Summary

Steph De Lander said she did not receive enough support while recovering from two neck surgeries after last wrestling in August 2024.

She said she asked if there were rehab options that could help her return to full-contact competition, but claimed a high-ranking company official told her to message Steve Austin or Kurt Angle for advice.

De Lander later chose to leave TNA after being told by President Carlos Silva that she would not be cleared for in-ring action. Her husband, Mance Warner, also left in solidarity, while TNA reportedly wanted to keep him.

Steph De Lander and TNA exit fallout around wrestler medical support

Steph De Lander’s account puts medical-rehab support at the center of her departure, and that can become a major trust issue for talent evaluating long-term recovery paths inside the company.

With De Lander and Mance Warner both exiting after her clearance decision, this situation also has immediate roster impact beyond one performer’s status.

Quotes

Quote from Steph De Lander

“It’s one thing for a normal person who has an injury to recover to a level of being okay to get through day-to-day life. It’s completely different for a professional athlete to recover to a level of being able to go through full-contact sport, and that’s what my argument was is I was trying to explain to them, ‘Hey guys, I know I’m going to my local yokel rehab center down the road, but I don’t feel like I’m getting enough specialized care to get to a point where I can start wrestling again.’ So I was asking them, ‘Hey, is there anywhere, any other places that you know that you guys could send me to do my rehab?’ I was trying to just get some more sports-specific treatment, and the response to that from someone very high in the company was, ‘Well, maybe you should DM Stone Cold Steve Austin or Kurt Angle and ask them for advice.’”