Hello and welcome to another edition of Good
News York. I am not here with Matt today. Matt,
I don't know what Matt's doing. I think he's
out ice fishing. Who knows what he's doing. I
am alone in the studio, kind of. I have a very,
very special guest. First, I want to mention
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at MikeBTV. But who cares about me? I am so excited.
As you can see, I've got the WWE belts here.
No, clearly I did not win a belt in the WWE and
I basically stole them from my kid's toy box.
And there's a good reason. I am joined today
by someone who was long considered one of the
most talented women in the independent ranks.
She first turned heads in WWE during the inaugural
Mae Young Classic in 2017, and her true breakout
moment, however, came in the following year's
classic when Meechan's gutsy performance in the
quarterfinals earned chance of support from the
WWE Universe, and their pleas did not go unanswered
as WWE's COO Triple H offered her an NXT contract
right on the spot after the match, and she will
be featured as one of the WWE superstars at the
WWE Live Holiday Tour right here in Syracuse
at the Upstate Medical Arena at the On Center
on New Year's Day 1126. The self -proclaimed
Blasian baddie, Mechen. Mechen! Hello! How are
you? I'm good. How are you? That was a crazy
intro. I appreciate that. You know what about
four sentences in I went this is a crazy intro,
but I feel like it's but you've done so much.
Your story is so great. I thought you deserved
an intro like that. Listen, you you have done
so much in your career. I think you've wrestled
in probably every circuit you could wrestle in.
But I want to start. all the way on the West
Coast, you were raised in LA and you went to
high school and college in Virginia. And during
which that's when you started, I think at the
age of 18, your professional wrestling training.
So how did professional wrestling even come across
your radar? And like what made you want to chase
that dream and that career? I know you played
volleyball in college and you're an athlete,
but when was the moment that you thought, this
is where I want to go? The funny thing is I've
always been a tomboy so I was out I don't know
since I was seven or eight out we lived in a
cul -de -sac so I would play with the neighborhood
kids play football street hockey all the things
and as I got older I Wanted to play football,
but I feel old to say this but back in my day
They wouldn't let the girls play football with
the guys and So my dad watched wrestling and
I remember watching with him and seeing Lita
in China wrestle the guys and I was like, oh
my gosh, I can I want to do that. That looks
like so much fun. And growing up, I grew up on
the attitude era. So a lot of the times the divas
at the point at that point was mainly just doing
like showcase matches, not very long matches.
So then when I did see Lita and China getting
in with the guys and just wrestling them like
one of the guys, I knew that's exactly what I
wanted to do. So that little seed has been planted
since I was like maybe 10. Of course, I told
my parents I'm going to do that one day. And
they're just like, yeah, OK, sure. Whatever you
say. And once I turned 18, I asked them if I
could start wrestling. Of course, they said no.
So I went and signed myself up for training.
I found the school that Mickey James started
at in Virginia. So I started training there.
I was balancing that in college at the same time.
And so I got a scholarship for volleyball in
college. So I would do, during the volleyball
season, I would focus just on volleyball. And
then once that season was over, I would drive
two hours to go train, maybe twice, three times
a week, and then drive two hours back to campus.
My parents were still against me wrestling, because
they still had the mindset of what wrestling
was like growing up. So they thought I was just
going to be doing jelly matches, things like
that. And so my dad pretty much just said, you
can do whatever you want. I will do whatever
you want to do, as long as you finish college
first. Challenge accepted. So I pretty much kept
up with my college with the volleyball. And once
I graduated, then I dove straight into wrestling
pretty much full time. I was still living in
Virginia, but I was doing a lot of loops going
to Philly and New York, New Jersey, Detroit.
So I was just driving to all these places during
the weekend and then working a nine to five.
during the week. And pretty much just started
from the bottom and kept chipping away at every
goal. So it was at first, because at that time
it was still, you know, supermodels getting signed
to WWE. And I'm just like, I don't think WWE
is in the cards for me. So let me set a goal
to do a tour in Japan. I do that. Okay, let me
see if I can. do anything with TV like TNA back
in the day. Okay, I did that. Okay. Let me see
if I can do extra work for WWE to see if that's
a thing. Did that. So every, I would just go
from like one goal to the next until finally
the big goal was, okay, you know what? I've done
everything that I wanted to. Let me see if I
can get signed to WWE. I did several, I did several
tryouts and was told not right now every time.
Um, so I was like, okay, I guess I'll just be
doing extra work for WWE. And it's cool. I got
to work for WWE a little bit and I'm okay with
that. And then kept doing extra work. They invited
me to the May young, um, did the first one had
a blast. And then the second one comes around
and, um, In my head, I think I just had it where
I'm like, I'll just, you know, I've done everything
that I wanted to. I'm happy with where I'm at.
It's, I mean, if I ever got to WWE on a, on a
contract, that'd be great, but I, I've done,
I've done everything that I wanted to outside
of that. So I'm just going to go have fun, wrestle
my friends, have a moment in WWE and then go
back to work on Monday. And so the second Mayong,
when the crowd chanted, I remember with the cruiserweight
tournament, I remember when that happened to
Cedric. I was like, oh, that's so cool. And Cedric
is my boy. So I'm like, oh, that's so cool. Like
me and my friend, we get the same reaction. That's
awesome. That's cool. And then the... Injury
happened with Teagan. So me, Candice, a lot of
us was helping Teagan just getting her stuff
together. So I didn't even know Triple H went
out to, you know, talk to the crowd or anything
like that. So when he agreed to sign me, I wasn't
there and I didn't hear about it until cameras
were in my face and somebody came up to me and
in my head, I'm just like, well. I don't know
what I did, but I'm about to get kicked out.
Let me get my bags and I guess this is it for
me in WWE. And that's when Hunter comes out of
nowhere and he's like, he tells me what happened
when he went out. And for - maybe two minutes
I legit thought I was dreaming or like it wasn't
real. It was so surreal to me. So it's something,
it's a memory I'm gonna have for the rest of
my life and it's something that I'm going to
cherish because I always tell everybody, if it
wasn't for the fans, I wouldn't be able to be
doing this now. I wouldn't be able to live my
dream and accomplish the goal that I set out
since I was 10. Um, so I always am very thankful
and grateful for the fans. Meacham, that's, that's
an amazing story. And, you know, you couldn't
see, obviously, I just got goosebumps because,
you know, when you're watching WWE, you don't
know where the line crosses, where is this completely
scripted or is this a real moment? Because you
do see a lot of emotions and injuries with performers
and athletes on the show. So you, Basically telling
us that you had no idea about the the triple
H thing makes it even more special I mean that
is that's an incredible moment that not a lot
of other wrestlers can say happen to them Sometimes
they find out by a phone call or you know in
in the creative meeting, so that's a that's awesome
I do want to talk about the women's division
because you know my daughter Well, she she always
said dad. I want to play football I said honey
you can you can play football, you know, and
so it's it's role models like you That show her,
you know, she can do anything she wants But I
want to touch before we get into the women's
division I do want to touch on you know You talked
about a little bit you've gone on record saying
that your father was was very strict during your
childhood due to his career He served in the
military before a career as an FBI special agent
working in units for gangs and missing exploited
children in cyber operations. That is wildly
impressive. I'm the son of a cop, just a police
officer. And that was intimidating for me and
my friends sometimes. I can't imagine what that
was like. Did his strict nature play a part in
your development as an athlete and a wrestler?
Very much so, very much so. Because even before
volleyball, you know, I did taekwondo, I did
several instruments and every single time it
was No matter what do your hardest and never
quit so that was something like it was very Militant
as well in a positive way so always waking up
early making sure that the house was clean making
sure After school homework is done before anything
else like no screens until all the homework was
done no boys Had to be home when the streetlights
came on like it was very strict, but I think
because of that Now it's easy for me to, you
know, a lot of people, I don't use one alarm,
that's enough for me to get up and get my day
started. Everything I do, I have an itinerary
for once I wake up, I have an itinerary for the
day to get everything that I need done early.
So I have the rest of the day to just relax.
But it also motivates me. Okay, I gotta, you
know, even though. I am with WWE. I'm living
my dream at home. I'm still working. So I have
to go to the gym. Okay. I got to make sure that
I eat this, um, make sure that, you know, bills
are paid, make sure pretty much it. My dad has
helped me become the professional that I am now.
And to have that mentality of never quitting,
even if they say no. To still pursue after the
dream no matter what anybody says So I do think
my dad and growing up the way that we did There
are good parts and bad parts, but I appreciate
every part because it shaped me to be who I am
So well so well said now I have a daughter and
I'm nowhere near the badass your dad is I mean
were you ever able to have a boyfriend was it
even Or were they just like terrified? Oh my
gosh. Let me just tell you The scene in Bad Boys?
Yes, that's the best scene. When they enter the
door? That has happened. No way. It was just,
how old was I? Oh my gosh, sorry daddy for telling
on you, but I think I was like maybe 10, 11,
and our next door neighbor. at a crush on my
next door neighbor. He was the same age as me
and he was having a birthday party. So he wanted
me and my sister to go to his birthday party.
So he came to knock, he knocked on the door to
ask my dad if it was okay, if we could just go
to his birthday party. My dad opened the door
just like bad boys and. I don't remember if I
ever went to that birthday party. I think that's
probably, that's probably where you blacked out
at that point. That's amazing. I love your father.
My daughter happens to be 11 as well. So I, I'm
right there. I, I would do the same thing. Um,
you have, you, you just talked about it too.
You have an extensive background in Mai Tai and
Taekwondo. When did that kind of, on the timeline,
where did that come about and, or when did that
come about? And do you, incorporate into your
pro wrestling career? So I did taekwondo when
I was very, very little. My dad, growing up in
LA, my dad wanted me and my sister to at least
know something, just in case. I remember now
that I'm older, and me and my dad talk about
it all the time, when I was younger, it was all
confusing. But now being older, I understood
that because of my dad's status and his position,
me and my sister were targets just in case if
anybody that he locked up got out, if they got
to us, they got to him. So he was very nervous
about us being by ourselves or like, pretty much,
yeah, just not having him around. just in case
we got kidnapped, because he's dealt with a lot
of kidnapping cases as well. So he wanted us
to make sure that we at least knew something.
So we were put into Taekwondo very young. I got
to second degree black belt. And then that's
when I started, I was old enough to start doing,
like playing basketball and football and all
the sports with the kids outside in the streets.
And then I didn't get into Muay Thai until I
moved to Orlando, which was about like 2013.
So I did Muay Thai for a couple years just for
fun. I never wanted to compete or anything. I
just wanted to do it for fun. So I do incorporate
a lot of leg movements, kicks, more of that style
in my independence. in my current repertoire
now. Because I trained pretty much, I trained
in Japan, I trained, I did a little UK tour,
like I trained in the UK, like I did a lot of
other, I like to learn different styles, so I'm
kind of hybrid now, whether, you know, if I'm
wrestling. Nya, okay, I could pull out my high
flying and quick moves, or if I'm wrestling Candice,
then I'm gonna pull out my power moves. And then
if I'm wrestling the Joshis, I'm gonna pull out
my kicks. So I'm able to change up my style depending
on who my opponent is. Yeah, and I'm assuming
it probably helps on the defense as well, on
how you can take a fall, on blocking, things
of that nature as well, right? Oh yeah, Tech
Mundo from the jump taught me how to take a slam
for sure. Yeah, and by the way, thank you for
saying Muay Thai. Because like a typical upstate
New York white man, I was like, oh, it's my tie.
Like the drink. I didn't know it was my toy.
My tie. Wildly impressive. So listen, the women's
division has become such a huge part of the WWE
and it's grown so much over specifically like
the last decade. But when you were starting out
back in your day, as you said, which, by the
way, is my day, too, I feel I feel you there.
It had not even come close to what it was today.
So it was. it was harder for females, you know,
to have that path to the dream that you share
with them. So what gave you the confidence that
you could make it a career without it kind of
seeming like an option at the time? And do you
think the growth of the women's division was
the reason you were able to do that? Like, do
you think, and do you think it'll ever merge
the men and women's together, like you said when
you saw men and women fighting? So. I remember
watching Gail Kim. And at the time, there wasn't
a mixed female wrestler. So I always attached
to Gail Kim and Jazz. And seeing them both, I
always believe that Gail began wrestling in the
wrong generation because seeing both of them
I attached to them because they were wrestlers.
They were not, and they could be sexy if they
wanted to, but they were wrestlers. And that's
what I wanted to be because I'm no Playboy model.
I'm no cover girl or anything like that. So it
was just cool to see athletes being showcased
without having to be only highlighted sexually.
So I think from the transition from back then
to now, it's very, very cool to see that now
it's a lot of my friends that I've wrestled in
the independence with. And a lot of us, I remember
at Shimmer, we would be talking about like, oh,
it'd be so cool if we can make it into WWE one
day. And to see that we're living that it's just
so cool to reminisce on because it's like, dang.
back in early 2000s or late 90s like we we would
have never have made it because we weren't you
know we weren't the types of women they would
usually go for um and and the the one or two
that they did like gail to me gail looks Perfect,
she looks perfect. But to see her, I could see
the uncomfortability on her whenever they would
have her do like a bikini contest or something.
And I knew that she was an athlete. And so I
just feel lucky to be in this generation now
where a lot of the people that I'm in WWE with,
I have a long history with in the independence.
and even the new generation coming in just telling
them what it was like and the etiquette and the
respect aspect of it all and just how lucky we
all are because of the sacrifices that people
like Jazz and Gail and Lita and all of them have
made for for us because I don't think like AJ,
she came from the independence and I remember
talking to her about a month ago and it was my
first time. We always missed paths. Like right
when she was done with an indie company, like
I came in and then she got signed right after
she worked for this company and I came in. So
like I always missed her. So I finally got to
talk to her about a month ago and I told her
that she was like, she was the great. in indie
dream because she was the one from the independence
that got signed and then there was bailey who
um got signed and i i spent some indie time with
her as well and it's like this is cool to see
that now we have a chance like now they're hiring
independent girls we have a chance oh it's amazing
yeah and you know what i love too is and It's
not like the WWE said, we should probably get
with the times and start a women's division and
we'll just do a couple matches. I feel like they
really do put in the same amount of energy into
the writing and the performance as they do in
the men's division. And I think that's why it's
been able to flourish. And by the way, speaking
of Bailey, I love her because I took my four
year old son to his first show. We went to a
house show here locally and she. She grabbed
him and gave him a high five and said, make sure
this isn't your last show. And he never forgot
that. But anyway, it's amazing. She's amazing.
You were talking about Jazz and Gail and Lita,
which leads me to I wanted to ask this. Did you
have a specific female or even male idol that
inspired you to chase this dream in the beginning,
like the one moment where you were like, I want
to be that person? Mm -hmm. I remember seeing
China first first seeing her I've never seen
a woman like that before and I was like, oh my
gosh That's what that is goals right there. I
like because I always growing up I always made
I was made fun of because I was very um, how
do you say like Top heavy my shoulders were always
wide and So it was cool to see another woman
with muscles like oh my gosh, and that looks
amazing So seeing China wrestle the guys Lita
wrestle the guys and then The rock stone -cold
mankind seeing mankind doing the hardcore stuff.
I think they all layered in with like one It
made me dive straight into the deep end of loving
WWE just because of the stories and the characters.
But seeing the women, like Chyna and Lita, actually
wrestling the guys, I'm like, oh yeah, this is
exactly what I wanna do. That's amazing. I actually
remember, so I'm a little bit older than you.
I remember, did you ever see Luna Vachon? What
always I loved about her, she stuck out to me
and I was a little kid. But she had the shaved
head with the veins that they painted on. And
to go back to what you were saying earlier, you're
right. Because before that, it was like there
was Miss Elizabeth. And the storyline was always
that she was Macho Man's girlfriend. And it was
a love story. Luna Vachon, I remember personally
as the first time where I was like, whoa, she's
just a badass. There's no love here. This is
just about battle. So I know what you mean when
you when you see that and you go oh my gosh like
I A female that's badass. I want to I want to
be her um So a couple more questions. I want
to be you know, obviously I want to be respectful
of your time I'm having too much fun. In 2016,
I want to switch to this because I think this
is this really stood out to me and it's so important
for people to hear and see. In 2016, you began
publicly participating in awareness and advocacy
after revealing that, you know, you were a survivor
of domestic abuse. And this includes painting
your left finger now on your ring on your ring
finger for Safe Horizons campaign. It's a hashtag.
Put the nail in it. And your advocacy led to
you being named one of BBC's 100 women in 2016,
which I think is incredible. And that may even
be more impressive than any of the wrestling
accolades. Can you talk a little bit about your
advocacy and the Put the Nail in It campaign
and what it means to you? During that time, I've
never been in that situation before and I didn't
know as a female wrestler, the concern that I
have is, and especially in the independence,
I did a lot of intergender matches as well. So
I was questioning if this is what I signed up
for, or if this, how am I gonna go about, one,
getting out of a situation, but two, I, Didn't
want to be silenced and I knew What what motivated
me to talk about it was I would talk to my other
female Wrestling friends that also do intergender
wrestling to ask them like hey like if this happens
in the ring, but then if it happens at home like
What is that and they would explain to me? you
know that's abuse and that they've been through
it too and it was just every single one of my
girlfriends they're like oh yeah that happened
to me it's just you know i don't i don't want
to talk about it or um no one's ever going to
believe us because you know we have muscles or
we wrestle men and all this other stuff and i'm
noticing a trend where it's a lot of my girlfriends
are like oh yeah that happened to me too and
i'm like this is not this is not okay so um I
wanted to talk about it. I didn't know how. And
my good friend now, Brian, who worked at Safe
Horizon at the time, started seeing, like reading
in between the lines of my prize for help. So
he reached out to me and was very professional
and pretty much gave me the guidelines on how
to get out, how to heal, how to talk about things
publicly. So he's I have a soft spot for Safe
Horizon and Bride because he was the one to reach
out to me and notice, he noticed the little things
that I was tweeting and talking about and reached
out. And I felt comfortable enough to talk to
him about everything. And to this day, he's one
of my closest friends. He's wrestling now, which
is awesome. But it was just, it was something
that I felt that I needed to talk about because
it was just way too common in wrestling and um
it's difficult to navigate and being someone
that did intergender wrestling it's like how
am I supposed to talk about um the difference
between intergender wrestling and abuse at home
and the main thing which Brian like reiterated
is consent like anytime I set foot in the ring
I'm consenting to wrestling. I'm not consenting
to being choked in my in in the kitchen, you
know um, so that I think it was I was motivated
by hearing everybody else's story and wanting
to Be the first step forward into my other friends
being able to heal and if they wanted to talk
about it they're welcome to talk about it, too,
but I wanted to let those that's too scared to
talk or um don't know how to talk to let them
know that they're not alone and that it's okay
to talk about it and do what they can to get
out and there is help available um you you gave
that was important for me you gave me goosebumps
again um i mean that's real life stuff and i
think and obviously i'm not diminishing any of
your career accolades but i think you and i both
know that Self -fulfillment wise, I would imagine
that must be so fulfilling for you to be able
to have a platform to do this. And thank God
for your colleagues that kind of showed you like,
hey, you're not alone. Maybe you wouldn't have
been able to speak out because you would have
been too afraid. And they showed you like, hey,
I've been through it too. And now you're paying
it forward and showing other women that it's
okay. And I just want to thank you for that personally,
because I think it's amazing. And if you weren't
amazing enough, by the way, this was like a little,
I don't know, tidbit got thrown in at the end.
You are proficient in sign language. I probably
not now. I haven't done it in a while, so probably
not now. OK, because it says you've worked as
a captionist for the deaf and hard of hearing.
And I think you were inspired by a former partner
of yours that that was hearing impaired or deaf.
Can you talk a little bit about that? I think
that's awesome. Thank you. Yeah, I dated somebody
from Gallaudet University, which is a deaf and
hard of hearing school in DC. My school played
his school for volleyball and that's how we met.
was at the volleyball games and I knew no sign
language so for the first couple months it was
just like writing notes to each other and then
he started teaching me sign language and then
I picked up on it and I spent a lot of time at
Gallaudet as well so I was able to really be
immersed into that lifestyle. So it helped me
really understand and I picked up on ASL super,
super quick just because I had to because I had
several friends there. I had my ex -boyfriend
at the time there. So to me, I'm like, I would
rather learn your language than having to make
you write notes all the time. Like, let me learn
so it will be easier to communicate for everybody.
So it's really cool. I still love getting you
debt. I love that there is a school for the deaf
and hard of hearing in DC. And I'm glad that
I got to learn ASL and be a part of that culture.
So you've got big muscles, but you have an even
bigger heart. That's just amazing. I was going
to ask you to sign something like a promo, like
Mike. You're the coolest host ever, but you're
a little out of practice. So I won't make you
do that. Okay, cool I'm like I can spell Mike,
okay Just a couple more questions something that
just came up while you were talking I want to
ask about You know, there is an element of acting
in in the WWE Was that something that came natural
to you? Did you have to train or just kind of
happened? So I'm a horrible actress and I think
that's the hardest part for me is the promos
and the talking just because I can, listen, you
tell me to fall on concrete. I can do that second
nature. But the minute you put a mic in my hand,
like I grew up with stage fright. I always. got
nervous doing presentations in school and stuff.
So I'm working, I've been working on it and trying
to get better. There's still a long way for me
to get better at, but I, yeah, that's the hardest
part for me. All right. Well, thank you, Mechen.
On January 1st, that's New Year's Day, 2026.
You can see Meachin and the rest of the WWE superstars
right here in Syracuse for the WWE live holiday
tour at the Upstate Medical Arena at the On Center.
Meachin, thank you for your time. Good News York,
sponsored by ads on the go, get ads on the go
dot com. We air a new episode every Monday through
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And you can follow me on all your socials at
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quest of Good News York is Good News York Sports,
GNY Sports airing once a week. And coming up
this week, going to be interviewing Rob Ferguson,
head coach of Cornell Women's Soccer. So looking
forward to that. From all of us to you, goodbye
from Good News York.