For five years, Steve McLean was one of the cornerstones of TNA. winning the TNA International Championship twice and even holding the TNA World Heavyweight Championshipthen the Impact World Championship, briefly in 2023. But, despite all his success, it got to the point where McLean had little pleasure in what he was doing until the end. in an interview with TSN:McLean explained that most of his frustrations stemmed from the fact that he and TNA’s creative team were not on the same page, so much so that McLean felt like he was going nowhere.
“I kind of felt like by the end of my fifth year, I was just spinning my wheels where I was throwing ideas into a piece and they would take them and nothing would come of it,” McLean said. “Even when I became an international champion, it was like, ‘Okay, okay, okay, where are we going?’ Going to Mexico, Japan? How are we going to assign this title?”
“And every pitch I threw didn’t turn out like I imagined it would. I always felt like I was fighting an uphill battle where I folded every time like, “Okay, okay, whatever you want, guys.” For me, it’s not something I like to do, especially when I’m trying to put my all into the story to make the product better, the company better, and the person I’m in the ring with.”
McLean would later include his frustrations in a storyline between himself and then-TNA World Champion Mike Santana, which included McLean taking shots at TNA President Carlos Silva. In the end, it wasn’t enough to satisfy McLean. who requested and received his release in early June. Since then, he has participated in an independent circuit, although he has expressed interest in joining AEW/Ring of Honorwhere his wife, Deonna Purazzo, is the current ROH Women’s Pure Champion.