The new AEW signing spoke to ESPN, and revealed that she did many of her first appearances with AEW for free, which led to her falling in love with wrestling.
Paige VanZant signed her AEW contract on this past Wednesday’s edition of AEW Dynamite. After Scorpio Sky won the TNT Championship, VanZant laid out Tay Conti, seemingly setting up her first feud. VanZant is a former UFC fighter and her record was 8-5. In addition to AEW, Paige is also signed to Bare Knuckle Fighting Championships. Paige first started making appearances in AEW back in September as a part of the American Top Team faction.
Paige On Venturing Into Pro Wrestling
Paige spoke with Marc Raimondi of ESPN and talked about her interest in wrestling and how she always considered venturing into professional wrestling.
VanZant said, “The more I got involved, the more I loved it. I just realized I was meant to be a part of the show. I wanted to be one of the wrestlers for them and I knew I would be really good at it.”
VanZant On Her Pro Wrestling Journey
VanZant will begin her pro wrestling training on Monday, March 14 with David Heath, aka Gangrel. ESPN’s Marc Raimondi reports that Van Zant will be training at Coastal Championship Wrestling in Pompano Beach, Florida. One of the coaches that work at Coastal Championship Wrestling is former WWF talent Gangrel.
“My only frustration so far with my whole pro-wrestling journey is I would show up and I said, ‘Hey, I want to jump off the ropes tonight. I want to slam someone through a table tonight — someone is getting slammed through a table.’ They’re like, uh, you should probably train first.
My only concern is they don’t let me do the crazy stuff right away. I want to go in there and I want to do all the crazy stuff. I want to fully immerse myself in this world,” Paige said.
You can watch video of Paige VanZant’s conversation with ESPN here:
Bare Knuckle Fighting Championships And AEW Partnership
Bernie Bahrmasel, a Bare Knuckle Fighting Championships spokesperson, has said before that BKFC and AEW will work together to develop her career. She has said that she has no plans to leave the promotion, and her AEW deal will still allow for her to work with Bare Knuckle Fighting Championships.
It’s unclear how VanZant will balance working for AEW and BKFC. The injuries for BKFC could be significant that could impact her wrestling career. She’s also lost two bare-knuckle boxing fights by unanimous decision. Van Zant hasn’t shared if she’s contemplated retiring from professional fighting to focus on her wrestling career. Regardless, the former UFC fighter will begin training at Coastal Championship Wrestling to become elite in the wrestling ring.
The President of BKFC, David Feldman, previously said, “If she wins this fight, then she has a future. If she loses this fight, she’s probably not going to want to do this, either, and we’ll part ways amicably. But I don’t expect that to happen. I think she’s learned this craft, and she has a lot of tenacity. I do expect her to perform even better this time.”
VanZant has also explained that she still sees MMA in her future. We are unsure when Paige will work her in-ring debut with AEW.
H/T to Tyriece Simon for context regarding Paige’s training school and BKFC career
