In 2026, Lili “La Pescadita” Ruiz has hopes of being an official TNA Knockout. Fortunately, she already seems to be on track to potentially do as such.
On September 5, the Chicago native traveled to Minneapolis for TNA television tapings, where she later learned she’d be wrestling Harley Hudson for a TNA Xplosion match (aired October 3). During an interview with WrestleZone’s Ella Jay, Ruiz reflected on the match, which marked her debut under the TNA banner.
“It was such a dream,” Ruiz said, “and I was obviously very nervous for this match. It’s my first time doing it at something like at that level with all of those people. It was in Minneapolis and it was in the Midwest. It was cool that some people had recognized me. I was like, “‘Oh sh*t, y’all know me. This is cool.’ I’ve done some work up at Midwest All-Star Wrestling and some other promotions up in that area.
“I remember just being very nervous and being like, ‘Oh my god, like this is this is going to be a defining moment for me,'” she continued. “But the one thing that I kept hearing over and over, not just from Mr. Johnny Bravo or Mr. Tommy Dreamer, but from a lot of people who were there encouraging me. They said, ‘You’ve done this a million times, it’s the same thing. Go in there and do what you already know how to do. You’re not reinventing the wheel. You’re not doing anything crazy. You are doing what you know how to do. You’re here, so go out there and go have fun.’ I heard that over and over, like ‘Hey, have fun. Have fun.'”
Across her six-minute match, Ruiz felt a mix of excitement and nervousness, the latter of which TNA referee Frank helped ease. As for Harley Hudson, who came aboard TNA earlier in 2025, Ruiz applauds her collaborative approach to their bout.
“Just the whole entire time working with Harley was a dream,” Ruiz said. “She’s the sweetest person and willing to do things with me.”
Ruiz Returns For TNA Victory Road
Three removed from her TNA debut, Ruiz returned to the promotion for a pay-per-view opportunity at Victory Road in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. With Ash By Elegance forced to relinquish the TNA Knockouts Championship, several existing Knockouts, plus Ruiz, entered a battle royal to determine a new one.
Ruiz’s outing didn’t last long, as she was dumped out of the ring by The IInspiration (Cassie Lee and Jessica McKay). Still, she cites it as another dream come true.
“That was such a great crowd in Canada,” Ruiz recalled. “I’ve never been to Canada, so that was my first time there. To be able to do it for wrestling was so cool. The vibes on that day, which was a Friday, were a little bit I don’t want to say tense or off, but just the vibe in general was a little bit off. People are nervous about the show. Everybody’s running around like ‘Oh my god, we got to make sure everything’s good.’ Then the place started filling up. When you’re back in the back, you can’t see, you don’t know because they had this big curtains blocking everything. Then the person who was hyping up the crowd was like ‘Hey, is everybody ready? We’re going to be starting getting started soon. Everybody like say yeah!’
“All of a sudden there’s this big ass [cheer] and then everyone was just like ‘Oh!’ That for me, I feel like that flipped the switch,” she continued. “I felt a change in the energy and the atmosphere. I was like, whoa, these people are coming here to be entertained by all of these amazing wrestlers and camera people and refs and people in the back. Everybody has a role. It’s just really cool to see all of that play out from the back not as a fan, but as a wrestler, but also now you’re in the show.”
TNA Victory Road Kept Ruiz’s Wrestling Dream Alive
In the early moments of the Victory Road battle royal, The Elegance Brand argued with The IInspiration, prompting their Personal Concierge (George Iceman) to take off his coat and tease a physical confrontation. Instead, he pulled Ruiz in front of him. Ruiz too argued with The IInspiration, claiming that she could beat them and all of the audience members. When she then attempted a double clothesline, Lee and McKay ducked and launched her out of the ring for an elimination. Kelani Jordan and Lei Ying Lee later emerged as the final two, with the former beating the latter in a follow-up singles match to become the new Knockouts Champion.
“To be able to have that moment, I was the only person in that ring without a contract,” Ruiz said. “Everybody else is a Knockout. I’m a mini Knockout. I got in there and to be able to have just that very first moment, have George [Iceman] in there too, to be able to have that very first moment and crowd coming up and just feed off of that energy and with the IInspiration, bro what is life? I was staring at the IInspiration like right in front of me like what’s going on here? Then to be thrown out, it was [sad]. I got onto their little video package too. I was like oh my god, that’s cool. So just to be able to experience those moments, it keeps the dream alive.”
Watch our full interview with Lili Ruiz:
