photo credit: @sofiealltimelow
Hi! Thanks so much for your time. My first question is for readers who maybe aren’t so familiar with you yet: how would you describe yourself and your style?
Thanks so much! Really excited to do this with you! I guess the only way I can describe myself is that I’m just a fan who still can’t believe she made it to being a wrestler. I’ve watched wrestling and been part of the online wrestling community for so long that it’s still so weird to me that I’m a real wrestler myself now! As for my style, I kinda just do a lot of things that I like and that I think look fun! I love doing lots of lucha, figuring out how to do fun technical holds, and any strikes that I’ve learned!
What inspired you to become a pro wrestler, and were there any wrestlers you admired growing up?
I started watching wrestling in 2014 when my family subscribed to the WWE Network to watch Wrestlemania 30, and I went from watching it over my shoulder as I did other things to sitting in front of the TV myself, fully enthralled. Wrestling drew me in from the first moment I saw it and there was always a part of me that wanted to do it myself, but didn’t know if it’d be possible for me to showcase the type of fun character wrestling that appealed to me, since most of the female wrestlers I saw were Divas which I weren’t really a fan of. I was very inspired by AJ Lee, Paige, and Lita. It really felt like everything changed when I saw Bayley and Sasha Banks’ NXT: Takeover Brooklyn match. And from there, it was a perfect storm of me discovering the indy scene, women especially–with Candice LeRae wrestling in PWG, Kimber Lee winning the CHIKARA Grand Championship, discovering promotions like SHIMMER existed–I realized I could do this too! So they all inspired me a bunch when I started watching. Some more wrestlers who drew me in back when I first started watching were Dean Ambrose/Jon Moxley, Daniel Bryan, John Cena, and Sami Zayn!
What’s your favorite match that you’ve had?
This is so hard, because it just feels like every match I’ve had so far has been more fun than the last! Getting to wrestle in a Cibernetico match at GCW with so many of my friends was amazing, but I also love trios matches, and I’ve already been in three of them–two in the Camp Leapfrog Christmas Trios tournament when my team made it to the semifinals! And my first singles match against Devantes was super fun, even if it didn’t end the way I’d like. So yeah, it’s hard to pick a favorite because they’ve all been so much fun!!
Who are some of your dream opponents?
Another hard one! I don’t even know how to narrow this one down. I love looking at everyone on the scene today and figuring out what kind of stories we would create together! I just can’t wait to wrestle anyone and everyone from Camp Leapfrog, as well as being able to travel everywhere and meet potential friends from anywhere in the world!! Though, I think it’s most special to me to wrestle people I’ve trained with and learned from. I’ve already wrestled some of my trainers and fellow students but I can’t wait for when I get to wrestle more of the people I’ve known since day one like Joshua Wavra, Max ZERO, and Still Life with Apricots and Pears, as well as other people who I’ve learned a lot from and trained under like A Very Good Professional Wrestler, Sonny Defarge, and maybe if he feels like it some day, Orange Cassidy!! 🙂
As the CEO of Sunshine, you’re a very positive and bright figure in pro wrestling. So I wanted to ask you in particular, what’re your favorite things about being a wrestler?
That means a lot to me to hear! I try hard to just give off as much positivity as I can, since that’s what I love to see, especially in wrestling. Having only been a professional wrestler for about 2 months I know there’s so many things I have yet to experience, but being in the ring with people ringside cheering on the action is a feeling that hasn’t gotten old yet, and hopefully never will, especially once we’re allowed to have more and more fans at shows! I’ve gotten to meet so many cool people and learn so many things–not just in terms of wrestling training, but also from a show production standpoint, and that’s something that’s so interesting to me. And I’ve always had interests in dance, writing, sports, and theatre, and I love that wrestling combines everything I love into one awesome form of art!!
Then, going off that, what are some things you wish you could change in wrestling?
One thing for sure is intergender wrestling. I love wrestling so much and I just want to wrestle anyone without really needing to mention the gender of whomever I wrestle. And yes, pointing out great women wrestlers is an awesome thing to do to help minorities in wrestling get exposure, but it was so cool to see some women get onto the PWI 500 last year, and I just think it’d be great to continue having great women wrestlers be considered in conversations with the best wrestlers in the world without needing to constantly classify them solely by gender!
Lastly, do you have any plans for the future that you want to share with us?
I consider myself a huge daydreamer, but even I couldn’t have dreamed of everything that I’ve already gotten 2 months into my career. People have already called me a top contender for Rookie of the Year, and while I’m not sure I’ve earned that title yet, my goal is proving everyone who believes in me right. I’ll keep studying and training hard and just seeing what else wrestling will bring to me, and doing my best to be seen as one of the top rookies in wrestling this year!
You can follow Abby on Instagram and Twitter @omgabbyjane
Make sure to catch her on Camp Leapfrog’s “Camp Lovefrog” event on IWTV, February 14th at 8pm EST!