Red Velvet was one of the breakout stars of AEW during the pandemic era, highlighted by her match with Cody Rhodes as they teamed up against Shaquille O'Neal & Jade Cargill.
Velvet has been part of many moments throughout AEW history, including headlining the first episode of AEW Rampage against Britt Baker.
Speaking to Taylor Wilde on Wilde On, Velvet reflected on her journey to AEW.
"I quit dance, I was kind of in a bad place, I switched the channel, and at the time WWE was casting for Tough Enough. You didn't need any experience, you just needed to submit a video that you are Tough Enough. The training didn't matter. I kind of geeked out and was like, 'I don't know what's going to come of this, but let's just try.' I went to my friend's backyard, I had moved on from the break up, I dyed my hair red, it was super red. 'Let's do this.' 'Okay, we're going to do this video. What's your name? You have to have a wrestling name.' My friends used to joke that my alter ego was Red Violent. That's corny, I don't like it, it doesn't stick. My friend was like, 'What about Red Velvet? Your hair is super red, you have beautiful chocolate skin. You remind me of a red velvet cake.' 'That kind of rolls off the tongue.' That's where the name came from, we were just joking. The video went well, I got to the second casting round. I didn't get on the show, but the video came out, it went viral, it went good, (friends asked), 'Have you actually thought about wrestling?' Yeah, but I never knew wrestling schools existed. When you watch wrestling, especially at the time it was WWE, that's all you know, you don't know how close something can be," she said.
She continued, "I went and did my research and I ended up joining La Rosa (Negra) just at an MMA gym. I met her one day, she taught me how to forward roll, how to bump, she went to Japan and unfortunately got hurt and needed knee surgery. She sent me to my trainer now, JB Cool from Florida. I started training with him and from that moment on, the rest is history. He laughs all the time because, I'm skinny now, but it was 2015 and I was 95 pounds. My inspiration was Sasha (Banks aka Mercedes Mone) because she was so small and I was like, 'I can do this.' I looked up to her, I still do, I looked up to her when she started. She was so tiny and doing so many things. 'There is no way I can't do this.' She was a big inspiration. I signed up and he said he saw me the first day and was like, 'there is no way she's going to keep coming back.' He said my bumps were bad. First or second day, your bumps aren't perfect. I came back the first day, second day, second week, third month, I was back every day. I would go Monday through Saturday. I got laser focused. When I want something, I go all in."
Velvet said she would drive from Miami to Orlando to be part of the AEW tapings and then drive back to Miami to go to work the next day.
"I quit my job before I got signed. 'I'm going to get signed.' I was still an extra and the universe had it for me. That would have been a bad gamble if it didn't go my way. I felt it, in my heart, and I was going to continue to work hard. 'I'll continue to come back and if not, I'll do something else.' I used to work at a check cash place and I walked in and was like, 'I got signed.' I lied about it, but I had already manifested it. I knew that was the only way they were going to let me leave without asking any questions. 'Got signed, gotta start Monday, gotta go.' I manifested it. A week or two after that, I got my first tier zero contract, then came the Shaq match, then I got salary. That day that I quit was a huge weight off my shoulders. I didn't know what the future held, but I knew I was going to make it happen," she said.
Velvet has been regularly featured on AEW programming throughout her time in the company, portraying both a heel and a babyface.
She last wrestled on the February 1 episode of AEW Dynamite, challenging Jade Cargill for the AEW TBS Championship.
Fightful will have live coverage of AEW Dynamite beginning at 8 p.m. ET on Wednesday.
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