Posted on 8/08/125 by Colin Vassallo
Ivy Nile sat down with Chris Van Vliet in New Jersey to
discuss how competing on The Rock’s Titan Games led to her
being signed by WWE, how she was paired with The Creed
Brothers and Chad Gable, her insane workout videos with
Julius Creed and Jordynne Grace, her match with Rhea Ripley
shortly after her main roster call-up, who El Grande
Americano could be and more!
On becoming a part of Titan Games:
“For a little bit after I got out of Taekwondo, I got
involved in Jiu Jitsu, and I fell in love with it. It’s
awesome to fight these big dudes, because if anything, if
anyone’s ever going to attack me, it’s going to be a big
dude, not like a small whatever. So loved rolling around
with bigger guys. Got into MMA for a little bit, boxing, all
that stuff. I got my hands on everything because I just
wanted to be someone who was well-rounded. So when I did my
first MMA fight, and I lost. At the time, I was a massage
therapist, and I was like this is a crazy life, because I
was massaging during the day, and MMA at night, totally
different world. I’d show up to my massage job with busted
lips and people thought I got lip injections or something. I
was like, No, I got punched in the face. This is nuts.
Anyway, so after that first MMA fight, it was rough. Fight
camps are rough. Cutting weight is rough; it was a rough
time. So shortly after that, I was watching Jimmy Fallon or
something, and my sister and I were watching it, and The
Rock was on there talking about his new competitive show,
the Titan Games. That was like, six, seven years ago. That’s
crazy to think it was that long ago. My sister was like ‘You
should try out for it.’ I was like, ‘What do you mean? Just
fill out a form or whatever?’ She’s like, ‘Yeah, do it.’ I
was like, ‘No, that’s ridiculous, that’s absolutely
ridiculous.’ So at the time, I filled out the form online,
and then I just put it down, I didn’t finish it, this is
never gonna happen. This is silly. So a couple of days later
she asked me, ‘Did you fill it out?’ [I said] ‘No, this is
crazy, they already are picking people or whatever.’ So a
couple of days later, I finished filling out the form, and
not even a day later, LA called me, and I half assed it. I
sent in pictures and videos I already had on my phone, it
wasn’t anything crazy. And they called me and said they
loved my story. They loved the stuff that I sent, and I
thought it was a prank. I really thought someone just got my
number from the website, and they were just pranking me,
like this is mean, whatever. They said, let’s set up a Skype
call. So went to my gym, I did a Skype call, and I still
thought it was a prank. I was like, whoever this is, this is
so mean, but I’m going with it.”
“So then the interview was weird, because the lady was
outside. It looked like she was on a roof or something. I
was like, this is a prank, this is silly. Next thing you
know, I was getting legit emails from the Titan Games. And I
was like, Oh, this is actually [happening], someone living
in a tiny town in Tennessee, you’re going to pick me? This
is crazy! So they had a big combine thing, sent me out to
California. Never been to California. I was like a Beverly
hillbilly walking up to California. I was like cool, no one
knows my story. No one knows me. No one knows I’ve barely
been on a plane, barely been to California. I don’t think
I’ve ever been to California at this point, and I was there
competing on a show with Dwayne Johnson. I was like, what is
happening right now? I went out there, there’s over 100
people, and I made it through to the actual show. Then once
I was on the show, I did really well. I didn’t win the whole
thing, but I was crowned one of Dwayne Johnson’s Titans.
Went on the show, and it was the best life-changing
experience I ever had.”
On learning from Chad Gable:
“Chad has been in this business for so, so long. When I
first started with the company, I kind of started unlike
anyone else. I started three months before COVID hit, and
then I was in the COVID era as one of those people in the
audience behind the hockey windows, or whatever. So I was
one of those people always there cheering and whatever. And
at the time, you know, he was Shorty G at the time. It was
crazy to see his growth from there, because I’ve always
admired him since then, because it’s crazy no matter what
you give him, he kills it. So I think once you get to that
level of whatever they throw at you, they know that you can
kill it and run with it. It’s such an amazing skill to have
that. I aspire to be that.”
On her match with Rhea Ripley:
“We got moved up, and my first match on Raw was Rhea.
Because sometimes when you get to main roster, it’s like,
Who are you? Can you hang? It’s a whole different playing
field. The crowds are bigger, the stars are bigger. So on
main roster, it’s almost like, can you hang? I kind of felt
like I was treading water a little bit. But once I got that
Rhea match. I was like, I deserve to be here.”
On future dream matches:
“Absolutely Asuka, she’s incredible. Haven’t had Bianca one
on one, Tennessee girl from Knoxville. I’ve had Rhea. I love
Liv, I would love to have the singles with her. Stephanie
[Vaquer] was amazing. Loved working with Stephanie. Lash
Legend and I have had amazing matches in NXT. She’s one of
my favorite people to work with ever so Lash is definitely
one of my I would love to work with her on main roster.”