Allysin Kay Discusses How Her AEW Full Gear Appearance Happened Last Year

In an interview with Fightful, Allysin Kay spoke about her appearance at AEW Full Gear last year, where she fought Serena Deeb, and how that came about. She had been released from the NWA just three days before. Here are highlights:

On how quickly the AEW deal came together: “Oh, my gosh. So, this was, like I mentioned, a rollercoaster of a week. So, I go from essentially losing my job, even though it was on mutual terms. I lost my job, I tweet, ‘Hey, everyone. I’m a free agent,’ ‘cause I want to put it out there I can work, you know? I’m free to work. The next day I had an e-mail from AEW. I had a message from someone else, too. But, I’m not gonna get into those details. But, I got an e-mail.”

On talking to Tony Khan: “So, I had an e-mail from AEW. So, I went from a low—like, I was happy to work the indies and not have to deal with contract stuff and not have to report to anyone and stuff like that, but it was still a low. I would call that a low because I didn’t know what to do. Then the next day I have an e-mail from AEW. So, of course, that put me on a high. They’re like, ‘Hey, you want to come out in three days to work the pre-show of the pay-per-view?’ So, of course, I’m like, ‘Yeah.’ It’s funny because before I responded to that, because of course, I’m thinking everything through. I don’t want to just say yeah right away. I want to read it, let it sit for a minute. Maybe message a friend and say, ‘Hey, guess what? Should I do this?’ In that time Tony Khan actually DM’d me on Twitter. Which is funny because I’ve never spoken to him before. He DM’d me, ‘Hey, you available Saturday?’ Which is so Tony Khan. Very approachable, very chill. I had just e-mailed back to the AEW office and I let him know, ‘Yeah. I e-mailed back, I’m excited. Blah-blah-blah.’ It was also my birthday week. That was another thing that happened. What was that, November 6th that that aired? I want to say that’s when the pay-per-view was and my birthday was the day before. So much happening in that one week. Then I go to the pay-per-view and then the next Sunday I’m at my house again. So I go from a low to a high to a…neutral? You know? It happened so fast that I’m like, ‘Did that really happen? Can you confirm that that really happened?’”

On getting praise backstage for the match: “Man. All the feedback that I’ve gotten has been great. I think that’s maybe been the most confusing part of all. Like, I even reached out—cause Serena and I have talked several times since—and she told me, ‘Yeah, anyone that I’ve talked to since has been like, ‘It’s great, it was great, it was great.’ I remember coming to the back. Dustin loved it. Tony loved it. I remember telling me, ‘Great job, great job. Happy birthday.’ He kept saying that to me.”