I recently had the pleasure of speaking with IMPACT Wrestling star Tasha Steelz. The Boricua Bad Ass and I discussed a multitude of topics including her recent showdown with former Knockouts champion Taya Valkyrie and her alliance with Kiera Hogan. Steelz also goes in depth about the diversity of the Knockouts division, and recalls her “Ravishing” Rick Rude like stunt of appearing for IMPACT and the NWA in a single night. Highlights are below.
How she feels after wrestling Taya Valkyrie on IMPACT and what she learned from her loss:
Taya and wouldn’t have been able to clash if she wasn’t all up in me and Kiera’s business. All we was trying to basically do is help Johnny Bravo be the man. He’s about to be married to Rosemary…that’s a task in itself. You got to be a strong man to do all that. Kiera and I were just trying to help Bravo to be the one of the best man and here comes Taya with her little nosy self…coming up in our business. I had to let her know…I am the Boricua Bad Ass for a reason and she showed me she is one of the longest reigning Knockouts champion also for a reason. I did come up short this time…I kind of underestimated everything but I feel like height played into it a little bit. I’m short…she’s really tall…I kind of just feel like she had a little bit of an advantage. But it’s all good because we’re going to plan B and Kiera is going to be facing Taya and you know what…there’s always our side of winning at the end of this. I’m not really too worried about Taya…if she wants a round two with the Boricua Bad Ass…it ain’t no problem.
On her alliance with Kiera Hogan:
Kiera and I…we’ve been friends for a long time. This just didn’t happen at IMPACT…we been friends outside of IMPACT for a while and we always been around each other, always hung out with each other. It was just right moment at the right time. Me coming into IMPACT…not having any friends and always having to watch my back. Especially since I’m going for the same things that all these girls are going for and that’s the Knockouts championship. So once I saw Kiera I already knew with the natural chemistry that we have…I already knew that we can both accomplish the same goal by taking out each one of these knockouts one at a time. It’s all natural…everyone loves to see us and we love to always show up and show out and that’s what we’re doing every Tuesday night.
Who she hopes to face next in the Knockouts division:
Whether she has the Knockouts championship or not…Deonna Purrazzo. She’s also one of my really close friends and also a training buddy of mine. I haven’t faced her in a very very VERY long time and I really think there’s a difference between us training back then and me now. So I definitely want to show that off to her. So definitely Deonna. Definitely Madison because Madison Rayne has been ducking me for a while. She tried to say that she got some jobs going on…it’s really she trying to take Josh Matthews job but I’m not going to let that happen. She need to stop ducking me and get in the ring with the Boricua Bad Ass. being in the ring with Taya was another goal I accomplished. Also I would like to face Rosemary but I don’t want to go to the Undead Realm so if she can not bring me there and we just face off in the ring and not in the realm that’d be cool. Anytime I can get in the ring with all these girls, Tenille, Joran, they’re going to see why Tasha Steelz is the Boricua Bad Ass and why she calls herself the brightest star in the sky.
On appearing for the NWA and IMPACT on AXS in one night:
I felt really good because I believe…and we can check the records on this…I believe I am the only female that has done that. It was just my way of pushing myself a lot more. I didn’t really get to do that much during the indies and I felt like crossing between the NWA and IMPACT was the best time to show who I am and what I can do. To me…I think it was just a coincidence that it happened that I was debuting on IMPACT and I happened to already have an NWA show with me airing on the same night. So once I found out that was happening…I thought this is as good buzz as any. So once people was saying that I pulled a Rick Rude…I was like, “well that’s a title that I’m going to continue with for the rest of my life.” I feel like I’m the only female that pulled a Ravishing Rick Rude in her career and that was in one year. It felt great. I can add that to my resume.
On the Knockouts Division being referred to as the best women’s wrestling in the business and whether there is any extra pressure to live up to that standard:
It’s been done before I’ve gotten there, before Kylie’s gotten there, before Deonna’s gotten there, before Kiera, Taya, before all of us had gotten there the IMPACT Knockout’s Division has been showing off and showing out. You had people like Gail Kim, you had people like Madison Rayne, you had Awesome Kong, you had the likes of these women setting the bar for women’s wrestling and being one of the best divisions. With all of us coming with our diversities and our different flavors and our different styles…I feel like we’re just setting extra bars every single time every single week. It’s no pressure for us because we’re professionals like that. We could handled that. If we couldn’t handle that we wouldn’t be here. I feel like it’s something that everyone else should be following suit and trying to get over that bar with us. I feel like with us setting that bar each week…people have to follow up.
Says she and Kiera are going to dominate the division:
We’re going to push to become Knockout’s tag champions. You just wait and see.
Full interview can be watched below.