Chelsea Green was one of the many surprises at IMPACT Slammiversary on Saturday, teaming with her fiance Matt Cardona in a mixed tag bout against Cardona's off-screen ex-girlfriend Tenille Dashwood and on-screen ex-best friend Brian Myers.
Green's involvement at Slammiversary was strongly hinted at given the match and Scott D'Amore mentioning a "hot mess" on IMPACT television.
Speaking on her Green With Envy podcast, Green discussed how her return came about.
"It was definitely my first instinct when I got fired from WWE to pick up the phone and call my old bosses at IMPACT Wrestling, I feel like I would be stupid not to reach out and see what opportunities are available and what doors are still open. They were open. I left IMPACT on great terms with everyone and kept in touch with everyone throughout the years. I was surprised and it was an easy call to make. I had great conversations before I left IMPACT about how I needed to go to WWE and see what it was about for myself. I couldn't let someone else tell me, 'WWE is the best, WWE is the worst, WWE is toxic, WWE is the only place you can succeed.' I needed to see and decide for myself. My bosses at IMPACT knew that's what I was going to do. I did it, and now I'm back," she said. "IMPACT welcomed me back with open arms and I'm so thankful for them. When I was first booked for Slammiversary, we didn't know what I'd be doing. It seems like Twitter knew what I was doing, they thought I would be wrestling my best friend Deonna. Well, surprise, Twitter. That was never the plan."
Purrazzo ended up defending her Knockouts Championship against AEW and NWA star Thunder Rosa.
The circumstances for Green's return to IMPACT were a little awkward as she was teaming with her fiance for the first time.
Speaking on teaming with Cardona, Green said, "Working with your partner is fucking hard. This is working with them in a whole different capacity. Basically, Matt always thinks he's right. To be honest, I kind of always have to listen to him. I'm seven years into wrestling, he's 18, but I hate listening to him. That was a challenge."
If it wasn't awkward enough to team with her fiance, Green stood across the ring from her fiance's ex-girlfriend. Cardona and Dashwood dated for just under a year in 2016.
"If it wasn't weird enough having our first match together, it was fucking weird going into it knowing we were going to be wrestling his ex-girlfriend," said Green. "I think we pulled it off though. This wasn't the first time his ex and I had spent some time together. At least that took the pressure off everything. A couple of months back, we all went to a birthday party together and we got the awkward first hangout out of the way. This wasn't as awkward as I'm making it seem, it was more so the thought of it being awkward and the thought of the locker room watching us and then thinking it was awkward. [Tenille] is super cool and very relaxed. It all went smoothly."
Green made her first post-WWE appearance at ROH Best in the World, but could not compete due to her broken arm. She previously explained that the Maryland Athletic Commission wouldn't allow her to wrestle.
Fortunately for her, the Tennessee Athletic Commission didn't care as much.
"[Tennessee] doesn't have a health commission. So they cannot ban me from wrestling with a broken arm. So, I fucking did it. Last week, I was upset that I couldn't wrestle for Ring of Honor in the Women's Championship tournament, but I understood why. The Maryland commission was not having it, but in Nashville, it's balls to the wall and we were good to go. It doesn't feel great (to wrestle in a cast), but it was worth it. The issue wasn't pain, it was more mental. I wasn't nervous it was going to hurt, I just had this weird mental blockage. I didn't realize how much it would effect me mentally. The first and second time I broke my arm, I truly believed, in my head that it was a freak accident. So, when it happened for a third time, I was really in my head about it and super nervous. I kept putting off practicing and I mentally wasn't in a place where I felt I could get back (in the ring), but I fucking did it," she said.
Green and Cardona were victorious in the mixed tag team bout.
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