Some notes from Jade Cargill's appearance on "Talk is Jericho"
Just a few interesting things from Jade's appearance on the podcast. Overall, she comes off as super confident, but also down-to-earth and likable. There's a lot that I left out and I'd highly recommend giving the entire episode a listen.
- Jericho was one of the first people to welcome Jade to AEW. He sat with her in a hotel room until 4am trying to come up with a new name for her, but eventually decided Jade Cargill itself worked.
- She feels amazing and blessed to be the first TBS Champion. Feels it’s a privilege to be a champion for a major promotion, but especially because it’s so early in her professional career. Understands she's in a unique position and is thankful for it.
- Believes that most forget she’s been wrestling for less than a year and has still had less than 30 matches. Does her best and understands that her lack of experience is under a magnifying glass because she is learning as she goes along on national television, but it motivates her to keep improving. Is very satisfied with where she is at this point.
- Hates social media but created a Twitter just for wrestling. The negativity doesn’t get to her because as a lifelong athlete understands that those opinions don’t matter and the only ones who do are her peers and the people that are paying her.
- Has experienced friction coming into locker rooms her entire life, but that AEW’s was the first one that immediately made her feel welcome, which played a huge role in her decision to join. There was no resentment from anyone that she came in with no experience.
- Gained a lot of respect from everyone backstage because in real life she’s rich and doesn’t need to be there. She joined pro-wrestling because she genuinely loves it, enjoys coming to work and is hungry to succeed. If she wasn’t passionate about it, she would have left by now because *“This shyt hurts.”*
- Wants to be in the industry for a long time and uses criticism to fuel her. Her goal is to be seen as one of the greats.
- The first thing she ever did was a tryout with WWE at the PC. Mark Henry was the one that pitched wrestling to her and arranged a tryout. He detailed everything good and bad that comes with the industry and she decided on her own to pursue it.
- Expected the tryout to be easy but ended up coming back into her hotel room covered in bruises.
- Her first experience with WWE felt uneasy and already like she had to walk on eggshells. She struck up friendships with EJ Nduka and Reginald, who were in the tryout class with her.
- Working in front of large crowds is easy for her because she played collegiate basketball, but it's different now as she’s trying to get people to hate her and it’s one of her favorite parts of wrestling.
- Originally meant to be a babyface but was told at the last second that she was a heel.
- Her debut promo on Cody was her first experience with a microphone and as soon as she started talking thought to herself: *"I sound so bad right now."*
- Keeps a “wrestling book” with 50+ pages of details on the industry, goals, moves and inspirations. Cites Mr. Perfect, Macho Man and Chyna as characters she tries to model herself after.
- Impressed the trainers at her WWE tryout and got a handshake from a top scout, but they were bothered that she didn’t need wrestling because of her already established wealth and success, as opposed to someone who needed it and would do anything to get a job. They pointed out that she’s a mother and asked what she was going to do. Jade said that her husband is always with their daughter and they could afford a 24-hour nanny. Jade understood the demands of travel and was prepared for how it affected her family. The trainer told her “This is your family now” and sent her a contract.
- At the same time, was connected to Tony Khan through a mutual friend and went to visit AEW. She immediately felt more comfortable backstage and that in AEW she and her family wouldn’t have to relocate. After a conversation about her future and goals with Jericho, she felt much better about being in AEW, where she wouldn’t be a cog in the machine and could have a conversation with TK at any time. WWE was pissed that she turned down their offer, but she knows she made the right decision for herself and her family.
- Jericho points out that while WWE’s training system works, Jade is so unique that it could ultimately hinder her. In AEW, she gets 1-on-1 focus for anything wrestling-related with some of the best trainers in the industry.
- Spent a lot of time in the crowd during the pandemic before signing a contract so she could to get to know the performers and staff. TK sent her down to Jacksonville for a tryout with Dustin Rhodes. A lot of the women’s roster were there and trained with her in the ring. Was more nervous about this tryout because she was working with top talent and wanted to impress women like Serena Deeb and Hikaru Shida.
- Started working and planning out her first match with Shaq against Cody and Red Velvet about 3 days before it happened. Had to consider that men couldn’t hit women and also making the most out of Shaq because he wasn’t in ring-shape. Ultimately felt good about the match and that Red Velvet went out of her way to make her comfortable. Before the match she told Shaq “You better kill it.”
- Feels more comfortable being in the ring with large crowds. Smaller crowds like at AEW Dark make her more nervous because she can hear everything. Jericho agrees that larger crowds are much easier to work in front of because “it’s one large, moving entity.”
- Cites Jericho, Sanjay Dutt, Dustin, QT and Billy Gunn as being mentors to her. Billy is currently helping her to “work big” and not sell for things the same way smaller girls do.
- Loves that she has so much to learn and enjoys working to figure out matches that make both performers look good while still being true to their characters. Wants to eventually get to the point where she can have exciting 30-minute matches like the ones Bryan Danielson has that keep the fans engaged, but understands she’s not there yet. Takes every match as a learning experience.
- Keeps thick skin because she's seen firsthand how mentally taxing criticism can be for a wrestler. Goes out of her way to take a break from social media at times.
- Has made her money from modeling, endorsements and being married to a professional baseball player. WWE had told her that she would have to cut all her outside sources of income if she was going to work there. She didn't feel comfortable cutting ties with companies she had worked with for years, especially if she ended up being cut and had to try to rebuild those relationships. She was making more money from endorsements than several contracts WWE had offered, (which were already more than some of her established friends were currently making.) While it was her dream to be a pro-wrestler, she's also a wife and mother and wasn't willing to *"give up so much to get so little."* She was thrilled to keep all of those while still having an AEW contract.
- TBS Tournament: Has a great relationship and loves working with Red Velvet. "We lay everything in and we apologize later." Enjoyed working with Thunder Rosa, but the coaches backstage scrapped the entire match they had laid out and the two had to put a new match together at the last minute. Says working with Ruby Soho was fun and that she's a great professional. Felt the two had a really good match but the finish could have been better. Takes responsibility backstage when things don't go well in a match.
- Before the podcast started, just got a call from her daughter's teacher because she had just speared another kid at her fine-arts school.
