All eyes won’t just be on all of the women wrestlers during the upcoming Mae Young Classic. WWE’s first official full-time referee Jessika Carr will also get her turn in the spotlight throughout the highly-anticipated event.
The Baltimore native says in a brand-new video on WWE.com that she started wrestling in 2009, eventually moving to Florida to train at the Dudley Boyz’s Team 3D Academy. “Along the way, in order to get to Team 3D, I won an NWA scholarship. They picked me out of 40, 45 people to continue my career and awarded me money. So I used that money to go to Team 3D Academy and that just shows you that they saw my passion and my potential,” she explains.
Jessika admits that the journey to become an official WWE referee wasn’t easy and that the job itself doesn’t seem like the glamorous in the world of wrestling. But, she explains, referees are “just as important” as Becky Lynch or Alexa Bliss. She adds, “We’re that third person in the match. The best referees are very passionate about what they do, and without a doubt, I am.”
Like many wrestlers and fans, Jessika reveals that the sport helped her see the light at the end of some heartbreaking circumstances in life. “For me, wrestling was something I always loved. Something that got me through a lot of hard times — of being bullied, of being overweight, of a parents’ divorce. It was what I looked forward to,” she says.
Now, Jessika, having fulfilled a huge life goal, is encouraging others to do the same. “If you have a dream, you have to chase it. You have to really look deep inside yourself and say, ‘This is what makes me happy. This is what I want to do. This is what I need to do.’ I didn’t want to want up and go to a job that I hated. And now I can say that.”
The first installment of the Mae Young Classic kicks off August 28 on the WWE Network.
Are you excited to see Jessika Carr in the ring? Which female wrestler are you voting for to become the first-ever Mae Young Classic champion? Sound off in the comments below!