Here’s an exclusive interview with Kansas City referee Yali Sapphire,. She is based primarily in the Midwest and formerly worked for WWE’s NXT brand. Credit to POST Wrestling and Andrew Thompson for providing us with the highlights and a video of the full interview:
Yali Sapphire talks about opportunities being kept away from her because of the color of her skin early in her career:
“Yeah definitely. When I started out, not just being black but being a female, there were times when people wouldn’t even bother looking at my skill and my in-ring ability. They just take one look at me and say, ‘No,’ and so I had to overcome that and you’ll hear a lot of people say that the only way to be successful is to get used to hearing ‘no’, but once you get over that, I mean, it’s about voicing your — not so much your opinion but letting people know, ‘Hey, I’m good at what I do. I have the ability to be the best and I’m not going anywhere.’ You just can’t give up.”
Working the NXT house show loop in Florida for WWE:
“It definitely gave me a perspective on what the WWE is looking for. But, it was a lot of fun and I got the chance to work three NXT live events down in Florida; and got to just see how that machine known as the WWE operates.”
