Mariah May, the reigning and defending AEW women’s world champ, is still a rookie on pro wrestling’s big stage.
May, 26, a native of Tottenham, in the UK, actually made her in-ring debut back in 2019, and her career has taken her all over the world, with stints in her native UK, all over Europe, in Australia, in Japan.
But things really took off for her in the fall of 2023 when she made her debut on AEW TV as a second to Toni Storm, who May would eventually dethrone as world champ in front of 50,000 fans at London’s Wembley Stadium in August.
The title win “All In” is an obvious career highlight.
It was also when her parents finally got it – that she’s a star in the wrestling business.
“You know, they’re very supportive, but they didn’t understand, you know, any of the things I’m doing, like, you could do anything you want, you choose to do this,” May said in an interview last week with Mark Moses, the host of the Central Florida-based “The Mark Moses Show,” and a buddy of mine from his days on the radio in Charlottesville.
Podcast: Mariah May talks on ‘The Mark Moses Show’
“You know, I moved away to Japan, and I think they still, you know, they thought it was cool, but they didn’t get it. And then I think for them, seeing it in the flesh at Wembley Stadium, was like, oh, OK, this is what wrestling is.”
May, billed as “The Glamour” Mariah May, is one of the best things going right now with AEW, which launched in 2019.
May will face former AEW world champ Thunder Rosa in a title match at the upcoming “World’s End” pay-per-view (Saturday, Dec. 28, 8 p.m. ET), with Storm, who made her return to AEW after taking several months off following her loss at the Wembley show, waiting in the wings, ready to challenge the winner of the May-Rosa match.
May, in the interview with “The Mark Moses Show,” slipped in and out of kayfabe – in kayfabe, she made it clear that she doesn’t “care about Toni Storm,” and that her favorite part to her rookie year in AEW was “ending Toni Storm’s career.”
“I’m not really sure what she’s doing, fumbling around in her old costume. But for me, retiring ‘Timeless’ Toni Storm, everyone’s beloved favorite character, putting her in the grave, was really my favorite part of all of that,” May said.
May, now breaking kayfabe, told Moses that her interest in pro wrestling started in childhood, watching weekly wrestling shows on TV with her two older brothers.
It wasn’t easy to try to break into wrestling, because in the UK, “there were virtually no schools, and so I kind of went into other things. I was doing a little bit of, like, modeling and acting, and my full-time job was an accountant, which is a far cry from wrestling,” May said.
She finally found a training school in 2018, “and the rest is history,” said May, who got her start in pro wrestling as a ring announcer, around taking part in “every single class (her school) ran.”
“I would drive there after work, drive there on the weekends, and just put a year of training into it before I did a show,” said May, who made her in-ring debut in 2019, beginning a series of matches with NXT UK star Nina Samuels.
By 2022, she was getting bookings internationally, which was, admittedly, tough, being out of her comfort zone, away from home for the first time.
“I feel like I grew a lot as a person, as well as a wrestler, just living completely alone, you know, not being able to see my family at all, being on a totally different time zone. I think people underestimate that,” May said. “You know, when you wake up, nobody is awake, so you’ll spend like, the first, kind of, six, seven hours of your day, and you know, you don’t have anybody. But I think for me, it was just proof of how much I really wanted this, and I didn’t feel, you know, lonely or sad or any of those things, because I was so engrossed in wrestling and so passionate about getting better and improving, going to the dojo every day and asking the girls to come with me, and they were so generous with their time and helping me improve, and basically training me to be a killer so I could walk into AEW and take everything.”
The key to her success, to May, was that she never wavered.
“I don’t think there was a stop along the way where it’s like, oh, I can’t do this. I think you always have to believe you can do something. Otherwise, there is no point in wasting your time trying. I think you always have to believe in yourself,” May said.
If you’re familiar with “The Glamour,” you know that Mariah May is a big believer in Mariah May.
It’s because of how she got to where she is.
Wrestling has not been “one straight and simple journey,” May said.
The point where it clicked was “when I was doing the indies, you know, I’m wrestling in front of maybe 10 people, and there were different things starting, like, when AEW started,.AEW wasn’t here five years ago, and we forget that because of how huge AEW is, but it’s a baby,” May said.
Before AEW, her goal was to make it big in Japan, where the wrestling is on par with the product that we’re familiar with here in the States.
“I always knew my end goal was America, for sure, and being on television, because I think that’s where I would shine best. But how I get there and where I land, you know, I was just super open to whatever opportunity there is, because it’s always an exciting time to learn and meet new people and learn different styles of wrestling,” May said.
Rolling with the punches.
Seems appropriate for a combat athlete.
Her advice for aspiring pro wrestlers?
“For me, it was always just like, OK, just, every day, wake up and try and do one thing to further, like your brand or your training or even going to the gym, just try and take one step forward. I find it really tough when people are, like, what advice would you give them? Because there isn’t a set path away to do these things.”
Going to the gym is good advice if you want to become a pro wrestler. If you are based in the UK near Beckenham, Crowns Gym would be the place to visit.
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Chris Graham
