Women’s Wrestling: Getting to know Hyan before Shimmer Weekend

While the eyes of most fans are focused on WrestleMania weekend, they should be just as focused on Shimmer weekend. On March 30 and 31, Shimmer will host some of the best women from around the world, including “The Renaissance Woman” Hyan who we got to speak to exclusively last week.

If you’re a fan of women’s wrestling, there are certain names you need to keep your eyes on. The first ones that come to mind might be big superstars in WWE like Charlotte Flair or Becky Lynch, or maybe Kylie Rae or Britt Baker of All Elite Wrestling, but fans should also know about the stars who are beginning to rise up through the ranks. Hyan, who got her start at Booker T’s Reality of Wrestling, is set to be a part of this year’s Shimmer Weekend just before she makes her first trip to Japan.

At only 25-years-old, Hyan has five years of experience that all began in her hometown of Houston, Texas with Reality of Wrestling. In the five years since her training began, Hyan has gotten to be a local competitor on an episode of WWE Raw as well as competing against some of today’s most elite talent, such as Kylie Rae, Su Yung, and Jordynne Grace.

When we spoke to Hyan, one of the first topics at hand was exactly what led her to the world of professional wrestling, and why she chose Booker T‘s Reality of Wrestling to get things started.

Patches Chance: What made you want to become a wrestler?

Hyan: I just always was impressed by what they did, and I just always was like “I want to do that, I want to do that when I grow up,” but it wasn’t like a particular thing. I was just always naturally drawn to it.

PC: How did you first become a fan of wrestling?

Hyan: I started watching wrestling when I was probably six or seven years old. My older cousin, he kind of showed me what wrestling was, and then I remember I watched an episode of Raw with my grandpa, and my grandpa was like “what do you know about this wrestling stuff?” Because he was a huge fan. I didn’t know like my whole family [were] huge fans of wrestling. Like my mom, and my aunts and uncles, and my cousins, everyone were fans growing up of it. So when I started watching it, it was kind of like a thing me and my family would do together.

PC: What led you to choose Booker T’s school?

Hyan: Well, obviously Booker being who he is and being a Hall of Famer. I never really considered any other schools, to be honest. I went to a Reality of Wrestling show before I started training, and everyone on the show was really talented. When I went to the show, I really wasn’t expecting too much. I had really low expectations of the talent I was going to see, and I was very surprised at how good everyone was. I went up to Booker after the show and was like “how do I do this?” And he was just like “sign up for my school,” and I was like “oh, it’s that easy, okay cool.”

PC: I know recently you hit a 450 Splash at a Reality of Wrestling event, which isn’t a move that we often see women do. How big of a moment was that for you?

Hyan: It’s pretty cool. Especially because when I first did it in training, when I was practicing it, it was cool to see the guys being like “oh my god, I could never do that.” So that always, that made me feel kind of good about it.

PC: Going back and looking at your history with Reality of Wrestling, you’re a two-time Diamonds Division Champion, but you had quite a few shots at the belt before capturing it. How special did those opportunities make that first win for you?

Hyan: It was crazy. I don’t know if you see it on the video when I won the first time, I legit started crying as soon as the three count started. It’s almost because I was there for so long and never got the title. I got a trillion title shots, [but] never won the title. And for Booker to entrust [me] with that division and be like “here’s the title, you’re gonna be on every show.” And it’s expected of you to not just be on every show ,but make every match that you have great, because now you have to pull this division through. To get that kind of nod from Booker is really amazing because just of who he is.

PC: I do want to ask about the Ladies Night Out events that Reality of Wrestling has done. How important do you think those have been for women’s wrestling, and what was it like being a part of that?

Hyan: I’ve been really fortunate in that I’ve been featured on all of the Ladies Night Out events so far. I think they’re really cool because it gives you an opportunity to wrestle people that maybe you wouldn’t have wrestled otherwise, because they do bring in so much talent. So for example I got to wrestle Jordynne Grace, and it wasn’t an opportunity that I just had normally, and it was through the Ladies Night event that I was able to get in the ring with her. So I think it brings that opportunity as well. And also with Su, I had my first No DQ match. My first and only No DQ match [was] with Su [Yung]. 

PC: What was it like working with Barbi Hayden, who now competes with Women of Wrestling as Abilene Maverick?

Hyan: She’s really sweet. She’s a really nice person. I really enjoyed working with her.

PC: What was it like working with Kylie Rae, who has now signed with All Elite Wrestling?

Hyan: Kylie is and has always been one of my favorite people to wrestle. The match that I had with her at the first Ladies Night was and it still is probably one of my favorite matches I’ve ever done. She’s really really talented, and she’s just so easy to work with. And [it] also helps that we’ve trained together as well, so we kind of have like natural chemistry in that way.

PC: What do you think All Elite Wrestling means for the industry as a whole?

Hyan: I think it’s really amazing. I think at times WWE doesn’t cater to all wrestling fans, because they are so mainstream. So they don’t have like a niche. They kind of cater to the general wrestling fan, maybe a more casual wrestling fan. Where I feel like All Elite will probably cater to more of an adult wrestling crowd, I guess you could say. And I think it’s really good for independent wrestlers because before, if you wanted to make money doing wrestling, doing what you love, it had to be WWE, because you had really no other option to do anything else. And now you have the opportunity to really make a living off of wrestling that’s just not WWE, which I think is amazing.

PC: What have been your favorite moments in your career so far?

Hyan: My favorite moments or most memorable moments, well obviously the cage match [with AQA]. When we came through the back after the match, I got to the back before [AQA] did, and I look and everybody’s like standing and giving us a standing ovation clapping in the back and I was like “oh my god, crazy.” So that’s always gonna be a memorable moment for me. My match with Kylie Rae at the first Ladies Night Out. Jordynne Grace, she’s so good. I love that match with her. And then working with Su was amazing because I’ve never done No DQ matches. I’ve never done any kind of match even remotely close to that. And just how violent the match got, it was so cool, and it’s definitely one of my favorite matches.

PC: If you could wrestle anyone in wrestling history, even if they’re no longer competing, who would you choose?

Hyan: I would love to wrestle Shawn Michaels. I know he’s like, I feel like it’s different when you hear and can see how good someone is versus actually getting in the ring with them. And I would like to actually get in the ring with him, that would be super cool. I know Gino, who is one of my trainers, you know we work in the ring and we practice together. I got to have an actual match with him. And when I had the match with him, I’ve always known Gino is really good, and I can always see how good he is when he has a match, but actually getting in the ring with him and putting a match together with him and seeing how his mind works, and talking to him in the match, I was just like “god, you’re so good, jesus you’re so amazing.” And you don’t really get to experience that until you’re actually in the ring with someone.

PC: If you could wrestle anyone currently active in wrestling today, who would you choose?

Hyan: Charlotte Flair, she’s amazing.

PC: It’s almost unreal how good Charlotte is.

Hyan: Oh, it is. Her, and I feel like Andrade, are amazing.

PC: Oh, yeah. Andrade feels so natural it’s almost unfair.

Hyan: Yeah, I was actually talking to Booker about the matches that [Andrade] has been having with Rey Mysterio. And Booker told me that he was talking to Rey about it, and Rey had said wrestling Andrade is like wrestling Eddie. That they work very similary. And I was like, “dang, that’s quite a compliment to get.”

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PC: Looking to the future, what’s your ultimate goal in wrestling and some other goals you’ve set for yourself?

Hyan: Every year I try to make a list of goals that I want to accomplish, and one of them was to go to Japan, so I’m really happy that I get to do that this year. I would like to obviously get signed to a company like All Elite or WWE or Impact, that would obviously be one of my ultimate goals. In the meantime I do have like my little step goals. I’ve always wanted to be more of a technician in the ring, and I feel like that’s sometimes one of the things that’s not one of my strong suits, so I always want to work on that and get better at that as well. So those are some of my goals.

PC: What’s something you wish you knew when you first started training to be a wrestler?

Hyan: Just how you can learn something from everyone, and how sometimes your talent can get you so far, but having a really good attitude about things can get you a lot further sometimes than just being talented.

PC: If you could say one thing to fans who have followed you from the beginning, what would you say?

Hyan: Thank you! Thank you for putting up with me when I was a little jabroni.

PC: If you could say one thing to fans who don’t know you yet, what would you say?

Hyan: Don’t sleep on me.

PC: You’ll get to be a part of Shimmer Weekend on March 30 and March 31. How big of a moment is that for you looking at your career as a whole so far?

Hyan: It’s really exciting. This is going to be my third time at Shimmer, and it is definitely—Shimmer weekend is a crazy weekend because there’s so much wrestling in just a weekend really. And it’s from morning to afternoon and night. It’s literally an all day event. It’s really cool because you get to see the best of the best. Not just in the United States, but Japan, Australia, Europe, they really do bring in the best of the best. To be a part of that is an honor.

https://twitter.com/SHIMMERwomen/status/1106919764763410432

PC: I know you’re set for a tour of Japan this year, when will that be happening?

Hyan: It’s coming up, I actually leave April 10th to Japan, so it’s coming up pretty soon. It’s gonna be my first time going, so I’m really excited.

PC: What are you most looking forward to once you’re in Japan?

Hyan: I’m really looking forward to just learning something new. I’ve never put a match together with someone that doesn’t speak English. So I’m looking forward to that challenge, but also experiencing the culture. I feel like it’s cool wrestling wise, but also like cool in the way that you get to just add more life experience. I don’t know anybody outside of wrestling that can say like “oh, you know, I used to live in Japan for a little bit.”

PC: Recently you competed in the first women’s main event at a Reality of Wrestling show and it was a cage match against AQA. What was that experience like?

Hyan: It was really cool because it was my last Reality of Wrestling show before I [go] to Japan. So I knew that I wasn’t going to be there for a while, so I really wanted to make this count. And also I’ve been at Reality of Wrestling for almost five years, and I’ve seen what the women’s division has been and what it is now. How the talent has just increased so much, and just to see what the matches used to be to what they are now, I would’ve never thought five years ago when I stepped into that building that the women would ever main event a show, let alone in a cage match. And if it was ever brought up, it was almost brought up as a joke. Like, “they can’t do that,” you know? And for it to be my last show there before I go to Japan and do other things, it was a big moment for me. Just because it kind of felt like the company really trusted me to pull this together.

PC: What was it like to share that moment with AQA?

Hyan: It was cool for it to be with AQA because we did have this really long year-almost feud that kind of came to an end there as well. She’s extraordinarily talented as well, she’s also really new in wrestling, so it was also—I always like to be challenged in the ring. I never like to do the same thing over and over again. So for me it was a really big challenge to be able to be put in a main event position and in a cage match and with someone that is still new and to get her through the match. And not just get through the match but also have a great match. That was one of the best parts for me.

PC: Where can fans watch for you coming up?

Hyan: Obviously Shimmer at the end of the month. It’s gonna be a big show. Also Shimmer at WrestleMania weekend, I believe it is April 5, those two shows are gonna be my big ones, and the Shimmer on WrestleMania weekend is gonna be my last show before I go to Japan.

Hyan will be at Shimmer Weekend on March 30 and March 31, and tickets are still available if you’re able to make it to the Berwyn, Illinois area. You can find more information about that show, Shimmer’s WrestleMania weekend event, and how to watch them at Shimmer’s website.

You can find Hyan on Twitter and Instagram and see her time with Reality of Wrestling via their YouTube channel. You can also find more about Marvelous Wrestling, where Hyan will compete in Japan, at their website.