Xia Brookside Fires Back at ‘Nepo Baby’ Label Ahead of TNA Knockouts Title Shot at Slammiversary

Xia Brookside has had enough of the ‘nepo baby’ narrative — and she’s making her feelings known heading into the most significant match of her TNA Wrestling career.

At TNA Slammiversary, Brookside is set to challenge Lei Ying Lee for the TNA Knockouts World Championship. The storyline carries an added emotional layer: the two women were formerly tag team partners and are close friends outside the ring, making the title collision all the more compelling. In the build-up to the bout, Brookside took to social media to push back against criticism that her success in professional wrestling has been handed to her rather than earned.

The ‘nepo baby’ label has followed Brookside throughout her career, largely because of her famous lineage — her father, Robbie Brookside, is a celebrated British wrestling veteran who spent years working as a trainer and producer for WWE. Critics have long suggested that her family connections opened doors that might otherwise have remained closed. Brookside, clearly motivated by that criticism, is using Slammiversary as a platform to answer her doubters in the most direct way possible: by competing for championship gold.

A Knockouts World Title match against a credible, established champion like Lei Ying Lee is exactly the kind of high-stakes opportunity that can redefine a career. Whether Brookside walks out of Slammiversary as champion or not, the spotlight is firmly on her — and she seems determined to make the most of it.