During a recent interview with Pwinsider, AEW Superstar Jade Cargill commented on her first year in AEW, teaming up with Shaquille O’Neal, and more. You can check out some highlights from the interview below:
On what fans can expect from her match with Red Velvet tonight on Rampage: “Well, as we know, Red Velvet is a little firecracker. She is hot. She is feisty. I expect her to come in ready to throw everything, the whole table at me. This is her third time facing me, so I would think she has the tools to know what to do when it comes to this match. However, I’m going to use my strength. I’m going to use my composure. I mean, I’m Jade Cargill. I’m not worried about anybody. So I’m expected to win this match, as everybody knows. Everybody knows I’m going to win this match. This is just a phase that I have to go through to get to this championship. Next is between Jamie and Thunder, and whomever next is for the championship. I’m just excited.”
On how her psychology degree helps her in wrestling: “Oh my gosh, it’s helped me tremendously. People don’t understand the things that we go through as far as being a wrestler and just being able to have our composure and being able to deal with the outside noise as well as the inside noise that we’ll be dealing with. Wrestling of course is physical, but as well as mental and being able to fight through all these body aches and being able to fight through the critics and being able to go out there and prove yourself and to just block everybody out and to focus. It’s helped me a lot regarding body language. It’s helped me to read people. It’s helped me to understand that I know who I am, and I’m not going to let anybody outside of me tell me who I am and what I stand for. I see a lot of people in wrestling, they let people outside of themselves determine who they are, and they let all their hard work and all their years of grinding to be where they are be squandered in an interview or a magazine or an opinion of somebody else. Me being a mental professional, I don’t let these things affect me. I could care less about how people feel about me because I know who I am and what I stand for and my goals in this profession. So it’s helped me in a lot of ways. It’s helped me with my coworkers and me talking to my coworkers and making them feel great about themselves. Because one thing I know for sure is we’re not always going to be at 100. Sorry, things happen in a match. Things happen in a match, and you have to be able to pick your face off the ground and keep it moving. If you know yourself and you’re mentally stable, you’ll be fine.”
On teaming with Shaq on Dynamite: “It was such a pleasure. It’s not talked about enough, but working with Shaquille O’Neal was a total pleasure. He is such a professional. I remember before going out joking with him. I said, “Don’t embarrass me.” Just joking. “Don’t embarrass me. This is my world.” He looked at me in a very serious tone, and he said, “Don’t embarrass you? This is my world. This is what I do. I’m a character. This is what I do. You’re in my world.” He was very serious when he said that. You know what? I woke up right then and there. I had a little bit of nerves in me because this is my first match. A lot of people expected a lot out of it. I said, “You know what? He’s absolutely correct. I’m about to be in the ring with two legends. I have to kill this. I have to kill this. I have to kill all the naysayers. I have to go out here and just perform my butt off and show people that I’m here and I’ve arrived.” It was fun. He was a very hard-working man. He came to the school to work on stuff. Just a great guy, all-around guy. I don’t think I’ve heard anything negative about him. So it was a great pleasure to work with him. Hard-working man.”
On her first year in AEW and her anniversary segment on Rampage: “I’m blessed. I’m blessed that they believe in me and what I stand for. My first match wasn’t until March, however it’s been a thrill to work for such a prestigious company. Mark deserved that cake. If you looked at that cake, you would know that Mark deserved to get that cake in his face. But you know what? Red Velvet has it coming to her tonight. I mean, she can’t do my lawyer like that. We’re a team. I would never let anybody disrespect anybody on my team. She did exactly that, and she thinks she’s going to get away with Tonight I look forward to facing her. Like I said, she’s a little firecracker, and let’s see what happens.”
On who she wants to face that she hasn’t yet: “It’s two people. Serena [Deeb]. Serena is a professional in that range. She is a professor. She is amazing. I think if anybody thinks anything less than that, they are crazy. Actually, I can’t wait to get my one-on-one with Thunder. I’m really excited to get that one-on-one with Thunder. I believe we can make magic in the ring. She’s a great opponent. She’s gritty. I’m a gritty player as well. So those two people in the ring I can’t wait to face.”
