Jordynne Grace shares how her Royal Rumble surprise came to be.
One of the biggest surprises of the entire 2024 Royal Rumble event saw reigning TNA Knockouts World Champion Jordynne Grace enter the women’s Royal Rumble match at #5. Fresh off of shocking the world, Grace spoke to Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful and explained how it all started with a phone call from TNA President Scott D’Amore.
“First of all, Scott doesn’t really ever call me,” Grace said. “When I saw the call, my immediate instinct was to not answer it because I thought I might be in trouble about something, who knows what. When I answered it and he told me that, I didn’t really know what to think. I didn’t think it was a publicity stunt that was being pitched.
“When he said it, I was like, ‘Maybe this is just an idea that they have and it’s not for real. Maybe they are testing the waters a little bit.’ Honestly, I did not think it was going to happen until I got my actual flight to Orlando to go to the PC. That was when everything started to feel real.”
The surprise hotel
Grace explained that she had to go through WWE’s physical protocol to make sure everything checked out on the medical side. From there, she had to wait for several things to be cleared by D’Amore to ensure she was given the green light. She also stayed at a separate hotel.
“They put me at a different hotel than all the main wrestlers,” Grace revealed. “I guess that’s the ‘surprise hotel.’ On Thursday, I flew out to the PC in Orlando and from there I drove to Tampa that night. They asked me if I wanted to go home on Friday and I was like, ‘No, I just need a day to mentally prepare myself for this.’ I ended up, that day, going to the gym and trying to be as normal as possible. Spray tan and all that normal stuff. Saturday was the day.”
News of Grace’s involvement started to leak on Saturday, but it was largely kept under wraps. Not even former TNA stars Chelsea Green or Trinity (Naomi) knew “The Juggernaut” would be involved until she showed up at rehearsals in Orlando.
“That was even more shocking to them”
“I didn’t tell anybody, besides my husband [Jonathan Gresham],” Grace said. “I didn’t tell any wrestlers because I was so scared of anything getting out, which of course it did anyway, but it could have gotten out [sooner]. Ruining surprises, you can’t have surprises in wrestling anymore. People were shocked. I saw so many people that I’ve known for years. They all initially thought this was my official debut. ‘No, I’m TNA Knockouts Champion and I’m here representing TNA.’ That was even more shocking to them.
“I saw Chelsea Green, who was really mad that I didn’t tell her. She came up and she hit me. ‘Someone just texted me and said that you’re here and I didn’t believe them, but here you are.’ She was really upset that I didn’t tell her. ‘It’s better that I’m here as a surprise.’ I also didn’t tell Trinity, which was the funniest thing. All week, I’m texting her, ‘I’m really excited to see you in the Rumble.’ What she didn’t know is I was going to be standing across the ring seeing her.”
Naomi just wrapped up a program with Grace this month. This added even more significance to their together moment in the Rumble.
“It’s crazy. I don’t know how many actual WWE fans watch TNA,” Grace added. “I don’t know what the exact crossover is. But it felt so good to get that reaction when we had the standoff and the hug. That was awesome. I’m so glad everybody kind of knew what was going on between us.”
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If you use any quotes from this article, please credit Fightful with a h/t to WrestleZone for the transcription.
