Mercedes Martinez recently celebrated her 21-year wrestling anniversary and finds herself in the midst of the IMPACT Zone after emerging victorious in a competitive tournament at Knockouts Knockdown last month. As the winner of this tournament, Martinez earned herself a future Knockouts Championship opportunity.
Martinez is now scheduled to challenge for the Knockouts Championship against Mickie James, who captured the title last month at Bound For Glory. The two legends will meet this Saturday, November 20th at Impact Wrestling‘s Turning Point PPV.
Ahead of this championship match, SEScoops correspondent Ella Jay caught up with “The Latina Sensation” to discuss her 21-year wrestling journey, future goals she’d like to accomplish, respect for Mickie James, and much more.
The full interview with Mercedes Martinez can be viewed below.
Her 21-Year Wrestling Journey
Martinez expressed thoughts on her 21-year wrestling journey.
“Twenty one years, it amazes me that I actually got to twenty one years because a few years back, I didn’t want to do wrestling anymore due to injuries. But here I am still living the dream,” she noted.
“You know, when I look back at everything that I’ve done, you know, I like to always think that I’ve done it my way, and I’m very proud of how I did my career and the choices that I’ve made and the decisions that I’ve made,” Martinez continued. “It’s not that it’s been hard or anything, it’s just been very different compared to others. And you know, I wouldn’t change it for the world.”
“For me to still be doing wrestling, you know, with close to forty one because tomorrow is my birthday, it’s just–I’m in awe to know that I can still be doing this almost 21 years later, and just in my mind, it’s almost like I didn’t even think I would become a professional wrestler. But here I am, just living the dream. So it’s very humbling.”
Career Goals
Martinez also noted that she still has some goals she’d like to accomplish:
“Oh, the biggest goal is to become a champion, you know, in a major promotion. And in fact, right now is going for the gold coming at a turning point with Mickie James. And you know, my thought is, I’m going to go really like headstrong and really just go in there and just prove my worth and show that I can carry a promotion.”
She continued, “You know, all you got to do is give me a shot and you know, that’s the biggest goal. It doesn’t matter where I’m at, but impact right now is where I’m at, and I just want to take it to the next level and bring everybody up with me. That’s really what I want to do, and that’s my first biggest goal right now.”
Respect for Mickie James, Jazz, Beth Phoenix & More
Mercedes Martinez heads into Turning Point against a fierce competitor in Mickie James, whom she faced once before. Despite the brewing tension on IMPACT programming, Martinez expressed a high level of respect towards her Turning Point opponent, Mickie James, and fellow wrestlers Lexie Fyfe, Jazz, and Beth Phoenix.
“I think throughout my career there have been so many females that have helped me, whether it was personally or professionally, you know, just to name a few would be like Lexi Fyfe. She was one who is still around in my life, who has helped me from me being a rookie to now that I still asked for advice in matches. And hey, you know, ‘is this match great’ or, you know, just feedback. And even in my personal life, you know, she’s a great friend.
Jazz
“You have Jazz who has been with me since the beginning of my career, who I modeled my style towards to based on our trainers, who has been–she has been an influence, like when I say role model, that’s someone who I admire so much because she’s done things her way and broke the mold of, you know, female wrestling and just didn’t look like everybody else.
She was just someone different and stuck to her guns. And that’s something that I always want to do. Stick to your guns, stick to your moves, and do things your way to pave the way for those that want to do things your way. And you know, that’s someone else who I really, really admire.”
Beth Phoenix
“Beth Phoenix, who you know, I’ve spoken to on many occasions and wrestled….she broke the mold. You know, she’s another one.”
Mickie James
“Mickie James, you know, I know I’m wrestling her, but the respect is there. We’ve been on the independent scene. We wrestled on the independent scene and now here we are going on national TV to again break down the mold of everything that we worked hard for. And you know, those are just some of the names that I look, you know, that has been influential in my career that I look at and say, ‘Hey, they broke the mold and they did things their way.’ That’s something that I’ve always wanted to do.
I want to be that person to show female wrestlers or anybody that you can be different in any profession that you want to do, and you can break the mold and break those barriers and do things your way and be proud of the way you did it, because there’s going to be others that come after you that are going to model their careers based on you and hopefully break more barriers. That’s really all I want to ever do.”
IMPACT Wrestling presents Turning Point on Saturday, November 20th from Las Vegas at 10pm est / 7pm pst.
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