She touched on all bases during the chat.
WWE formally announced that they’ve signed former AEW TBS Champion Jade Cargill to a multi-year contract. Cargill started off her pro wrestling career with AEW in 2020 and finished with a 60-2 record in the company.
After it was made public that Cargill is now a member of the WWE talent roster, she joined Kazeem Famuyide and David Shoemaker on The Masked Man Show to discuss coming to WWE and her departure from AEW.
Starting off with joining the sports-entertainment company, Jade feels she was in preparation for the grand stage and this was always the mission.
It feels great. I feel like I was just in preparation for the grand stage, I felt like this was always the mission, I felt like the shoe fit, I felt like this was gonna happen. Honestly, this was all expected so, I’m excited to be here.
Further speaking about her decision to sign with WWE, Cargill said she had no second thoughts about it. She added that there’s no grander stage than where she is now.
I want to create a legacy, I want to be in the Hall of Fame, I want to wrestle with the best women in the world. I mean, there’s no grander stage than this stage. The opportunities are endless for this company. It’s a no-brainer. It was very welcoming. I didn’t have any second thoughts at all. It was just an easy choice. It wasn’t easy but it was easy.
Cargill’s friendship with Cody Rhodes is well documented and she spoke about how influential he was in her decision to join WWE. She said Rhodes was in the top three most influential people and he’s not number three.
He (Cody Rhodes) was top three and not third (she laughed). Cody is a phenomenal man. I see what the business did for him, I see him just be the stellar athlete that he is and I didn’t see any different for myself. But, he was one of the guys (who was influential in me joining WWE)…
Speaking about who she’d like to share the ring with in the company, Jade mentioned Nia Jax, Rhea Ripley, Charlotte Flair, Bianca Belair and said there’s lots of others she wants to mix it up with.
There’s so many names (I’d like to face in WWE). There’s Nia Jax, there’s Rhea Ripley, there’s Charlotte Flair, Bianca Belair, there’s a lot of people. It’s not just one person, I wanna take ‘em all down. Like I said, I’m creating a legacy. I’m here to take over and make a name for myself so, whoever wants it, they can come get it.
The question of if she hit a ceiling in AEW was presented to Cargill. She would not use that specific word, but said the route she wanted to take was different and didn’t see that route available at AEW.
I wouldn’t say it was a ceiling (I hit at AEW). I would just say that the route that I wanted to take was different and the route that I wanted to embark on was different and I didn’t see, over there, where I could’ve did it and the only way I could do it was coming to the WWE universe. So I bet on myself and I made the best decision by coming here.
As the conversation rolled on, Cargill reiterated that she does not need wrestling. She stated that she’s in it because she’s hungry and loves it. Cargill wants to create a legacy for her family.
This is me going into something I’ve said before. I don’t need this business, I don’t, I don’t. I can go home and be relatively fine. I’m here because I’m hungry, I love what I do and I wanna create a name for myself and I wanna create a legacy for my daughter and my family and I mean that. I don’t need the money. The money’s great, thank you, I appreciate that but this comes from the heart. This is something I’ve picked up and I’m not gonna put down until I become a great and if you wanna bet against me, be my guest because at the end of the day, you’re gonna be a fan anyway. Take it how you want to, take it as tacky, conceited. I’m just me and you can bet on that.
Jade’s first match was a mixed tag on AEW Dynamite where she teamed with multi-time NBA Champion Shaquille O’Neal to take on Cody Rhodes and Red Velvet.
She feels she took that for granted because she did not soak it in, but she’ll make sure to take those moments in going forward.
I’m never gonna relive these moments ever again, I’m never gonna relive this moment ever again. So, I’m gonna do the best I can and I would tell (my past self) just keep on pushing and soak in those moments more because I just took everything for granted back then, you know? My debut with Cody Rhodes and Shaquille O’Neal, I took that for granted. I just walked back and I didn’t soak it all in and now that I have those great moments in my life, now that I’m reliving a bigger moment in my life, I’m legit just gonna soak it all in and just take it in and be thankful and just bury my head in the system and work.
Throughout her several years in AEW, Cargill developed multiple close friendships and she named Ricky Starks, Billy Gunn, Mark Henry, Q.T. Marshall, Bryan Danielson and Dustin Rhodes as people she’ll miss. She added that all the greats at AEW want to see her do well. Cargill added that she missed Cody Rhodes when he left AEW.
Ricky Starks (is someone I’m going to miss from AEW). He’s like my best friend. I really just have a knit-tight bubble. I don’t mingle, I don’t do much, because it’s a business and I gotta go home. It’s my family and taking care of home, I don’t really have that much time, but I would say Ricky Starks, Billy Gunn, Q.T. Marshall, jeez, I love Daniel Bryan, great guy, sweet guy. One of the people who was a great mentor to me as well. Dustin Rhodes. It’s a lot of people over there I’m gonna miss. At the end of the day — Mark Henry! But I will say this, all the greats over there want to see me succeed. I have so many people who are great in this industry that reach out to me, that want to see me succeed and I appreciate everyone that does reach out to me and wants to see me succeed, you know? And these are people who put butts in seats, these are people who got people to pay top dollar to see them. That’s important to me and I missed Cody Rhodes when he left. He’s one of the people who would talk to me and get me to understand the system because this is not an easy system. It’s a different monster. It’s different than anything I’ve ever been a part of so all the people that wanna see me succeed, they gave me those congratulations. They gave me the congratulations because they had something in their mind that something was up and all I said was thank you but… everybody wants to see me succeed. I’m gonna miss a lot of people over there. I’m really thinking about this right now. A lot of people wanna see me win so, I’m very thankful for those people.
Transitioning back to chatting about current WWE talent, three-time WWE Women’s Champion Bianca Belair’s name was brought up. Cargill was asked for her thoughts about Belair.
She feels Bianca is phenomenal and is a strong and beautiful Black woman, but she’s in WWE now. Cargill said it does not matter if it’s Bianca, Charlotte Flair or Rhea Ripley in her path because she’s taking the division by storm.
You know, telling a story, you always work together and then you just seemingly separate from one another in a great feud, right? I think she’s (Bianca Belair) phenomenal, I think she’s a beautiful Black woman, strong Black woman. But now I’m here, and I plan on taking this entire division by storm regardless if it’s her, whether it’s Charlotte Flair, whether it is Rhea Ripley, it doesn’t matter who you are and what you stand for because Jade has arrived.
Towards the closing portion of the interview, Cargill responded to the question of if she thinks there was more left to do in AEW. She agreed that there was more on the table and said she wishes she could’ve been in the mix with the women who were holding the Women’s World Championship.
She shared that some have messaged her and expressed that they wished they could’ve had a match and Cargill wanted the same.
I wish I would have worked with the amazing women who are holding the main belt. That’s one of the things that I really wanted to do. A couple of them have reached out to me and wishes they would’ve had that match and I wish so as well. I could have gone on the mic with a lot of those ladies. But, TV time is short and we have to work with what we got but, yeah, of course. I could’ve had some dream matches before arriving to the grand stage.
Jade started at the Performance Center in Orlando, Florida on 9/26. WWE pushed out the story of Cargill’s signing through ESPN and in the article, it was noted that it is not known if she is starting in NXT or on the main roster.
If the quotes in this article are used, please credit The Masked Man Show with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.
