Tony Khan had a vision for Mariah May in AEW.
Since signing with AEW in November 2023, Mariah May has impressed fans around the world and has established herself as one of the best additions to the company's women's division.
May will get the chance to shine at AEW All In, as she'll face former mentor Toni Storm for the AEW Women's World Championship. Notably, this will be May's first time wrestling on a pay-per-view for AEW.
While speaking to Fightful's Shirleigh for a new interview, May revealed that she chose to come to AEW after hearing about the long-term storyline that Tony Khan planned for her.
“Yeah, so the reason I chose to come to AEW was, this storyline was pitched to me. At the time, I was in STARDOM in Japan. Honestly, I kind of started again when I moved to Japan. I started from square one, I went to the dojo and trained all the time, we did so many shows. I was like, I’m a rookie again and I just want to learn. I was really deep into my training in Japan, and they called me, and I wasn’t quite ready to leave Japan because I still wanted to learn and there were still a lot of personal goals I had there, but I spoke directly with Tony Khan, and he told me about this story, and I love storylines. When you’re a kid growing up, you attach yourself to stories. My favorite wrestler was Mickie James, so I love the story, and she’s all about that, she had such a strong character, and it was like when he described the storyline to me and the potential of it, I was like, okay, I’m not just being signed because she’s a little bit hot right now or she has a bit of attention. It’s like, no, we want to sign you, we have a long-term plan for you, and so that’s why I said yes. That’s why I chose to come here. A lot of people say AEW doesn’t tell stories, and it’s like, this is probably the greatest story in wrestling."
Elsewhere in the interview, May stated that she might celebrate her title win by the pool with no bikini on. Learn more about those comments here.
Shirleigh also got the chance to speak with Bryan Danielson ahead of All In. Check out the full interview here.
