Exclusive: Shazza McKenzie Believes She Belongs In AEW
“Sign Shazza.” That’s the rallying cry and hashtag for Shazza McKenzie, who has wrestled all over the world but remains a free agent.
McKenzie appeared on the sixth episode of AEW Dark, teaming with Shalandra Royal in a loss to Leva Bates & Nyla Rose. She was also backstage at AEW Full Gear. And speaking to Fightful, McKenzie revealed that she feels AEW is the perfect home for her.
“I feel like it’s something where I belong in a sense that I share a lot of qualities with the people backstage. For a long time, I was overlooked and a lot of them feel overlooked, like they’ve worked really hard and for whatever reason, so and so didn’t think they were good enough for this or that. So they’ve basically gone out on their own and proven the world wrong that they are just as good or better. Everyone is so positive and encouraging and motivating. It’s a team effort,” she said.
Along with wrestling in AEW, Shazza has wrestled for top promotions such as NXT, SHIMMER, RISE, and more.
When discussing the differences between the various promotions, Shazza stated, “Every promotion has their own different vibe. SHIMMER, being an all-women’s promotion, it’s big focus on making sure we’re going out there and proving we’re just as good or better than the guys and that we can put on a whole card without any guys. Things like NXT, that’s a big company so it’s a giant, well-oiled machine. Not that SHIMMER isn’t a well-oiled machine, but sometimes the smaller promotion are not a well-oiled machine. It’s different working for a giant company compared to a small company that is a bit more intimate with the backstage feel.”
Having wrestled all over the world and for various promotions, Shazza has also stepped foot in the ring with a who’s who list of competitors. Along with wrestling top female athletes such as Tessa Blanchard, Jordynne Grace, Kylie Rae, and Kairi Sane, Shazza has also battled male athletes like MJF, Trevor Lee (Cameron Grimes), and Caleb Konley.
“To me, I just like wrestling,” said McKenzie when asked about intergender wrestling. “I’ve been wrestling for a long time now and when I first started wrestling, there were maybe two or three girls in Australia, so my options for opponents were very limited. Now, the idea of intergender wrestling becoming more popular, it opens up a whole bunch more possibilities with people I can wrestle and different challenges creatively and physically. I enjoy it in that sense. I understand why the major companies don’t really want to do it. If you can have a banger of a match with another girl and have two men go out there and kill it, that’s great. If you want to do intergender wrestling, that works too.”
McKenzie remains a free agent as of this writing. Fans can continue to support McKenzie by using the hashtag #SignShazza and following her on social media @Shazza_McKenzie.