The Next Big Star In Women’s Wrestling: Jessica Roden

“This has honestly been an accumulation of all my passions and what I feel to be my purpose in life,” Roden said. “I was that girl even throughout college. I’m like, what is it that I’m supposed to do? I want to use my athleticism. I want to use my business and marketing and my creative side, and I love storytelling.”

Makes sense. As far as some of the other parts of the job, like smacking someone in the head with a chair, well, that came as a surprise to her family. “They know me as just Jessica,” she laughs. “I have always been good in school and nice to people and all those things. So, in the grand scheme of things, they’re like, ‘What? You’re going to just beat up girls?”

Well, kinda, but as any wrestling fan knows, there’s a lot more to it than that, and for Roden, this was the perfect way to mesh her interests and talents into her main focus.

“I just love stories, in general,” she said. “I eventually want to write a children’s book and be a mentor to young kids, and I didn’t get to travel growing up, so that’s why I went away for college (at the University of Alabama), and now I’m out here in California. I want to keep traveling and experience the world and just help make an impact. I want to be a strong woman for young girls and boys to look up to. It’s so important to have somebody that not just says it, but that does it.”

Enter Rikishi and Reno Anaoa’I (Black Pearl), the gentlemen teaching Roden the finer points of not just finishers and taking bumps but the psychology of pro wrestling. “I went all-in, and they’ve been the best family,” Roden said of her coaches. “Of course, they have that history of wrestling, and it’s been in their family their entire lives. So, to have mentors like that, I want to help withhold the integrity of the business because I feel like now it’s just a bunch of high-flying spots and acrobatics and less storytelling. You can still do cool stuff, but let’s make it mean something when you do it.”

Roden’s approach, along with her athleticism and marketability, made her a hit in California – and beyond – ultimately garnering her a WWE tryout last September.

“They said I have the ‘it’ factor and all those qualities that they look for in an athlete coming in,” said Roden, who has wrestled on AEW Dark and Ring of Honor shows. “They just want me to get more reps. They want to see that I’m working on the independent scene and that I’m not giving up. They want me to find that ‘f**k you.’ That’s how they phrased it. (Laughs) Matt Bloom was like, ‘Find that f**k you.’ Because I feel like, in 2023, my kindness was kind of mistaken for weakness a little bit just because I’m this new girl coming in. People thought that I was someone that they could take advantage of by being more experienced or something like that. So I’m just continuing to stand up for myself and continuing with those reps so I can feel like a more confident wrestler in there because once it clicks in that way, I feel like that ‘f**k you,’ and all of those things that they’re wanting out of me, are going to all come together at the right time. And I think 2024 is looking like it’s going to be a really good year.”

In the meantime, Roden remains a student of the game, watching videos and learning not just from her coaches but at seminars like a recent one with Eddie Kingston. “He doesn’t do high-flying moves, but he’s where he’s at because he knows how to carry a story and make that believable,” she said. “He even gave some good examples of Roddy Piper and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin as people that don’t do crazy things, but they make everything mean something. And in the grand scheme of things, those are the people who are going to be around the business a while and be able to tell those stories and have that impact.”

And where does J-Rod fit in that equation?

“I want to merge that old school and new school and create that believability again,” said Roden. “I feel like that’s kind of been lost here recently with wrestling. There’s a lot of ‘Everyone knows it’s fake, so let’s just make it super unbelievable.’ And I’m like, no, if people know it’s fake, let’s have them ask if you’re okay at the end because they are questioning, ‘Wait, was this one real?’ ‘Was this match real?’ So I want to bring that believability back.”

She pauses, the love of the game evident. “I just have a super big passion and heart for it,” Roden continues. “God gave me my body and my physique, and yes, I work hard for it, but he gave me the foundation of what I have to hopefully use for something greater. I want to be the girl that goes after her dreams and makes them all come true.”