IMPACT’s Tenille Dashwood talks The IInspiration, BrandArmy and life after WWE

From her success inside the ring and beyond, IMPACT Wrestling star Tenille Dashwood discusses how she has thrived since leaving WWE and how others can as well.

Although she’s been absent from IMPACT TV recently due to testing positive for COVID-19 and having to miss last month’s batch of tapings, Tenille Dashwood has been staying busy in 2022, specifically with BrandArmy and her remarkable traveling endeavors.

BrandArmy is an all-new app that serves as a safe-for-work OnlyFans alternative and is designed to give creators and influencers another platform to share their content and engage with their fan base beyond social media. February will mark Dashwood’s third month on the service and already it’s far exceeded her monetary expectations.

She had previously been in contact with a few different platforms about hosting exclusive content that’s additional to what’s already available through her social media pages. She wasn’t sold on what was out there wasn’t until Cassie Lee and Jessie McKay of The IInspiration brought BrandArmy up to her and encouraged her to join.

“When BrandArmy presented itself, it just seemed like the perfect thing for me,” she told Daily DDT. “Having Jess and Cass to base it off, I could see it was working well for them too, so it all came about in that way.”

The audience engagement element of the app stood out to her more than anything. She believes it creates a more authentic relationship between herself and the fans and allows them to be a part of her life and get excited about what she has coming up including IMPACT tapings, photoshoots, and more.

“I definitely like the [fan interaction] aspect of it,” Dashwood said. “I have an amazing fan base and I’m very lucky that throughout my whole career they’ve been very supportive. All my fans know I obviously love to wrestle but I also travel for a living and post a lot about my travels and that lifestyle.

“So many places I go and things that I do, I always have so much extra footage in my phone and extra photos from photographers I wasn’t using and there’s so much more I wanted to get across to people without bombarding everyone,” she continued. “This gives people the chance to be a part of it if they choose to.”

She was very happy with how she did her first month on BrandArmy and appreciates all the support she’s gotten from it. She also revealed that her tag team partner Madison Rayne has since signed up as well and more familiar faces could soon follow.

As a well-documented worldwide traveler, it’s been the perfect fit for her. Just last year alone, she was able to travel to Paris and Italy and looks forward to heading over to Dubai with fellow former WWE star Summer Rae in the near future.

While it’s been a struggle at times working through the travel restrictions, the amazing experiences she’s had going to all of these beautiful places have been well worth it.

“I was fortunate in the sense that, for one, I didn’t get sick until recently,” Dashwood said. “I managed to stay safe and avoid it and obviously I wasn’t traveling while I was unwell. I was lucky in a sense that were places you could travel to still, as long as you abide by the guidelines. I was finding opportunities with places I was able to visit and wanted to visit and try to make the most of it. There’s a lot of room for error or room for things to get postponed or delayed, but that’s all part of the fun.”

The last decade-plus has been an absolute whirlwind for Dashwood from being to signed by WWE at the age of 22 to making it to the main roster soon after to her abrupt departure in 2017. She’s since had runs in Ring of Honor and IMPACT and even appeared in AEW’s inaugural women’s Casino Battle Royale at All Out 2019.

In other words, she’s had no trouble finding success outside of WWE. Not everyone is as fortunate, of course, but she stresses that contrary to what some might believe, there is life post-WWE and it can be quite wonderful.

“There’s different mindsets, isn’t there? Some people can leave WWE and it’s hard for them to find their footing,” Dashwood said. “For me, I guess in ways I had already prepared myself for that day because I knew inevitably I wouldn’t work for WWE eventually and when that time comes, am I going to pick up everything I have and move back home to Australia and start again? No, that’s not what I want. So I did what I could to get ready by starting business on the side and investing in things like setting up my travel and lifestyle so I could continue all the things that I loved and enjoyed.”

In fact, it was through WWE that she discovered her love for travel, and after leaving WWE, she had the chance to compete in other countries including the first-ever female main event in Germany against Toni Storm.

In taking advantage of every opportunity, she ensured she was set up post-WWE even while she was still there so she could keep doing what she loved. Eventually, her hard work paid off and now she’s living the life she always wanted.

“People are often in this bubble in WWE,” she said. “I had an amazing career there and I’m very grateful for it. People will ask, ‘Do you wish you could go back?’ or ‘Do you have any hard feelings?’ and I don’t. What I was doing was perfect for my life then and what I’m doing is perfect for my life now. That influenced where I am now and I’m grateful for the journey.”

Dashwood noted that the possibilities are endless once you’re no longer under the complete control of WWE and The IInspiration are prime examples of ex-WWE stars who have also capitalized on their newfound freedom.

She never expected to work with them again in wrestling after the few matches they had in NXT, but all of them have ended up in IMPACT and are embroiled in a feud over the Impact Knockouts Tag Team Championship. The bout has had to be delayed a few times due to COVID, but it will mean that much more once it comes to fruition this February.

“At that point, we addressed the idea of maybe working on the same team and all the possibilities and it’s kind of gone the opposite way where we’re still interacting but we have our own things going on,” she said. “It’s just fun, really. I love seeing other people succeed and be happy and it’s just fun for me, too.”

Catch Tenille Dashwood on BrandArmy and every Thursday night on IMPACT! Wrestling at 8/7c on AXS TV.