Michin reflects on her match against IYO SKY.
On the "New Year's Revolution" edition of WWE SmackDown on January 5, Michin challenged IYO SKY for the WWE Women's Championship. SKY scored the win, but Michin delivered a buzzworthy performance.
Speaking on WWE's The Bump, Michin was asked to describe what she learned from the match.
“That it is just the beginning. I still have it in me, and I’m ready for more," Michin said.
Michin was then asked to discuss her mindset surrounding the match. She noted that she leaned on Kevin Owens and AJ Styles, as she aimed to learn from the people she looked up to. Michin stated that she knew the bout was likely going to be one of the hardest matches of her career up to this point, and she tried to prepare accordingly.
"I’ve known IYO for so long, and I respect her so much that I knew this was not gonna be easy. So I had to bring my A-game. I had to pick at the brains of Kevin Owens, pick at the brains of AJ Styles. I’m trying to learn from all of the people that I look up to, but also studying all of old IYO matches, and even just in case, Damage CTRL wanted to get involved, having to make sure that I also was prepared for them. But it was just a lot of information that I had to absorb leading up to this match because I knew it was not going to be an easy bout, and it was going to probably be one of the hardest matches of my career thus far," Michin said.
Later in the interview, Michin reflected on her history with IYO SKY, which dates back to 2015. She noted that she was a big fan of IYO, even before they met. Michin also stated that the two of them make magic together. She explained how they both aim to win, and they work well together, despite the language barrier.
“When I finally got to meet her back in 2015, sweet, but I knew she wasn’t easy back then, and she still isn’t easy now. But for some reason, every time we get in the ring together, we make this magic, and it just flows so well that even though her first language is Japanese, mine’s English, even though there is a language barrier, we have an understanding that we’re just trying to win. One of us is just trying to win, and that’s the endgame. So at the end of the day, I respect her, and I love her style, but now I need to step my game up to meet her because there’s a reason why she’s at the top, so I just gotta bring my game up too," she said.
In the same interview, Michin commented on the tension in The OC. Check out her comments here.
Click here to see what Michin had to say following her loss to IYO SKY.
Check out the card for the January 12 episode of SmackDown here. Fightful will have live coverage of the show as it airs.
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