Exclusive: Impact’s Kiera Hogan Recalls Her WWE Tryout In 2015

Only 23 years old, Kiera Hogan is making her presence felt in Impact Wrestling on a weekly basis. But years ago, Hogan already had the eye of WWE.

Hogan participated in a WWE tryout in 2015, just mere months into her career. Fast forward to 2018, and she's featured weekly on Impact Wrestling television, and has a match May 19 against Lucha Underground star Ivelisse at Ladies Night Out II on TitleMatchWrestling.com. When speaking to Fightful.com about the event, Hogan opened up about her experience at the tryout.

"Oh man, it was terrible. I tried to hard to condition myself for it. My manager at Twin Peaks actually had done a tryout before and she was telling me about it. Nothing could prepare me for what they have for you. It's very strategic. It feels very military. Very set up, very hard to condition. It's was definitely an experience. Just all three days, it was crazy to even be at the Performance Center that early in my career. I think I was five or six matches (in). It was an overwhelming, crazy experience," said Hogan.

Obviously, Hogan didn't end up signing with WWE, but the experience is one that she looks back on fondly. We asked her what kind of feedback she got from WWE and NXT's trainers.

"I got some good feedback. They wanted to see if you were going to quit, if you were going to say 'I can't anymore.' Who was going to be the first one to stop? I just tried to push myself, so I got really good feedback. They called me the 'little shrimp,' because I was really little and moved really fast. That was their nickname for me that weekend. They liked my fire gimmick, and thought it was cute, especially for me. They liked that my name was Hogan, and I said 'I'm a Hogan, just with a little bit of fire.' They seemed to really like me, but I haven't heard anything in a couple of years," Hogan told Fightful.

Two years later, Hogan would sign with Impact Wrestling, and make her debut there in 2018 with a big win over Laurel Van Ness. She's still active on the independent circuit, making regular appearances all over the country. 

Kiera appears courtesy of TitleMatchWrestlingNetwork.com, where you can stream Ladies Night Out II on May 19 from Texas City at the World Gym Arena! You can see our full interview with Hogan above.