Jordynne Grace on Process for Her WWE Royal Rumble Appearance, Spot with Naomi, Match Performance, & Being TNA’s Rep

As noted before, TNA Wrestling talent Jordynne Grace made a surprise appearance at this past Saturday’s WWE Royal Rumble 2024 event in St. Petersburg, Florida as part of a deal made between TNA and WWE for the Women’s Royal Rumble match.

Fightful held a recent interview with Grace. One of the topics discussed included Grace’s initial reaction over being told that she would be competing in WWE for this year’s Women’s Royal Rumble match.

“I don’t really know what I thought. First of all, Scott doesn’t really ever call me. When I saw the call, my immediate instinct was to not answer it because I thought I might be in trouble about something, who knows what. When I answered it and he told me that, I didn’t really know what to think. I didn’t think it was a publicity stunt that was being pitched. Honestly, when he said it, I was like, ‘Maybe this is just an idea that they have and it’s not for real. Maybe they are testing the waters a little bit.’ Honestly, I did not think it was going to happen until I got my actual flight to Orlando to go to the PC. That’s when everything started to feel real.”

Grace also gave her thoughts about the process that led to her appearance in the match.

“I had to get the physical, the medical stuff done. It was a lot of waiting for everything to be approved. A lot of the stuff went through Scott just because I’m with TNA, and I don’t know the legal logistics and everything. It had to go through Scott. I ended up getting my flight information, my hotel. They put me at a different hotel than all the main wrestlers. I guess that’s the ‘surprise hotel.’ On Thursday, I flew out to the PC [WWE Performance Center] in Orlando and from there I drove to Tampa that night. They asked me if I wanted to go home on Friday and I was like, ‘No, I just need a day to mentally prepare myself for this.’ I ended up, that day, going to the gym and trying to be as normal as possible. Spray tan and all that normal stuff. Saturday was the day.”

Grace also gave her thoughts about trying to keep her appearance as a surprise from others as much as possible.

“I didn’t tell anybody, besides my husband [Jonathan Gresham]. I didn’t tell any wrestlers because I was so scared of anything getting out, which of course, it did anyway, but it could have gotten out (sooner). Ruining surprises, you can’t have surprises in wrestling anymore. People were shocked. I saw so many people that I’ve known for years. They all thought this was my official debut. No, I’m TNA Knockouts Champion and I’m here representing TNA. That was even more shocking to them. I saw Chelsea Green, who was really mad that I didn’t tell her. She came up and she hit me. ‘Someone just texted me and said you were here and I didn’t believe them, but here you are.’ She was really upset that I didn’t tell her. ‘It’s better that I’m here as a surprise.’ I also didn’t tell Trinity, which was the funniest thing. All week, I’m texting her, ‘I’m really excited to see you in the Rumble.’ What she didn’t know is I was going to be standing across the ring seeing her.”

Grace also gave her thoughts about the loud reaction from the crowd for her reunion moment with Naomi, former Trinity in TNA, during the match.

“It’s crazy. I don’t know how many actual WWE fans watch TNA. I don’t know what the exact crossover is, but it felt so good to get that reaction when we had the stand off and the hug. That was awesome. I’m so glad everybody kind of knew what was going on between us.

I don’t know that there is a word to describe that feeling. To put it into perspective for you, I made my WWE debut, officially, at the Royal Rumble, wearing the OG TNA Knockouts Championship. Those words together don’t even feel real to say.”

Grace also gave her thoughts about Naomi/Trinity’s reaction when she first learned about the spot planned for the two of them during the match.

“She cries a lot. She was almost in tears about it. My reaction to everything leading up to this was disassociation, kind of, just because I was in complete disbelief of everything. It was an amazing positive experience.”

Grace also gave her thoughts about her trying to keep her appearance in the match a surprise from Naomi for as long as possible.

“I thought it was better that I keep that secret until I saw her at the Performance Center, just because it was funny. You know how you see someone out of context and you don’t recognize them? That’s exactly how her reaction was. She was just confused. ‘What are you doing here?’ Before the excitement took over. She was so confused about why I was there.”

Grace also gave her thoughts about her performance in the Women’s Royal Rumble match.

“I thought I did pretty well. People liked it, so that’s all you can hope for in the end. I just wanted to represent TNA to the absolute best of my ability. TNA is an amazing company and there are amazing wrestlers there. I was kind of a walking advertisement for TNA. Thank God, a lot of people I saw were saying they were going to tune into TNA after seeing me wrestle. That’s all I could have ever hoped for.”

Grace also gave her thoughts about getting to represent TNA at WWE’s event.

“It is an insane amount of pressure. There is nothing I can really say about it besides that. It’s so much pressure, not just to perform well in the ring, but to establish relationships backstage, positive relationships. Sometimes, a lot of times, that it much harder than actually going out there and wrestling. I feel extremely blessed that they trusted me enough to go on and do that. Hopefully, I just made TNA proud

Grace also gave her thoughts about if she has heard anything about WWE and TNA possibly working together more in the future.

“I have no personal insight or anything, but I have a very good gut feeling. I feel like it’s a win-win for everybody. There is nothing bad that can come from a relationship between TNA and WWE. TNA gets exposure and ability to represent their brand. WWE gets to do something awesome for the wrestling community.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com