During a recent appearance on the “Talk Is Jericho” podcast, AEW Superstar Jade Cargill commented on choosing to sign with AEW over WWE, not wanting to be “just a number” in WWE, and more. You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On her WWE tryout and what her conversations were like with the company: “They called me back. I’m not going to name the person’s hand that I shook. They wanted me. The problem they found that they had mixed feelings about was that, like I mentioned, I don’t need wrestling. I don’t need to do this. A lot of people, especially at the trial, they need this. This is how they feed their families. They’ve been doing this forever, and for them to get to this point, they will give anything and everything to do it. So they were like, ‘We want you. We’re going to sign you, but we’re kind of worried about how bad you want this, and we’re not just some reality show. We’re not just glitter and lights and cameras.’ I was like, okay. He said, ‘Also you have a child?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I do’, and they were like, ‘Well, what are you going to do?’ Because at that time my daughter was two. I was like, ‘Well, thankfully, because I have money, we can pay a tutor to help tutor my child being that we have to relocate to Orlando.’ I can have a 24-hour nanny, but they were really grilling me about it in which I was kind of cut off. I was like, ‘Well, my spouse can travel with me wherever we go. This could be easy for me. I thought about all the precautions to this, I’ve been warned about traveling, I get it.’ He said, ‘Yeah, I get what you’re saying, but this is your family now. I want you to know that.’ I was like, ‘I get it. I totally understand that, but I’ve thought about it, and I want it. I’ve been training for this, this is what I want.’ They’re like, ‘Alright, well, we’ll see.’
On making the decision to sign with AEW over WWE: “So they sent the contract, they wanted me to do it. AEW came about and I came here, I got the experience, and I felt calm. I remember you [Chris Jericho] and I had this conversation in the car. It made me feel at ease about the decision that I wanted to make. I didn’t have to relocate. I felt at home. I could call the owner of our company and talk to him and he knew my name. He knew my purpose. He knew that I wanted to do this, and that mattered to me. I wasn’t just a number. I wasn’t just this person, like who was this person? He knew exactly who I was, so that made me feel comfortable, and yes, the other company was pissed off that they sent me this 100-page contract, but I made the best decision for my family, and I made the best decision for myself.”
On not wanting to just be a number in WWE: “I didn’t want to be a number. One thing that really stood out to me was that I could call and text TK and he knows exactly who I am. That mattered. I’ve always been a believer and I’ve always been an underdog. I love being the underdog and we’re hungry. I want to be part of something that is hungry and wants to change things. That’s why I came here. The locker room, I felt at ease. I didn’t feel like it was a bullying system or athlete vs. wrestler type of system. It felt natural. There’s more security. There’s a safety net here. [EJ Nduka] gave up everything he had, had a newborn baby, and got cut with no warning. He gave everything. I remember when I told him I was thinking about coming here, he couldn’t believe it. ‘Why would you ever choose [WWE] over [AEW]?’ I’m like, you don’t understand. I feel good here. I don’t want to be cut or have to worry. I feel like somebody and I don’t want to just be a number. He was so for this company and look at him. I’m like, damn, that sucks. You were all about this company, we talked about this. You tried to convince me to come over, you just had a baby, your wife passed the bar in Florida for your career. It sucks. I know I made the best decision.”
(h/t – 411 Wrestling)
