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KC Navarro Talks Signing Multi-Year Deal With TNA Wrestling, Winning X Division Title [Exclusive]

KC Navarro signs a full-time contract with TNA Wrestling.

Steven Muelhausen

TNA Wrestling

TNA Wrestling has locked up one of its brightest stars as they've confirmed to The Takedown the signing of KC Navarro to a multi-year deal. Financial details were not disclosed.

Navarro, 24, started wrestling on the independent circuit at 15 years old. He debuted with TNA at Impact! One Night Only: New Beginnings in February 2019 at the age of 19. The New Jersey native had worked for AEW and for numerous independent promotions before settling in with TNA.

In this chat with The Takedown On SI, Navarro discusses signing this contract with TNA, going to TNA at 19, his goals for this contract and more.

Editor's Note: This interview has edited for length and clarity.

The Takedown: TNA Wrestling has confirmed with The Takedown on SI that it signed KC Navarro to a multi-year contract. Congratulations on this deal. I know you have been looking forward to it for a very long time. 

KC Navarro: Since I was 19, I've been in the mix with Impact and TNA. Hard work pays off. A lot of years have gone by since then. I've busted my ass for this opportunity. It's kind of like Matt Cardona says, ‘Always Ready’ 

It all started at Under Siege this year when I got put in last minute to wrestle Laredo Kid, and it went from there. I'm just so grateful to finally be a part of TNA. 

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The Takedown: When you debuted for TNA, you were 19 years old. You're 19 and just venturing off into the world of professional wrestling and in one of the biggest organizations in the world. How does it all come about so young for you?

KN: It was just being ready and just having the opportunity. A company I was wrestling for in Pennsylvania was doing a joint show with TNA. I just wanted to be a part of it. I didn't care if I didn't get paid that night. I didn't care if I had to fly myself. I didn't care what it was. I just wanted to prove that I was going to belong. And even if it wasn't, at that time, being that young, I just wanted them to know what was coming. At the time, I was able to turn some heads. That eventually got me into the Super X Cup in 2021. Like I said, here we are today. It's very mind blowing to me still. And being 19 to now 25 is just amazing.

The Takedown: What do you remember about that night the most?

KN: I remember a lot of nerves. It was a six-way match ladder match. I just remember being super nervous, especially right before I go out. It was the biggest crowd that the company had at the time. It was the biggest crowd I'd ever wrestled in front of at the time. I think I had just come back from an injury, so I was very nervous going into that. I just didn't want to mess up. I just wanted to showcase what I knew I was capable of. I was kicked out of wrestling school at 15 at a very young age, so I was battling a lot coming into wrestling. So, being there in 2019, on my own, and an opportunity like that, I was just ready to showcase who I was.

The Takedown: Like you said, you were bullied growing up. You wanted to get into this (wrestling) at 15. Now you debut at 19 for TNA. You had a short stint with AEW. What was it about TNA where you were like, this is where I need to be. This is where I want to lay my boots and hone my craft for the foreseeable future’?

KN: It's everything that TNA is about and everything that they stand for, especially the X Division. I thought about it for years. I looked up to guys like AJ Styles and Amazing Red, who I've gotten to wrestle and learn from. Guys like that. That inspired me to be the guy that I am today. I felt like no other wrestling company in the world had that. But TNA, the people that ran it, and the people behind the scenes, like I just needed to learn from those people. I knew that would be where if I just got the opportunity, I knew that the world would know who I am. It was just about the timing. The time is now. Now that I'm here, there's nowhere else I really would want to be. I'm ready to prove myself over the next few years. 

KN: I think it was earlier this year at Under Siege where I was definitely sure. I wasn't supposed to be there. I had wrestled Mustafa Ali the week before. He goes, ‘Oh, you know, the show is in New York. You're in Jersey, right’? And I'm like, ‘Yeah, but I got a bunch of shows this weekend. I don't really want to go to just sit’.

Then it just hit me that morning of Under Siege. I don't know what it was. Something was just telling me in my heart to go. I called up my friend Steve Gibke, another great wrestler, who was going to the show. I was like, ‘Hey, you heading over there’? He was like, ‘Yeah’. I was like, ‘Ah, pick me up’. 

I happen to just put my gear together. We drive up there for six hours. I get there and sit there for an hour. Nothing happened. We left to go eat. We come back. Next thing, I'm told, ‘Hey, you got to get your stuff. You're going to be in the main event of the countdown with Laredo Kid for the Digital Media Title. You have an hour’. And I'm like, ‘Oh ok. Well, let's go’.

Right after that, I just had a gut feeling. Then it was when I went back to the Tampa tapings, where I wrestled Dante Chen and Zachary Wentz to qualify for the Ultimate X at Emergence. It was after that taping where even my sister Diamante looked at me, and she was like, ‘This is going to happen. I have a feeling something special is happening here. I just have a feeling’. I was like, ‘Me too. Next thing you know, here we are now.

The Takedown: What if you don't go to Under Siege?

KN: Man, I don't know if I'd be here. I'm a big believer in God. I give glory to God for everything that's going on for me. I feel like that gut feeling was a sign from God. I feel like if I would ignore that, I don't think I'd be here. I was going through a very hard time in 2023. I lost a lot. Personally, I was going through a lot to the point that I didn't even want to wrestle anymore because of what I was going through on a personal level. I feel like my journey from then to the point of Under Siege, I feel like if I didn't get that feeling and just listen to it like I was the first time, I listened to my gut, and I was like, Okay, I'm just going to go, I don't think I'd be here today.

The Takedown: Currently, you are in FIR$T CLA$$ with AJ Francis. He had a good run in WWE that was cut short, and he's had a really good run since debuting with TNA earlier this year. What have you learned from him?

KC Navarro: Maximizing my minutes and making the best out of every situation that you're in, any opportunity you get, making the best of it. That's one thing that I have to give him that I learned. This isn't my first run on TV, but it's my first real time being on TV full-time. I'm very blessed that I've gotten opportunities to do TV at a very young age, but I never had the opportunity to have a full run on television. So, learning from him, being with him, and paired with him, he always shows me and tries to tell me different ways to maximize my minutes, enjoy the ride and do whatever I can to stand out for sure.

The Takedown: What goals do you have in mind during this extended run in signing this multi-year deal with TNA Wrestling?

KN: First, it's to inspire anybody who doesn't believe they're enough or not big enough. I think I'm capable of doing many big things. Definitely want to bring the Tag Team Titles to FIR$T CLA$$. I definitely 110 percent want to become the X Division Champion. I have a set goal. It's at the top of my list. If there's anything I'm going to do before this is over, is I'm going to become the X Division Champion. It was one reason that I came to TNA. It's one reason I always love TNA. So that's the biggest goal for me, is to become the X Division Champion eventually.

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Steven Muelhausen
STEVEN MUELHAUSEN

: Steven Muehlhausen is a veteran combat sports writer for various outlets including Sporting News and Yahoo Sports. He can be reached at stevemuehlhausen@yahoo.com and followed on Twitter @SMuehlhausenJr.

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