On her first PPV match ever against Taya Valkyrie:
KH: I was… that whole day was nerve-wracking. I didn’t even know I was going to be on the PPV until a week before it happened. I was like “Oh my god!” I had to wrestle Taya who has wrestled all over the place. I had to go outside and take a breath because I was about to have a full-blown panic attack. I was just so overwhelmed with emotion. I went through so many emotions like excitement and nerves. I was happy with how everything went.
On her take on the drastic difference between how women were handled in wrestling in the past and now?
KH: I feel like back in the day women were just eye candy, obviously. They were just “show things”. They showed their bodies off and so forth. People didn’t take them seriously. It sucked for women who really wanted to be wrestlers. People like Gail, Victoria, Lita, and so forth. It must have been sad for them to have to work with people who didn’t know what they were doing. I feel like now there are so many women who are athletic and want to be wrestlers. I feel like for those who really want to wrestle we have finally been given the chance to prove that we aren’t just women’s wrestlers but just wrestlers. I feel like the women’s revolution that is happening in WWE was already happening in the Indies, way before it ever got televised. Putting it on TV made a bigger impact than it did on the Indies. Nobody really knows about the Indies, but it definitely has taken a good turn.
On if being a woman of color in a male-dominated sport has been a hindrance:
KH: Um… I feel like wrestling is a male, white, dominated sport, but that is obvious in most parts of life, you know? But to be a black woman and professional wrestling I feel is 10 times harder than being a white woman in wrestling. I feel I have to work twice as hard to get noticed. With Shimmer, for instance, I was only one of two women of color on the roster poster. The other being Nichole Savoy. I didn’t even notice until my friends pointed it out. I will say that the last show I did there were five of us which was cool. We have to work 10 times harder. I feel there is a lot of us who are really good, but we have to put in the extra work to get noticed. Even then I feel we tend to not get as popular as our white counterparts.
On the return of Impact Knockouts legend Madison Rayne to Impact Wrestling:
KH: First time I saw Madison she was with the Beautiful People. To be able to be in a locker room with her and being able to talk to her has been crazy. To be able to meet the past Knockouts as a fan has been crazy. Gail introduced me to a bunch of them at the last con. I met Taryn, Christy, a few others. I am so excited to have Madison back. Like I said I used to watch her on TV. Madison is great at helping our division. I am super excited about this. Learning from people who have already been there is the greatest. She has been great to work with.
NEXT PAGE: Hogan Comments On Beef With Tessa Blanchard, The Knockouts Title Picture, And More
