Alexander Hammerstone recently opened up about his return to Major League Wrestling (MLW) and reflected on the circumstances surrounding his departure from TNA Wrestling (formerly Impact Wrestling), sharing his experiences on “The Takedown on SI.”
Hammerstone, a former MLW World Heavyweight Champion, described returning to his old stomping grounds as an uncertain but ultimately rewarding experience. “It was very interesting. I mean, you don’t exactly know how things like that are going to go from multiple angles,” he explained. “As far as how the locker room is going to be receptive to you, all the way to how the fans are going to react. Are they still going to care? Are they going to know who you are? Are they going to be excited? It’s all these things.”
However, the reception exceeded his hopes. “I gotta say on every level, it just exceeded my expectations,” Hammerstone stated. “The locker room was incredible. Backstage, everyone was just so professional and so kind to me. Then the fan reactions speak for themselves, you know, getting to go out there and see the happiness and feel that energy. It was definitely at a level that I’ve been missing for a while. It really rejuvenated me.”
This positive return stands in contrast to the end of his tenure with TNA Wrestling. Hammerstone recalled his initial excitement joining the promotion: “To come into TNA, it was a very exciting time for me.” He specifically highlighted his series of matches against top TNA star Josh Alexander, calling them “some of my best that I was very proud of.”
However, backstage changes seemed to alter his trajectory. “There was a lot of turnover backstage creatively and behind the scenes,” Hammerstone noted. “It kind of got to a point where after that feud was over, it was almost like I was kind of left directionless for a little while.”
He elaborated on his growing frustration, clarifying he wasn’t assigning blame but describing his experience: “I’m not here to place blame or say I was screwed or anything like that, but for whatever reason, things just started out really good, started really optimistic, and kind of fizzled out. I thought at a certain point I was trying to put my best foot forward, and it wasn’t leading me anywhere. That’s a really frustrating feeling in professional wrestling.”
This lack of direction significantly impacted his motivation. “I’m not going to lie. I got to a certain point like I might become to blame because it started putting out my fire,” Hammerstone candidly admitted. “And if you don’t have a fire burning in pro wrestling, this is not a job that you could come in and go through the motions. You have to be mentally excited about it. You have to be creative trying to come up with new stuff, really constantly honing your craft.” He described reaching a low point: “Okay, I’ll show up. I’m probably gonna have a dark match, so I guess I’ll just show up and play the hits and collect my paycheck and go home. As shitty as that is to say, it was kind of like a depressed state that I got in. Things got to a low point, and then obviously we parted ways.”
Hammerstone felt a disconnect in communication regarding his creative direction. “At a certain point, perception is reality. I’m sitting there, and from my perception, I felt like the company stopped caring about me,” he explained. “Maybe I needed to do something in a different way. Maybe they were looking for something that I wasn’t giving them, but also that was never a conversation that was had.” He expressed a desire for clearer guidance: “I’d be very happy to be sat down and told, ‘Hey, creatively, this is what we want to do, so we need to see more of this out of you’, and I never got that.” The lack of planning felt confusing: “It was just like, ‘Hey, where are we going creatively?’ A lot of times it’s like, ‘I don’t know.’ ‘Well, you know what you’re doing with this guy, you know what you’re doing with that guy, so why don’t you know what you’re doing with me?’”
Ultimately, Hammerstone’s recent return to MLW appears to have provided a much-needed positive shift after a challenging period in TNA.
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit The Takedown on SI with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
