PROGRESS Women’s World Champion Nina Samuels recently joined PWMania.com for an exclusive interview ahead of a major milestone in her career. The international star is set to make her US debut during WrestleMania week in Las Vegas, where she will defend her title in a triple threat match against Vert Vixen and Rhio at PROGRESS Wrestling Chapter 179: PROGRESS Las Vegas on April 17th.
During the conversation with PWMania.com’s Lee Tarrier, Samuels reflected on her impactful run in WWE NXT:UK, and her mindset heading into one of the most important matches of her life.
Here are some highlights:
On making her US debut during WrestleMania Week: “I’m so, so excited. It feels wild to say, like, 11 years into my career, after all the things I’ve done, I’m actually making my US debut, which, wow, it’s which I’m so excited about. I’ve had near misses a few times, but now I feel like everything’s worked out the way it’s supposed to be. Because if there was ever going to be a delay in me making my US debut, that delay was to facilitate me walking into Vegas and WrestleMania weekend as PROGRESS Wrestling’s Women’s World Champion.”
On stand-out moments during a career-best run: “I don’t know if I can pinpoint it to one specific moment. I think it’s just been a steady journey of realising who I am, realising what I bring to the table and working out how I can bring that to the table consistently every single time, so that the Nina Samuels brand is untouchable. I think there’s a lot of hard work that’s gone into me getting to where I am, and not just with the in ring stuff, with the out of the ring stuff as well, like, you know, working on storytelling, trying to figure out a way where, even still being Nina Samuels, I can try and make each title reign in each promotion a little bit different.”
On how much NXT UK helped her evolve: “I can’t explain how much I learned in NXT:UK. Everything I learned there was so valuable. I managed to create an identity for myself there, because I realised when I started that I really didn’t have one which wasn’t as apparent to me when I was on the independent scene, going from promotion to promotion. But when you see yourself in that TV episodic format, you really see who is a prominent presence, who is a character, and who isn’t. And to start with, I wasn’t, I had to figure that out. I did that at the Performance Center where I learned so much. I learned how best to portray a character, I got better in the ring and it’s where I defined my character and the Nina Samuels show, which got so much bigger than I thought it could ever be.”
Nina also discussed her goals for 2025, what it means to represent PROGRESS on the global stage, and how she plans to elevate The Nina Samuels Show to new heights. You can check out the complete interview at this link.
PROGRESS Wrestling Chapter 179: PROGRESS Las Vegas takes place on Thursday, April 17th at 11:59 PM PT.
