During a recent appearance on the “Callihan Uncensored” podcast (IMPACT Ultimate Insiders exclusive), Masha Slamovich discussed various topics, including her lifelong passion for wrestling and her decision to pursue it as a career. She said,
“I watched wrestling for the first time, and I was like, ‘Man I think this is what I want to do for the rest of my life.’ It felt like it suited me. I was like, ‘Man, I can get paid to fight, that sounds f***ing great,’ because that’s all I ever want to do.”
Having signed with Impact Wrestling in September 2021, Slamovich has also made a name for herself in the deathmatch scene with promotions like GCW and REVOLVER, even having beaten Nick Gage for the GCW World Championship a few months ago, before recently dropping the title to Blake Christian at GCW Cage of Survival 2 this month. She shared that her interest in deathmatches was sparked by a CZW match between Sami Callihan and Danny Havoc. She said,
“Well, funny you should ask, because there were two moments that I specifically remember and attribute to really getting into deathmatch. The first one being, you know, I was like looking up stuff on YouTube about ECW, and I stumbled upon CZW. A click or two later and I saw you wrestling Danny Havoc. I saw that match and I was like, ‘Man, this s**t seems fun as hell.’ I was like, ‘Yo, Mom, come look at this. I’m gonna do this when I’m older,’ and she hated the idea. But that definitely was like the moment where I was like, ‘Hell yeah, I want to do this.'”
Reflecting on her first experience being up close to a deathmatch, Slamovich expressed how she knew instantly that it was something she wanted to be a part of. She said,
“When I first experienced being up close to a deathmatch was when Jun Kasai wrestled Kaho Kobayashi for her 21st birthday in Japan in July or August of 2016. I was seconding by the ring, trying to protect the fans from all the flying glass and stuff. There’s just some kind of special feeling in the air in deathmatch and just being around and I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m gonna do this.’ I remember folding up the glass, trying to get it out of the building and, mind you of course, I was terribly unprepared as I usually am. So, I’m wearing flip flops and cut off f***ing jeans and have gloves like duct taped to my hands. And I was like, ‘This is definitely what I’m gonna be involved in later on in my life.”