Impact Wrestling has seen plenty of overturn in the last year, whether it be in name, backstage faces, or members of their active roster. Among the most successful of those additions has been Taya.
The girlfriend of Johnny Impact/Johnny Mundo/John Morrison, Taya is also a character on El Rey's Lucha Underground series. With Impact and Lucha Underground having their share of issues in the past, many were surprised that the once-strict Lucha Underground contracts were amended to allow a partnership with Impact -- something that both Taya and Mundo took advantage of.
When I spoke with Taya recently, she opened up about how her spot in Impact Wrestling came to be, and the process of gaining permission from Lucha Underground to appear on another national television show.
"It was definitely not an option a few year ago because we were very exclusively signed to Lucha Underground," said Taya. "There was a long period of down time between season 3 and season 4 where I think a lot of people got a little antsy, where we were all just looking to keep working and wanted to keep moving forward with our careers and our lives. I had known Jeff and Karen Jarrett for years because they would come down to Mexico and work for AAA. They had always asked me to come and work for Impact and I just didn't have the opportunity to. When they asked me and John again and we asked if we could do this, the answer wasn't no anymore. It was a long time coming. I was wanting to work with them for so long and Karen and Jeff were so gracious in letting us come work for them"
Although Taya and Taya Valkyrie seem similar in name, she was clear that she'd hoped to keep the two characters separate, even going as far as to say that she's not sure that "Impact's Taya" knows who her real life boyfriend in Johnny Mundo is.
"I knew I wanted to keep my characters separate and bring something different to that knockouts division. I'm so blessed to do both, and now I'm the only woman on either roster that's involved on two different television series at the same time. It's really cool," she said.
Taya will likely have some decisions to make in that regard, as an Impact Wrestling vs. Lucha Underground event will run Friday April 6 during WrestleMania weekend.
You can see the brief, but full conversation Fightful had with Taya in the video player above.
