Chelsea Green made a surprise appearance at ROH Best in the World where it was announced she would compete in the upcoming ROH Women's Title Tournament.
Green was released by WWE on April 15 and had to wait out her 90-day non-compete clause, but was able to get out of it a week early thanks to John Laurinaitis.
Speaking on her Green With Envy podcast, Green explained how she was able to make the surprise appearance.
"I need to give a shoutout to Johnny Ace [John Laurinaitis]. He has been so helpful throughout this process of me being released. When I was first released, I went to him and asked if I could forgo by 90-day pay and get back onto the Indies within a week or two. He was willing to do that for me, but with the complications of my arm, I had to get the plate removed and we decided it was best to not break my contract. When I contacted him this time around, which was a month ago, and asked if I could forgo my last week of WWE pay to appear on the ROH pay-per-view, obviously I was thinking there was no way in hell he would go for it. Mind blown. He contacted the lawyers at WWE and had me out of my contract on July 7 as opposed to July 14. I am so grateful for Johnny Ace. Him and every person at ROH are the reason I could show up and surprise the fans. Hopefully, I can keep shocking you guys and pop up in unexpected places," she said.
Green said that she was able to take the 90 days to gather herself and plan for the future, but she knew ROH was one of the companies she wanted to work for. Based on her comments, she does not have an exclusive deal with ROH and is keeping her options open.
"I know I needed to take these 90 days to prepare myself in every way possible and do things different this time. That's one reason why I decided to stay a free agent and work for as many companies as possible for the next six months. I'm trying not to lock myself into one company. I want to experience all of the places that I wasn't able to experience before I signed with WWE, which leads me to Ring of Honor," she said. "Ring of Honor was actually number one on my list. For years before WWE signed me, I tried to get on Ring of Honor but the place or the timing or whatever of their shows never worked in my favor, so I never had my debut. When I was released, Maria Kanellis was one of the first people I reached out to say, 'Hey, I got fired, but I really want to work for you and would love an opportunity there.' After seven years of wrestling, I finally got an opportunity at ROH and I'm very excited. I was very excited for the shock value, knowing I was debuting three days before the public thought my contract was up."
Green continued by saying she was originally slated to wrestle at ROH Best in the World, but her arm injury delayed her in-ring return.
"Originally, I was supposed to wrestle in the women's tournament but I found out my arm was injured. I had to call ROH and give them that news. As hard as I tried to wrestle this week, the Maryland Athletic Commission was not letting me. They were not fucking having it. I have to respect it, but I wanted to cry a bit because it's not ideal. For the past few months, all I've been doing is preparing for this moment," she said before expressing her disappointment in not being able to compete as she had been working out mentally and physically along with preparing ideas and coming up with new looks.
Green is set to face Mandy Leon in the first round of the ROH Women's Title tournament.
If you missed anything from ROH Best in the World, check out Fightful's full report on the show by clicking here. Fightful Select has more on Green's debut and her ROH status moving forward.
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