Women’s division star Leyla Hirsch was the latest guest on the AEW Unrestricted podcast to discuss a wide range of topics, which included Hirsch sharing her experience working for STARDOM, and how the psychology of the promotion is very different than anything else going on in today’s industry. Highlights from the interview are below.
On her experience in STARDOM:
It was such a different learning experience from wrestling here [in the U.S.] and then wrestling in Japan. I say it was tough because the psychology threw me off. To me, some of it was very confusing. You know, I got to work with Hana [Kimura], which was awesome because she was like the first person there to make me feel welcomed. She also spoke a little bit of English. I remember when Rossy [Ogawa] told me, ‘You know, would you like to be part of Cyber Squad?’ I was like, ‘Of course.’ I’m like, ‘This badass team. I fit perfectly in here,’ you know?
Recalls the advice her mother gave her in regards to following her dreams of being a wrestler:
So, the match that I remember is R-Truth versus Mike Knox. That was the match that I remember. I just remember, you know, literally R-Truth doing the R-Truth stuff, you know, displaying the dancing, you know? Just awesome, and I just also remember the ring, the audience, the whole setup. I kid you not, that moment was like, ‘Okay. This is what I wanna do.’ I had no idea what it was and I remember going downstairs to my mom and I said, ‘Hey mom, what does it take to be a professional wrestler?’ And she said, ‘Start wrestling.’ That’s literally how it all happened. Just that one night, my friend showing me wrestling. Somehow, I got hooked to it and in my heart, I was just like, ‘Wow, this is what I wanna do. I don’t know how I’m gonna do it, how I’m gonna get there, but I’m gonna do it.’ Crazy.
(H/T and transcribed by Post Wrestling
)