Jordynne Grace explains how WWE Royal Rumble deal came together
Jordynne Grace did everything she could to keep news of her WWE Royal Rumble appearance from leaking.
The current TNA Knockouts Champion entered the women’s Rumble match on Saturday in the number five position. She lasted nearly 20 minutes before being eliminated by Bianca Belair.
Grace recently told Fightful that when she first received a call from Scott D’Amore about being in the Rumble, she didn’t think it was real.
Grace said:
Honestly, when he said it, I was like, ‘Well, maybe this is just an idea that they have and it’s not for real. Maybe they are just like testing the waters a little bit.’
Honestly, I did not think it was going to happen until I got my actual flight to Orlando to go to the PC. That was when everything started to feel real.
Grace had a medical evaluation done on the Monday before the Rumble. She then flew out to Orlando that Thursday to take part in rehearsals at the WWE Performance Center before driving to Tampa the following day.
In order to prevent the news of her Rumble appearance from getting out sooner, Grace says she avoided telling anyone other than her husband, Jonathan Gresham. Her former co-workers in Impact, Chelsea Green and Naomi, were not given a heads up. Evidently, Green was not happy about this.
Grace continued:
I saw Chelsea Green, who was really mad that I didn’t tell her. She came up and she hit me. She was like, ‘someone just texted me and said that you’re here and I didn’t believe him but here you are.’ And she was really upset that I didn’t tell her but I was like, ‘Come on, it’s better that I’m here as a surprise.’
I also didn’t tell Trinity, which was the funniest thing. All week, I’m texting her and I’m like, ‘Yeah, I’m really excited to see you in the Rumble blah blah blah’ but what she didn’t know was I was going to be standing across the ring seeing her.
Grace also stayed in a hotel separate from the other wrestlers during Royal Rumble weekend.
After news of her being in the Rumble was reported on Saturday, Grace posted a video of her at home on X to convince fans the rumors weren’t true. She told Steve Fall recently that she filmed the video ahead of time in case news of her being in the Rumble got out.
Grace said:
I did take those videos beforehand, before I left my house because I was like, ‘Oh, just in case it does, I’ll put this out to have some fun and put them off the trail a little bit.’
The crowd in Tampa gave Grace a nice reaction when she entered the Rumble match on Saturday. She says she could hear the “TNA” chants as her and Naomi shared a moment in the ring together, something she was not expecting.
Grace said:
I’m still besides myself that it all happened. Honestly, I had low expectations because I don’t know that that many people know me. I don’t know the crossover of TNA and WWE fans. So, I was just like I’ll go out and if there’s no reaction that’s okay, just get in the ring and make sure there’s a reaction afterwards. Make sure that if they don’t know you now, they are going to know you later.
Grace also spoke to our own Denise Salcedo following the Rumble. Denise asked her what was going through her head before she made her entrance and Grace gave a blunt response.
Grace said:
Don’t f**k anything up. To be realistic, that was the main thing. You know what’s funny is one of the things I was most worried about was the entrance because, obviously, that’s the first time that people are going to see me just on WWE in general. So, I wanted to look good. And actually, I did f**k it up. I went out and I didn’t even do my pose when I went out. I was so overwhelmed I just stood there and I was smiling and I looked around and was like, ‘Alright, let me just get to the ring now.’ So, I did fuck it up but I didn’t mess up anything in the ring, thank god, so that’s all I can ask for.
Grace defeated Trinity/Naomi to win the Knockouts title at Hard to Kill earlier this month. She then successfully defended the title against Trinity the following day at the Snake Eyes TV taping. Grace and Trinity then teamed together in a match taped in Orlando the following week against Gisele Shaw and Savannah Evans. TNA has yet to announce when the match will air.
