Airica Demia explains how My Hero Academia inspired her wrestling persona.
At the age of 14, Airica Demia made the decision to pursue professional wrestling as a career path. While it may take some for trainees to carve out an identity for their wrestling characters, Demia had a clear image pretty early on. Growing up, Demia was a massive fan of the superhero manga series My Hero Academia. Within that series, Demia found herself especially drawn to the main protagonist, Izuku Midoriya, who is also known by his hero name of Deku.
“When I was 14, all I knew was I am the female version of Deku,” Demia told WrestleZone’s Ella Jay. “I watched that show, like I said, when I was 14, and he was also 14 in the beginning of the show. He’s a huge crybaby, he was always underestimated by everybody. He was super skinny, he was an outcast. I was all of those things too, so it was very easy for me to identify with this character. So I was like, ‘I want to do that.'”
In addition to her ring name, which is a spin on the My Hero Academia title, Airica Demia’s signature green gear is also inspired by the attire of Deku, who also dons green as his signature color. Tied in with Deku’s aura of lightning, Demia says her gear design was intended to combine those two important elements.
“The gear I have is also based pretty heavily on the main character of the anime (Deku). There’s like lightning and stuff on it because of his superpower. He has lightning all over his body. My initial pair of gear, I drew it myself when I was 14. It’s very plain compared to what I’ve got now, but I was very, very proud because I literally drew it. Then I had it made, and it looked exactly like the drawing.”
Blue & Green Pants?
In late July, Demia had the opportunity to meet the English voice behind the Deku character, Justin Briner, at Raleigh’s 2023 Galaxy Con. Amidst her trip there, Demia also ran into a familiar face — former AEW and WWE NXT star, Leva Bates. Prior to Galaxy Con, Demia notes that the two had a memorable run-in during a wrestling show in Florida about two months ago. Upon meeting, Demia says Bates immediately recognized her Academia-inspired ensemble.
“I met her at a show in Florida, like two months ago. She recognized me right away. She was like, ‘You’re the girl with the ‘My Hero’ gimmick.’ And I was like, ‘I watched you on television when you were Blue Pants. What is my life right now?’ It was crazy,” Demia said. “But now she knows who I am. Every time she sees me, she gets very excited and it makes me very happy.”
After their encounter, Demia’s trainer pitched an idea for Demia and Bates to form a tag team called Blue & Green Pants. Bates also expressed interest in teaming up with Demia sometime.
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