Elayna Black recently spoke with Soundsphere Magazine, where she spoke on stepping away from wrestling following her release from WWE, Imposter Syndrome and her current run in TNA Wrestling.
Black (real name Brianna Coda), told Soundsphere she has spent most of her life negotiating the distance between Cora Jade character and Elayna Black. She spent five-years as Cora Jade in NXT, struggling for a long time with being able to tell the two characters apart.
“I started training at 15 years old, so that’s the prime age that you’re figuring yourself out. I kind of grew up in wrestling, and because I got signed so quickly, I kind of feel like I had to grow up in the public eye...It kind of forces you sometimes to maybe grow up a little bit quicker, or maybe see things a little bit differently that you wouldn’t have seen it had you not been in the position. In the beginning, I was just a fan who happened to make my dreams come true somehow, and that still is the case. But obviously, it changes and it becomes a job. Now I’m just a lot more confident, and I feel like I’m meant to be here, and I know what I’m doing.”
Black revealed that she’s struggled with mental health and following her release from WWE in May 2025, she took herself out of wrestling in order to take a step back and realize who she was without it.
“I’ve struggled with mental health as long as I can remember, as little of a kid. I’ve struggled with anxiety and depression and things like that. So, not only having that just as a person from a very young age, and then having to deal with that on top of being in the public eye and on top of everything that the pro wrestling business brings, it can be a lot...For the first time since I was 15 years old, I took myself out (of wrestling) on purpose. I was tunnel vision since I started watching wrestling when I was eight. I wanted to take a step back and realize who I was without wrestling — because I kind of feel like I had gotten lost in that identity for so long...This is where the two people come back into it. “You’re playing a character, but the lines get blurred sometimes between what’s real and what’s not.” Elayna Black (as Cora Jade) had, in effect, been running for a decade with nobody thinking about Brianna Coda.”
Black went on to say the loss of work and how the audience would react, made stepping away frightening for her.
“What made stepping away from the ring frightening, wasn’t only the loss of the work, it was the audience and how they reacted. “Wrestling fans are some of the most passionate fans in the world, and that is the greatest thing in the world, and also the worst thing in the world at times.”
Black returned to wrestling in January 2026 on the debut of TNA’s flagship show IMPACT on AMC, after being released from WWE in May 2025. However, even with five-years in WWE and nine-months in TNA, she still doesn’t consider herself a veteran and struggles a bit with imposter syndrome.
“I’ve always had a little bit of imposter syndrome. I don’t ever feel like it’s my place…but that doesn’t necessarily mean that I feel like I should be giving it….I had never played sports really. I played soccer for a few years. I was never a crazy athlete — I could barely do a cartwheel. I had no special talent. I was just a wrestling fan who loved wrestling and wasn’t gonna see it any other way…I have to remind myself that I was so passionate about this that I got here, without all of that.”
Black spoke on the differences with WWE vs. TNA. She noted that with TNA she has creative freedom, while at WWE, “a lot of things are more directed and guided…they kind of have an idea for your character maybe already.” At TNA, “I was like, oh, I have to do this all myself now..it puts more pressure on me to create something great and decide who Elayna Black is now in 2026 and for years to come.”
All quotes are courtesy of Soundsphere Magazine.
Also during the interview, Black comments on her likes in music.
You can watch the full interview below.