IMPACT Wrestling Knockouts Champion Taya Valkyrie recently spoke with Wrestlezone’s Kevin Kellam.
‘La Wera Loca’ talks about her Homecoming win being a rewarding end to a crazy year, saying she’s happy to finally get a chance to be the face of a major women’s division in the United States:
“The last few months have really been a rollercoaster of craziness, having this great feud with Tessa Blanchard, I think we both bring in our own level of hard hitting and crazy action every time. I’m really proud of myself that I ended up coming out on top, and now after years and years of wanting to be the face of an American company and the women’s division, I am and it didn’t come out of nowhere. This is after years and years of working my butt off, literally, I’m all over the world trying to get recognition for myself, and here I am starting 2019 off in an amazing way.”
Taya went on to explain that her brief absence last year was due to paperwork regarding her legal residency application, but things ultimately worked out for the best. Taya said being patient paid off, and it’s rewarding to see the world again as a champion:
“It was incredibly frustrating. I don’t think people understand what happened last year. Basically, in a nutshell, I applied for my permanent residency—I’m Canadian—and when you apply for permanent residency, you cannot leave the country while your papers are being processed. I had a lot of my wrestling work basically cut in half because I couldn’t travel. I lost a lot of opportunities, it was very frustrating for me, and I just had to keep being patient, patient, patient, and John would always tell me it’s going to be OK, it’s going to work out. It did, everything worked out and I’m so happy, and I’m finally getting this opportunity that I feel that I deserved. To be Knockouts Champion after a year of really feeling like I was stuck on a shelf, I feel like I’m really—this sounds so corny—but spread my wings again and go after everything all over again. Revisit Mexico, go to Europe this year, and go to Japan again, everything is just so open to me again and I’m just so happy to be doing it now as the Knockouts Champion.”
In addition, Taya was asked about some fans considering her and husband / IMPACT Wrestling Champion Johnny Impact as a ‘power couple’, saying their travel schedule has picked up, but in a good way:
“Everyone asks where we keep [our championships]. Honestly, we’ve been working so much since Homecoming that they’ve pretty much been in a suitcase, or sitting on the couch. We’ve been all over the place, the last three weeks have been insane in such a great way. Thank God we have so much work and everything’s been going so positively, I wish I had something exciting to tell you guys, like I have this crazy trophy case that’s marble but we don’t. They’re there, Prince Presley, our Pomeranian, always wants to take pictures with them, but that’s pretty much it.
He wants to be a star too. He needs to post his championship photos on his Instagram @ThePrincePresley”
Read More: Taya Valkyrie On What Being Knockouts Champion Represents, How She’s Grown As A Performer
Check out the full interview with Taya below:
