They say to never meet your heroes, let alone wrestle them, but Jordan Blade begs to differ.
On August 18, Blade had the opportunity to wrestle Japanese legend Aja Kong in the form of tag team competition at Kitsune Women’s Wrestling. There, Kong and her partner Jade Stone walked away with the victory. For Blade, her loss didn’t matter though, as she walked away with a giant smile (and a grateful heart).
“[Aja] beat my ass,” Blade told WrestleZone’s Ella Jay, “which I love, because I feel like anybody who gets in the ring in professional wrestling is a masochist of some variety. It was so surreal to be in the ring with her. I’m standing in the ring as she’s making her entrance. I don’t know if it’s on the stream or whatever, but I couldn’t help but smile even though I’m about to wrestle against her. I gotta keep the facade going. I’m just standing in the ring, I’m smiling because I’m like, ‘Get the f*** out of here. I’m about to wrestle Aja Kong.'”
“Most people don’t get that opportunity to wrestle one of your heroes, one of your inspirations,” Blade continued. “I cried afterwards, legit. I sat by myself after the match, and I cried because I was just like, ‘What is this life, man?’ But huge thank you to Kitsune for making that match and making that happen. Dream come true for sure.”
How Aja Kong Inspired Jordan Blade
Across her near 40-year career, Aja Kong has collected championships in promotions such as
All Japan Women’s Pro-Wrestling, Marvelous, OZ Academy, and Sendai Girls. According to Blade, though, her personal admiration for Kong goes well beyond championship reigns.
“When you look at women’s professional wrestling, and this isn’t a slight or a shade to anybody, but you see a lot of sameness,” Blade said. “It’s tough sometimes being different in women’s professional wrestling, and by different, I’m more masculine presenting. Aja is someone who doesn’t fit the mold. Any female wrestler that I’ve truly been a fan of enough to study tape and things like that, they all, in some form of another, didn’t fit into the generic women’s wrestler mold.”
For Blade, the likes of Kong, Lita, Beth Phoenix, and Sara Del Ray particularly stood out as performers who went beyond the “mold” of traditional women’s wrestlers. Moreover, they inspired Blade to be here authentic self in the ring, rather than taking on a contradictory persona.
“I knew that being super feminine wasn’t going to be me and wasn’t going to be someone that I was going to feel comfortable portraying in the ring, because it’s uncomfortable for me to an extent in real life,” Blade said. “That’s 100% me. And I know sometimes trainers when they’re trying to find gimmicks, they’ll be like, ‘Hey, you just be you turned up to 11,’ or that they’re someone completely different. I don’t know if I could be someone completely different. I knew I needed to be myself. Props to people who can be something completely different, because I feel like that’s hard, but I knew I needed to be myself. So looking up to people like Aja Kong, that was a huge inspiration to me.”
Watch our full interview with Jordan Blade below:
RELATED: Natalya Reunites With Aja Kong, Says She Respects Kong And What She’s Given To Wrestling
