Entertainment
IMPACT Wrestling’s Gia Miller on Slammiversary, Knockouts Champion goals and convincing her dad to wrestle
From interview to Knockouts Champion? (Photo: Twitter/ Gia Miller)
IMPACT Wrestling star Gia Miller can’t wait to have fans back at Slammiversary for the first time since she signed.
The so-called Rhinestone Cowgirl joined the company on-screen during the pandemic, which means this Saturday night will be her debut in front of the promotion’s passionate fanbase.
She exclusively told Metro.co.uk: ‘I showed up during Covid, so it’s been a whole year of these closed set tapings and I’m so excited to be around a crowd. I don’t typically get to be in the ring or around the ring but if I can pitch myself to interact with fans ringside, I’m certainly gonna do that.
‘I have a huge dress for Slammiversary and people need to see it!’
The 23-year-old star has endeared herself to the IMPACT faithful with her charisma on-screen, and she’s taken inspiration from the greats when it comes to finding her own style.
‘I looked at other interviews that I’ve admired or that I remember – Mean Gene [Okerlund] being one of them,’ she said. ‘They still had a personality and they were still well loved by the audience, but they weren’t a distraction.
‘I never wanted to be a distraction, but I also didn’t wanna be a dead fish with a microphone.’
Gia – who admitted the likes of Josh Matthews, Jimmy Jacobs and Gail Kim have supported her since she joined – is looking beyond interviewing though as she continues her in-ring training with some lofty goals.
‘I was having matches before I was an interviewer. That was always by goal, to be a wrestler,’ she explained, noting how she has ‘several’ dreams she wants to chase.
‘I had a few matches here and there and once I started to get into the swing of things, started to pick up some bookings every weekend – bang, Covid!
‘But it was kind of OK because of the past year, I’ve been able to really dedicate a lot of time to reinventing myself, deciding what I wanted.’
Wrestling has always been there for her, with her mum trying to push her dad into the business before she was even born – and Gia isn’t giving up on the idea.
‘My mom tried to convince my dad to be a wrestler because she wanted to be a valet – or she wanted to be a “ring girl”, that’s what she called it,’ she laughed. ‘And my dad was like, “No, I can’t do it, I’ve got love handles!”
‘So he wouldn’t do it. She had it all lined up for him to train, my dad was a college football player and is a football coach now, still to this day. He’s a big man and he could still do it, if he believed in himself! I’m gonna get him in the ring!’
When it comes to her own in-ring ambitions, Gia knows there’s ‘a lot of work’ still to do, but she’s ready to put everything into her work, with one eye on the ultimate prize.
‘Hopefully it’s sooner rather than later, but I still have a long way to go and I’ve got a lot of work to put in. I’m ready for it,’ she smiled. ‘All these famous Kncokouts from years past, we talk about Madison Rayne, Gail Kim, just to name two. I wanna be on that list of names.
‘I wanna be one of those names that when you think about the Knockouts Division over the course of history, Gia Miller is one of the names that you bring up.’
Naturally, she’s eyeing up gold once she does make her IMPACT debut, whether that’s singles or tag team gold.
‘Of course, I want to be the Knockouts Champion one day. Of course I do, who wouldn’t? I wanna be the Knockouts Tag Team Champions one day! I don’t know who with,’ she shrugged.
‘But I know I could find someone. I know there’s a lot of great women in this business that I would be so down to team with, even women on our roster right now.
‘Every match I could have in IMPACT Wrestling would be a dream match, and that’s true.’
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Everything she’s doing now is preparing her for the future, and she insisted there’s no place she’d rather be.
‘I’ve learned so much from all the women in the locker room, even just being there. Not even being in the ring with them but listening to them prepare for their matches, just thinking about all these different factors that I never considered before until I was talking to women of that calibre,’ she smiled.
‘I’m still training every day, every week, all the time. I’m having as many matches as possible… I’ve learned so much in that IMPACT locker room and what I’ve learned is that IMPACT can be so many things.
‘For some, it’s a stepping stone. For some, it’s a place to kick start your career but for others it’s a home and for me, it’s a goal.’
*IMPACT Wrestling Slammiversary airs tonight (July 17) at 1am on Fite TV.
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