Rhio has the attention of a lot of wrestling fans, and she says she wants to make sure they know British wrestling is the “thing to watch.” The PROGRESS Women’s Champion recently spoke with PWMania and spoke about building momentum in the UK scene and more. You can see highlights below:
On her personal global ambitions in wrestling: “I think that the hard work of so many people, wrestlers, referees, ring, crew, production, fans, everyone has made British Wrestling the thing to watch. As much as it is great to be seen on a global scale, I’m all about ensuring our home product is the thing everyone wants to watch. I’d like to think it works as a 2-way exchange. PROGRESS has recently had wrestlers like Danhausen and Marina Shafir over here and that’s amazing. Big talent coming to our big shows. But, they’ve come here, they want to be here. The fantastic Japanese wrestlers from NJPW and Noah, they want to see what’s going on here because they see the buzz and want to be part of it.
“So, for me, as much as it is great to be respected worldwide and to be noticed in areas like America and Japan, I am passionate about what we are doing here and I think British Wrestling is on the verge of another boom period. Look how many major shows are over here from AEW, WWE and the way independent shows at those times get the love they do. It’s brilliant, so for me, as much as I look forward to wrestling around the world, bringing a boom period back to Britain is top of my list.”
On the growth of women’s independent wrestling: “I think it’s forever growing and respected. For many of us, the goal is to get to companies like PROGRESS. It is one of the biggest companies in Europe and is world respected. So I think everyone wants to get there. And when you get there, it’s kind of a wave, like you’ve done it, but you got to show you can stay there, and then to be able to stay, I think, is another thing in itself.
I used to worry about it a lot but nowadays, I much more live in the moment and thrive on putting on memorable matches for the fans. Becoming Women’s champion and maintaining that championship has been massive for me. Learning from 2021 when I got to PROGRESS to now, I think is great as I think the fans are really on board with what we’ve doen and my progression has worked nicely in the build up and excitement from a crowd for PROGRESS again after the pandemic. Everyone is working so hard to put on the best show and to see it grow and be well respected again means a lot as for me, I think we at PROGRESS have the best women’s division out there.”
