AEW star Mariah May recently spoke with the Daily Star on a number of topics, including the lessons she has learned on the independent scene that have helped her during her time in the company thus far.
May said, “I’m not sure it’s relevant to AEW, but the biggest lesson I learnt was how to live poor, it was tough. I think the big thing is etiquette, from Day One in the indies, I learned to introduce myself to everyone, I think sometimes on the indies that feels silly, because everyone has different opinions on that, whether you should or shouldn’t do it.”
“It pays dividends though when you go to somewhere like AEW or a STARDOM or any kind of larger company, because it just shows you respect the business and care about it, like in any job, you should introduce yourself to anybody, so just drilling in the etiquette, however you also learn if you really love wrestling from the independents, because you get paid nothing to do it, you have to also work normal jobs, to pay for your life and put a roof over your head, but also to pay for your training, your costumes, to be able to be in indie wrestling.”
“It’s an investment, there’s no profit, at least that was the case in my few years of doing it, so I think you get tested on if you really love it, it’s a lot of driving, training, it may not be the best quality matches, or opponents, or venues, small crowds, but that’s when you figure out if you love it and you make so many mistakes which you’ll never repeat again, so I’m very grateful I did the indies, I won’t make those mistakes again.”
