Former two time WWE Women’s Champion Jazz was a recent guest the Women’s Pro Wrestling Weekly podcast to reflect her wrestling career, discuss if she’s experienced racism in wrestling and shares why she would be interested in joining Impact Wrestling. Highlights of the interview below.
Her relationship With Jacqueline: Her and I every now and then, will send a text or something to say hello and just check on one another. I congratulated her on her [WWE] Hall of Fame. When I see her at WrestleCon, of course, we take pictures every year. This past year we took our girls to WrestleCon which was in New Orleans. So our girls got to meet. Everyone was excited and hyped up about that now they’re all interested in wrestling, which I wasn’t too fond of that but I would guide them [if they pursued wrestling] the right way.
If induction to the WWE HOF would give her validation: I feel it would be icing on the cake but like I said, with the lawsuit… it is what it is. If I get it, yay. If I don’t, everything I’ve done is in black and white. It can’t be erased. My fans know exactly who I am and what I’ve done, what I’ve accomplished and what a big impact I made in this business so that’s all that matter to me.
Thoughts on Intergender Wrestling: I love it. That’s how I started. There really weren’t any other women when I first started, so I had to wrestle the guys. Then when I got thrown into the mix with ECW, there weren’t any girls for me to really wrestle. Francine was doing her thing, Dawn Marie was doing her thing, so Paul [Heyman] threw me out there to the wolves and I had to make it work. I didn’t bitch, gripe or whatever. Those guys beat the crap out of me but whatever they brought, I got up and tried to bring it right back. That’s how I earned my respect because I wasn’t a crybaby. I took whatever they gave and when it was my turn to give, I gave it back.
If she’s experienced racism in wrestling: I wouldn’t say I had experienced it. But honestly, with my ability and my way of work, if I were blonde hair and blue eyed, I would probably still be on TV now. I’m not pulling the race card, I’m not one to do that, I’m not all about that because my family is mixed with all kinds of races. I just believe if I had a little blonde hair, it would be totally different for me. But no one ever stood up to me and called me out my name or in my face treated me differently but as far as the business aspect, I could tell the difference.
On which women she’s seen grow within the business: Ember Moon, she is doing phenomenal. I remember when she was starting at 19, 20 years old starting out in Booker T’s school and on the indies trying to make a name for herself. [Mercedes] Martinez, that’s someone I’m so proud of. I’ve watched her grow. Believe it or not, she was one of the girls in the locker room who wouldn’t say a word and now you go to shows, she’s like the leader in the back. I’m like ‘Oh my god, girl! Who is this person? You went from not speaking at all to now you freaking running the back!’ So things like that just make me proud cause I’ve watched these girls grow so much and come so far in this industry. Not that I’m saying I’m a mom or anything but I would like to say I had a bit to do with it as far as being a little bit of a mentor.
On why she would be open for a run with Impact: If there is a company I would like to be a part of, it would be Impact. Because it’s a smaller company, there are not 100 girls in the back fighting for a spot and it seems like they are more family oriented. It reminds me of ECW. It’s not a billion dollar company but everyone there is happy and seems to love their job and love working with one another. That’s what I’m all about. Teamwork makes the dream work.
On her memories of ECW: Great memories, the birth of Jazz. That was the birth of Jazz. Paul and [Tommy] Dreamer saw something in me. I was totally different of what was going on in WCW and WWE at the time. They took a chance on me and thew me out there. Believe it or not, I only had six to eight months of training and I had no choice but to make it work. I was not going to fail. I’ve been an athlete my whole life kind of helped and God blessed me with the ability and talent to be a professional wrestler. Wrestling I believe was my calling.
Jazz also discusses being released by the WWE, her time with WSU, the rise of women wrestling and wanting to elevate the NWA Women’s Championship.
You can listen to the full interview below:
What did you think of the interview? Would you like to see Jazz compete on Impact Wrestling? What are your favorite Jazz moments? Let us know in the comments below!
