Taylor Wilde didn’t come back to wrestling because she suddenly missed taking bumps. By the time she returned to TNA in 2021, she’d already built an entirely different life as a firefighter and had every intention of leaving wrestling in the past.
Then life took a turn she never saw coming. Looking back now, Wilde says a series of personal hardships made her realize wrestling was the one place where she felt like she could find herself again.
Speaking on the Boots to Boots Podcast, Wilde explained that her 2021 comeback was driven by much more than nostalgia. She revealed that a painful divorce, a custody battle and the pressures of working as a firefighter during the COVID-19 pandemic all happened around the same time, leaving her feeling like she’d lost part of herself.
“The boys on the fire department were super supportive of it. They were so excited for me. But basically, I fell on a really hard time in my life. I went through, like, a really nasty divorce and custody battle, and it was COVID, and being a first responder was ugly.”
She recalled how difficult that period was, explaining that first responders were dealing with enormous uncertainty as the pandemic unfolded. Wilde said that after everything she’d gone through, she realized wrestling was still the place where she truly felt at home.
“Like, you know, we were the canaries. We didn’t know what was going on. The world didn’t know what was going on. I’d gone through this really horrendous time in my life, and I felt like I had lost a piece of who I was. And I thought, you know, if there’s anywhere that I feel at home and… kind of find who I am again, that’s wrestling. The place that really, really built me.”
By then, though, she wasn’t the same person who had walked away nearly a decade earlier. Wilde said she returned with a completely different perspective after spending years as a firefighter, becoming a mother and experiencing life’s ups and downs.
“When I went back, I wasn’t a 21-year-old kid anymore. I’d been a firefighter for nine years at this point. And I was a mom, and I had gone through some… trials and tribulations in my life.”
She stressed that coming back wasn’t about proving anything to anyone else. It was something she needed to do for herself.
“Going back was a choice that I made… I was done, and I really was done. But now, I need this. Like, I need this for me. It was kind of a gift to myself.”
Wilde also credited the newer generation of women’s wrestlers with reigniting her passion for the business, singling out Deonna Purrazzo’s era as one that made her want to lace up her boots again.
“Your generation, Deonna, you guys made me so f****** excited about women’s wrestling. I couldn’t get enough of it, and I was like, ‘I want it.'”
For Wilde, her TNA return wasn’t about chasing one last run or reliving the past. It was about finding a piece of herself again during one of the most difficult chapters of her life—and wrestling ended up being exactly where she found it.
What did you think of Taylor Wilde’s second run in TNA? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
This transcript was produced exclusively for Ringside News from the original recording. Republishing the transcription in full is prohibited. When using excerpts, provide prominent credit and a link to this article.
