Chelsea Green Says She Begged For Last WWE Tryout, Talks Her Dream Opponents

Recently on Notsam Wrestling, radio personality Sam Roberts welcomed WWE NXT's Chelsea Green to the show. Among many other things, Green talked about 'begging' for her most recent WWE tryout.
According to Green, WWE has always been her goal. 'The Hot Mess' divulged that she even had to "beg" for her most recent WWE tryout.

"Well, the funny thing is that I didn't have to get to that place [of considering life without WWE] because this has always been my goal, so I wanted to make sure that whatever happened after I got here, I didn't mind as much. But I needed to get here for myself. I also didn't exactly see the light at the end of the tunnel. There is more of that hope maybe now that we have AEW, but that wasn't the case right before I got here. We're talking about two years ago, right? So Lucha Underground was kind of diminishing a little bit, and at Impact, I was at the highest point in my career, and I still kept thinking about WWE and NXT and I couldn't get it off my mind. And I actually had to beg for my last tryout at NXT. Yeah, I actually had to send multiple emails to say, 'I want another tryout and there's no reason you will not hire me after this tryout.' And that was the tryout that they hired me from." Green noted, "that was my third or fourth tryout."

Green, who previously talked about evolving her character, divulged to Roberts that she is happy with the way her professional wrestling odyssey has played out because she knows who she is now.

"I'm so happy it happened this way because now I know who I am and I'm so confident in what I bring to the table. And, I mean, even if you would have brought me here a year-and-a-half [or] two years before, I would not have had that same confidence. I wouldn't have walked in the door knowing I belong here and that I deserve this spot." Green added, "I know what I bring to the table and I'm totally okay with that. I would not have been that way three or four years ago."

During the podcast, Green named current NXT [Women's] Champion Rhea Ripley as her ideal opponent. Green noted that she has history with Candice LeRae that she would like revisit as well.  

"Who would I want my competitor to be? Rhea, Rhea Ripley. I would like Candice as well. Candice and I, we have some history together, so I'd like that. But I just think Rhea, 'if you want to be the man, you have to beat the man.' I really do think that is Rhea. And so, I think going toe-to-toe with her would show everybody that I can represent NXT."

Green continued, "Rhea knows who she is. She doesn't stray away from that visually, in her character, everything. The way she looks is completely opposite from me. And I know who I am and I don't stray away from that. And I don't shy away from the fact that I look like a diva and that's how I always wanted to look. And that's how I will always want to look. And so, I kind of like that difference."

On the subject of who influenced her professional wrestling career the most, Green named WWE Hall Of Famer Trish Stratus, former WWE Intercontinental Champion and current WWE producer Lance Storm, WWE Hall Of Famer and current AEW producer Billy Gunn, women's wrestling great Gail Kim.  

"Well, just watching [pro] wrestling, it would be Trish, of course," Green explained. "But the people that have influenced me, there are three people right off the bat: Lance Storm, of course; Billy Gunn because Billy Gunn was my coach on Tough Enough and people don't realize, but that then kind of then trickled into real life, and him and his wife really helped me get settled, and helped me kind of get back into wrestling after Tough Enough; and, Gail Kim, of course, because Gail Kim is absolutely amazing, and she really pushed for me at Impact, and had my back, and she has been amazing.

Check out the podcast here. If you use any of the quotes from this article, please credit Notsam Wrestling with an H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.