AEW star and current NWA women's champion Serena Deeb was a recent guest on the Women's Wrestling Talk show to discuss her time as a WWE coach, how she always knew she wanted to continue wrestling, and her thoughts on Rhea Ripley. Highlights are below.
Says she always knew she wasn't done as a wrestler:
“To be honest with you, while I was coaching and I absolutely loved my coaching job, it really let me grow as a human being, so much so I’m super grateful for it. But the whole time I was coaching, I had a feeling that I may not be done wrestling. But obviously, I was embracing that chapter and that role in my life. So there was this part of me that was like ‘ I don’t feel done. Like in my heart I don’t feel done.’ And there was this other part of me that was trying to be super present with that job and embracing what that was bringing to me in my life. So, I think there was always a large portion of me that didn’t feel done and still had something to contribute in the ring. And all of this with AEW and NWA has really happened so fast. It has been great.”
Who she hopes to face next:
“So many, I mean there is an entire roster of women that I haven’t had the chance to get in the ring with before. But, I would say first and foremost, Hikaru Shida, the AEW women’s champion is someone that… I really like her wrestling style and I think she has been a great champion.”
How women's wrestling has developed:
“I mean from a female standpoint the business is a completely different place. As you guys know, I started my training and it was still like the Diva’s era and they were doing the Diva’s search every year. The qualities in performers that they were looking for were very different. So, if you were about wrestling, it wasn’t always the best environment for that or the most conducive to growing in that area. It’s weird being out of the ring for as long as I was … almost 5 years and then coming back into that role and seeing all those changes. To even have a women’s match on the card let alone an awesome women’s match is huge, compared to 15 years ago.”
Calls Rhea Ripley a natural:
“There are some who are naturals and wrestling just clicks with. Rhea Ripley is an example of that. She was somebody that from the second I saw her, I was like ok, the girl is going to be a star and do big things in this business and watching the growth of someone like in the time I was there was really rewarding and just proud."
Full interview can be found below. (H/T and transcribed by 411 Mania)