The TBS Champion looks back at her title win.
Jade Cargill is undefeated in All Elite Wrestling and along the way, she became the first-ever TBS Champion. Cargill is several months into her reign and her latest title defense took place at the Revolution pay-per-view where she bested Tay Conti.
The TBS Championship was formally introduced in October 2021 and Cargill was crowned champion by winning a tournament. She joined Complex’s Unsanctioned show and shared that she was made aware of the TBS Title months before it was introduced.
Jade recalled speaking with Tony Khan about it and she was nervous. She told the story of when she and Khan chatted before her title defense against Anna Jay on Rampage and Khan instilling confidence in her before the match.
I was nervous [when I found out I was gonna be the first TBS Champion]. I was more-so nervous than anything, but I had known about this for months. I had known about this for months and I stayed out for about two months. I wasn’t getting any reps or anything like that but when Tony [Khan] told me, it was just like, ‘Just get ready. Just get ready, reel it all in, you got it’ and he’s always trusted me and he’s always trusted me without a shadow of a doubt. Like, being — I remember the main event I had with Anna [Jay] and he was just like, ‘Hey, I need you –’ this is our first time both of us are in the main event, we both are green and he looked at me and said, ‘Jade, you know how to work the clock, you played ball. So I need you to look at that clock and you need to end this match between this time and this time. You know how to work the clock,’ right? Because he loves sports in general, he loves basketball, huge Illinois fan, huge Chicago fan and I was like, ‘I got you, I got you. I can do this, I can do this, I got you.’ So, every time he’s put a challenge upon me, I’ve delivered or I at least [have] done the best I could and he understands the predicament I’m in. So, I’ve known about the belt previously, months before it even happened. I was nervous, but I had to rise to the occasion whether I was nervous or not. Who would turn down this opportunity? Who? Nobody, and if they did, they’d be a complete idiot. So, it ain’t easy but it’s time to step the f*ck up Jade. Man up, and take it home. That’s all I was focusing on at that point.
She was asked by a member of the chat room about the ideas that she’d be better suited for the WWE product. Jade feels indifferent about that and says she’s happy where she is in AEW.
She added that WWE has a cookie cutter system and knows that had she went there, she would not have emerged as quickly as she did in AEW. Jade stated that she’s a homegrown talent and takes pride in that.
How do I feel about it? [People suggesting that she would be better suited for WWE] Um, I’m indifferent about it, I’m indifferent about it. I think AEW, we have more hardcore wrestling fans and I think WWE is more of the glitz and glamour, which I’m about obviously. Obviously, I’m about the glitz and glamour and I can see how that could be an easier pill to swallow for fans, then for me to be at such a hardcore wrestling base like AEW. But, I like where I’m at. I made a choice, I stuck with my choice and I would’ve never, ever, ever, ever got the debut that I got here in AEW if I had went to WWE. I would never. Could I have been more polished? Maybe. I can see that, but, I would have never got the debut I got, I would have never got the push I got. Maybe in like six years, because they have such a cookie cutter system and I would have never been immersed until somebody was either pushed out or something happened and that’s how you have to look at things. If you have to — I felt accepted, it was great, I love that I had the opportunity to go there but I also had the choice and I… I would have never got a better opportunity than me coming to AEW. So, I think I’m very good where I’m at. I’m a homegrown talent and I take a lot of pride in that.
Cargill in 29-0 in the company. To get a recap of the 3/23 episode of Dynamite, head over to the “podcasts” section of POST Wrestling to hear Rewind-A-Dynamite.
If the quotes in this article are used, please credit Complex Unsanctioned with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.
