Ruby Soho talks about returning from injury and wanting to continue breaking down barriers in the AEW women's division.
Ruby Soho broke her nose at AEW All Out during a mixed tag match against Tay Melo and Sammy Guevara while she teamed with Ortiz.
Speaking about her return from injury to Fightful's Grapsody podcast, Ruby says that she currently feels the best that she has physically in a long time and discusses what she feels was her body going into shock when she arrived in AEW due to the shift in wrestling style from her time in WWE.
"I honestly feel the best that I’ve felt in a really long time. Physically I feel a lot better. That three months that I was off helped me heal from breaking my nose, but I think it helped me heal the rest of my body, too," she said. "I think when I first got here, my body went into a little bit of a shock because I was having matches that were a lot longer than the ones I was having previously against a lot grittier and hungrier girls that are newer and out to prove themselves. So I’m having longer matches, harder-hitting matches, more high-risk matches than I ever had before and so I think my body was saying, ‘You’re too old for this.’
"So I think that three months definitely helped me do a reset on everything and really focus on healing every part of me—my back, my neck, everything that were like little injuries that were bothering me," she continued. "So physically, I feel the best that I’ve felt in a while, and I’m in a great headspace as far as what I need to do to see this success that I want to see in my career. Obviously, I’m in the exact position that I wanted to be in when I came back, to be in contention for the title. So everything is going as planned except for this stupid being in the middle thing of these catfights that continuously follow me around. Again, too old for it. Other than that, not exactly on the plan, but I feel like my momentum leading into this pay-per-view is at the best that I have been in any of the other title contentions I’ve been in. So I’m very much looking forward to it."
Speaking about competing in main event matches, such as the one that she had against Britt Baker at AEW Dynamite: Grand Slam, Soho says that she it's grateful to have had the opportunities that she has and wants to see more barriers broken, such as AEW women headlining a pay-per-view and women competing in more steel cage matches.
"I think for all of us, as women, whenever we’re given an opportunity, the pressure is so much more for us to absolutely knock it out of the park because the moment that we don’t, we don’t know when we’re going to see that opportunity again," said Ruby. "It’s not one of those things where it’s like, ‘Oh, maybe we’ll try again next week,’ or, ‘Maybe we’ll try again in a month.’ No, if we get this, we have to kill it. There’s no other option. So those moments are scary for me because it’s not just pressure for yourself, it’s pressure for the entire roster. So if you don’t do it and you don’t pave the way and set the tone for what this can look like, you can effect other women’s opportunities. Which is a lot to handle.
"So I’ve been so unbelievably lucky to be able to get as many main event spots as I’ve had and to be able to work alongside some incredibly talented women and to be able to get opportunities in tournaments that I’ve been fortunate enough to be a part of," Ruby added. "I’m really excited to see the next few steps that we take in this division because it’s still fairly on the new side, AEW as a whole. The strides we’ve made in such a short period of time is really amazing to me. So I’m excited to see in my career span how many more women’s main events can we get. Can we get a main event of All Out? Can we get to that point? I really want to be able to do that. Can we get women’s tag titles? Can we get a women’s cage match. I want to see all of them. Whether I’m a part of them or not. I want to be around for when these monumental things happen for the women."
While she's not yet a pay-per-view headliner, Ruby looks to capture a major singles title for the first time in her career, in a Triple Threat against Jamie Hayter and Saraya, at AEW Revolution.
Fightful will have live coverage of AEW Revolution on Saturday, March 5, 2023.
