Taya Valkyrie Talks About Nearly Joining WWE

GFW, Lucha Underground, and Lucha Libre AAA star Taya Valkyrie recently appeared on Chris Jericho's Talk Is Jericho Podcast.

On nearly working for WWE: “A little unknown fact is that about seven months before I went to Mexico, I was offered a contract by WWE. And I went through all the steps, I was waiting to get all my medical tests done, and they decided to not take me, so needless to say I was wasn’t given an explanation and to this day I don’t really know what happened. I passed the background check and all of this stuff. They pulled [the contract]. They just decided they didn’t want me anymore. Needless to say, I was extremely upset.”

On her reaction: “It was a really devastating moment for me because I pretty much had everything. I was like, ‘Oh my God! This is going to happen! I’m going to do it!’ And then, it was gone. Yeah, and I still don’t really know what happened. I don’t hold any grudges. I don’t hold any bad feelings because, honestly, it all let to where I am today and I’m here with [Jericho], so it doesn’t really matter! And I knew Ted Hart there and he put me in touch with Konnan because I really didn’t want to stay in Calgary. I felt embarrassed, like, ‘Oh my God!’ Well, it had kind of gotten out because I had quit my job, I quit my multiple jobs. I was working as a personal trainer and I was bartending on the weekends, so I had quit my jobs, I had gotten rid of my apartment, I was selling my car. Do you know what I mean? There were so many things that were happening and all-of-a-sudden, I had nothing. So I was like, ‘What do I do about this?’ So I was like, ‘Do you know what? Screw this – I’m going to do what I have to do to make this happen.’ So then, I was put into contact with Konnan. I was going to go to Mexico for about a month, month-and-a-half, and I ended up staying. I was there for almost five years.”

On if she follows WWE today: “I do follow that! It’s important to follow everybody because you never know when you’re going to be the opportunity to either be there or face one of them within my world or whatever. I think the girls that are in the WWE right now… I’m a huge fan of Charlotte’s. I think Charlotte’s doing a phenomenal job and really proving she’s just as talented as her name says that she is and I think it’s really cool. I think Sasha [Banks] is great. Bayley’s great. Natalya, I’ve been a big fan of Natalya forever, since the Calgary days or before when she even went to WWE. I think some of the girls even in NXT are so good. Ember Moon is amazing. Asuka is amazing. Ruby Riot is amazing.”