AEW TBS Champion Jade Cargill was a recent guest on “The Zaslow Show” and commented on her pro wrestling career so far, Tony Khan’s leadership in AEW, and more.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On her wrestling career: “Pro wrestling is treating me very well. I’m going into my second year right now. I’m kicking ass, taking names, doing what needs to be done. It’s treating me very well. I’m undefeated 30-0, just had my first trios match last week, we kicked ass in like three minutes, so it’s going great.”
On her thoughts on Tony Khan as a leader: “I feel like TK [Tony Kahn] is a phenomenal man and leader. He always saw something in me, and that’s what I appreciated from him. He’s very transparent, open, and knows what he’s doing. He’s a student of the game, but he loves wrestling all his life. He knows what sells, looks good, and he’s going to put his best foot forward for his product. I felt like I’ve always been a player in this game. One thing I know about myself is that I look different, so I have to play on what makes me different. I understand that a lot of people have years on me, and that’s something I can’t control. It’s something I have to work with throughout the years that I’m going to get in this business. I’ve always been a player in the game. I knew I was a big deal when I stepped foot in AEW regardless of how fans and everybody felt. There’s something about me that’s just different. I always knew I was a big player.”
On how she became a wrestling fan: “I watched pro wrestling like everybody did in the early 2000s, especially in the attitude era. I think that was one of the hype moments of wrestling…We flipped it on, me and my brother, my sister, we would watch it growing up. We would fight in the front yard, and try to body slam people…I just got away from it being in sports. Mark Henry found me working out, we have a mutual friend…Went to a tryout, got the wrestling bug, and never put it down since…The tryout [with WWE] was a blessing to have, because I didn’t understand how hard it is to get a tryout. People who’ve always wanted to do wrestling all their life, this was a very big deal. I was very naive when I went to the tryout, because I’ve done other tryouts before, and have been in pressure situations. I’ve been asked to take the last shot in my basketball career tons of times, so I didn’t see how much it meant to a lot of people. They didn’t know anything about me, and I was fairly new to knowing anything about current wrestling. I chose AEW over WWE for a lot of optics, and I know I made the best decision.”
On telling her family she wants to be a wrestler: “My mom said no. She said, ‘you’re going to get hurt.’ When somebody thinks of wrestling, the first thing they think of is getting body slammed and getting hurt. My mom is still not a fan of me wrestling at all…My daughter is one of my biggest fans. She’s actually my wrestling partner. She loved it — we put her in tennis, soccer, golf — and right now, wrestling is her thing. I understand my mom, because I’m like, ‘no.’ My brother is another big fan of mine…My family, they’ll go with whatever I go with. My mom, however, is not a fan…My daughter was there the first day I stepped foot in the ring. My daughter has always been there…I would get tossed and every single second I got hit, my daughter would start crying. I would have to get out the ring and talk to her and get her to understand. Eventually, I was like, ‘when I’m winning, and beating him up, I need you to cheer for me.’ She has been in this since she was two, watching me get beat up by these gigantic men since she was two…When people are booing me, she’ll look at them with this stern face. She’ll turn around and clap and cheer for me….I tell her that I’m a superhero, and mommy has to go and fight crime right now…We’re learning together. She’s gotten in trouble in school for using wrestling moves.”
On getting recognized more than her husband now: “I think I’m starting to get more recognized than Brandon, so it’s pretty interesting. It’s surprising still. When I’m home, I’m a whole different person — I’m wearing sweats, wearing a hat — I’m like, ‘oh, gosh,’ I have to start looking decent when I go to Target. It’s a whole new world. I’m so used to people interrupting him at dinner and wanting to get pictures and autographs and things from him, so now that worlds have changed. He’s the co-owner of a team right now, and the stay-at-home dad, it’s such a weird world.”
On her debut match teaming with Shaquille O’Neal on Dynamite: “It was a dream come true. This is a man that everybody watched growing up. I think every commercial break, you see an advertisement of this man. For me to even be in the same room, and share conversation, share a ring, with this man, it was a blessing in disguise. Who gets a debut match with Shaquille O’Neal on prime time TV? I remember before going out, I said, ‘You ready?’ He looked at me, and said, ‘No. Are you ready? This is my world. I work in entertainment. Are you ready? Don’t embarrass me.’ That lit a fire under my ass…It was a surreal moment…This is a moment that people can see me. This is the time for me to make my mark.”
