Stepping into the ring with Emi Sakura was exactly what Delmi Exo needed to regain her confidence inside the squared circle.
Delmi Exo recently sat down with WrestleZone’s Ella Jay to discuss a wide variety of subjects. When asked about working with Emi Sakura at GRIND in late 2022, Exo explained how that match with Sakura boosted her confidence again after having a rough year in relation to her car accident.
“What did definitely help me and bring my confidence up was my match with Emi Sakura. That match means so much to me and having her give me so much advice after the match was just insane,” Delmi Exo said. “We got to the back and she was just like, ‘Oh, my God, like, you’re perfect.’ And I wanted to start crying because it just felt so worth it. After having such a hard time [in 2022], I just didn’t have a lot of confidence.
“Going into the match I know a lot of people probably doubted that should have been in the ring with her, but having her say that ‘your drop kick is one of the best I’ve taken. You hit so hard, you’re not afraid to get hit,’ her just telling me, ‘why aren’t you on TV?’ In my head, I’m just like, ‘I don’t ever think I’m ready.’ I didn’t feel like anyone saw it, and I didn’t see it.”
When asked what she learned from her match with Sakura, Exo spoke about being so nervous entering the match and how great she felt afterward when Sakura called their match the favorite one she had that year.
“I think something that really hit home was just that — I was so nervous to wrestle the match, and in my head, I couldn’t remember everything that we called, and I didn’t feel like we called a lot,” Delmi Exo admitted. “But my brain was just so scared because I was wrestling someone who was like one of my heroes. But my body has been trained to do this.
“And so, going out there, everything fell into place because if you put in the work, that’s like a basketball player on his worst day, he still knows how to shoot a basket at the end of the day. So, that’s kind of what it is. It’s like, you know you can do these things. Your body knows how to do this. You’ve trained for this; you can’t be afraid like forever. Take a chance on yourself. I just think it was really eye-opening. So many people came up to me after the match, and people still do to this day.”
“I was at work. It was for GRIND, so I think I wrestled a match, and I was just in the back with her for like half an hour, maybe, just having her go over each and every part and putting me over and, just really proud of the match. She was just like, ‘That was my favorite match of this year.’ It just felt so surreal because I’m just Delmi.
“I don’t come from like the best wrestling school; I don’t do all the TV, [AEW] Dark tapings. I’m not someone who’s like super indie darling or the next in line. I just felt like I was just ‘Delmi’ and I didn’t have an identity last year. So, ending it off where your hero’s telling you like, ‘Go out there. You could be doing so much in wrestling right now.’ It just felt like that’s what I needed to hear.”
READ MORE: Delmi Exo Reveals What Enticed Her To Sign With MLW, Who Else She’d Like To Get Signed
What do you make of Delmi Exo’s comments? Have you seen her match against Emi Sakura in GRIND? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
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