Jordynne Grace Thinks People Aren't Ready To Accept Intergender Wrestling On A National Scale

The #1 Contender for the Impact Wrestling Knockouts Championship, Jordynne Grace, took some time to speak with Interactive Wrestling Radio about her upcoming title match against Taya Valkyrie at Impact's United We Stand event. During the discussion, Grace also explained why she believes national audiences aren't quite ready for intergender wrestling.

Grace started out by explaining to the Interactive Wrestling Radio listeners that appearing in the All In Over Budget Battle Royal was a catalyst for a lot of the success she is currently seeing in the pro wrestling world today.

"I think that night was the biggest night of my career, obviously," Grace stated. "It solidified, I think, my place in wrestling. I think everything that has happened since All In was because of All In, and yeah, especially Impact."

Although she hasn't been with the company long, Grace defeated former Impact Knockouts Champion Tessa Blanchard on a recent episode of Impact Wrestling to become the #1 Contender to the current Knockouts Championship, Taya Valkyrie. Grace is looking forward to witness first-hand Valkyrie's versatility in the ring.

"Yeah, I'm facing her before [United We Stand], too. She's definitely one of the most versatile wrestlers in the entire world," Grace said. "She's from Canada, she lived in Mexico for a little while, she speaks Spanish – she's like America personified! She's like a melting pot of everything America has in store."

Grace remembers that recent #1 contenders match with Blanchard as one of her better ones. However, she's not surprised, as Grace thinks Blanchard is one of the best wrestlers in the industry today.

"I have told people this all the time but I think Tessa Blanchard is one of the best wrestlers in the world," Grace continued. "It is easy to have a really good match with her. I think I'm a pretty good wrestler, usually. But, when you are in there with someone like Tessa, I think we bring out the best in each other."

Grace believes that the Impact Wrestling fans have shown that they're not quite ready to fully embrace intergender wrestling matches. She's convinced that those mindsets will begin to change as long as a widespread, national wrestling company like Impact continues pushing the envelope.

"I'm going to say [that people aren't read to accept intergender wrestling from a national wrestling brand like Impact yet]. A lot of people don't like intergender wrestling; A lot of people who don't understand wrestling at all hate intergender wrestling and are not comfortable with it," Grace explained. "It is really unfortunate, but I think as soon as a company like Impact Wrestling takes a chance and makes it a little more mainstream, then people will see good intergender wrestling and it will make it more palatable. Then they'll realize that this is something that people can watch, and want to watch, and [it] actually makes sense."

Impact Wrestling United We Stand takes place on Thursday, April 4 from the Rahway Rec Center in Rahway, NJ.