VertVixen shares her positive memories of working with Gisele Shaw.
2023 has been a standout year for VertVixen. After claiming the DEFY Women’s Championship in late 2022, Vixen soon won more championship gold, unseating Hyan to become the New Texas Pro Women’s Champion.
Since winning that title in May, Vixen has successfully defended against the likes of Trish Adora and IMPACT Wrestling’s Gisele Shaw. VertVixen recently spoke with WrestleZone’s Ella Jay and recalled her most recent title defense against Shaw at the Texas Indie Showcase.
“It was incredible. Gisele is an absolutely amazing woman — fun, crazy in the best way. [She has] the best energy, the best vibes. She’s no joke in that ring, though,” Vixen said. “She is absolutely no joke in that ring. Sometimes you have matches that are kind of eye-openers to you of like, ‘Hey, this is what I need to focus on. This is what I need to do to maintain this championship or to get another championship or travel the world.’ And I had that moment in the ring with her because she’s so snappy, she’s so fast, she’s so aggressive.”
“It was just like, ‘Oh my God, this is what I need to be.’ So that match lit a fire under my ass in the best way to push myself even further and to become even better in that ring. I’m very grateful for that match with Gisele. I’m very honored to have been able to defend the New Texas Pro Championship against two incredible women.”
Proudest Performances
Outside of her work against Shaw, VertVixen recounted a few other performances she felt particularly proud of. For Vixen, she holds high regard for her matches with the likes of Billie Starkz, Hikaru Noa, and Rika Tatsumi.
“I would have to say one of them would be me versus Billie Starkz at DEFY. [It] happened recently, a couple months back, and her and I really just pushed each other and went 100% all out, did everything we could. It’s a match that I’m definitely very proud of,” Vixen said. “There’s some people that you go against and you’re just like, ‘Oh, I just want to go against you all the time. Let’s just have matches all the time,’ and that was Billie for me. There’s just a click. We weren’t afraid to each give it our all, and it was definitely a fair competition. It felt great.”
“Another one would be me versus Hikari [Noa] at TJPW, and then also me versus Rika [Tatsumi] at TJPW. Both of those women wrestled so differently and yet, once again, they really pushed me. I was able to try new things and do new things with them. There’s nothing like being in the ring with a freakin’ Joshi, man. They are the best, incredible, fearless, incredibly strong and fast and just a constant challenge. So, those would have to be the three.”
“Then there’s one I did versus Rina Yamashita that I was really proud of, but I don’t know where the footage is. It was with Spark Joshi Pro Wrestling, but I haven’t seen the footage at all. So, I’m hoping that I’m going to bother them because I really want that match because that one was just an all-out war. I loved it.”
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