Zoey Serrano thought she was legitimately going to pass out during one of her WWE matches with Shayna Baszler, and Triple H apparently wasn’t ready for the match to end just yet. Serrano revealed that she was struggling to breathe while trapped in Baszler’s Kirifuda Clutch as the referee repeatedly relayed instructions from Triple H to keep going.
During an episode of Zoey’s 10,001 Internet Questions, Serrano and Baszler looked back at their experiences wrestling each other in WWE. Serrano specifically remembered one match where Baszler was wearing a cast and was supposed to finish her off with the Kirifuda Clutch.
Serrano said Baszler was putting the submission on tight enough that things quickly became uncomfortable. She recalled needing to tap out as part of the finish but feeling like Baszler was legitimately putting the clutch on her.
“There was, just because I haven’t told the internet this, we had a match together. You had that damn cast on. You had the cast on, and Hunter wanted you to, like—I needed to tap out, so you had to put your clutch on me. And you were, like, legit putting it on me, and I’m thinking—”
Baszler immediately cut in and pushed back on that part of the story. She made it clear that she wasn’t intentionally applying the submission for real: “Okay, okay, okay. That’s not true.” Serrano clarified that the bigger problem was how exhausted she already was by that point. While stuck in the clutch and struggling to breathe, she kept hearing the referee relay the same message from Triple H.
“But when you’re already, like, tired, it’s different. And I felt like I couldn’t breathe, and it felt like forever. And all I keep hearing the ref say, ‘Hunter says keep going. Hunter says keep going.’ And at this point, I’m cursing the ref. I’m like, ‘What is happening?’”
Baszler then explained what Triple H actually meant by telling them to keep going. According to her, he wasn’t telling Serrano to simply lie there in the submission but wanted her to continue fighting.
“Let me explain something, too. When Hunter is on the headset saying, ‘Keep going,’ he’s not saying just lay there in it. He wants you to be fighting.”
Serrano agreed, explaining that she had to keep scrambling, getting back up and going down again while Baszler remained attached to her. That made an already exhausting situation even tougher.
“Scramble, work up, stand up, go down, like, a lot.”
Baszler admitted Serrano wasn’t exaggerating about how rough the Kirifuda Clutch could feel in that situation. She then got into why someone’s submission experience can make such a big difference.
“And I’m sorry, Z, but you’re not lying, especially in that clutch.”
Baszler asked Serrano how much legitimate submission training she had at the time. Serrano revealed she had around two years of experience and was still a white belt.
“All right, so for anyone that trains submission, how much submission training do you have? Shoot, shoot.”
Serrano didn’t try to oversell her experience. She gave Baszler a pretty straightforward answer about where she was at with her training: “Like two years. White belt.” Baszler explained that she believes someone’s belt level can often be seen in how long they’re able to remain inside a choke. More experienced grapplers, according to her, are generally much better at staying calm and waiting things out.
“White belt, right? So I always say you can tell a person’s belt color by how long they can be in a choke.”
Baszler then explained how different it can be trying to choke someone with considerably more submission experience. She recalled situations where she thought she had an experienced grappler completely caught, only to discover they were simply waiting for her arms to give out first.
“White belts will tap out the fastest. You can put a black belt in a choke and be squeezing for all it’s worth and be like, ‘Oh, it’s in.’ And be like, ‘I’m so tired. What happened? Why didn’t they tap?’ And then you’ll get done and go, ‘Hey, man, what was I doing wrong with that choke?’ And they were like, ‘Oh, I was in.’ Like, ‘Yeah, I just had to hope that you were going to give up before I did.’”
For Serrano, the exhaustion wasn’t just coming from Baszler’s submission. She revealed that their match had already gone over its allotted time, yet she was still hearing instructions from Triple H to get back up and keep moving instead of tapping immediately.
“Yeah. Well, I felt like I was about to pass out because Hunter’s saying, ‘Stand up. Keep moving. Don’t tap out yet.’ So I’m having to get there. I’m exhausted because we’re probably—one, we went over time. I remember that.”
Baszler explained that Serrano constantly moving also forced her to hold on tighter than she normally would. Since she was hanging onto Serrano’s back, she had to use her arms to stop herself from sliding out of position.
“Also, not for nothing, I’m hanging on to your back, so I probably am having it on a little bit tighter than usual just because I’m having to hold on as you—okay, when a person stands up, their legs come up, or knees first, so you buck forward on them. And anyone that does jiu-jitsu or something knows that when you get too high on someone, you’re about to lose the position. So in order to stay down, I have to kind of use my arms anyway.”
By that point, Serrano wasn’t simply waiting for the planned finish anymore. She joked that she genuinely believed her body was about to completely give out before she could finally escape the situation.
“Yeah. Well, I thought I for sure was going to pass out and piss my pants during that match.”
Serrano can laugh about the match now, but her story shows just how chaotic things can get when wrestlers are trying to follow backstage instructions while already running on empty. Being trapped in one of Baszler’s submissions certainly wasn’t the easiest place to be while waiting for the green light to finally tap out.
What do you think about Zoey Serrano revealing what happened while Triple H was telling her to keep going during the match? Let us know 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.
