When news broke that Mariah May was signing with AEW over WWE after an extended run in Stardom, it felt like a major win for Tony Khan's company.
Sure, May wasn't the biggest name on the international scene, as Giulia remains the apple of WWE's and, to a lesser extent, AEW's eyes, but at 25, she was undoubtedly an ascending talent with experience working in the UKA, Japan, and beyond, an A-plus aesthetic presentation, and enough versatility to shine as a bright babyface or a harsh heel.
And yet, as it turns out, May was scouted by WWE well before TK got her name on the dotted line in AEW, as, according to “The Glamour” in her appearance on Chris Jericho's Talk is Jericho, she was approached by the promotion after just her third professional match.
“Yeah, I did. I had a tryout with them. I had three matches, and they asked me to do a tryout, and I was like, ‘What?'. I thought it was for WWE, but I think it was actually for NXT UK, which is different, cause I'm not sure I would have ever signed there. With WWE, I would've signed early on because there is a PC, and you're gonna train and stuff. I had a tryout with them then, and Sarah Stock gave me the advice to go and travel,” Mariah May told Chris Jericho via Fightful.
“They knew about me before, and they had spoken to me before, and stuff, and then NXT UK happened, and they're like, come and try out for this. They said to travel more, and they wanted me to get more experience because with NXT UK, they didn't have a full-time PC, it was like once every two months. I had that, and it was before lockdown. Then after lockdown they reached out to me before I went to Japan actually, and I think whoever it was got fired or something like that. I don't want to be one of those people who gets signed for six years, doesn't do anything, and then leaves, and I'm like angry because I didn't get to do what I wanted.”
How different would things have looked if May signed with NXT UK in 2019 instead of testing her mettle across the British independent scene and eventually in Stardom as part of the Club Venus faction with Mina Shirakawa, Xia Brookside, Xena, Jessie, and Waka Tsukiyama? Would she be putting in work in Orlando right now like Lyra Valkyria, Blair Davenport, Gallus, and Ilja Dragunov? Or would she still be in Stardom only a few years earlier into her journey due to a few wasted years in NXT UK? Fortunately, fans don't have to wonder, as May is gearing up for something big in AEW.
Mariah May reveals her dream opponents in AEW.
Elsewhere on Mariah May's one-woman promotional tour to introduce herself to the AEW Galaxy, Toni Storm's second stopped by AEW Unrestricted to discuss how she got to the promotion and where she'd like to be long-term.
Discussing who she'd like to wrestle in AEW, both for her first match and from that point on, May revealed a few names that intrigue her, with one notable name left off the list.
“I really want to wrestle [Hikaru] Shida, Kris Statlander. I want to wrestle everybody, to be honest,” Mariah May said via EWrestling News. “I think Julia Hart and everything she's doing is really cool, so I'd definitely love to cross paths with her in the future, not right now. I'm obviously very preoccupied at the minute, but I think, in the future, I'd love to cross paths with her. I think that would be really cool.”
Huh, so May wants to wrestle everyone, but does that include Storm? While it's unlikely that fans will get an answer to that question any time soon, as she has to play the good gal before eventually trying to steal Storm's thunder All About Eve-style. Fortunately, May sees a lot of potential in her ability to tell stories in AEW, as she learned a lot about that part of pro wrestling from her time in Japan.
“I can see a lot of things that I feel like are gonna be great matches, but more importantly, great stories, because that's why I like wrestling too,” May noted. “I learned some Japanese [while in Japan this year], but being that I couldn't speak Japanese [fluently], when I was telling stories, or I was part of storylines in Japan, I really had to tell that story in the ring because I had no other choice. I'm excited to get into that and show what I can do [in AEW now], because that is my favorite part of wrestling — the actual story behind everything.”
Whether it happens in a month, three months, or even later, it's clear May is setting the stage for one of the most exciting female storylines in some time as a member of AEW, with her betrayal of Storm potentially on the same level as Billie Starkz turning on Athena in Ring of Honor after nearly a year under her wing. If TK can book this breakup on par with that of Starkz and Athena, AEW fans are in for a serious treat.
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