The right showing in an enhancement match can make the right impression, and Amber Nova has had an opportunity to make many impressions across WWE and IMPACT.
Nova appeared on NXT twice in a seven month period, and it came about by her telling them that she'd love to come in.
"Well, I reached out to WWE. I contacted them. They took a look at me. They booked me a few times. I was doing really good. They told me they really liked that I’ve been going international and I’ve been traveling, wrestling in other countries. They said, “Keep doing that.” That’s what they said to me last year. It was going good. I was going to go back on that track again this year and then obviously the pandemic just slowed things down," Nova said.
In the second match, Nova would face the Sky Pirates, Io Shirai and Kairi Sane, in a tag team match. Her partner? Rebel, now affectionately known as Reba in All Elite Wrestling. Despite the difference in language, Amber said that the experience went smoothly.
"Oh, no. It was good," Nova recalled. "I had Serena and [Sara], our agents, the female coaches at WWE and they helped us with the match and agenting. Language barrier wasn’t too bad, we could understand each other. Honestly, when it comes to wrestling, my next stop is Japan. I’m going to work up to go to Japan next year. That’s in the works for me. It’s more just physical. If you can understand it, you know what you’re doing, language won’t hold you back and it didn’t for us."
Months prior, Nova had made her NXT debut in a losing effort to Nikki Cross. Nova was familiar with Cross from her days as Nicola Glencross on the independent circuit and looks upon their quick match fondly.
"It was great," Nova said. "I actually knew her before we even had that match prior. My experience with her has always been great. She is super nice. She’s a crazy bat, which I think was the best opponent I could have had in my first match in NXT. It was great. I know I got to really shift into gear and she really brought that out in me, that Nova-Drive. I loved it. The only thing that I regretted was that my wrestling gear was a little faded, the spray paint / the air brushing I do of myself."
Those weren't Nova's first exposures to that kind of audience. She'd appeared on cable TV for IMPACT wrestling from 2017 to 2018, usually in short matches against established talent. Unlike the WWE spots, she didn't reach out to IMPACT.
"Yeah, so, they were doing their TV tapings over at Universal here locally and they contacted my wrestling school. They were like, 'Hey, we’re looking for some women that can work and can hold their own.' They said really nice things about me, and I proved I could hold my own so IMPACT! Wrestling kept bringing me back. Also, you know GFW, like was in between. I got to step into the ring with Allie, who’s now in AEW, and a lot of really great women—Taya Valkyrie, Rosemary, Su Yung, and I got my experience. Like I said, I was only like a year, two years into wrestling at that point. So, it was pretty great for me," Nova said.
Though Nova's role was to make other people look good, she also used it as a learning experience.
"They were so positive. They gave me great feedback. They helped me. I just loved it that we are doing the Heels that Brandi Rhodes is doing in AEW, the NWA, the movement they’re doing. I love the women’s evolution and women’s empowerment that’s been happening this year. So many good things. I like to focus more on the positive things than the negative things with the pandemic and the slow down ‘cause, like I said, it’s a speed bump in my journey, but I’m not stopping. I’m driving through. So, I’m doing alright," she said. "When I was there, Gail Kim was my agent. I got to learn from her as well, which was amazing. I don’t want to not mention her. Location, and everything like that, really changed a few things for my opportunity being local here (in Orlando)."
Much of working as an extra or enhancement is making that aforementioned impression. Nova feels like she's done that.
"I felt great. I have been in front of the right eyes and the right people pushing me on the right track. Like I said, they told me, “You’re international traveled. Keep doing that. You’re doing really well.” I had a lot of things planned for this year that unfortunately, like I said, the pandemic put back. But, people don’t realize how hard this really is. Most women that you do see right now making it, they’ve been wrestling for almost ten years. It takes a lot of time and experience to get to that level usually."
You can see our full interview with Amber Nova at the top of the page, and you can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
