AEW's Julia Hart Reveals Who She Looks Up To In Wrestling, Her Childhood Favorites

Long before she laced up her own pair of wrestling boots, Julia Hart grew up as a passionate young professional wrestling fan, captivated by the performers she saw on her television screen — some of whom are now her colleagues in AEW. On a recent episode of "Busted Open Radio," Hart looked back on her childhood fandom, revealing the talents that especially enthralled her at the time.

"I would say when I was younger, two of my two biggest that I looked up to the most was AJ Lee and Alexa Bliss," Hart said. "I feel like I kind of resemble a lot of them sometimes, which is great because I love them so much. I think I do piggyback off of them sometimes because they are my favorites to growing up. So those are definitely the two women I looked up to the most. Then for men, Jeff Hardy was always my number one [favorite] growing up. It depends on like the periods of time, because you have favorites and then you move on who is your favorite. Jeff Hardy was always number one. Always loved Shawn Michaels, [and] Edge – now he's in AEW, which is crazy."

After joining AEW in 2021, Hart began looking toward the likes of Cody Rhodes and Dustin Rhodes for guidance as they both personally reserved a spot for Hart under their learning trees. In the present day, Hart considers her House of Black stablemates – Brody King, Buddy Matthews, and Malakai Black – to be some of her biggest mentors, previously crediting their stable dynamic with helping her to increase her confidence as a performer.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Busted Open Radio" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.