Ash By Elegance (fka Dana Brooke) reacts to her WWE NXT return at Battleground

That there was a TNA presence at Battleground last night (June 9) was no surprise. Knockouts champion Jordynne Grace was challenging Roxanne Perez for the NXT Women’s title, in what we’ve heard could be the start of larger crossover between TNA and WWE’s third/developmental brand.

That TNA’s representative turned out to be Ash By Elegance was a surprise — but in retrospect it makes a lot of sense. Sure, Ash’s ten-year run in WWE as Dana Brooke ended when the company released her last year. But she was in the midst of a return to NXT when that happened, working a program with Kelani Jordan.

Jordan is the first-ever Women’s North American champion after her victory in Battleground’s ladder match for the new belt. Something her former on-screen mentor was glad to be in the UFC Apex to witness in person:

As for her own return during Perez’s win over Grace, Ash’s WWE past was never mentioned other than a possible slip of the tongue from NXT play-by-play announcer Vic Joseph (he said, “That’s Dana...” before quickly calling her by her TNA name) when she appeared to tussle with Tatum Paxley over the Knockouts belt Paxley was attempting to abscond with before Jordynne put them both down.

But while Joseph may have been among the surprised, it sounds like Ash By Elegance never ruled out a moment like last night’s.

What now? Ash has never had a match for the Knockouts title, but Grace is holding an open challenge at TNA’s Against All Odds streaming event this Friday (June 14). The promotion is looking to capitalize on the buzz from By Elegance’s NXT return by promoting her for their regular Thursday night show this week...

Will that appearance follow-up on her run-in with the Knockouts champ? Or NXT’s Paxley?

Tune into AXS on June 13 to find out! That’s what TNA hopes you do, anyway.