IMPACT Wrestling Knockouts Champion Taya Valkyrie recently spoke with Wrestlezone’s Kevin Kellam.
Taya commented on her Knockouts Championship win at IMPACT Homecoming being validating, but also said Gail Kim’s role as referee in her title match doesn’t diminish her win at all:
“No, it’s the same, because I won. I got the three count. The thing everyone is forgetting is I’ve beaten Tessa before. I’ve had her with her back against the wall, like with a disqualification—there’s been all of these things—it’s not like I haven’t been able to beat her. This is professional wrestling, we’re two wrestlers trying to beat each other—guess what, it’s her fault—she hit the ref and the ref hit back for the first time. For months, she’s been terrorizing our referees and being disrespectful to the locker room and management, so she got what she really deserved in the end, and I won. Whenever she’s ready—or whenever she’s allowed to come back, since she’s suspended—I’m ready more than ever to wrestle her again. I’m the Knockouts Champion, whether she likes it or not, whether people like it or not. I’m the Knockouts Champion, and I am a defending champion, and whenever she wants an opportunity to come after it again, I will give it to her.”
Who is someone she wants to have a match with that she hasn’t had a chance yet?
“I haven’t wrestled Jordynne Grace, so I’d definitely put her up on the list of people that I want to get in the ring with. Right now she’s currently undefeated in her matches on IMPACT, she has some different offense, and I think that we could really, really tear it down and have something special. We have so many women in our locker room that are so different, you look at Dark Allie, Su [Yung], Rosemary is back; that’s a huge wild card. I had a feud with her last year, but we’re completely different than we were twelve months ago. I feel like that could be really interesting to revisit, depending on where and how all of those stories unfold. It’s really up in the air as to what’s going to happen at this next set of tapings (February 15-17 at Sam’s Town in Las Vegas), so I’m really looking forward to seeing who is going to step up and challenge me next. If it’s not Tessa, then there are a bunch of girls waiting.”
With the change in companies with AEW, and WWE, IMPACT and ROH adding big names, how has the wrestling landscape changed in her eyes?
“Everything in wrestling, no matter where it’s happening—All Elite Wrestling, WWE, IMPACT Wrestling, ROH—all of these things, and all of this commotion is all so positive for the business. It’s creating more jobs for everyone, it’s creating more buzz. Wrestling has become popular, it’s so cool right now to be a wrestling fan, as a wrestler we’re getting these endless opportunities and endless dream matches because everyone is trying to work together and it’s just a really crazy time to be part of this business. I’m very lucky that I’m in the position that I’m in now, and I really look forward to getting these different opportunities and getting in matches with different people. It’s really just endless as to what we can create. I think it’s a very, very exciting time.”
Check out the full interview below:
