Jordynne Grace, who has reportedly signed a multi-year deal with WWE following her departure from TNA Wrestling, recently appeared on Insight with Chris Van Vliet. During the interview, she opened up about her career, her inspirations, and what she hopes to accomplish in WWE. Here are some highlights courtesy of ChrisVanVliet.com:
On her Royal Rumble appearance:
“Honestly, I expected to come out there and no one was gonna know who I was. It was my first time being in WWE at all, so I didn’t expect people to know who I was. I didn’t know the crossover, what exactly it was between TNA and WWE.”
On first being told about the Royal Rumble:
“The first I ever heard of it was when Scott [D’Amore] called me, literally the week before, and asked if I wanted to do the Rumble like that was any question at all. But that was the first time I ever heard about it and then after that, it just kind of snowballed from there. I thought he was joking. I had just gotten home from the tapings actually, from the TNA tapings. I was like, I just don’t understand why you’re calling to rib me, you could do this over text, I don’t get it. He was like no, they want to use you for the Rumble. And I was just like, it was mind-blowing.”
On if conversations after the Royal Rumble for more WWE dates:
“I mean, not with me. The only time that I knew about these things was when they were already talked about within the two companies and set in motion. They were being booked by Ariel, who’s the head of TNA and then Shawn, who’s obviously Shawn [Michaels]. I wasn’t asked, I was basically told Oh, you’re gonna go do this for these amount of dates. I was just like, I mean, obviously I’m not going to say no.”
On her surprise NXT debut:
“Then that was the big surprise. It was not leaked at all for who the surprise opponent was going to be. They had me come at 7 pm, snuck me into a room and put a Do Not Enter sign on the door. It was wild. Yeah, they kept the surprise really well. Roxanne didn’t even know. Because she had been asking, I guess, who’s it going to be, and no one would tell her. Then they were going to tell her right before we went out and she was just like you know what, I don’t even care anymore. Just let me have a natural reaction out there. So she went out to the ring, did her promo, and then that was her natural reaction.”
On if WWE has always been the goal:
“It was just to be a wrestler in general. I just wanted to wrestle when I was a kid, but I also wanted to be a Diva. That’s the era I was watching. So I wanted to be like one of the models. I wanted to be like one of the model wrestlers. I think since then, obviously things have changed so much. I started watching TNA I want to say a few years before I actually started wrestling. And the variation in WWE and TNA at the time was huge, obviously. I saw women like Awesome Kong and I was like dang, maybe I could be like that.”
On why she let her contract expire:
“I’ve been at TNA for a very long time, since 2018, and I’ve never let my contract expire before. I’ve always just re-signed. I don’t know if it was just the uncertainty of not knowing what was going to happen next, or I was just scared that no one was going to want me. But I feel like now I’m more confident. I had an amazing 2024 and I think it’s time. I’ve done so much in TNA. I’ve done pretty much all there is to do and I feel like if there was ever a time to move forward, it’ll be right now.”
