Facts About Ruby Soho That Only Hardcore Fans Know
Ruby Soho has been active in wrestling for well over a decade. Tough and tattooed, Soho's career has seen her travel all over the world, carrying a punk ethos wherever she went. Now in AEW, she became an immediate fan favorite on the roster the moment she debuted as the "Joker" in the Casino Battle Royal at 2021's All Out. When you have Rancid endorsing you and providing you with your entrance music, it's pretty easy to turn heads and make new fans quickly.
Whether you first got to know her in AEW or in WWE as Ruby Riot(t) or even during her indie days as Heidi Lovelace, one thing is for certain: Regardless of her name, she is a unique, unforgettable force in the ring. Frankly, the same can be said of her outside of the ring, too.
Here are 12 facts about Ruby Soho that only hardcore fans know.
She never held a title during her entire WWE run
During her five-year tenure in WWE as Ruby Riot(t), Soho never held a single title, which definitely is a surprising oversight considering the quality of her in-ring work. This doesn't mean Soho never was in a title picture or never had a title shot. However, they were few and far between. As Riot, she took part in a triple threat match for the NXT Women's Championship at NXT TakeOver: Chicago in 2017. Riot faced off against Nikki Cross and defending champ Asuka, who would retain.
When she was brought up to the main roster and became Ruby Riott, she faced Charlotte Flair at 2018's Fastlane for the "SmackDown" Women's Championship, but Flair retained. At the 2019 Elimination Chamber PPV, Riott was squashed in a match for the "Raw" Women's Championship by defending champion Ronda Rousey. Lastly, when Riott was in a tag team with Liv Morgan, they were in the Women's Tag Team title scene, likely due to the lack of women's tag teams on the roster already. However, Riott and Morgan were never in a match for the tag championship.
She was the last one standing from her WWE Performance Center Recruitment group
Soho was announced as a new recruit of the WWE Performance Center in January 2017. In the announcement on WWE.com, Soho was photographed with three other women: Kimberly Frankele, MaryKate Duignan Glidewell, and Julia Ho. While Soho was released in June 2021, she lasted much longer than the rest of her recruitment group.
Frankele is best known as (Princess) Kimber Lee, but in WWE, her ring name was Abbey Laith. Before Soho and Lee were part of the same recruitment class, the two wrestlers crossed paths multiple times in a variety of promotions including CHIKARA, Beyond, and SHIMMER. According to The Internet Wrestling Database, Soho and Lee took part in over 40 matches together. Unlike Soho, Lee's full time tenure lasted just over one year, and she was released in March 2018.
Glidewell had two brief stints in TNA as Rosie Lottalove before signing with WWE, where she took the name Sage Beckett. However, like Frankele, Glidewell was released in March 2018. Ho came to WWE from the world of MMA. While in WWE, she went by the ring name Zeda. She lasted only a few months longer than Frankele and Glidewell and was released in June 2018.
How BBQ sauce plays into the story of her finding out she was headed to WWE
After debuting in AEW, Soho took part in an interview on "Talk Is Jericho" where she touched on a variety of important moments in her wrestling career, including how she found out WWE was going to sign her to a contract.
"When you get the hiring phone call, you always think that you are going to be somewhere where, like, confetti rains from the ceiling," said Soho. "You think it's going to be this perfect moment. I was working as a bartender at the time, and they were somewhere overseas, so they couldn't call me."
She continued, "I'm eating next door to this bar ... [at] an amazing hot dog place. I'm eating this hotdog with pulled pork on it. I'm [thinking], 'I didn't get hired.'" But then her phone rang and it was the big call. "I immediately start running through the bar with BBQ sauce all over my face [yelling] 'I got the job!'" said Soho. "It was not the most glamorous [moment]."
One of her favorite moments in her wrestling career is a wholesome fan-favorite
Soho made her big debut in AEW at the 2021 All Out PPV as the "Joker" in the Casino Battle Royal to determine the number one contender for the AEW Women's World Championship. Soho's debut received a massive pop from the sold-out crowd, but one of the most memorable moments of the match was when Soho won and embraced ref Bryce Remsberg.
Soho talked about the win on a November 2021 episode of "AEW Unrestricted" and said, "My favorite part of that whole moment, to me, was that I won the match, I'm so excited and I saw a referee shirt. I was like, 'Please be Bryce.' And I looked up and I saw Bryce's smiling face and I was just so happy. I was like, 'Hi Bryce!' And I just hugged him."
She continued, "I've known Bryce for a long time. I've known him since the independents. He's seen all the gradual advances in my career and all of the steps that I've taken to get to this point. He knew how hard I've worked to get here and how true and happy my emotions really were. To celebrate that with him in that moment was a memory I will literally cherish forever."
She doesn't really know why she was released by WWE
When Soho was released from WWE in June 2021, it was a shock not only to fans but to Soho herself. It was a moment the wrestler was not expecting, and she said she's not sure why she was released in the first place.
In a September 2021 appearance on "The Sessions with Renee Paquette," she opened up about her release saying, "I wish I knew. Like I said, it came as a huge shock to me. And there were a lot of ones that I didn't see coming. I liked my job at the time, I liked it. I didn't have any problems. I loved the locker room so much. I love the women, especially the Smackdown women's locker room. That was some of the best times of my life because those women are absolutely incredible people."
Soho added that she also wasn't told if there were holes in her skillset: "I have no idea really what I was missing or what didn't work ... I don't know what happened. I wish I did. But I didn't talk to a lot of people there. I tried to, but I didn't get a lot of feedback while I was there. So I didn't always know if there was something that I was doing wrong."
When she initially dropped her vignettes, her destination after WWE was really unknown
In the month leading up to her AEW debut, Soho began sharing new photos and mysterious vignettes, which helped kick off speculation on where she'd land after being released from WWE. However, much like the song that inspired her name, her destination when sharing those photos and vignettes really was unknown.
Soho said on "Talk Is Jericho" that "At the time I didn't know where I was going. The 'Destination Unknown' wasn't just for everyone else; it was for me. I think that I had used that for a while in the vignettes when the name was approved."
Soho seemed surprised by how quickly the vignettes spread, saying, "I didn't know how many people had seen the vignettes. All I had them on was my Instagram and my Twitter, so how big could they get? They got enough buzz so people knew my name, and that was better ... I was able to come out [at All Out] as a new person and be accepted."
Her dislike of a popular convenience store led to over $8K getting raised for charity
The life of a wrestler is all about "making towns," so it's not surprising that many have favorite convenience stores while traveling the road. The topic of convenience stores turned into a heated discussion on a November 2021 installment of Ethan Page's vlog. Page is a big fan of Buc-ee's, a convenience store/gas station chain located throughout the southern United States. Soho is not a fan of Buc-ee's and referred to the chain as "a Walmart full of trash." Her favorite convenience store chain is Sheetz, which is based in Pennsylvania with locations in West Virginia, Ohio, Maryland, North Carolina, and Virginia.
This led to a fun battle where Soho and Page sold shirts repping their favorite convenience chain on ProWrestlingTees.com. The proceeds from the sales of the shirts went to the charity of each wrestler's choosing. The final tallies were unveiled on Page's vlog. Soho raised $2,830 for St. Jude Children's Hospital, while Page raised a whopping $5,625 for OneParent.org. Since she lost the battle, Soho had to go to Buc-ee's with Page dressed as the store's mascot, Buc-ee the Beaver. Of course, all of this was chronicled on Page's vlog.
The reason for the second T in Riott is complex
When Ruby Riot went from NXT to the main roster, a second "T" was added to her surname. On the surface, the addition didn't make much sense. However, in the realm of copyrights and trademarks, that extra "T" was needed.
Per WrestlingNews.co, WWE ran into an issue trying to register for a trademark for the name "Ruby Riot." It turns out there's a small series of romance novels first published in 2015 in which one of the main characters is named Ruby Riot. This wasn't the only time there was a trademark issue: When Riot was brought up to the main roster, it was as a faction with Sarah Logan and Liv Morgan known as the "Riott Squad." On "Talk Is Jericho", she explained, "I think that Riot Squad was trademarked. We were looking at our Tron and I was like 'Did they spell our name wrong?' They say 'Oh we added a t.' I'm like, 'Oh, okay.'"
She playfully blames Sarah Rowe for tricking her into building a farm
Soho spends her time away from the ring living on a farm with horses and a couple of dogs. It's a life she says her friend and former Riott Squad stablemate Sarah Rowe "tricked" her into.
She said on "The Sessions with Renee Paquette," "Building this farm, which was never a lifestyle I had anticipated liking ... I fully blame Sarah for it. She's done it to the whole squad. She did it to Liv [Morgan], and then she did it to me. She convinced us it's an amazing lifestyle, and it really is. We all three have very different farms, but farms, nonetheless. It's so peaceful out here. I don't hear traffic. I don't hear anything, because I'm so secluded."
Soho's farm is actually near Rowe's farm and for a very sweet reason. She told the New York Post, "I am godmother to Sarah's son, Cash, and she asked me to be as much as part of his life as possible. I love that little boy to death and she is one of my best friends, so it was an easy choice and I was able to find this farm in the middle of nowhere and I was able to get horses and I have a place for my dogs to run around."
Her first interview after being released by WWE led to her becoming Ruby Soho
When Soho was released from WWE, she wanted to spend a bit of time off the radar to gather herself before figuring out the next move in her career. But then Rancid's Lars Frederiksen came calling and wanted the wrestler to appear on his podcast "Wrestling Perspective." As a Rancid fan, she obliged.
When discussing options for her new ring name, Soho said she hoped she could keep the first name Ruby and told Frederiksen the Rancid song "Ruby Soho" is what inspired her to choose that name. Frederiksen told her she should go by Ruby Soho adding, "I got a couple guys I know who can clear the music for you [to use as your entrance] ... I can have that cleared. I can get on a group text right now and get you cleared in about ten minutes."
Soho was visibly moved in the video footage from the podcast. She'd later say of that moment on "The Sessions with Renee Paquette," "I just melted in my chair ... It was just insane."
She has an extensive history with CHIKARA and a notable distinction in the promotion
Before signing with WWE, Soho wrestled on the independent circuit for six years under the name Heidi Lovelace. During that time, she wrestled in a number of promotions, but she spent three years from 2013-2016 wrestling for CHIKARA. While at the Philadelphia-based promotion, Soho shared the ring with the likes of Drew Gulak, Chuck Taylor, and Orange Cassidy.
One of her crowning achievements in CHIKARA was her performance during the 2014 Young Lions Cup, a tournament for up-and-coming talent within the promotion. Soho was one of 24 wrestlers to take part in the tournament. After defeating Eddie Smooth in her first bout of the tournament, Soho then had to take part in a six-way match against Princess Kimberlee, Arctic Rescue Ant, Will Ferrara, Proletariat Boar of Moldova and Joe Black in order to advance to the Cup's final. The Young Lions Cup final saw Soho go up against Missile Assault Ant, who she defeated, thus becoming the first woman to win the Young Lions Cup.
She has many tattoos, and the meaning behind one of them is very sweet
Part of what makes Soho and her presentation so memorable is her many tattoos. In an October 2018 interview with Inked magazine, she shared, "I believe I have about 26 [tattoos]. I think! A lot of them are blended together so it may be more than that. Probably over 40 hours of work due to some of the detail."
When asked about her first tattoo, Soho said, "It's the music notes to 'What a Wonderful World' by Louis Armstrong. It's not very well done, but it has so much meaning because my dad used to sing that song to me when I was very young."
In August 2019, Soho shared a photo on Instagram of a new tattoo on her neck of the Greek mythology figure Medusa. She detailed the meaning behind the tattoo in an interview with Bleacher Report saying, "I have a bit of, this is kind of dark, a fear of death. And time kind of freaked me out a bit because I just always want to live in the moment and stay in this whirlwind of a life that I get to live ... You can't really tell but if you get really close, she has a clock in her eyes. So obviously, Medusa froze men but it was more of a metaphor for freezing time, I guess. So it has a bit of a deeper meaning, but it's also really cool looking."