Taya Valkyrie is currently one-half of the Impact Knockouts World Tag Team Champions with long-time ally Rosemary – as well as a former Impact Knockouts Champion in her own right.
She is also the current AAA Reina de Reinas Champion, in her fourth reign, and can boast to being the longest reigning champion for both this and the Impact Knockouts Championship.
Taya recently won the inaugural MLW Women’s Featherweight Championship and now leads that promotions women’s roster as the reigning champion.
We caught up with Taya ahead of Impact Wrestling’s upcoming Emergence event and are happy to report she’s not feeling weighed down by all that gold.
We started by asking Taya about the whereabouts of Presley, who in our view is the most over dog in all of wrestling (sorry Pharaoh). Sadly, he was indisposed, but we’ll make an appointment with his agent next time.
Homecoming
After spending some time away from Impact Wrestling, we were keen to know if Taya’s return felt like a homecoming. She said, ‘Absolutely, it was magical, and I just took a long sigh of relief. Everyone has been phenomenal since I returned. Those people are my family and friends so it’s great to be back in that very positive creative environment.’
Taya spoke warmly about Rosemary early into our call, so we asked her about her partnership with the Queen of the Hive (and tag team partner) heading into Emergence.
Taya told us, ‘It’s [the relationship] stronger than it’s ever been. And now we have this third wonderful piece of our puzzle called Jessicka (Havok). It’s just so great to be with someone that I respect so much. Not only as a human being – and a demon – but as a performer, an athlete, and as a creative genius.’
She continued, ‘So I’m just thrilled to be Knockouts Tag Team champions with her. I just think we bring the best out of each other, the odd couple if you will. Fans will be super excited to see what we’ve got coming down the line.’
We then asked Taya what is it about Impact Wrestling that keeps fans so invested after twenty years? She said, ‘I think it’s because Impact keeps it fresh, you have creative storytelling every week. I don’t think anyone does it better than us. We are bringing things to your TV that you might’ve not known you want.’
‘I fell in love with professional wrestling because I wanted to tell a story. I love the characters; I love every aspect of it, and nobody does that better than Impact Wrestling.’
Match against VXT at Emergence
As both Taya and Rosemary are the current reigning Impact Knockouts Tag-Team champs, and both have individually held the Knockouts World Championship in the past, we asked Taya if she felt confident about facing the team of VXT at Emergence.
Taya commented on her history with both Deonna Purrazzo and Chealsea Green, complimenting both women – but concluded that ‘nobody is Ragnarok.’
With that in mind, and noting the roster changes in Impact in recent years, we wondered if there was anyone new that Taya would like to take on once she and Rosemary have defended their titles against VXT?
She said, ‘We have tons of new and talented women coming in. I recently faced Masha Slamovich and would love to face her again. Giselle Shaw, I’d love to face her again too. Now we have Killer Kelly coming in who I’ve never wrestled. There are so many exciting new characters.’
Impact Ultimate Insiders
Impact now has the Ultimate Insiders package on YouTube, we asked Taya if she feels like this will help bring more fans to Impact Wrestling now that the product is easier to access than ever before.
Taya replied saying, ‘Yes, YouTube is like a universal language, everyone has it. I think the easier Impact is to find the better. We do our best work for you, the fans, so I love that more and more people have access to Impact Wrestling on a multitude of platforms. I just love that.’
Finally, we asked Taya that even though she already holds a lot of gold, will she be going after the Impact Knockouts World Championship again – and if Jordynne Grace needs to watch her back?
Taya told us, ‘Jordynne Grace always needs to watch her back! I am not the same Taya I was when I lost that championship to her two and a half years ago. I have been unleashed, I have evolved and I am the longest reigning Impact Knockouts Champion of all time – in twenty years of Impact.’
‘So she can be sitting pretty with her Knockouts Championship, but I’ll always be in the shadows, always ready to pounce and I’m going to go after what I want.’
Emergence will take place on Friday, August 12, 2022 at 8pm ET. It can be watched on YouTube through an Impact Wrestling Ultimate Insiders subscription.
