Kayla Rossi appreciates being compared to WWE legend Chyna, but she wants to stand out on her own.
Rossi, a bodybuilder, had previously been featured on AEW programming as Joey Janela's bodyguard/manager. Though Janela has departed the company, Rossi continues to compete on AEW Dark. Fans have often compared her to Chyna, which inherently comes with plenty of expectations.
In an interview with Steve Fall of NBC Sports Boston, Rossi discussed these comparisons, given her impressive stature. When asked whether she she likes it, she described how she wants to bring her own "nuances" to the wrestling world.
“I mean I do, but in the back of my head, I’m like no, Chyna was 5-10, 5-11, like just statuesque and brute force. I get it, I look like it. I’m built her. But I’m 5-3 and I’m athletic as hell, and I can do other things. So it’s been difficult to take advice from people and what I should act like and the presence I should have, and then also what I wanna bring in, my nuances that I wanna bring to the wrestling world," Rossi Said.
She also noted that she has been inspired by Chyna, saying, "I can’t lie, I’ve taken inspiration from her. Who wouldn’t? She’s such a prominent figure in the world of wrestling and did such great things for women in general in the wrestling world."
Earlier in the interview, Rossi commented on how she wants to blend her strength with her athletic ability in a way that no one has seen before. She noted that she has somewhat struggled with people giving her differing advice, given her physical stature.
“It’s kind of been hard for me too because I have a bunch of people telling me different things, like, ‘You look like Chyna’ or ‘You should just be strong and statue-like and just do power moves.’ But the athlete inside me is like no, I wanna flip around. I have this athletic ability that not many people have, especially women in wrestling, so I wanna showcase those moves. So it’s kind of how do you find that balance between the strength and the power, and also showing my athletic ability so I want to just kind of bring it all together in a package that nobody has seen before. That’s kind of my goal," she said.
Fightful Select previously reported an update about Rossi's AEW status. More information is available here.
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