Impact Wrestling and Lucha Underground star Taya Valkyrie was recently interviewed by Wrestling Epicenter. You can hear the full interview above, or read it at this link, and check out submitted highlights below.
Her debut with Impact Wrestling:
"This is only the beginning! It's been amazing! It is so different from what I'm used to like being in AAA and Lucha Underground. But, that's what is exciting! I try to always evolve as a wrestler and a performer and as a character. I just think this was a natural progression and next natural step in my career."
What is so different at Impact Wrestling than Lucha Underground and AAA:
"(Laughs) Everything about it is different! It is a totally different roster, obviously, so I'm facing women I've never faced before who all wrestle in different styles. I'm Canadian but I also spent 5 years of my life in Mexico in AAA. It's just so different. The speed is different. We're wrestling to the left instead of the right. The ring is different. The fans are completely different! But, it's cool! It's a challenge just like anything. But, you know, I've started at the bottom and came up from there always. I've always had these challenges throughout my career and different barriers I have to break through and create a name for myself. This is just one more opportunity to do so!"
If she knew she was headed there when GFW did the ballpark shows in the Northeast:
"For me, I've worked in AAA with Jeff and Karen (Jarrett) for many many years. We would always discuss me coming up and working with them and doing different projects with them. There was never ever an opportunity to do so. Things change! You know what I mean? I now live in the States. It is just the perfect timing. So, when they invited us to do the live evemtsn, that was just step 1 and it just evolved from there. I hope to evolve with Impact for a long time. The women there are just so talented. Everyone wants to have really good matches. It shows their heart for this business. I want to work with girls like that and I'm just really happy that I'm part of that locker room now."
Making the big trip down to Mexico from Canada:
"I had been given a contract from WWE. Then, they decided they didn't want me. I was feeling very depressed and up against a wall with my career. I didn't really... I knew this is what I wanted to do. So, I just found an opportunity to do it! I was invited to train in Mexico. I went and trained and I stayed! I mean, Perro Aguayo Jr, who passed away a few years ago, changed my life. So did Konnan. So did the whole Roldan family. So did all the people who helped me out along the way. And, all those people who didn't believe in me, I thank them too because they were just part of that motivation that helped me get through the hard times that I had down there. It's an evolution of Taya that's grown up in front of the Lucha Libre community. And now, I get to present that to the American wrestling community."
You can read the full interview at this link.
