Chelsea Green finally reached the top of WWE at SummerSlam, but she is not about to pretend a championship suddenly made wrestling the only thing that matters in her life. After surviving injuries, getting fired and spending years helping other women move up the card, Green learned a long time ago that she needed something waiting for her outside the arena.
During a conversation with Complex Graps, Green was asked whether there had been a point in her career when she believed becoming champion was no longer in the cards. There was no shortage of painful moments for her to choose from.
Green broke her arm during her NXT debut and then suffered another broken arm on SmackDown when she was expected to compete at Survivor Series. WWE later released her, forcing her to rebuild her career before eventually returning to the company.
“Where should we start? How many times have I been like, ‘Oh, we’re going. We’re going.’ Never mind. I had my NXT debut, and I broke my arm on live television. Thank gosh it was a live dark match, I think. Then I broke my arm live on SmackDown, and I was supposed to go to Survivor Series. That felt pretty low. Then I got fired. That felt low.”
Another rough moment came when Green watched Michael Hayes discuss her role on WWE: Unreal. His comments confirmed something she had already feared—that WWE primarily viewed her as someone who could elevate other women rather than become one of the company’s top stars herself.
“I guess a low moment was watching Unreal and seeing what Michael Hayes said and having it confirm what I thought, which is that I am here to elevate the other girls. I am here to get them from the midcard to the top-girl spot, and that may be the place I stay forever.”
Green could have allowed that role to crush her confidence. Instead, she continued throwing herself into every ridiculous situation WWE handed her, whether it involved taking food to the face, getting dumped into a trash container or finding ways to make a short comedy segment memorable.
“But at the same time, I’m having so much fun, and I was doing so many hilarious things week to week. How many times have I taken a cake or a pie to the face? I was in the first-ever women’s dumpster match. Obviously, the United States Championship run was amazing, but there have been so many amazing times that have made up for those really low lows.”
That ability to keep wrestling in perspective may have been one of the biggest reasons Green survived long enough to finally receive her championship moment. WWE is important to her, but she refuses to treat the company as the only thing she has.
“Not to diminish what WWE is, but at the end of the day, you need a life outside of work, right? I know this is a lot of people’s entire life, but for me, this is still work.”
Green pointed to acting classes, trips to Disney with her husband Matt Cardona, caring for their animals and building a home together as the things that keep her grounded when wrestling gets ugly.
“I have hobbies. I go to acting class. I go to Disney with my husband. I have dogs and cats to take care of, and hopefully, in the future, I’ll have a family. I built this house. There’s just so much more to life than work, although this is a very, very sweet treat right now. I’m not complaining.”
Green spent years wondering whether WWE would ever see her as more than the wrestler trusted to make everyone else look good. Now she has the championship, the fan support and proof that her refusal to let wrestling define her entire existence did not stop her from reaching the top.
What do you think about Chelsea Green treating WWE as a job instead of allowing wrestling to become her entire life? Let us know your thoughts and leave your feedback in the comments.
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