Aria Blake Talks Taking Over Independent Wrestling

Aria Blake has taken the independent wrestling world by storm since her debut match in late 2015. Blake has since wrestled all over, has held various championships, and has appeared on national television with Major League Wrestling, MLW.

On October 2, 2015, Aria Blake made her in-ring debut when she took on Aspyn Rose for SHINE Wrestling in Ybor, Florida. Blake won her debut match and looked fantastic in the ring doing so. This was the beginning of a lifelong journey for Blake.

The Beginning of The “Spoiled Brat” Aria Blake

When Blake was 14, she recalled watching Friday Night Smackdown with her younger brother. “I saw a diva match and I was obsessed instantly,” says Blake. The diva match that Aria Blake saw was Maryse vs Michelle McCool with Maria as the special guest referee.

When she first got into it, Blake was a big fan of Edge, Randy Orton, Shawn Michaels, Maryse, Michelle McCool, Maria, Melina, Mickie James, and Kelly Kelly. “I love that they were so beautiful and so athletic,” says Blake. “My favorite was probably Beth Phoenix because of how much she stood out and how good she is.”

Blake also recalls Jeff Hardy “instantly” becoming her favorite wrestler and to this day still is. As soon as Blake saw professional wrestling, she was hooked. “I just really love the theatrics, and the acrobatics of it,” says Blake. “I felt really drawn to it.”

Aria Blake Begins Training

Aria Blake knew right off the bat that she wanted to be a professional wrestler. “I was 14 at the time,” says Blake. “I had four years until I could really get into it, FCW required you to be 18.” FCW was the closest wrestling school to her house, so that is where she trained.

While she was waiting to sign up, she remembered just watching so much wrestling and continuing to play sports and stay athletic. “When I turned 18, I went through the college path and everything, but I found a company nearby that was looking for a ring girl,” says Blake.

Although the role was only for her to sit there and collect jackets, this arguably changed her future forever. “I took the role, and the company I worked for partnered up with Jay Lethal,” says Blake. She was the first person to sign up to be trained by someone of his caliber. “In April 2014, I started training and the rest is history.”

Blake remembers driving to training on the first day and pumping herself up in the car. “At the time, it was a 15-20 minute drive,” says Blake. “I was 19 and finally doing what I wanted to do.” Blake says she wasn’t too nervous because she had a great sense of comfortability being around the ring.

“Stepping in the ring, hitting the ropes, learning how to bump, getting a feel of being inside the ring, I was so excited,” says Blake. “I’m a wrestling trainee.” Where she trained she also remembered that it was a small class which meant it was more of hands-on training. “I was very happy to be a part of it,” says Blake.

Over the course of her training, Blake got to train with one of professional wrestling’s best, Jay Lethal. “I knew at the time I was learning from someone who knew their stuff and how good they were,” says Blake. “I’m grateful to have been under a great training system.”

Angelina Love also trained Blake as well. “She was so helpful from a female perspective,” says Blake. “Learning how to wrestle other women was very crucial since 8 out of 10 times I will be wrestling a female.” Blake is grateful to have come from that training system and is very thankful for her trainers.

Aria Blake Takes Over The Independent Wrestling Scene

Aria Blake has truly wrestled all over. One of the biggest places she wrestled at was SHINE Wrestling. “At the time, it was very exciting wrestling there,” says Blake. “Being in the Cutie Pie Club and getting more of a featured role was very exciting.”

A big match in Aria Blake’s career came in the form of Jordynne Grace at Shine 44. “My favorite thing about the match with Jordynne was mocking her leading up to it,” says Blake. “I remember dressing up as her, it was so ridiculous but I don’t take myself very seriously. Being in that role was fun, I actually do wrestle but I can play a dumba**, a serious person, and a brat.”

Aria Blake also wrestled for American Combat Wrestling. In July of 2016, Aria Blake defeated Brandi Lauren to win the ACW Women’s Championship. “That was the first title I have won,” says Blake. “I was so happy, I was being rewarded for my hard work and it was awesome. It also shows that they can depend on you, which meant a lot as well.”

However, that isn’t the only gold Blake has won in her career. In April of 2017, Aria Blake won the Diamond’s Division Championship defeating Raegan Fire at Platinum Pro Wrestling. Blake, unfortunately, got stripped of this championship due to a shoulder injury. “It’s definitely fun here, good atmosphere, good vibes, and a good crowd.”

Aria Blake Heads To MLW

MLW was Aria Blake’s first big TV exposure. She has been on television prior, for Ring of Honor and Impact in brief stints. “MLW was a full-on production,” says Blake. “I started here because one of the very important guys knew me and asked if I would be interested in doing social media work.”

Blake was still dealing with a shoulder injury and couldn’t get in the ring yet so she was quick to jump on that social media job. “This led me to be a backstage interviewer,” says Blake. “They paired me with Joey Janela.”

Blake says that Janela was a great talent to work with. “His matches are never just normal,” says Blake. “Seeing this up close and personal was crazy.” Blake also loved Janela on the mic as well. “He’s so good at speaking in a way that makes you pay attention.”

This storyline with Janela eventually led to Blake falling in love with MJF which transitioned into The Dynasty with Alexander Hammerstone and Richard Holliday. “I wrestled with Max which was fun when we took on Taya and her partner.”

Blake recalled seeing MJF yell at people outside of the MLW arena when shows would end. “We had to have a camera or production person come up and tell people to leave.” She also had a “brother and sister” type of relationship with Hammerstone and Holliday.

“They were so fun to be around and were always silly together,” says Blake. “Holliday is fantastic at character work and Hammerstone was always great at doing unique things in the ring and who didn’t love the Hogan tan?”

Aria Blake hopes to be able to get back to MLW sooner than later. “I haven’t been back yet because of Covid and having a baby,” says Blake, “but I would absolutely love to get back soon.”

What’s Next For The “Spoiled Brat,” Aria Blake

Blake had five matches in 2020. During the Christmas season, Blake had her now fiance, TJP come out to visit. A couple of weeks later, they found out they were having a baby. In around April/May of 2021, Blake decided it would be in her and their future child’s best interest to move out to Las Vegas and live with TJP in his house, and leave her apartment in Florida.

“August 26th we had him,” says Blake. Throughout her pregnancy, Blake remained fit and stayed up to do date with all the wrestling shows. “I always knew I wanted to get back into wrestling,” says Blake. “It’s the only career I haven’t felt burnout with.”

Blake has been training with TJP and fellow Impact star, Chris Bey. “We worked on the basics and I’m slowly getting ring rust off,” says Blake. Blake just had her first match back on February 12th in a victorious showing over Dan Styles. “It was so fun and I felt so prepared, I’m excited to be back.”

In the future, a big goal of Aria Blake’s is to go over to Japan. “I would love to wrestle some of the greats they have over in Japan,” says Blake. Blake also would love to wrestle with Allysin Kay, Jessicka Havok, and someday if possible  Io Shirai, Sasha Banks, Bianca Belair, and Mercedes Martinez.