The stories of Taylor Wilde wrestling under a mask as a male for WWE have been validated by Tommy Dreamer.
IMPACT Wrestling‘s Taylor Wilde was the latest guest on the House of Hardcore Podcast to discuss a wide variety of subjects. During the interview, Tommy Dreamer confirmed a longstanding rumor that WWE wanted Wilde to wrestle as a masked man for the company instead of competing as a woman.
“Jazz was talked down upon because of how good she was in the ring. And same for you and Dean Malenko, and this happened, slash, almost happened,” Tommy Dreamer began. “Dean Malenko came up the idea of let’s put a mask on you and make her wrestle as a male masked wrestler, and then eventually, and this was actually a great idea, if this happened now, I think WWE would be canceled because they were hiding a female’s identity.
“And the whole time, you had to be like, I’m a guy. And then until whoever that person was unmasked you and it’s like, oh my gosh, this is a female, like this great wrestler and you were spoken about, which is also kudos to you, in the grain of a Rey Mysterio a Jeff Hardy like all this stuff, and I remember like you had done all these different gimmicks, and then they’re like, this was her biggest attribute. She’s a female, and then it was Dean was like, Well, then let’s friggin just put a mask on her and hide her identity because she’s so good. Like, think of that! It’s absurd!”
Wilde previously spoke with Fightful and shared some details about the gimmick and said the pitch was for her to win the WWE Cruiserweight Championship from Shane Helms. At the time, Wilde said Vince McMahon, Jamie Noble and Dean Malenko were on board with the idea, but it ultimately never happened.
Now, Wilde thanked Dreamer for validating the story because there are so many people out there that don’t believe it actually happened.
“Thank you so much for validating that story because I lived it, and people don’t f*cking believe me,” Taylor Wilde said. “And the other element to that because it was so abstract and outside the box and taboo for that time. They didn’t want anyone in developmental to know about it either. So I was not allowed to train in the Sabu pants, the oversized kick pads, the double-meshed eyes and mouth.
“And so the only time I got to train was when Jamie Noble and I had, I think, two or three dark matches before SmackDown. And it was abysmal because, like, I’m in this oversized shit. I didn’t get to train in it. When you wrestled your whole career with complete 360 vision, and then you’re in a double meshed eye and mouth like the mask was too big, and it was a nightmare. But like, what an experience like truthfully, even just having those dark matches was really a testament to like, Okay, someone does believe in me, but it didn’t work out.”
When Tommy Dreamer brought up the fact that WWE would have the footage of these dark matches, Wilde begged for no one to release the footage.
“Please don’t bring it out,” Taylor Wilde laughed. “I’m still not over the trauma!”
READ MORE: Taylor Wilde Is Still Under Contract With IMPACT Wrestling
What do you make of Taylor Wilde’s comments? Would you like WWE to release the footage of these matches? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit the House of Hardcore Podcast with a link back to this article for the transcription.
