NEWYou can now listen to PK Press Club articles!
LAS VEGAS – Johnnie Robbie will enter WrestleMania week as a relatively unknown and rising professional wrestling star, but when the dust settles in Las Vegas this week, fans will definitely know who she is.
Robbie is a California native who trained at New Japan Pro-Wrestling and made brief appearances in Ring of Honor and All Elite Wrestling. She will begin the week as West Coast Pro Wrestling Women’s Champion. She will compete in about a half-dozen matches over the course of the week, headlining the company’s show and competing in several others.
She spoke to PK Press Club Digital about her journey and how she got started.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON PK Press Club
Johnnie Robbie hits Persephone with a crossbody from the top rope. (Courtesy of Marc Blair)
“I watched him a little bit when I was a kid,” Robbie said of his start in professional wrestling. “I kind of lost track. Then my best friend got me involved, and then I started watching it again. And then I thought I’d rather be doing it than watching it. A little bit about Johnnie Robbie – she doesn’t take anything from anyone.
“I come from Chicano roots – the way I’ve been praised. From the sneakers I wear to the way I’m dressed, you can tell it’s streetstyle and some people can remember it from home.”
Robbie said she first started training as a referee before she was able to receive more bookings.
“My best friend, like I said, he told me, ‘Oh, figure out how to be a wrestler because you always say you want to be something new every day,’ and that’s something that I’ve been looking into and trying to find a school because it’s a little hard to find a school, especially here in Los Angeles because there’s only a handful,” she said. “I started training and I wasn’t learning as much as everyone else and my coaches at the time, they suggested I become a referee until I was ready for my main debut. I think that’s how they did it – their school where they came from, they would do that. I took the idea from there.”
JAPANESE PRO WRESTLING STAR MIYU YAMASHITA PREPARES FOR HER RETURN TO LAS VEGAS AT SLAM FEST
Robbie told PK Press Club Digital that she tries to amplify her roots when she comes to the ring.
She said the gear she wears from head to toe has something to do with where she’s been and her journey.
“I’m here to have a good time and so I get upset or I get upset and I tend to get angry very easily. I think I tend to show that in the ring. I have a quick temper and if I’m on top I get a little bit, I don’t want to say cocky, but I feel really comfortable,” she said. “I think a lot of the time what you see is someone who’s not as big as everyone else or just able to take hits and the way I move in the ring,
“I think that reflects well in terms of… One of my best friends, Alan Breeze, I say, ‘I don’t know what my style is,’ and he goes, ‘You’re a little pit bull, you’re a little dog, you’re just a mess.’ Your style is, I think he said, “Scrappy.” I think that comes into play when I struggle. You can see it. Like I said, I draw inspiration from how I was raised by a bunch of “Cholos”. Like I said, the Chicano lifestyle. I think you see a lot of that when I’m in the ring.”
Johnnie Robbie feels Persephone’s wrath in the ring. (Courtesy of Marc Blair)
Robbie stressed that being able to share her experience with the people who come to her shows is important to her and how much of a difference it makes.
SLAM FEST TO BRING PRO WRESTLING FESTIVAL TO PALMS CASINO RESORT IN LAS VEGAS
“Personally, I love it because sometimes people are like, ‘Oh, you’re just pretty cool,’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah, no, you just don’t understand because you’ve never seen it before.’ Unlike when I’m here in LA or up in North San Francisco with the West Coast, I have little girls that look like me or I have fans that are older and they’re like, ‘Oh my God, you remind me of my sister, you remind me of my tia,'” Robbie said. “Little girls see themselves in me or see their big sister in me.
“So I think it’s that you don’t recognize where I come from, whether it’s little kids seeing it or whether it’s people who grew up like me seeing it, that just makes a difference. I’m just happy to be that person that reminds you of somewhere because even if you’re not familiar with the way I was raised versus a little girl here in Los Angeles, you’re still being introduced to it. So, I appreciate the fact that, ‘Oh, that’s what they mean by that.'”
Robbie said she would play in six matches during the week, but this wasn’t her first game.
She said she had hoped to do at least three matches and put on quality shows, until more and more people started calling her to wrestle at their shows. The hustle mentality is a driving force for Robbie.
RISING PRO WRESTLING STAR PERSEPHONE TO BE PART OF CMLL’S HISTORIC SHOW AT SLAM FEST, REACTS TO PRAISES FROM TONY KHAN
“I think we’re all scrambling… But I looked, a fan made a list of everyone who’s had matches, and I remember thinking when I got there, like, ‘Oh, I only want maybe three matches this year,’ because last year I think I had that many. I want quality over quantity,” Robbie said. “I didn’t want to be overbooked or underbooked. And then, I just had these opportunities, big names or people that I always wanted to wrestle. I was like, ‘Oh, well, OK, I guess, I’m free, then. …’ It’s ‘Mania week and I don’t even know how to explain it. You want as many matches as possible because even if you don’t try, you keep getting these opportunities because all the world, from all over the world is here.
“If you’re not out there doing a lot of (games), or if you’re just not out there at all, I hope you’d like to go. I know it’s tough – it’s a whole week off. Just hustling in general for me, that hustle mentality, are you giving it all you can do? If I could do three games and I did all I could do, it’s have those three games and get to the week of WrestleMania is pretty good…It’s OK.”
Johnnie Robbie appears in a Ring of Honor match against Persephone. (Courtesy of Marc Blair)
Robbie will be one of dozens of wrestlers competing in matches throughout the week.
She will begin her week with two matches on Wednesday – one at Pandemonium Pro Wrestling and another with Unapologetic Pro.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE PK Press Club APP
On Thursday night Robbie will defend the West Coast Pro Women’s Championship at their event and then follow up with a wonderful event. Next, she’ll also look for another belt at PrideStyle Pro, taking on Chris Nastyy for the PrideStyle World Championship on Friday night. This will be his first of two matches there.
