2024 marks ten years since Chelsea Green‘s professional wrestling career began. She’s always had aspirations of signing with WWE and when talking to her that seemed to be her main objective for a long time. Though she competed on the sixth season of WWE’s Tough Enough in 2015, it wasn’t until 2018 that Green would sign a contract and appear on NXT. Green was signed with the company until 2021 when she was initially let go.
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In the two years that followed, Green would make a name for herself in any company that would have her. Whether it was IMPACT where she developed her “Hot Mess” character and teamed with Purrazzo as VXT, wrestling in Japan with STARDOM, Lucha Underground, appearing all over the independents with her husband Matt Cardona or in NWA where she wrestled Kamille for the NWA Women’s Championship, Green never let go of her aspirations. When asked what advice she’d give her younger self just starting out in the industry ten years ago, Green noted that she’d want her to stop and enjoy the moment.
“I think I would shake myself and say, ‘you are going to end up at WWE. Stop stressing, stop stressing!’ Because I really, and this is why I like to tell people my biggest piece of advice, is to just enjoy the journey,” Green told Comicbook.com. “It sounds so hokey, but I wish I had enjoyed the journey these past 10 years to get to WWE more. I wish I had stopped and looked around and smelled the roses and everything else because that is what makes me special now being in WWE. Everyone can be a wrestler. Everyone can try to do that. Everyone can try to go in the indies or try to make a name for themselves, whatever, but it’s those stops that I made along the way, all the other companies to get to WWE that now makes me unique, makes me special, makes my fan base come along for the ride and support me now that I am thriving in WWE. But I mean, when you’re in it, [it’s] easier said than done. Because when you’re in it, you’re in it. And you just have one goal in mind.”
Fans online have begun referring to Green as the “Female Miz” (which she takes as a high compliment!) and it’s something she was striving for when she re-signed with WWE in 2023. Along that journey, she would become a tag team champion with Sonya Deville, their first championships within in WWE. Not long after winning Deville unfortunately ended up injured but it didn’t stop Green from making the most out of the situation. Many refer to the women’s tag team championships as a “curse” because something always goes wrong when a team holds them. For one reason or another there’s an injury or another reason they are forced to vacate but Green’s situation was much different. She held “auditions” online for a new tag team partner, which really gained steam amongst the fanbase. She was then paired up with Piper Niven who she spent a lot of time in Japan with as the two were roommates.
“I mean, it’s always scary because you just don’t know in wrestling where our storyline is going to go ever. So, you know, keep in mind that we had the championships, but who knows how long we were going to be holding those championships for, so everything was really up in the air when Sonya got hurt. And I really just, first and foremost, was really worried for her, especially after so many years in the business. She had been with WWE for eight years, she had never had an injury. This was her first championship. So it’s like so many things combined that were just really, really lame. But honestly, I knew no matter what, I know what I bring to the table. So I knew I was going to be fine, whether I held the championship or not. I’m here to entertain and I don’t need to do that with a championship. That’s amazing, don’t get me wrong, I love having it. I love sharing it with my friends and family. I love bringing it home. I love the fact that I have a replica belt sitting in my spare bedroom. I absolutely love those things, but at the end of the day, that’s not what makes me, me and that’s a beauty of my character. I can continue to lose and I’m good. I’m good, I will entertain you!”
For a long time, women in WWE were referred to as “Divas” which in recent years has become a bit of a dirty word and something they’ve tried to shy away from but Green (as well as women like Maxxine Dupri) push back on that mindset. Green is a huge fan of that era and voices it whenever she gets a chance to on her social media. One of the women that was an integral part of that era was Natalya who is a former Divas Champion that really helped raise many women in the division at that time up with her background training in the Hart Dungeon (and becoming the first woman to graduate from the Dungeon). It’s something she continues to do so to this day as she helps train the next generation of superstars. When asked who her dream match would be if she could wrestle anyone from any era, Green didn’t hesitate to mention Neidhart.
“So my dream match would always be a triple threat, myself vs. Nattie vs. Trish [Stratus]. Canadian girlies and you know, I feel like it’s a little bit of every era. I mean Nattie transcends, she is female wrestling but so is Trish. I hope that one day people speak about me as someone who kind of broke barriers, whatever that was, maybe just being a silly, goofy wrestler, whatever it is, I would love to have a triple threat versus those women.”
