Ember Moon Says There’s No One Like Her In Wrestling, She’s Going To Be The First Ember Moon

In an interview with RondaRousey.com, Ember Moon spoke about what she brings to pro wrestling and said that there’s no one else like her. Here are highlights:

On what she brings to WWE: “The one thing I like to bring to the ring is…I’m just me. I don’t strive to be anything but me, and I strive to be different. I don’t consider myself a “sex symbol” or “sexy,” and some people have those gimmicks and it’s fine, but I just want to be the first Ember Moon. They always say that you emulate someone, and there are a lot of people that have had an influence on my career, but I’ve never really emulated anybody. Like, you look at Bayley and she’s the new “Macho Man,” but you look at Ember Moon and I didn’t come from anything in this business. I didn’t have a famous dad, a famous uncle. I did this because it was the only thing I did for myself. It was the only thing I wanted to do for myself, and I didn’t want to go through life regretting never trying to wrestle. I was really big in soccer for years and years, playing in college. That was supposed to be my jam, but this always felt right. And I feel like that’s very important to know about me, because I didn’t have any help to get anywhere in life, getting to NXT, getting to WWE. I’ve done everything my way. It goes hand in hand; I’m a superfan, and I’m extremely passionate about what I do. I want to be the first Ember Moon. There’s no one like me. I’m cut from different cloth, but it’s because I chose to be that way. I remember at one point in my career thinking, “Oh, I need to be sexy.” I think I wore chaps at one point in time. It’s a not a good thing. I thought I needed to be the next Diva.”

On her rivalry with Asuka: “Aww man, Asuka is one of my closest friends. I speak a little bit of Japanese, so me and Asuka just have a very special bond. We’ll kick the crap out of each other in the ring, but we do have a very special bond. She’s another person that I met on the indies; we actually wrestled on the indies, and we hated each other. Or at least it was one-sided, on my part, but I like to think that it went both ways. But yeah, I have so many fond memories of Asuka after we had this knockout, drag-out catfight. It was like Day 1 and we were very uneasy because we hadn’t seen each other since that match. It was like, “Okay, you gonna be cool?” And it was very weird, but then we kinda did the handshake thing and we hugged, and then yeah. Asuka is a Day 1 for me. We’ve been wrestling for the same amount of time, we started at SHIMMER around the same time. We had a match in SHIMMER, then we hated each other, then we’re Day 1 side-by-side in NXT with each other.”

On who she wants to face in NXT: “You know, I feel like right when all of my friends were coming and getting signed to NXT, I got drafted to RAW. It was like, “Oh my god, Io Shirai!” Io Shirai is the one woman I wish I got to work with on the independent scene. So she got hired and I was like, “Yeah, we’re going to do this!” Then it’s, “Ember, you’re going to RAW” and I’m like, “What?” You know, just give me one more match! I’ve had plenty of matches with Candice LeRae. I want another match with Mia Yim. Shayna Baszler, and Bianca Belair, Deonna Purrazzo, Rachael Evers…just so many names, this [pool] of talent, and I just can’t wait. I fantasy book everything in life. I’m pretty sure if I never made it to WWE I would still have a fantasy league or something. You know, we used to put down our bets for every PPV, write it up on a chalkboard. It was official. Now if I want to watch a PPV, I have to watch it two days later when I’m home. Like, Royal Rumble is a religious holiday. So it was kind of bittersweet that my first PPV was the Royal Rumble. I remember when they told me, and my arm was all bandaged up so I had to do it with one arm, and I was like “I’m not missing this for the world,” and then just having this moment where I wished I could be home watching myself.”