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Gail Kim & head of creative among latest behind-the-scenes departures from TNA

Posted: Mar 25th 2025 By: Sean Rueter - CagesideSeats.com

Eight people in total are leaving, per a memo from new president Carlos Silva... but none more shocking than Executive Producer Ariel Shnerer and the Knockouts legend & Hall of Famer.

In February of 2024, the wrestling world was shocked to learn TNA Wrestling was firing then-president Scott D’Amore. After a year of stability, we found out last month that long-time employees Josh Mathews and Christy Hemme were leaving as the Anthem-owned promotion made another change, replacing Anthony Cicione as president with Carlos Silva.

Today (March 25), Silva sent an internal memo announcing the departure of eight more people from the company. Fightful was first with news of Silva’s memo. It’s report on these latest changes characterizes them as “firings”, and includes two names whose exits are nearly as surprising as D’Amore’s was.

One of those is Executive Producer Ariel Shnerer, who’s been with TNA, Anthem, and Fight Network (a cable channel Anthem owns in its native Canada) for several years. PWInsider reports that Shnerer was “effectively head of creative”. In his absence, former ROH booker Hunter “Delirious” Johnston will head creative. Tommy Dreamer remains on the creative team, and both he & Johnston now report to Silva.

Dreamer will also head Talent Relations, replacing the other shocking name in Silva’s memo — Hall of Famer Gail Kim. A legend who’s been with TNA for the better part of two decades, Kim was synonymous with the Knockouts division and seemed to be beloved by the men’s and women’s rosters.

Chief Revenue Officer Rob Klingman is gone. He just joined the company last August, and had previously worked for WWE as VP of Global Digital & Integrated Sponsorship Sales. Rafael Morfi, who’s previously worked in live events for WWE and AEW, is departing his role as a consultant for TNA; Insider credits Morfi with the company’s recent sold out shows in El Paso, Texas.

Michael Shewchenko of the digital department is leaving, as are Karen Clevett, Romy Glazer and Sebastian Dastrani. Incoming executives include new Senior VP of Digital David Clevinger and Senior VP of Sales Nicole Rachine.

Leadership team and staff changes aren’t unusual when a new president or C.E.O. joins an organization, and that could be the relatively simple explanation here. Even so, the departures — especially of a highly regarded name like Gail Kim — are likely to be interpreted negatively. And at a time when there’s already speculation about TNA’s future in light of the recent WWE partnership... so we’ll see if Anthem issues a statement with a more positive spin.

Stay tuned.