Moose Opens Up About Facing TNA Champ & Former WWE Champ Nic Nemeth

With eight years under his belt in TNA, Moose, for many, could be argued as one of the pillars of the company's modern era. However, he is not the TNA World Champion, although that almost changed when he faced current champion and 2024 signee Nic Nemeth for a second time at Victory Road in the main event. While they are each other's adversaries, Moose does see Nemeth as a viable asset to the company following the change from Impact Wrestling back to TNA, but that does not mean he feels Nemeth should reign supreme any longer.

"I think Nic Nemeth is great, man. I think he's definitely crucial to the change, the positive upreach that we've been heading towards in the last few months, he's definitely a big part of that," Moose told Sports Illustrated ahead of Victory Road. "I think I have nothing but positivity to say about Nic Nemeth's in-ring ability, there is this aura that comes with him, you know what I'm saying."

Moose has held some variation of the TNA/Impact World Championship three times. This included when the TNA World Championship returned during a crucial point in the company that saw changes regularly made due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Tessa Blanchard historically won the Impact World Championship, yet could not return to the company to defend her title regularly. For Moose, it was a chance to open Pandora's box, making what was old new again by reintroducing the TNA World Championship amid the chaos of 2020.

Fast forward to the rebranding of TNA; at this year's Hard To Kill, Moose conquered the task of becoming the TNA World Champion against Alex Shelley. Just as the spotlight returned to beam a light on Moose again as the apex guy, Nemeth crashed the party with his debut. From there, Moose retained his championship against Nemeth at Rebellion in April, then lost the title in a Six-Way Elimination Match that saw Nemeth come out the grand victor at Slammiversary in July.

And the rest is history. But history has a way of changing its directional course. Moose may not have captured the TNA World Championship last night, but eventually doing so would place him in his fourth reign, and simultaneously next to another African-American champion who carried the main title during his multiple runs with the company, former WWE star Bobby Lashley. Moose knew the pressure was on him to deliver at Victory Road, which he additionally noted in his interview.

"So beating him for the second time and beating him to become the four-time TNA World Champion is definitely gonna do wonders for my career. So that's why I'm very focused on this match and I can't wait for Friday night," Moose concluded. Unfortunately for The System leader, things didn't work out quite as he hoped.