Shakiel Mahjouri from CBS Sports recently conducted an interview with AEW superstar and current TBS champion Jade Cargill, who spoke in-depth about her early success in the promotion, and how easy it was for her to work and have a strong relationship with Cody Rhodes. Highlights from the interview can be found below.
On maintaining a level head despite early success:
“I feel like that can be destructive if you go off the rails a little bit,” Cargill told CBS Sports Shakiel Mahjouri. “But I will say, and I’ve heard from so many legends, you have to believe your character. There’s a reason why MJF is MJF. There’s a reason why you feel when he speaks. I believe that your character is nothing but an extension of yourself. I’m finding my way through that and I’m connecting and I’m getting there because I am a very laid-back, chill person. If I get upset with you, I’m going to talk to you like I talk to my kid. I’m not going to yell and be in your face and veins popping out, that’s not me. So I’m getting into this character. And again, it takes years to get comfortable in the skin. Humble can have you being overlooked. The person who believes who they are, I don’t know if you saw the Kanye West documentary on Netflix. It’s really good. His mother says something in the first episode that really stuck with me about the giant not seeing themself in the mirror. You have to be a certain way to believe you’re into yourself. Some people fake it until they make it. We hear it all the time in music and lyrics. It’s the way you handle things. Me being a psychologist, I can be cocky and I can do all that and I can come at home and peel the skin off and be myself and be the goofy laid-back Jade that I am. Then I step outside and I put on my shades and the cover and the face mask or whatever you want to call it, the skin and be Jade Cargill. So it depends on the person. Some people can handle it and some people can. It’s about what you do with it for sure.”
On fan divisiveness over her push:
“In this industry, you have to pay your dues… A lot of people come from the indies where they built up a fan background. They put in the time, they put in work. They’ve dealt with situations. They know what works and what doesn’t work. I’m raw. I have my first match is about to be my anniversary. I think this Thursday. I’m learning on the job and a lot of people probably don’t like that. That’s fine. You like what you like. It is what it is. Some people like mangoes and some people don’t like mangoes, and that’s okay. But people have to understand that it only goes up from here. I don’t want to say this in the wrong way. I understand, maybe you back another person. I applaud you, that’s great. They probably put the work on the indies. That’s frickin amazing. But you have to understand that this sport takes time and some people don’t even get comfortable in their skin. I think in the interview that Bryan did recently, he said that he didn’t even feel comfortable until seven years [in]. I’ve just started my first year. I probably had one match a month at that point. Literally, everything on TV has to work for me. That’s difficult because some things don’t work in some cities. Some things work and they like the heels. Some cities like the faces. Some people like the push-ups and some people don’t like push-ups. I’m out there trying to see what works. I have to study people. I watch the matches prior to me or I see what works and I embody that and I try to move forward with that. Does it defer my character? No. Does it mess with my mental? No. As long as my boss is happy, as long as my coach is happy. All my coaches in the back talk and they talk to me realistically. If I do something bad — trust me — Sonjay [Dutt], Dustin [Rhodes], they will come up to me and say I was trash. I think Dustin came up to me this past week… He’s such a fatherly figure and he doesn’t — excuse my language — he doesn’t cater to the bullshit. He’s very much like, ‘This looks bad, this looks good. No, no, no, no, no, no. I don’t care what excuse you have. This is what you have to do,’ because at the end of the day, holding the belt is a privilege. I’m learning on the job, yeah, and a lot of people don’t think that champions should learn on the job, which is fair enough in their aspect in their world. But hey, I’m rolling. I’m keeping it moving. I know myself. I don’t let people turn me away.”
On working with Cody Rhodes:
“It was a blessing. After my Shaq match, I feel like a lot of people kind of went off their ways. He was one of the people that checked up on me and my mental and to make sure I was okay and to so help me understand the business. Understand the business found me. I didn’t find the business. I was just thrown into it and he understood that. There were other people, I’m not casting them out, but he was one of the people that texted me daily about my mental. In this sport, mental is very important. He’d check if I was getting what I needed. If I was getting the training that I needed, if I was able to speak and have the voice that I wanted. Cody is one of the people that’s for the people. For the people that can’t speak up. I’m the type of person that doesn’t complain. I just roll with the punches. I just go with the flow. That’s me and I like taking on challenges. He’s a great person. He’s a great individual. He was very much in my corner. He’s a great guy. He’s a phenomenal father. He stepped into new shoes. He’s a phenomenal father. He’s a phenomenal person in general, and he was one of the people that went to bat for me, for a lot of things.”
