It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say Jazz is one of the most dominant women in professional wrestling. Starting with her legendary run with ECW, the WSU Hall of Famer has amassed an impressive list of accomplishments over the last 20 years.
She only wrestled for WWE for three years, but in that time, she became a two-time Women’s Champion. Most notably, she successfully defended the title against Lita and Trish Stratus at WrestleMania 18.
The current NWA World Women’s Champion recently did an exclusive interview with Ignacio Grifol at solowrestling.com. She spoke about her current 800-day championship reign, the current state of women’s wrestling, and intergender wrestling.
Jazz won the NWA World Women’s Championship on Sept. 16, 2016, becoming the first African-American woman to do so. She recently retained in her title defense against WWE prospect, Penelope Ford, at the NWA 70th Anniversary Show.
On the experience she said, “I think it’s the first time [Ford] gets into the ring with someone of my level, but she did it well. Although I was very excited, you know, and that night was my time to show the world that I am the NWA Women’s Champion and I deserve to continue being so.”
After their match, Jazz said it didn’t matter if you were a man or woman, black or white, she wanted the pound of gold. It seemed like a challenge for the NWA World Championship to some.
In her words, “It was not a challenge. I told them it is time for women, not only for Jazz, to be recognized and why I deserve to have an opportunity to have my Ten Pounds of Gold. Why do only men have the opportunity to have this goal? I want to represent that, I want my Ten Pounds of Gold.”
Although her “challenge” was a miscommunication, she is a proponent of intergender matches.
“I love them if they are done in the right way,” she said. “If psychology is good, you can have one of the best matches, especially with the talent there is. In fact, Rodney (Mack, her husband) and I challenge anyone to mixed combat. We challenge the world.”
WWE didn’t contacted Jazz to take part in the Royal Rumble or WWE Evolution, but she expressed her approval in the current women’s division— namely no longer using the term “Diva” and the Mae Young Classic. It’s hard not to see she was ahead of her time when she was there in 2002, but she’s been experiencing a career resurgence in the indies.
On the subject, she said, “I think it’s great, it’s something that the Pro-Wrestling world has been waiting for a long time. For several years women never had the platform to show their talent and now there are many female promotions that give us the opportunity to fight, not worry about WWE or Impact. The feminine struggles are taking everything.”
Next month, Jazz will defend her title against two-time Impact Knockouts Champion, Allie, at NWA Pop Up Event: ‘New Year’s Clash’. The show is scheduled for Jan. 5 in Clarksville, Tennessee.
