AEW star Ruby Soho recently spoke with PW Insider to discuss her debut at the ALL OUT pay per view, and what President Tony Khan’s reaction was once her music hit. Highlights are below.
On the moment before she debuted at ALL OUT and Tony Khan’s reaction:
I thought I knew what nervous was. I thought with my past experiences that I knew what nervous was. I had no idea. I could feel my heart beating in my throat. My hands were shaking. My legs were shaking. And like you said, it was a 100%, it was a culmination to my entire wrestling career. Everything that I had done up until that point had led to that moment, is their response going to be happy? Are people going to be excited to see me? Are people are going to be behind me? It was so many questions that I wasn’t sure if I knew the answer to. And I’ll never forget, just standing at the bottom of those stairs, my whole body shaking. I have friends of mine that are encouraging me and cheering me on, but I’m just so lost in this moment, tunnel vision of just, ‘Oh gosh, I hope this goes well. I hope it goes well.’ And then when the fans started to chant Ruby Soho before the countdown actually happened, I’ll never forget this in my whole life, Tony [Khan], from behind his screen, just jumps up and goes, ‘Let’s go!’ I was so pumped and that energy just channeled them to me where I was, ‘Yes, yes, this is it. This is the moment.’ And then stepping out on that stage, the emotion that you saw on my face was true and was so real in that moment of just, I just didn’t want to leave that moment because I was just, ‘Wow, this is what every professional wrestler dreams of is this moment, as this time is being appreciated for the work that you’ve put in the past, having people be excited for the work that you’re going to put in the future.’ It was just the best moment of my wrestling career, honestly.
How Tony Khan told her to just be herself:
I said this in an interview right after All Out. When I spoke to Tony, one of the first times that I talked to him, I just asked him a million questions and one of them was, what do you want, what do you need from me coming in and working for you? What do you need? And his answer was just so simple, ‘I just want you to be you. And I want you to come work for me.’ And it was so simple, but it was so bizarre that I hadn’t really heard that before. [It] was just, just be you. I just want you to be you. And I’ve never had that freedom before of just being able to go out there and show the fans the most authentic version of myself and that is everything to me. That’s the reason I entered this industry to begin with. Because I felt like everywhere else, I was somebody I wasn’t. I was trying to appease friends or family or co-workers or anything like that. I felt I just was trying so hard to be something I wasn’t. And I entered the wrestling industry for the freedom to be who I wanted to be, to be myself, to explore myself, to celebrate myself. And AEW has given me that, and that I think is why that fire is there. That is why I’m so excited about everyday coming to work and learning new things about the other women, about myself. Learning and that’s honestly what this journey is. It’s just learning things about myself, learning what I’m capable of and Tony has given me the freedom to do that. I’m very, very grateful.