Bold, beautiful, brave and brutal the Alpha Female is one of Europe's finest exports. Having returned from a stint in Japan, Jazzy is back home but won't be resting up. We met up with the Alpha Female to find out what this year has in store for her, to talk about her new role as a trainer for the Al Snow Wrestling Academy and how we can all 'be alpha'. Read on...
Hi Jazzy, tell us what's happened since we last interviewed you?
Thanks for having me again! The last couple of years, after I got back from Japan, I wanted to have a break from wrestling and from everything. Japan was really challenging, for the body of course - I was really hurting but also my mental state. What I saw in Japan, you don't see it everywhere else. That was the hardest school I've ever been to and I was in Japan for two years and I saw many girls come and go - they broke their back, their arms, their necks, their knees and I saw many tears and that made me question everything. Not just wrestling but life - what is important. So in 2015 I wanted to step back from the business but I still did some exciting things - I went to South Africa and I was in England, I had some German promotions book me so I could see the girls coming through in Germany and there's a lot of work to do out there but we're on it!
Was it a more brutal style you encountered in Japan or were they unsafe there?
They have a different mind-set I guess. Maybe some people saw the GAEA girls documentary. When you go there, you're not allowed to talk with your family, you go and sleep in a bunk bed and as a beginner you cook food for everyone. You shut up do what they say - you have to work really hard, thousands upon thousands of sit-ups and running and jogging. We're talking 8 hours training a day. It was really hard. I saw a 15 year old girl who could do things you haven't even seen in NXT and she got hurt. They made her jump on the top rope maybe 200 times and she hurt her ankle and still fought a match the next day. She's 18 now and her little body is broken, she's had to retire. For me, there was one situation where I took a clothesline and I couldn't feel my legs in the ring and that was just before I went home and it made me think whether it was all worth it.
Still, you've not given up. This year you've got some wrestling related projects on right?
I have new things coming up! I'm working now with the Al Snow Academy team and I'm also going back to Stardom in Japan. Lots of things changed, Nanae Takahashi for example has parted from stardom and formed her own company and a lot of American girls came in. I'm really curios how it's changed. One promoter once told me I had to hit harder and when I questioned him he said not to worry and that he'd pay for the girl's hospital bills! I'm curious to see if they still train as hard and what's going on. I'm also a trainer at the Al Snow academy and I'll take care of the girls. We want there to be more girls coming along. Right now they're kind of afraid because it can be a hard sport but you can be a valet, you can be a referee you can be a ring announcer, we take them all and we'll push them.
Image courtesy of Al Snow Wrestling Academy/Gary Bennett
What's your key piece of advice for people seeking to learn from the Alpha Female?
To take it seriously. This is not a hobby, this is a job. We're providing you with the skills to make money. It's an apprenticeship so you won't just know how to wrestle but to set up a ring, do promos, interviews, how to behave in the locker-room and on social media. We'll teach them all of that.
Did we see you're also in a music video?!
Yeah! I'm doing something with Ryan Molloy, the Jersey Boy's singer and music star. He's going over to Japan and releasing a song called 'Big in Japan' so we're going to work together. It makes sense as he has a different audience and I might be able to use his song as an entrance song, so it works.
Will we see you back in Europe?
Oh yeah, I will attack it! Once I'm back from Japan, I'm thinking of moving to the UK again because I have more connections. I want to do the Comic-Con's again and more movies. I was on the film set for a Universal movie recently and I'm speaking to some reality shows. I just want to attack it from all sides again. My break is over, you'll see a lot more of the Alpha Female.
On social media you're often saying 'Be Alpha' what does that mean?
That's how I see life. For me it's really important to be authentic. I don't like people because they can do me a favour but because they have a good soul, a character. I don't like fake people and I don't want my fans to be fake. I want them to be honest, not to lie and go for their dreams. I have a lot of haters who say I can't do this or that but I don't care for those people. I look in the mirror and I see where I'm coming from. If people followed my journey they'll see I came a long way. That's what I want to tell my fans, if I can do it from the worst circumstances they can do it, they just have to believe in themselves, Be Alpha!
Any last messages for your fans?
Thanks so much for your support. Make sure to check out My Protein and Much Media - they'll have a DVD of my best matches from Japan soon. I look forward to seeing you all soon!
The sooner the better so far as we're concerned, the Alpha Female is back and she's taking no prisoners!