Earlier this year, Sienna, also known as Allysin Kay in other promotions, departed abruptly from Impact Wrestling.
The 10-year professional wrestling veteran recently took part in an interview with Interactive Wrestling Radio on Wrestling Epicenter to talk about her departure, her plans for the future, and her experience with women’s wrestling in indie promotions.
Here are some highlights from the interview, as provided by Fightful Online.
Sienna shares the story of how she left Impact, and how management changes and injury made the leave complex and confusing.
“I did leave Impact on good terms. I did give them notice when I knew I was going to be doing the (WWE) Mae Young Classic. My contract had expired. It expired in April and this is like June or July that we’re talking.
To be honest, I don’t know if they knew my contract had expired. A lot of people who signed when I did signed two year deals. I negotiated mine down to a one year deal. There were so many management changes, I don’t know if they even knew that mine was not a two year deal without me bringing it up. A lot of people, when their contracts are expiring, bring it up. When it was expiring, I was injured. I didn’t know what I was doing so I kind of rode it out. I was like, ‘Let me determine if I can even wrestle anymore.’
That was a huge thing. I had to do a lot of testing to determine if I could even wrestle again or are they going to tell me that this is a genetic disorder and I’ll have to be on blood thinners for life. That was a possibility. So, I wasn’t worried about contracts at the time. I was worried about, ‘Am I ever going to be able to wrestle again?’
When I got that worked out and I was about to be cleared, WWE reached out to me. My contract with Impact was expired and they hadn’t really reached out to me with any ideas. So, I decided I’m going to take what I can and take this crazy journey as far as I can. This is a new thing. It is exciting. I wanted to try something new.”
Sienna has worked in a number of promotions, including SHINE, SHIMMER, Women Superstars Uncensored, Absolute Intense Wrestling, Lucha Libre AAA World Wide, and Ring of Honor.
The talented wrestler talked about her experience with indie promotions and how some view women’s wrestling as a trend.
“I stand by what I said before. I feel that especially when WWE started putting women in the main event, all these indie promotions, suddenly they have a Women’s Championship when they never did before. Suddenly they are like, ‘Women are in the main event too on our show!’ Okay, you guys don’t really care because you’re just jumping on something that is trendy right now because a more popular company is doing it. Sometimes it does feel really hokey when companies are doing it that never did it before. But, I feel us getting a bigger platform is a good thing.”
Sienna made her debut with WWE during the Mae Young Classic tournament in 2018, where she was defeated by former rival Mia Yim. She was asked about her future plans, and if she would sign with a bigger company.
“Honestly, I have no idea. I’m talking to a few people… I just want to have fun! I don’t want to just be a body that’s just there. “Look, I’m in this company. Here I am!” And that’s it. I’m a creator. I need to create. I don’t want creative control. I can work with ideas! But, I want stories. I want compelling stories. I want to do something different. I don’t want to do what everyone else is doing. I don’t want to be a robot! (laughs)”
See the entire Interactive Wrestling Radio interview with Sienna here.
