Show: Wrestling Epicenter
Guest: Zamaya
Date: 11/02/2026
Your Host: James Walsh
Zamaya is an Arizona original. Trained locally, Zamaya quickly stood out and we all knew it was only a matter of time until she made a splash on the national level. And, she has! A Major League splash with Major League Wrestling! MLW’s “Little Killer” Zamaya is our guest of the week!
Zamaya will be facing CONTRA Unit’s Masha Slamovich in a key match as MLW returns to pay per view for the first time in 7 years this Saturday night! We also discuss her signing with MLW, how the female locker room has welcomed her, and we pay homage to Phoenix Championship Wrestling here in Mesa, AZ as well where she still holds the PCW Women’s Championship as she looks to add MLW gold to her collection!
MLW Saturday Night Superfight is coming this Saturday live on VEEPS. Please check out www.MLW.com details!
Don’t forget to check out www.WrestlingEpicenter.com for more great interviews like this including our recent interviews with “Deuce” Jimmy Snuka Jr, Jimmy Hart, Ted Arcidi, Vince Russo, and others which have all been big home runs for us. Plus, our classic archives including the likes of Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels, Sting, Ric Flair, “Macho Man” Randy Savage, and more. While there, check out our store and buy somethin’, will ya?
YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMFPXzqMcXg
ZAMAYA:
“Arizona” James: Welcome back to Interactive Wrestling Radio. Joining us on the News Maker line for the second time is a person who last joined us when she had a torn ACL, and we’ll talk about that in just a moment. But here she is joining us now with a big contract with a national promotion. It’s such a huge, huge thing for her. Promoting MLW, here is Arizona’s own, Zamaya. How are you?
Zamaya: I’m great. Thank you for having me.
“Arizona” James: It’s such a pleasure to have you back on, and, like I said, you’re now an MLW star. You you signed a major contract. That’s a huge deal. What does it mean to you to be signed to a national company?
Zamaya: Uh, it means everything. Especially, I’ve only been wrestling for four years now, so to be able to have any sort of contract this little years in, um, it means so much and MLW is just such a great place to grow and learn so much. And, um, yeah, this is just it’s been super awesome this year and it’s such a big opportunity.
“Arizona” James: Absolutely. And when I first came to my first PCW show, I didn’t really realize what a celebrity you had become in the area. You are huge in Arizona, and it’s a little different in MLW. Obviously, you’re the new girl in town. Was it difficult to adjust to being a a big fish in a small pond versus a small fish in a big pond?
Zamaya: No, I wouldn’t say it was difficult to adjust just because that’s what I want. Like, if I’m surrounded by a bunch of people that know way more than me, then naturally, um, because I’m so coachable, I’m going to just go there, be a sponge, and learn as much as possible. So I’d much rather be the new kid on the block than more experienced in a place where I kind of know everything, not know everything, but I’ve maxed out. So now I’m at the next level where I can continue to learn as much as possible and grow in the business.
“Arizona” James: Small little things that you do really, uh, impress me. Like when I was walking in to one of the shows, my 17-year-old son, who’s a a foot and a half taller than I mean not exactly, but a little bit taller than me. Uh you grabbed him by the arm, you said, “Thank you for coming.” And little things like that just mean so much because he thought it was the coolest thing in the world that that happened. So I just wanted to say the little things that you do matter so much.
Zamaya: Yeah, that I mean, we aren’t anything without the fans and without people showing up and supporting you. So those moments always mean the most to me just because I want to connect with as much people as possible and like me being grateful for someone showing up isn’t just because I have to say that. It’s I’m just extremely grateful when people decide to take the time out of their day to watch us wrestle. So, yeah, that’s super awesome. That made me happy.
“Arizona” James: All right, very cool. Um, so I’ve dealt with women in wrestling for 25 years now, and I can tell you that most of them are pretty cool, some of them are a little catty, there’s a little bit of problems there. What was the experience like walking into a locker room full of guys and girls that have been all around the world? How do they accept you?
Zamaya: That’s that goes back to me saying MLW is such a great place to learn just because I feel like the the locker room that they have created is so welcoming and they want you to get better, they want to help. And like when I first got signed this year, um, when I showed up, it was talent like Shotzi, Scarlett, um, and then Lady Frost had came in for a bit and they were um, and Priscilla Kelly. And they were all just so extremely helpful and gave me some pointers that I probably needed at that point in my career. And yeah, it was just super awesome to be able to learn from women like that and there was never any negative vibe, never them being catty towards me. It was always just like, “Welcome. Now we’re going to teach you what it’s like at this level.” So it was super cool.
“Arizona” James: Very cool. And you mentioned Priscilla Kelly, I actually had a question. It felt like those matches were kind of when everybody could kind of see that you’re for real there, cuz you beat her not once, but twice. Um, what did those matches mean to you working with somebody who has already been on AEWTV and in WWE?
Zamaya: Yeah, it meant a lot and it um, I always love wrestling people that are more experienced than I am and I know that her resume is very big and she’s done a lot. She’s been wrestling since she was much younger. And I was just excited to just see the way that her mind works and see the way that we would mesh together. And I feel like we did have a lot of chemistry. So, I really loved wrestling her.
“Arizona” James: Beautiful, beautiful. And, uh, let’s talk a little bit about that ACL injury, cuz I had you on and I got the feeling maybe you weren’t thrilled about being doing my interview at that time cuz you were kind of bummed about the the leg injury, right?
Zamaya: Yeah.
“Arizona” James: Oh, was it? Okay, what was it?
Zamaya: No, I know. I just I just partially tore my MCL.
“Arizona” James: MCL.
Zamaya: So, no full tear. It was very small. Um, but, yeah, I was lucky it wasn’t that bad. It was still a little bad, but, yeah, it definitely um that small injury definitely made me realize that like there are going to be setbacks, but it’s really about how you come back that means the most. Um, and I came back a hundred times harder than the setback, so, yeah.
“Arizona” James: Very cool. Was it hard to get your feet back under you after that, or was it a pretty easy transition?
Zamaya: Um, I mean it did take a lot of work like strengthening again, um, which was it was hard. Uh, but being in the ring like there was some hesitant moments that I had, but overall, I was just super excited to be back. So once once I got full clearance of, yeah, you could do whatever you want. Um, I was I was just back to training. I didn’t really care because wrestling makes me happy.
“Arizona” James: All right. Let’s take it back to the beginning. For those that maybe didn’t listen to our first interview, I I talked a little bit about your look last time around. But that’s the first thing people notice about you is that you don’t look like every girl that comes out of that curtain, and that’s that’s definitely a benefit for you. What inspired the unique look?
Zamaya: Um, I mean I think the first time we spoke I said Bull Nakano. Um, if that wasn’t so obvious. Um, but I love Bull Nakano. I think that she was just so intense and she had such an incredible look and like again, as soon as you walked into a room you were like, “Damn, who is that?” Um, and I grew up loving Jeff Hardy too and Sting, so I kind of always knew I wanted to do some sort of, uh, face paint. I call it war paint now. But, yeah, it just heavily inspired by them. And I just grew up as an artist, like I grew up painting, I I was always drawing, always doing some sort of artistic outlet. So I think when I got into wrestling, I didn’t want any of that to really go away, so the canvas just kind of became my face.
“Arizona” James: Very cool. When I talk to Sean, Sean is the MLW guy, he’s on the line with us right now. Um, he mentioned your name on Friday, and the first thing I said was, “She was trained right,” and I mean that from the bottom of my heart. The guys that you have learned under have been some of the nicest and most down-to-earth people. Uh, did you want to talk a little bit about training AZ and the PCW experience?
Zamaya: Oh, yeah, absolutely. Um, I train out of the Arizona Professional Wrestling Training Center and I have probably around five trainers. I have my head trainer, his name is Max. Um, he was signed to NXT for a little while back in the day as Axel Tischer, and he’ll come down on Monday nights and he’s our head trainer for the advanced class. And I’ve also trained under Gabriel Gallo, Dom Vitale, um, Joe Graves, and Alex Hammerstone and all of them equally have taught me so much. And they are naturally the most intense wrestlers ever, so I was very blessed with who I was trained with because they pushed me past my limits and beyond. Like the Arizona Professional Wrestling Training Center will not let you give up, and they will not let you be the smallest version of yourself. They always push you to the next level, and they want you to be better, they want you to leave Arizona, they want to push you towards any sort of dream that you may have because everyone there we all have different dreams in the business and we all have different goals and it doesn’t matter if your plan is to stay in Arizona or your plan is to go worldwide, they will push you to your limits to be able to get you there. And, yeah, it’s just it’s an incredible place and it’s out here in Mesa, Arizona. And that’s the training center right under Phoenix Championship Wrestling, which is the largest company out here in Arizona. And we just had our 8th anniversary show where we had over 1,500 people, and it was super incredible. And I’ve been there for the last five years now since I started, and it’s grown so much. I’m the women’s champion right now, so if you are in Arizona and you want to come see Zamaya fight—I pretty much fight at every PCW show—and, yeah, there’s there’s so much incredible talent on there. We have people like Jimmy House, The Pretty City Express, uh, Young Money is our tag champs, and we always have people cycling through. So it’s it’s a super super awesome environment and it’s extremely family friendly, which I love because I I love the kids, like. And so, yeah, we’ve we’ve created something really special and our goal isn’t to stay as small as possible, our goal is just to continue to grow. So, yeah.
“Arizona” James: I was at the one you guys did for the Make-A-Wish Arizona, and I got to tell you that night when I went home I kind of sat in the room for a second, I thought, “You know, they just made the greatest memories of those kids’ lives.” That was really special. So you guys do you guys do great things. And I know this is all to promote MLW, and we will get back to that in just one second. I just wanted to ask you about a match because it interests me. The 4th of July show, you teamed with Dom Vitale, who was under a mask as Mr. America or Mr. USA against the English Colonialists, which I thought was brilliant. And I got to tell you, I’m I’m 45 years old, I’m the same age as Dom, and I told him when he was walking back that was beautiful. I thought that was fantastic. You as a young performer seeing such a simple story play out, did you take anything away from that encounter?
Zamaya: I feel like when I do small shows like that and I’m able to be in the ring with Dom Vitale, I do always learn something, whether it’s big or small. Um, what I took away from that night is people really just want to be entertained, and as long as you’re in it a 1000%, they will ride that with you. Like the fact that we had people in there with fake accents, and I’m just waving a flag around, um, it was awesome, but all four of us, we were 100% in it. We were like, “Okay, we’re the main event, we have to be in this, we can’t be tired, we can’t hold back on anything,” and it just showed me like just be 100% in it and believe whatever you’re putting out into the world and people will follow you if that’s their cup of tea. There you go.
“Arizona” James: Beautiful. I thought it was great, and my kid loved it too. I thought that was really levels on you. All right. Well, back to MLW. MLW is now to be, that is a huge deal for you guys. It’s been a long time in the making, a couple of incarnations in the making as well. Um, what is your thoughts on being able to be found anywhere in the world on Tubi?
Zamaya: It’s awesome. I just get to tell people tune in Thursday night and watch MLZ live on your TV. Yeah, it’s super cool. And I’m again like extremely blessed to even be able to be a part of this, but also the fact that I just got signed to this company and we’re now on all these streaming services and we’re about to have our first pay-per-view live. Like it this feels like a dream, and I’m just I’m extremely grateful and so super excited because I’ve been talking to some people and like they didn’t even know Tubi existed. So now that Tubi exists, like people are able to have another outlet to watch professional wrestling. And there’s also free. Yeah, it’s free. And I’ve had people messaging me like I didn’t even know MLW existed, but I was scrolling on Tubi and I saw your face on there and I was like, “Yeah.” So it’s been super cool. I think it’s it’s it’s awesome that there’s another outlet like that for wrestling.
“Arizona” James: Very cool. And and I not to bring it back to PCW, but let’s talk a little bit about the preparation and the MLW presentation. Um, of course, you can learn the moves, you can learn taking the bumps, you can learn things like psychology, but episodic TV is a little bit different. How have you taken to the experience of being on what is week-to-week episodic television?
Zamaya: Definitely been new regarding like the show date and tapings, because I feel like I’m super used to just, um, setting up our hometown shows and preparing for one thing, and hours going by and then that one eight minutes happening. But with TV there’s a lot that goes into it, and I’ve been able to learn how to do pre-tapes and live promos, and, um, just short promotion videos, which you don’t necessarily do all over the indies. So that’s been awesome to be able to take, and I feel like it’s also when I come back home and I’m wrestling at PCW, it’s taught me to slow down a lot more, um, because I’ve now been able to make myself uncomfortable and become more comfortable in those moments, because that’s what life was about is making yourself uncomfortable so that you grow. And I’ve been able to do that with MLW. So now that I’m back home sometimes, I feel a lot more chill. But, yeah, I’m extremely grateful that I’ve gotten the opportunity to be uncomfortable, um, and learn.
“Arizona” James: Very cool. And, uh, right now you’re involved in a feud with Contra Unit, and of course their lead female performer is Masha Slamovich, who will be your opponent this Saturday, Saturday night Super Fight. Here we go, it’s going to be on Veeps pay-per-view, so if those who want to see it they can do so. What is your thoughts as we head into your, I guess your pay-per-view debut, I believe, is it?
Zamaya: Yeah. No, it it will be my pay-per-view debut. Not easy to say. Yeah. Um, no, I I’m extremely I’m extremely excited and I’m ready. I feel like when I first got signed in January, I was like obviously I didn’t know there was going to be a pay-per-view, but I knew that by the end of this year I was going to be in one of the biggest matches of my career, if not the biggest. And Masha’s resume is incredible. She’s had so much experiences and so much that I’m not even close to, but I think that I’m four years in and I’m signed and it’s my turn to build my resume, and she’s she came in after me and my plan was to take over MLW, and now she’s in my way. So, I have a problem to deal with.
“Arizona” James: Very cool. And there’s a lot of parallels people can make, similar similar sizes a little bit and there’s a lot of parallels between you two. I think it’s going to be a uh a good dollars to donuts kind of match. You guys have a a complementary style.
Zamaya: I do too. Um, I don’t know if you saw the last taping, but they basically we’re fighting for who the baddest bitch in MLW is. And that rubbed me the wrong way just because I think for a while I was dominating a lot of people and now Masha is here. And again, I’ve looked up to her and I think that she has inspired a lot of what I do, but it’s time to show her that I’m I’m I’m ready to be the best that there is and I’m ready to take the world by storm, and that starts with Masha Slamovich.
“Arizona” James: Very cool. And that is Saturday night pay-per-view on Veeps. I’ll have a link on the description as well so people can check that out. I want to thank you for taking the time to do this, and I uh I hope to continue to see you around Arizona and hopefully we’ll get MLW to come to Arizona sometime too.
Zamaya: Yes, that would be amazing. I’m I’m trying to make it happen.
“Arizona” James: Oh, good. Well, yeah, they can partner up with you guys. That would be a a heck of a an opportunity for everybody involved, I think.
Zamaya: Yes.
“Arizona” James: All right. Well, I want to thank you again.
