On top of their interview with Madison Rayne, TV Insider also spoke with fellow former Knockouts Champion Mia Yim to discuss coming back from her injury for another opportunity to compete in this year’s Mae Young Classic tournament. The fan favorite advanced to the final 16 during last year’s event. Highlights of the interview below.
On her second chance at the MYC: “I feel like the game has been upped.There was a lot of good women last year, but now this year they are bringing in girls like Meiko Satomura. There are a lot of good girls in this year’s competition. I’m actually happy for that people may think they know what to expect, considering what I did last year. I learned so much new stuff… I don’t want to be specific with it. I’m hoping people underestimate me and have an expectation of me from last year, so I can surprise them that much more.”
On being sidelined for four months due to injury: “The hardest part of the recovery was the mental. Going to physical therapy, learning how to walk again and run again, rolling around in the ring — it was all easy compared to the mental part. I’m so used to traveling every weekend. For the first time since I started wrestling, I’ve had this long length of time of not doing anything and being home while everyone else is traveling. It was depressing. It felt like I was forgotten. Thankfully, I had my best friend Blake [Thomas] at the time to keep me uplifted and telling me, ‘This is the perfect time to work on the things you didn’t have time to work on before because you were so busy traveling.’ Whether it be learning to up my makeup game or learning how to fix my hair… even Shelton [Benjamin] would tell me, since I wasn’t doing anything, to maybe go on Accutane to fix my skin. Work on new gear, character work. Both of them were telling me, since I had a lot of down-time, to work on my character. It’s my time. I’m going to make sure people notice me. That’s when the ‘Blasian Baddie’ character was created. Blake helped me stay on track and make sure I didn’t get in a hole.”
Who she would like to face in the MYC II: “I’d love to go to the finals of the Mae Young Classic facing Io Shirai. We wrestled each other in California, and it was awesome. When I started wrestling I looked up to the Shirai sisters. I finally got to meet Mio earlier this year… I wrestled Io two, three years ago. I feel like both of us have improved our game greatly. So wrestling her again this time around would be good.”
Yim also discusses receiving support from MMA Horsewomen Shayna Baszler and Jessamyn Duke.
You can read the full interview here.
What did you think of the interview? Are you excited to see Mia Yim in the Mae Young Classic again? Who would you like to see her compete against this year? Let us know in the comments below!
