Blake Monroe spent months telling everyone to be patient about her SmackDown in-ring debut, but behind the scenes, she wasn’t nearly as relaxed about the situation as she made it sound. After five months of waiting, Monroe admits she started wondering why the hell WWE wasn’t using her.
Speaking on Busted Open Radio, Monroe opened up about the long delay between arriving on SmackDown and finally wrestling her first official match as a member of the roster. Monroe said she was desperate to get in front of the crowd and initially trusted that WWE was simply waiting for the right time. After several months, though, that confidence started getting tested.
“Definitely was. I love to work and be out in front of the crowd, but I can’t do that if I’m not out there. So I was chomping at the bit for five months, dying to get out there. I know better than anyone else — timing is everything. I knew in my heart, but it does get to a point months in where you’re thinking, ‘Alright, I train, go to the gym, dress like a million bucks, have my character and ideas, and wanna be out there.’”
It wasn’t just frustration either. Monroe admitted she started looking around at other women getting opportunities and thinking about what she could have done if WWE gave those same chances to her. Eventually, that turned into some genuine self-doubt.
“I see other girls — I can be better than them. I think if I had shots they had, I would have done more with it. And there is that natural hunger and desire. It can get to a point where you’re questioning yourself and, ‘Why is it not happening for me?’ Ultimately, it’s such a huge machine and so many moving parts and many unpredictable factors, like injuries and other things shifting around.”
That also gives a little more explanation for why Monroe’s debut took so damn long. According to her, injuries and other pieces of WWE’s creative plans shifting around contributed to the delay rather than there being one specific issue keeping her off television. Monroe’s response was basically to keep showing up every week with ideas until WWE finally said yes to something.
“And for me, it was just every single week turning up and saying, ‘I’m ready for this. Here’s 10 different things I wanna do on the show,’ until one of them sticks, and it did. And you cannot keep me in the back for another week. I did have moments where I questioned myself.”
That persistence eventually paid off. After weeks of issues with Giulia, Monroe finally wrestled what WWE billed as her SmackDown in-ring debut on October 2 and walked away with the victory.
What makes Monroe’s latest comments interesting is how different things actually felt behind the scenes compared to what she was telling fans at the time. She publicly preached patience and insisted timing was everything, but she was still human enough to wonder whether that opportunity was ever actually going to come.
Do you think WWE waited too long to finally give Blake Monroe her chance on SmackDown, or did the delay ultimately work in her favor? Let us know what you think in the comments.
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.
