Steph De Lander discusses the controversy surrounding PCO's departure from TNA Wrestling, which led to the retirement of the TNA Digital Media Championship and the abrupt end of her storyline with the "French Canadian Frankenstein."
PCO figuratively shattered his relationship with TNA Wrestling at The People vs. GCW in January when he literally smashed the TNA Digital Media Championship with a sledgehammer. This led to his abrupt departure from TNA, where he married Steph De Lander in-storyline.
In a new interview with Fightful's Sean Ross Sapp, De Lander is opening up about the issues between TNA and PCO and the incident that happened at The People vs. GCW from her perspective. She reveals that she was in the audience at the event when the incident took place and immediately had to confront Brett Lauderdale to find out if what was happening was part of the show or a moment of realism.
"I've never really spoken about it, but I was at GCW when it happened. I was at a Hammerstein, obviously, and I was actually in the crowd. I was there, and I was in the crowd, and I was like, ‘P-C-O, P-C-O, that's my husband. Woo!’ Then when that happened, when I got backstage and I looked at Brett and I go, ‘What have you done?’ I was like, ‘What is going on? What is happening right now?’ My brain was like a million thoughts racing. I didn't know if it was an angle. I didn't know if it was real people. No one else knew. So I was not thrilled. Brett knows that," she explained.
She then spoke about how important it was for her to be able to speak to PCO and thank him for their time together in case she never saw him again.
"My next thought was, I don't know if I'm going to see PCO again, as far as like, I don't know where he stands with TNA now. I don't know if I'm going to be back at GCW. Like, I don't know if we're going to cross paths again soon, but I want this man to know that I really enjoyed working with him. I really respect him, and if this is the last time that we're going to be in the same place, then I need to have this conversation with him right now," she said. "So I ran from where I was to Gorilla, where he came back through to meet him. I just spoke to him for a few minutes, and I was just basically what I just said to you. was like, ‘Look, I absolutely loved working with you. I'm so glad we got to have the storyline that we had at TNA. I don't really know what's going on right now, but I want you to know that I love and respect you as a performer. I'm very happy with how everything went. There's no ill will here. I want the best for you, and I'm glad we got to work together.’ I don't know where this goes from here, but I need him to know that I really loved working with him, and whatever weirdness is going on between anyone or any companies or whatever, I'm just sitting here saying, ‘I love working with you.’ So I'm glad that I at least got to have that moment. But yeah, at the time I was like, ‘What?' Even straight after, I was like, ‘I don't know what I'm about to walk into. I don't know what mood he's gonna be [in]. I don't know what's going on.’ I walk around the corner, he's got the biggest smile on his face, and I was like, ‘Oh, okay.’ I was like, ‘As long as you feel okay, then I just want the best for you.’"
She explained her next move was to speak to TNA, and Tommy Dreamer assured her that things were being handled. She called the incident "poetic justice" as the dissolution of her on-screen relationship in the blink of an eye led to her real-life love, Mance Warner, working with her in TNA.
I had no idea what was going on. I rang Tommy Dreamer, and I was like, ‘I don't know what belt is where, don't know who has what, what are we doing now?’ Like, cause obviously there's a plan for storylines and whatever else and I was just like, ‘I—what the fuck are we doing?’ He was like, ‘We're figuring it out, don't worry.’
"It's such crazy poetic justice that my onscreen husband having his moment is what led to my real-life boyfriend coming into the mix in TNA," she said. "It was just such an awesome, random passing-the-torch kind of moment of like, I thought this situation was going to be really, really bad for me, but it actually worked out really good. I got a title, and my boyfriend's now at TNA.’ So yeah, it worked out great for me. was like, I kept joking to everyone. I was like, ‘I'm just tagging boyfriends in and out my whole career.’ I'm like, I Duke Hudson in the mix. I mean, Matt was never my boyfriend, but I got another male tag partner. Then, I got PCO. Now I got Mance. I'm like, I don't know why this keeps happening, but like, it's a good story, I guess."
A few days after the incident at The People vs. GCW, PCO did an exclusive interview with Fightful, explaining his exit from TNA and detailing his issues with the promotion. Read his comments here.
Steph De Lander's first book, "What's The Best That Could Happen?: My Love Letter To Pro Wrestling," is now available for pre-order. The book will be released on April 18. Learn more about the book here.
Check out the full interview with Steph De Lander embedded at the top of this page.
