Thekla says she’s ‘not as influenced by the past’ as other wrestlers
AEW Women’s World Champion Thekla says that she’s not as influenced by wrestling history as other wrestlers.
During a recent interview with The Uncrowned, Thekla said she believes drawing influence from outside wrestling has given her an advantage.
“Confidence can come and go, that’s part of the journey,” she said. “But one of my biggest accomplishments is getting to a point where I can say, ‘I’m that good,’ and actually believe it. That started about a year or two ago in Japan. During my AEW debut period, I didn’t compare myself to anyone else. I just did me. That’s what you have to do to be great — enjoy it, be yourself and have fun.”
Thekla said she wasn’t exposed to wrestling much growing up in Austria, which she says gave her the “freedom to start from scratch.”
“I think I have an advantage because I wasn’t constantly watching older wrestling products,” she said. “I didn’t see how people before me did it, so I’m not as influenced by the past. Not growing up with it gave me the freedom to start from scratch.
“A lot of people draw from wrestling history. I draw from everything.”
Earlier in the interview, Thekla said she tried other creative avenues before finding that she could combine all of her interests into wrestling.
“I tried everything: Drawing comics, playing guitar, being in a band, fashion, photography. I’d get obsessed for a few months, then move on,” she said. “When I started wrestling, it clicked early that all those creative passions could be combined into this universal art form called pro wrestling.”
Thekla’s comments come less than a year into her AEW run, which culminated in her becoming the 11th wrestler in history to win the AEW Women’s World Championship. She made her in-ring AEW debut at Fyter Fest last June.
Prior to starting with AEW last year, Thekla wrestled in Japan, first for Ice Ribbon before making her Stardom debut in 2021. She’s 9–2 in AEW one-on-one matches since debuting with the promotion, with her only losses coming to Statlander and Jamie Hayter.
Her full interview with The Uncrowned is available here.
Ian Carey is the editing manager at F4WOnline and a writer from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. His work has appeared in award-winning publications including NOW Magazine and The Huffington Post. He joined the F4WOnline team in 2019 and moved into the editing manager role in the summer of 2026. Born in Calgary, Alberta, Ian has covered professional wrestling for more than 15 years.