Ladies of the Indies: Exclusive Interview with Mariah May

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There is a massive wrestling community on Instagram, with some accounts gaining thousands of followers and sponsorship deals. Mariah was one of them, a wrestling fan who modeled WWE apparel, and she amassed tens of thousands of followers.

Then in January of last year, she decided to start training to become a professional wrestler.

This is her story.

Like many other wrestlers, Mariah grew up a fan, and she could never quite shake it. “I’ve never really grew out of it, it’s been a part of my life for as long as I can remember.” She started watching as a child with her brothers and never grew out of it. Mariah had many inspirations and people she looked up to prior to her training. However, there was one wrestler that she looked up to in particular, Paige. “She is a trailblazer; she made it from the UK and became such an influential woman in the WWE,” said May. “She set a path for British girls to make it from the international circuit and she showed that anything is possible if you work hard enough.”

Mariah told me there was one match in particular that stood out to her, Mickie James winning the Women’s Championship against Beth Pheonix on an April 2008 edition of Raw. “It was a true underdog story and I remember being so excited about it as a kid.” Mickie was her absolute favourite when she was growing up, and the story of Mickie overcoming Beth has stuck with her for the past 11 years.

May has a massive Instagram following with 67.4 thousand followers. Training to be a wrestler is crazy and stressful, but her journey has been unique as she is doing it in front of thousands of wrestling fans. “My instagram following has certainly affected my journey.” She explained, “the whole reason I started to try and build a brand on there was to help with my wrestling career.” Most people that start off are unknown in the wrestling community, but with Mariah already having a brand, she already has a huge following behind her. “I kind of feel like we’re in this together, they’ve watched me finally muster up the courage to train and then work incredibly hard for a year to start having matches,” said May. “I couldn’t have foreseen my following becoming as big as it has, but to have that level of support is incredible.”

Obviously when you have that kind of following, you get a lot of support. But you also get a lot of hate. “I made my Instagram to show me following my dreams and I’m not going to let any trolls take that away from me.” As much as her fans have helped her in her training and it has benefited her, when you are going through this journey it also adds a level of pressure. “There is certainly more pressure, but I think that’s a good thing. It pushes me to work harder, I can’t let them down.”

As much as there is a lot of positive pressure, there is a certain level of negative pressure as well. “I think because I’ve already got an established following people already forget I’ve only had a few matches and really tear me down.” But she try’s to not let it get to her, and is always trying to improve. “This is only the beginning for me.”

She started training in January of last year, and we talked about what the beginning of her training was like. She had done sports and theatre her whole life, on top of being a wrestling fan, so she thought she was well equipped. However, she was wrong. “Nothing can quite prepare you for that first day,” said May. She had butterflies going into her first day of training and she loves every second of it. “It’s tough but it is so rewarding, it’s pushed me to be a better athlete, to truly focus on my skills and get better. I’m always improving and it’s really satisfying for me to see that change and growth.”

She has wrestled a few matches already, and while she felt prepared her first match still surprised her. “It was one of the best days of my life, it was such a rush and the feeling of being out there and actually doing something I’d dreamed about since I was a little girl was surreal.” She told me it took a few days for the whole experience to set in.

Mariah has a goal in wrestling, although slightly vague it is the kind of goal more wrestlers should chase. “My ultimate goal is to have a long, healthy, and rewarding career.” She also wants to improve in every aspect of her career, whether it’s wrestling, fitness, or character, she just wants to improve. “There’s just so much opportunity out there, I want to seize it and I want to make more.”

You can follow Mariah on Instagram and Twitter: @MariahMayx!

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