Gabby Ortiz received some great opportunities early on her in professional wrestling career.
Just about six months, Ortiz traveled to Japan to wrestle for Stardom. Just before she left, she received an opportunity to work in Ring of Honor before returning later the same year in 2017. In speaking with PWMania.com, Gabby Ortiz opened up about her time in Ring of Honor.
“It was incredible working there,” Ortiz revealed. “One of the first things I heard about them was that was where serious wrestlers went. You had to be on your game. You couldn’t just be a character. I remember thinking I’ll never work there because I thought my character work was amazing but I wasn’t athletic enough.”
“About a year later I was working there. It was a good way to prove to myself that I was good enough to work here,” she continued. “Working with the women there, like Sumi Sakai, and Mandy Leon, they were so inspiring. Deonna Purrazzo, Karen Q, and Tasha Steelz as well, just amazing women. I wish I had more time and more matches with them. The opportunity I got there, I wouldn’t have anything in my career if it weren’t for ROH.”
In addition to Ring of Honor, Gabby Ortiz has also been spotted on All Elite Wrestling, competing against Thunder Rosa in 2021.
“It was so fun. I’ve known Thunder for a while,” she explained. “We’ve never wrestled each other so this was very exciting. We worked with Dustin Rhodes as well which was cool. Paul Turner was our ref, and he was my ref for almost all of my ROH matches.”
“Eddie Kingston did commentary, and, here’s a little secret, he does like me. It was truly the coolest experience ever. I got a huge following because of that meme photo that came out of that match.”
In the meantime, Gabby Ortiz has taken over the northeast professional wrestling scene. A former two-time ECWA Women’s Champion, Ortiz also spoke on her desire to work for more promotions, including IMPACT and NWA.
“I would love to work for IMPACT or NWA as well,” she noted. “I think I’d be a good fit for either of those companies. My 2022 new year’s resolution was just to have fun with it. This has been my most successful year so far, and I’m excited about the future.”
