Top WWE NXT star and reigning TNA Knockouts World Champion, Kelani Jordan, spoke with Denise Salcedo about various topics, including her feelings on holding the World Title of another promotion.
Jordan said, “Well, honestly, it always feels good when you have gold around your waist, you know, rocking it on your shoulder. But I’m aware that I know I’m a target in the NXT locker room. I know I’m a target in the TNA locker room because everyone wants gold, but especially when you’re NXT superstar and you take another brand’s title, it doesn’t always, you know, people don’t people aren’t always the happiest, if that makes sense.”
On whether working with the TNA locker room has helped her grow in the ring:
“Definitely. I feel I’ve grown so much because I’ve only ever known NXT. I’ve only ever known the NXT locker room. So, being able to experience a different locker room it’s allowed me to grow not only in the ring but also in the business side of things. I’m able to just adapt, be flexible, and just experience all the different athletes. And I feel like that has really helped me in my in-ring performance, but also I just feel like I just can appreciate it more being able to like train at NXT, but then go to TNA and just have like everything happen all at once and just grow so much in such a short time.”
On the pressure and attention that comes with holding the TNA Knockouts World Title:
“Yes. Yeah, absolutely. Especially so like from the North American Championship, I felt like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m just so happy I finally got a title. Like, you know, this is so cool. I’m just happy to be here.’ But I feel like now I feel like pressure, but in a different way. Like, I don’t feel the need to prove myself the way I had to set the tone for the North American. I more so feel like I’m just going to keep being Kelani Jordan. And I do feel like there’s more eyes because I have a whole different brand on my shoulder. So I feel like it’s awesome because pressure is a privilege. So, I love it. I’m loving the attention, whether people like it or not.”
On how she views her past self:
“I think she was cute, of course. I think that Kelani is cute. Just happy to be here just trying to navigate and find her, you know, her path. But now I feel like I’m more confident. I feel like I know I work hard. I know I study. I know I’m passionate about this. And I feel like I just like have this confidence that I didn’t have before. Not saying, ‘Oh, I wasn’t confident in my potential or whatever.’ But I just feel like now I’m just way more confident in who I am and just learning who I am. And again, there’s still times that I get nervous. I get nervous every single time, but I just feel like I know, like I have the potential to be someone great.”
On her recent NXT promo segment:
“Yes. So, I kind of felt a few things. One, I knew it was a challenge for me because I’ve never cut a promo that long in my life. So, I was like, ‘All right, that’s a challenge in itself.’ But also, I felt like HBK put me out there because he believed in me, and he knew I could do it, and he knew I had a lot of things on my chest that I needed to get off ever since I won this title and people saying I was a traitor, being booed, and all this stuff. So, I felt like, you know, I’m not going to let him down. I’m not going to let myself down. And everyone who did believe in me and knew that I was doing the right thing by going in there winning this title, I was like, I’m not going to let all the people who believe in me down. And even those who booed me, I was like, I’m going to show you just why I’m Kelani Jordan. So, I felt like nervous because I just wanted it to go so well. And I also wanted to make sure that I was getting my point across and stating my truth, whether people don’t believe my truth or not.”
You can check out the complete podcast in the video below.
(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)
