“The Real Deal” has arrived in Major League Wrestling.
Next month, MLW will return to the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia for their Fury Road event, which is set to include television tapings for Fusion. MLW announced a new matchup for the Fusion TV tapings portion of the card.
As revealed by the company, Tiara James will make her return to MLW as she takes on Zayda Steel in a singles bout. James, who trained under Damian Adams, previously appeared at MLW tapings last month in a losing effort against B3CCA. For Steel, Fury Road will mark her official MLW debut.
Steel and James have met on one other occasion, as James defeated “The Real Deal” at Beyond Wrestling’s Wrestling Open earlier this year. With her MLW debut in sight, though, Steel, a graduate of Maryland Championship Wrestling, will be aiming for retribution.
MLW Fury Road is set to air at 6:00pm EST on Sunday, September 3 on FITE+. WrestleZone will provide coverage of the event as it broadcasts.
In addition to James vs. Steel, “The Major Player” Matt Cardona is also slated to make his Major League Wrestling debut at Fury Road as he battles Mance Warner in a Kiss My Foot Match. Joshi standout Maki Itoh was also confirmed for the card. She will wrestle the “International Popstar” B3CCA.
“The Real Deal” Banks On Inspiration From “The CEO”
Last month, WrestleZone’s Ella Jay spoke with Zayda Steel about her growing resume inside the squared circle. Amongst the conversation, Steel mentioned some of the wrestlers who have helped shape her a performer and as a character. Most notably, Steel revealed that Mercedes Moné (fka Sasha Banks) heavy influenced her career.
“Before her, the main wrestler that really made me want to be a wrestler was AJ Lee. Obviously after she retired, it was a weird time. And that’s when I started watching [WWE] NXT because every RAW and SmackDown was the same matches every week. So, I heard a lot about NXT. Turned it on instantly — the same connection with AJ Lee I just had with Sasha,” Steel said.
“One, we’re like the same build basically. She trained like four hours away from me. So just character wise, she was all there. Yeah, she wasn’t the biggest, but she flaunted herself. She made sure you knew who she was, and it just inspired me. I saw a lot of myself and who I wanted to be in the ring from her. So, I try to use little bits and pieces from her. A lot of people think just straight up copy her. I mean, it is what it is, but I just love her so much.”
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