Impact Knockouts Champion Jordynne Grace Talks Differences in Second Title Reign, Hopes for World Title Shot, and More

Impact Wrestling’s Slammiversary event was thrilling from beginning to end, and one of the best matches of the night was the first-ever Queen of the Mountain match. It was Jordynne Grace who was able to overcome all the obstacles and claim the Knockouts World Championship, and she’s already set to defend the Title at tonights Against All Odds pay-per-view. ComicBook.com had the chance to speak to Grace all about her big Championship win as well as her future hopes, how this second Title reign will be different than her last, and more, but we had to start with the Queen of the Mountain match, which was everything Grace had hoped it would be.

“Oh, I think it went honestly like 10 times better than we could have ever imagined it. Did a lot of high-risk stuff, and honestly, I was like, ‘Oh my God,’ just praying for everybody who was jumping off stuff, falling from ladders into tables. It was something else. It really couldn’t have gone better.

All of the women in the Queen of the Mountain match delivered, though two names in particular stuck out thanks to two of the matches’ unforgettable moments. “Oh man, to be completely honest, every woman in that match, they really gave it their all,” Grace said. “They went out there and they f****** killed it. They didn’t hesitate on anything. They all love wrestling just as much as I do. I would say the two people that really stuck out to me were Mia Yim because, oh my God, I can’t even tell you how many times I was like, ‘Are you sure you want to do the ladder thing?’ Setting it out before the match I was like, ‘Are you sure?’ Because when I tried to climb up at myself and I was like, ‘Dude, this is high. This is scary. Are you sure you want to do this?’ She was like ‘Yeah, I’m going to do it.’”

“So major, major props for her doing that during the match, because I could never do that. So I think definitely she would be an awesome opponent for me in the future for the title next, and then also, someone I think is just criminally underrated at this point. A lot of people say different things about her. I think one of the reasons is just because she’s so insanely beautiful is Chelsea Green,” Grace said. “I feel like she really is not afraid to take those f****** insane bumps. She took the thing on the ladder, she just took so much stuff and she always does anything that you suggest. Chelsea, she’s like, ‘Yeah, let’s do it. I don’t care.’ She’s fearless.”

During the match fans noticed Grace paying tribute to Samoa Joe, including Grace’s finisher being the Muscle Buster, and it was something she knew she had to do for this Impact and TNA celebration “That was something I absolutely… I was like, ‘I’ve got to do this. This is something that I need to do.” Because he’s the first person I ever saw use the Muscle Buster, and he’s the reason why I wanted to use it at Impact. Being the 20th-anniversary show, I was like, ‘This is a perfect moment to do that.’ So I believe that match he did, was in 2008, and he actually hard had the Title and that’s how he retained the Title. So that was the end of both of our matches, and I felt like it was a really good tribute there for the 20th anniversary,” Grace said.

There were quite a few of those Impact and TNA history Easter Eggs throughout the night, and for Grace that was a part of what made Slammiversary so entertaining for longtime fans.

“I think that we, the roster, did a really good job. If you aren’t an Impact fan, you wouldn’t think anything about it. They’re just moves to you. But if you’re a longtime Impact fan and you’ve been watching for 20 years, you recognize those little Easter Eggs,” Grace said. “And I think we made the Impact fans that have been here forever really, really happy with that show.”

Oh, and as for how the match ended, there was totally supposed to be a hook for the Knockouts World Championship in the Queen of the Mountain. “100% there was supposed to be a hook. That’s why the belt was belted up, and then when I get to the top,’ I’m like ‘Where the f*** is the hook?’ And so I had to unbelt it,” Grace said.

“The last 12 matches, there’s only been one other match where there wasn’t a hook, and I genuinely think they forgot that time too, because why would there be a hook in every single other match and then there’s not a hook in that match? It doesn’t make any sense,” Grace said. “But yeah, I was just frustrated because fans were like, ‘Oh, she didn’t actually win because she didn’t belt it.’ And I was like, ‘That’s not a rule.’ There’s no rule that says you have to actually do that. You’re supposed to hook the belt.”

Now Grace is the Knockouts Champion once more, but this already feels like a completely different experience compared to her first Championship win.

“It feels completely different. Not only have I really just reinvented myself as a wrestler and an athlete. I also feel like my first title run it almost didn’t even count because I got it at the end of January 2020, and then we just went to a pandemic immediately. So I really didn’t get the crowd experience and to defend that Title in front of crowds and I didn’t get the opportunity to really be the face of the Knockouts division,” Grace said. “I feel like now I’m getting that opportunity and I’m ready for it.”

Now that a Queen of the Mountain match is officially in the books, Grace has her eyes set on the future, specifically an Impact World Championship Match. “Oh man, I would love to face someone in a World Title match, for Impact. That would be great. That’s one of my big goals is hopefully eventually to have a World Title match and become the second Female World Champion of Impact. That’s a big, big goal for me.”

You can check out Grace in action when Against All Odds kicks off tonight at 7 PM CST on FITE TV and Impact Plus.

Are you excited for Against All Odds? Let us know in the comments or as always you can talk all things wrestling with me on Twitter @MattAguilarCB!