Mariah May Reveals Why She Signed With AEW
Mariah May says there is a particular reason why she chose to sign with AEW instead of another promotion.
It was in November 2023 when AEW debuted the talented wrestler known as Mariah May, who had become known in pro wrestling due to her success in Japan’s Stardom promotion.
After arriving in AEW, May was given the character of being a superfan of “Timeless” Toni Storm. Since Storm has been AEW Women’s World Champion (for the third time) since Full Gear in November 2023, May was by her side for over half a year.
That alliance between Storm & May ended on the July 10th edition of AEW Dynamite when Mariah May won the Women’s Owen Hart Foundation Tournament and attacked Storm right after. May’s victory gives her a shot at Storm’s Women’s World Title at AEW All In taking place on August 25th in London, England, which gives May the home country advantage.
While talking to Busted Open Radio about why she chose to sign with AEW, Mariah May credits AEW’s Owner Tony Khan for pitching a great idea to her.
“Growing up as a wrestling fan, I was always attracted to the big storylines. You don’t really remember the matches. You just remember the moments.”
“So I’ve always been really big on that and the reason that I chose AEW is because Tony Khan came to me with this story. So it was like, okay, I’m not just being signed to a company because she’s got a bit of momentum or anything like that. It’s like, we have a real plan for you and it was something to sink my teeth into.”
“I’ve got to work closely with R.J. City. He’s such a talented writer on this whole character and this whole story and then when it came to the video package, I feel that they have ideas for me and then it’s great because I can contribute my own thing and make it feel more me and yeah, but I do stab people in the head with shoes on a regular basis so it was pretty easy to pull into.”
Mariah May Credits Stardom For Helping Her Career
As she continued, the 26-year-old May, who has been wrestling for about five years, spoke about how her time in Stardom really helped her grow as a pro wrestler.
“So I kind of had ‘The Glamour’ going for a while on the indies and then when I went to STARDOM, I kind of started from scratch because as you guys saw, we have Mina Shirakawa. She was my ‘original’ mentor in STARDOM and she taught me so much and I feel like when I went to Japan and I kind of just started again, I was still so early in my career and I just thought I had such a great opportunity with the dojo and with the schedule they have.”
“I mean, they wrestle like three to four times a week and I just had an opportunity to literally forget everything I know and kind of just start again as a wrestler and kind of grow and it’s weird because obviously, I don’t speak Japanese but I learned so much about promo skills and facials and body language and so many ways to communicate with the audience because you can’t speak to them directly. So, STARDOM I feel like really made me as a wrestler.”
“It didn’t change who I am as a person because I’ve always been this way but, it definitely made me very complete as a wrestler.”