Grace tells all about her weekend.
Entering the 2024 women’s Royal Rumble match at the #5 spot was TNA Knockouts World Champion Jordynne Grace. Among those who Grace went toe-to-toe with in the bout were Bianca Belair and Trinity, who she won the Knockouts Title from at Hard To Kill.
She spoke to Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp and recounted receiving the call from TNA President Scott D’Amore about being in the Royal Rumble. She jokingly said when she first was contacted, she thought she was getting in trouble.
I don’t really know what I thought (when I got the call to be in the WWE women’s Royal Rumble). First of all, Scott (D’Amore) doesn’t really ever call me. When I saw the call, my immediate instinct was to not answer it because I thought I might be in trouble about something. Who knows what. When I answered it and he told me that, I didn’t really know what to think. I didn’t think it was a publicity stunt that was being pitched. Honestly, when he said it, I was like, maybe this is just an idea that they have and it’s not for real. Maybe they are testing the waters a little bit. Honestly, I did not think it was going to happen until I got my actual flight to Orlando to go to the PC. That’s when everything started to feel real.
I had to get the physical, the medical stuff done. It was a lot of waiting for everything to be approved. A lot of the stuff went through Scott just because I’m with TNA, and I don’t know the legal logistics and everything. It had to go through Scott. I ended up getting my flight information, my hotel. They put me at a different hotel than all the main wrestlers. I guess that’s the ‘surprise hotel.’ On Thursday, I flew out to the P.C. in Orlando and from there I drove to Tampa that night. They asked me if I wanted to go home on Friday and I was like, ‘No, I just need a day to mentally prepare myself for this.’ I ended up, that day, going to the gym and trying to be as normal as possible. Spray tan and all that normal stuff. Saturday was the day.
Grace kept her appearance under wraps. The first time she saw fellow participants in the Rumble was at the match rehearsal.
She shared that Chelsea Green was jokingly upset with her for not telling her she was going to be in the match. Grace also did not let Trinity know she was going to be present but had been in contact with Trinity and was expressing excitement about her WWE return.
I didn’t tell anybody, besides my husband (Jonathan Gresham that I’d be in women’s Royal Rumble). I didn’t tell any wrestlers because I was so scared of anything getting out, which of course, it did anyway, but it could have gotten out (sooner). Ruining surprises, you can’t have surprises in wrestling anymore. People were shocked. I saw so many people that I’ve known for years. They all thought this was my official debut. No, I’m TNA Knockouts Champion and I’m here representing TNA. That was even more shocking to them. I saw Chelsea Green, who was really mad that I didn’t tell her. She came up and she hit me. ‘Someone just texted me and said you were here and I didn’t believe them, but here you are.’ She was really upset that I didn’t tell her. ‘It’s better that I’m here as a surprise.’ I also didn’t tell Trinity, which was the funniest thing. All week, I’m texting her, ‘I’m really excited to see you in the Rumble.’ What she didn’t know is I was going to be standing across the ring seeing her.
Circling back to the moment she had with Trinity in the Rumble match, Grace could hear the ‘TNA’ chants and is glad there were was a good portion of the crowd that knew her and Trinity’s history.
It’s crazy. I don’t know how many actual WWE fans watch TNA. I don’t know what the exact crossover is, but it felt so good to get that reaction when we had the standoff and the hug. That was awesome. I’m so glad everybody kind of knew what was going on between us (Grace & Trinity). I don’t know that there is a word to describe that feeling. To put it into perspective for you, I made my WWE debut, officially, at the Royal Rumble, wearing the O.G. TNA Knockouts Championship. Those words together don’t even feel real to say.
Closing out the discussion, Grace talked about the pressure position she was in. It was more than performing in the ring, but the spot she was in was about establishing connections and representing TNA. When it comes to what could be next from a TNA-WWE relationship, she does not have any information on that but has a good feeling about it.
It is an insane amount of pressure. There is nothing I can really say about it besides that. It’s so much pressure, not just to perform well in the ring, but to establish relationships backstage, positive relationships. Sometimes, a lot of times, that it much harder than actually going out there and wrestling. I feel extremely blessed that they trusted me enough to go on and do that. Hopefully, I just made TNA proud.
I have no personal insight or anything, but I have a very good gut feeling. I feel like it’s a win-win for everybody. There is nothing bad that can come from a relationship between TNA and WWE. TNA gets exposure and ability to represent their brand. WWE gets to do something awesome for the wrestling community.
In the summer of 2023, Grace re-signed with TNA/IMPACT Wrestling. Fightful Select reported that it is a two-year contract.
At the latest set of TNA TV tapings, Grace and Trinity teamed up to take on Gisele Shaw and Savannah Evans. That match has yet to air but on the 1/25 TNA iMPACT, Shaw and Evans ambushed Trinity and Grace after their title match.
