CLEVELAND — Ohio has a rich history of professional wrestling, but it's an industry that hasn't always seemed like it was for everyone. That's now changing as more women get involved in the sport.
Nikki Grant walks into the gym and puts on her wrestling shoes for an evening between the ropes.
“It’s been a little while since I’ve had a full training routine. Lots of stretches, running some ropes, but just some stuff to loosen up and just be ready to beat my body up,” Grant said.
She gets in the ring, starts stretching and runs the ropes, warming up for her passion.
“I love the athleticism, I love just the brutality, I guess a little bit, but it was something my mom enjoyed when I was younger, so for me, I picked it up because she enjoyed it. And then, I just fell more and more in love with it,” she said.
For years, the former Army Reservist and Ohio native has hit the road and traveled all over the world, living her dream of being a professional wrestler.
“Traveling is by far my favorite part. It’s one experience that not everybody gets, especially not in a line of business where you just enjoy what you do and get to travel," Grant said.
Grant wrestles under the ring name of Zoey Skye. And she’s built an impressive following over her almost 15-year career.
But that success didn’t happen overnight.
“When I first started, there were no girls around. There were girls that I trained with, a handful of girls in the area that had a little bit more experience than me. So I either wrestled the same girls over and over again or I wrestled the guys. So for me, it was always about proving myself to the men,” she said.
The last few years have seen a big push for more opportunities for women in wrestling. That includes women being featured in the main event of Wrestlemania 35 in 2019. Wrestlemania is considered the Super Bowl of wrestling and hosted by WWE, the world's largest wrestling company.
In Ohio, wrestling students are eagerly learning from Skye at MEGA Championship Wrestling. The promotion is run by Jeff Traxler. At his school, women and men all train and work together. He said the growth of women’s wrestling has been great for the industry.
“Women are going through training. Women are busting their butts to get where they are right now and you can see that in all the major promotions where you have women that are featured in main events where, 10, 15 years ago, that you never even would have thought about that,” Traxler said.
As Skye gives advice to a student, she’s happy to be part of the barrier slamming inside the squared circle.
“I think that the slow build could have happened faster, but the build to women’s wrestling to what it is now has helped tremendously. And again, I think it’s helped a lot of women, young girls, ladies, women, just in general, gain confidence in a business that was solely for men, that they can achieve their goals too,” Skye said.
As Skye continues to climb the ladder of the wrestling business, she’s proud of what she’s accomplished so far and loves being able to share her passion with future generations.
"To have people come to me for advice and opinions and want to learn from me and want to sit in a classroom setting to just hear my story, hear my advice, it makes me feel great about what I’ve done and what I’ve become,” Skye said. “If this is your passion and you want to do it, don’t let anybody tell you not to. Just go and do it.”