AEW's Mariah May Details Her Road To Pro Wrestling

AEW/Ricky Havlik

A new AEW Women's World Champion has taken center stage, with Mariah May defeating "Timeless" Toni Storm at AEW All In last month. Following her victory, May made an appearance on Barstool's "Rasslin'" podcast, where she was asked to discuss her entry into the wrestling industry.

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"I just wanted to be a wrestler, and then when I left school I actually worked in accountancy," May said. "I still really wanted to wrestle, but obviously in the U.K., it's not as big. It's harder to find places to train and to actually just work."

Eventually, May did find a reliable place to train as a wrestler, with an initial goal to one day move to America and be on mainstream television. However, as she began learning more about the industry, May became interested in Japanese wrestling and her goals shifted.

STARDOM caught May's eye, and although she knew it would be extremely difficult, she decided she wanted to become a champion there. After four years on the English independent wrestling scene, May debuted in STARDOM in early 2023, and won the company's Goddesses Of Stardom tag team championship with Mina Shirakawa. However, May did not stay in STARDOM for long.

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AEW/Ricky Havlik

While May's interest in Japanese wrestling grew, she never lost sight of her initial goal of moving to the United States. In early 2023, May was offered an AEW deal, with an in-depth storyline already laid out for her. However, having just debuted with STARDOM, May didn't feel ready to move on.

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"There were still personal things I wanted to do and achieve," May continued. "And just to improve as well, because they have a dojo there, so it's really intense training."

After spending some more time in STARDOM, May made her AEW debut in late 2023 and wrestled her first match for the promotion on January 3, 2024. Asked if she was surprised at her level of success, May displayed nothing but sheer confidence regarding her quick ascent.

"I always knew from the start," May said. "When I started training, there [were] no girls, so I got a little bit of a benefit. I don't look in-bred, so I [got] a little bit of the benefit there, too, which a lot of girls in wrestling aren't good looking."

Asked to clarify her statement, May then added a qualifier by stating that she was only talking about women on the independent scene, as many of the women on TV are athletes and models.

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If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Rasslin'" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.