3 as being unbeaten for “nearly 1,000 days”. 

They exchange chops, but Davey misses a corner charge and EC3 gets 2. EC3 traps him in a cravate before we get a punch exchange mid-ring. Pope buries EC3 for having a spray-tan while Josh says he lives in Boca Raton and it’s real. Davey lands a double dive. Make that a triple! Big missile dropkick gets 2. Davey lands a high kick and gets 2 off a snap German suplex. EC3 gets a TKO for 2. EC3 goes up top, but gets stopped by Davey and eats some headbutts. Superplex from Davey leads to another suplex for 2! They go through the motions of countering finishers before EC3’s Rampage powerbomb hits and he hits the One Percenter to win. To see every screenshot for the show, just click here.