{"id":161175,"date":"2026-05-08T13:58:43","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T17:58:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=161175"},"modified":"2026-05-08T14:13:37","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T18:13:37","slug":"facts-on-lei-ying-lee-tna-knockouts-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2026\/05\/08\/facts-on-lei-ying-lee-tna-knockouts-title\/","title":{"rendered":"#AndNEW &#8211; Facts on L\u00e9i Ying Lee Being a 2-time TNA Knockouts Champion"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>L\u00e9i Ying Lee became <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2026\/05\/08\/thursday-night-impact-review-5-7-26\/\" style=\"color: #0000ff;\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">last night<\/a><\/span> a 2-time TNA Knockouts World Champion. She brought back the TNA Wrestling Knockouts Championship home, where it belongs. Lee finally dethroned Arianna Grace, who won the Championship from Lee last February at <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2026\/02\/13\/shocking-title-change-at-tna-no-surrender\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">TNA No Surrender<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>When <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2025\/10\/08\/whats-next-for-wwes-nxt-and-tna-wrestling-after-nxt-showdown-on-the-path-to-tna-bound-for-glory\/\" style=\"color: #0000ff;\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">the Hardys became TNA and NXT Tag Team Champions<\/a><\/span>, five NXT talents have held TNA titles since <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2025\/12\/26\/nxt-tna-partnership-nearly-a-year-after-who-made-the-most-of-the-opportunity\/\" style=\"color: #0000ff;\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">the beginning of the NXT and TNA Wrestling partnership<\/a><\/span>. The current WWE United States Champion, <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2025\/10\/12\/mike-santana-brings-the-tna-world-title-back-home-at-tna-bound-for-glory-2025\/\" style=\"color: #0000ff;\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Trick Williams<\/a><\/span>, held the TNA World title. <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2025\/12\/06\/five-essential-things-that-happened-at-tna-final-resolution-2025\/\" style=\"color: #0000ff;\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Stacks won the TNA International Championship<\/a><\/span>, now held by Mustafa Ali. <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2025\/07\/21\/shocking-title-change-at-tna-slammiversary-2025\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Jacy Jayne<\/span><\/a>, <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2025\/12\/26\/nxt-tna-partnership-nearly-a-year-after-who-made-the-most-of-the-opportunity\/\" style=\"color: #0000ff;\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Kelani Jordan<\/a><\/span>, and Arianna Grace all held the TNA Knockouts Championship.<\/p>\n<p>As the TNA iMPACT episode was taped, Lee&#8217;s win was known to the fans. The moment and the context in which it happened deserve to be checked. The current times are a special moment in the history of both TNA and NXT. L\u00e9i Ying Lee is not a wrestler among others in a very special TNA Knockouts roster. &#8220;Nygma-allow&#8221; me to tell you why.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"L\u00e9i Y\u01d0ng Lee Brings Knockouts World Title HOME to TNA | TNA iMPACT! May 7, 2026\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2k-DhDrAAU4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>L\u00e9i Ying Lee, TNA Knockouts Champion for the second time<\/h2>\n<p>As I was <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2025\/11\/26\/lei-ying-lee-brings-the-tna-knockouts-world-title-back-home-at-nxt-gold-rush\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">telling you last November<\/span><\/a>, when <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/tnawrestling.com\/news\/and-new-lei-ying-lee-becomes-tna-knockouts-world-champion-with-historic-victory-at-nxt-gold-rush\" style=\"color: #0000ff;\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">L\u00e9i Ying Lee became Champion for the first time<\/a><\/span>, the Angel Warrior has worked her way to the top of the Knockouts division.\u00a0Since her debut in September 2024, Lee has consistently impressed. She&#8217;s never afraid of competing against both Knockouts and men. After some time in WWE, L\u00e9i Ying Lee found with TNA Wrestling the perfect place to be the angel warrior she is.<\/p>\n<p>Right when she started with TNA Wrestling, L\u00e9i Ying Lee brought something different to the mix. If the Knockouts are supposed to be beautiful, strong, and kick-ass, Lee showed the kick-ass side first. As her former <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2025\/10\/28\/exclusive-interview-xia-brookside-we-are-called-tna-knockouts-for-a-reason-we-put-everything-on-the-line\/\" target=\"_self\">tag-team partner Xia Brookside<\/a><\/span> said, &#8220;L\u00e9i Ying Lee is such a hard-hitting, kicking, fighting, just warrior in herself.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>After Jordynne Grace left TNA Wrestling in early 2025, the company needed a new Knockout to fit the definition above. The 37-year-old wrestler proved, as Masha Slamovich could, that she can fight men, be fierce, and be able to spread her blood to the ring if it is required. With this monumental victory last night, L\u00e9i Ying Lee became a 2-time TNA Knockouts World Champion. Warriors are angels, and angels are warriors.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_161178\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-161178\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2026\/05\/DSC_0862.webp\" alt=\"L\u00e9i Ying Lee graphic\" width=\"1200\" height=\"686\" class=\"size-full wp-image-161178\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2026\/05\/DSC_0862.webp 1200w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2026\/05\/DSC_0862-768x439.webp 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-161178\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">L\u00e9i Ying Lee is a fierce talent and proved it when becoming a 2-time TNA Knockouts World Champion last night (Courtesy of TNA Wrestling)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>The TNA Knockouts Championship is back home<\/h2>\n<p>When Arianna Grace dethroned Lee at <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2026\/02\/13\/tna-no-surrender-2-13-26-live-results\/\" style=\"color: #0000ff;\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">TNA No Surrender<\/a><\/span>, there was something at the same time shocking and logical. Arianna Grace is Santino Marella&#8217;s daughter. On September 5, 2024, Arianna Grace announced at TNA iMPACT that she will be the new liaison between NXT and TNA.<\/p>\n<p>Appearing pretty often on TNA iMPACT, because of the TNA\/NXT partnership, she came to ask her Daddy for a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ThisIsTNA\/status\/2019607012393304101\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">TNA Knockouts title chance<\/span><\/a>. She even <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ThisIsTNA\/status\/2022152626243305492\" style=\"color: #0000ff;\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">stole the Cobra<\/a><\/span> to make sure she would win. At TNA No Surrender, if <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ThisIsTNA\/status\/2022489583850508378\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Stacks lost the TNA International Championship<\/span><\/a>, <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ThisIsTNA\/status\/2022503370322256164\" style=\"color: #0000ff;\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Grace used the Cobra<\/a><\/span> to win the TNA Knockouts Championship. <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ThisIsTNA\/status\/2022511630970454162\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Her father was not happy at all<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\u201cYou don\u2019t have to like it, but you have to accept it!\u201d<a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AriannaGraceWWE?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@AriannaGraceWWE<\/a> is the TNA Knockouts World Champion!<\/p>\n<p>WATCH <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/TNAiMPACT?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#TNAiMPACT<\/a> on TNA+: <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/lc2GPLLtCU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/lc2GPLLtCU<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/aVnmvKzJ5n\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/aVnmvKzJ5n<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; TNA Wrestling (@ThisIsTNA) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ThisIsTNA\/status\/2024676279102869994?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">February 20, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>When she was pretty stagnant on WWE NXT, Arianna Grace gained some TV time on TNA iMPACT and TNA PLEs. Since her debut in 2022, Grace has never won a Championship, not even a title chance. &#8220;Miss NXT&#8221; also suffered multiple injuries that prevented her from gaining momentum. The fact that she was &#8220;given&#8221; that momentum on TNA Wrestling helped, at the same time, the talent and the two companies.<\/p>\n<p>Arianna Grace had some TV time and matches to show what she is about. NXT could create the BirthRight faction to give her and all the other wrestlers involved, some credibility. Finally, TNA Wrestling had a Knockouts Champion. At that time, the <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2025\/10\/22\/the-long-and-winding-road-of-the-tna-wrestling-knockouts\/\" style=\"color: #0000ff;\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Knockouts division was pretty low<\/a><\/span>. The fact that Grace has been the third NXT talent to become the TNA Knockouts Champion since 2025 says it all. And Lee needed to be shown as someone who can put the division on her back.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_161180\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-161180\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2026\/05\/DSC_1119.webp\" alt=\"L\u00e9i Ting is the new TNA Knockouts World Champion\" width=\"1200\" height=\"670\" class=\"size-full wp-image-161180\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2026\/05\/DSC_1119.webp 1200w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2026\/05\/DSC_1119-768x429.webp 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-161180\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">L\u00e9i Ying Lee is a fierce talent, as she showed to Arianna Grace last night (Courtesy of TNA Wrestling)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>What about the NXT\/TNA partnership?<\/h2>\n<p>As of today, all the TNA titles are in the hands of TNA wrestlers. For the moment. <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2025\/02\/21\/length-of-wwe-tna-wrestling-partnership-revealed\/\" style=\"color: #0000ff;\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">The NXTNA partnership is far from over<\/a><\/span>. In the recent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.peacocktv.com\/blog\/how-to-watch-the-heartbreak-kid-becoming-shawn-michaels-doc-on-peacock\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">&#8220;The Heartbreak Kid: Becoming Shawn Michaels&#8221; documentary on Peacock<\/span><\/a>, NXT&#8217;s &#8220;big boss&#8221; was praising the partnership. NXT wanted to work with other promotions, and TNA Wrestling made it possible. It has allowed both companies to collaborate and benefit from each other.<\/p>\n<p>Matt Bloom, NXT Head Coach and Vice President of Talent Development, describes the partnership as refreshing and exciting because the possibilities are endless. When the Hardys become NXT Tag Team Champions, Matt and Jeff think it&#8217;s unreal to hear Michaels thank them for passing along their knowledge to young talents.\u00a0L\u00e9i Ying Lee comes from NXT but is now a TNA Knockout. She won her first TNA Knockouts Championship at an NXT event.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_161186\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-161186\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2026\/05\/DSC_0809.webp\" alt=\"L\u00e9i Ying Lee's possible contenders\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" class=\"size-full wp-image-161186\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2026\/05\/DSC_0809.webp 1200w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2026\/05\/DSC_0809-768x432.webp 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-161186\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Last night, on TNA iMPACT, Ash by Elegance, Indi Hartwell, and Elayna Black argued about the TNA Knockouts Championship (Courtesy of TNA Wrestling)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The partnership is far from over. When the TNA Knockouts division was losing some talent (Masha Slamovich, Ash by Elegance) and building new ones (Mara Sad\u00e8, Mila Moore, Jada Stone, Harley Hudson, Myla Grace), NXT helped. Currently, NXT has been living the same. The &#8220;Mania call-up season&#8221; left <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2026\/04\/27\/the-state-of-nxt-after-wrestlemania-42\/\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"a roster in need of rebuilding\" style=\"color: #0000ff;\" target=\"_self\">a roster in need of rebuilding<\/a><\/span>. Jacy Jayne, Sol Ruca, Fallon Henley, Lash Legend, and Lainey Reid were strong losses for NXT.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, L\u00e9i Ying Lee now has a new slew of contenders waiting for her. Last night, on TNA iMPACT, <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ThisIsTNA\/status\/2052562394308600132\" style=\"color: #0000ff;\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Elayna Black<\/a><\/span>, Indi Hartwell, and Ash by Elegance <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ThisIsTNA\/status\/2052563105004036178\" style=\"color: #0000ff;\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">argued about this<\/a><\/span>. Don&#8217;t forget Xia Brookside, who betrayed Lee and was watching the match backstage last night. I could talk about Allie, Rosemary, Mara Sad\u00e8, or Jada Stone; there are plenty of possible contenders. One thing is sure: It&#8217;s L\u00e9i Ying Lee&#8217;s time to shine and show that the TNA Knockouts Division is now on the shoulders of the right Champion.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I might have lost everything\u2026 but I brought this title back home where it belongs. \ud83d\udc51<\/p>\n<p>They tried to write my ending.  <br \/>Tonight, I rewrote it. \ud83d\udd25<a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/ANDNEW?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#ANDNEW<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/TNA?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#TNA<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/okGCtlu78D\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/okGCtlu78D<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; \u96f7\u5f71 .\u674e (L\u00e9i Y\u01d0ng .Lee) (@TheLeiYingLee) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheLeiYingLee\/status\/2052587343161241696?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">May 8, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>L\u00e9i Ying Lee became last night a 2-time TNA Knockouts World Champion. She brought back the TNA Wrestling Knockouts Championship home, where it belongs. Lee finally dethroned Arianna Grace, who won the Championship from Lee last February at TNA No Surrender. When the Hardys became TNA and NXT Tag Team Champions, five NXT talents have [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5457,"featured_media":161177,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8959,7,6,2192,321,5,320],"tags":[8687,9485,116,9595,9509,9621],"class_list":["post-161175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tna-wrestling","category-impact","category-north-america","category-wrestling","category-tna-knockouts","category-nxt","category-wwe-women","tag-arianna-grace","tag-lei-ying-lee","tag-nxt","tag-thursday-night-impact","tag-tna-knockouts-championship","tag-tna-thursday-night-impact"],"modified_by":"Steph Franchomme","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5457"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161175"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161175\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":161191,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161175\/revisions\/161191"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}