Former WWE NXT & TNA wrestler reportedly expected to sign with AEW
Now officially a free agent, former WWE NXT and TNA wrestler Mara Sade is reportedly expected to sign with AEW.
Fightful Select reported Tuesday that the 31-year-old is not expected to return to TNA after wrestling her last match for the company last week Philadelphia in a match that hasn’t aired yet. Her contract expired recently and she worked last Friday without a contract.
The outlet said that according to sources, they increased their offer to Sade but that “sources within All Elite Wrestling have been expecting that their company would make a play for her. Both sources in TNA and AEW expect her to end up in AEW.”
Sade made her wrestling debut for WWE NXT in August 2022 under the name Jakara Jackson. After working several live events, she made her way to NXT Level Up and eventually to NXT TV in June 2023. She was paired with Lash Legend early on and was part of the Meta-Four faction along with Noam Dar and Oro Mensah, the latter of which has appeared in Ring of Honor.
Despite never officially getting the main roster call-up, Jackson appeared on an October 2024 WWE SmackDown along with Legend in a losing effort to then Women’s Tag Team Champions Jade Cargill and Bianca Belair. The two were also part of a four-way tag team match at Crown Jewel a month later.
Legend and Sade began working some TNA dates as part of the WWE partnership before Sade was released in May 2025. She eventually signed a short term deal with TNA while also working indie dates.
Since 2011, Josh has been a contributing editor to Wrestling Observer/F4WOnline.com and also hosts the Punch-Out podcast. He has also written for Fight Magazine, Bloody Elbow, Bleacher Report, and other websites. He's a 2000 graduate of the University of Maine, worked in pro sports, and once was an indie ring announcer.