Tiffany Stratton (14:23)
It's so funny that you guys like talk about like how my life was preparing me for wrestling because I fully believe that as well. I fully believe every little side quest I've done in my life has fully led me to professional wrestling. And when I saw like, it was kind of like blowing up at the time, I think it was like 2021 where I saw it really starting to take off. That's when I was like, that's when I discovered wrestling. And I was like, oh my God. Like, this is totally on my alley. I feel like my entire life I've been preparing for this job. Like, this has to be my new, my new thing. So immediately I submitted my stuff online immediately. And I did it so many times, you guys. And then I found a pro wrestling school near me. I forget what it was called. I think it was just called Pro Wrestling Academy. Mr. Kennedy, he was, oh my gosh, he's the best. Yeah, Mr. Kennedy was the owner of that. So that was really cool. So I pulled up there with my mother it was on a very sketchy side of town, so my mom came with me. I was the only girl there. And I, like, rolled around for a little bit, took some bumps. And then my mom, she's a nurse practitioner, and she was over at some guy's house, like, doing her, you know, her taking her vitals, whatever nurses do. And she saw like, this guy had posters on his wall and, and was like, of wrestling and was like, oh, my God. Like, my, my daughter's trying to get into that kind of stuff. Like, that's so cool. Yeah, posters, whatever. Like, I was like, oh, really? I know Greg Gagne, who was like a legend. WWE legend, WF legend. His dad's also a legend, Vern Gagne in the business. And he's like, I know Greg Gagne and I feel like he can help out your daughter. So my mom took down his number and immediately texted him for me. Yeah, my mom was like, such a catalyst in all of this. She was like, I think you need to do it. You need to. This is totally for you. I can totally see you doing that. And she saw Charlotte Flair on the TV screen one day. We were swiping through the channels and she was like, Jess, like, you literally can do exactly what she's doing right now. Like, you need to do this. Back to the other story. So she texted Greg and Greg was like, who the heck is this? Like, can we call each other? Like, who's this random lady calling me? So they hop on a call and he agrees to train me. And she kind of tells him about how I've been going to Mr. Kennedy's gym. And she's like, okay, like, I think I'm gonna try and reach out to Mr. Kennedy and see if, like, it'd be okay if I pull up to the school and kind of like, watch you train. So he does that and he, like, watches me take my first flip bump. And he was like, you've. You've never done that before? And I was like, no, but like, I do it all the time on the trampoline. Like, that's like something you do all the time in gymnastics, like the, the one footed flip bump. So he, like, could not believe that it was just so easy for me to. To do it on the first try and off one foot and then run the ropes. Like, it was all just kind of like second nature for me. And so immediately he was like, okay, like, then I'm gonna train you. I'm gonna get you ready for your tryout, and you're gonna be the Most prepared there and it's gonna be amazing. Whatever. So he reaches out to, I think it was Stephanie McMahon and she pulls like, my information from the whole, like the, the vaults of all the tryouts or all the, the, the submissions and all that stuff. Yeah, yeah. Pulls my information out. She says, okay, we have at our next tryout. So the trial comes. I'm so ready. I'm so nervous. The trial comes and COVID 19 happened and they had to fly us all back home in the same day because they literally had to host like Ron smackdown there that night. And so we couldn't try out. Yeah, there were so many people that are now signed with WWE that were at this trial. Like, Trick Williams was there, Kiana James was there. I think Jade Cargill was there too. There are so many people. Yeah, there are so many people that were there that are now signed. So they flew us all back home. And this, this is when I started to pick up bodybuilding. I was like, you know what? Like, I'm going to get in really good shape. I'm gonna do something to excite me for right now. And like, everything was shut down for a minute. So I, like, trained in my basement. My dad had all this workout equipment. And then it was like May or no, it was March when I had that trial. And then finally, like a year and a half later, they. I emailed them like, I emailed them like, at least like every other month. Like, hey, are you guys having a trial? Like, I heard you guys had a tryout. You guys had an all boys try out. You guys having an all girls tryout soon. And then they finally invited me back and it was an all girls trial. There was about 13 girls there. And I literally, like, I was willing to die before not getting a job. Like, I put my all into everything and it was, it was. I definitely like left that child knowing I was gonna get signed because I definitely, like, I stood out. I knew exactly what it's doing, how to take a bump. It was just running the ropes and rolling and promos and stuff like that and just energy and showing that, like, you're charismatic and da da da da. So, like, I had it all on lock. I knew it.
