Green explains that it was a mix of her indie wrestling background and love of acting that really allowed her to shine under incredible pressure as she was counted out for the very first time.
“We always have to create those backstories before we press record, and I think that’s what’s helped me in this run of WWE. Every Friday, every Monday, every premium live event is a new shit show—we still have that same backstory to rely on. So when I went out there and I got counted out and in my head, I was in this moment, and I wasn’t listening to the referees, and I slid in, and I heard him count to 10. But the show must go on, so I think what would Chelsea Green the President do? What would Chelsea Green, the United States Champion do? What would Chelsea Green the narcissist do?”
The Female John Cena
With the title now on her resume, Green is eager to think outside of the ring just as much as she fights in it. While she’s still clearly excited to wrestle at WWE, she also wants to make the transition to acting like John Cena and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson before her. Now that she has been booking roles including in the upcoming Dimension 20 campaign, it feels like a full circle moment as one of her first jobs was as a stunt double on the cult classic series Wynonna Earp, which shaped her as both an actor and an athlete.
“When I was hired to be a stunt double, I had no idea how incredible the journey would be and what would come after that,” Green shares. “I choreographed fight scenes with the stunt coordinator for Wynonna Earp that I had to perform in negative 20-degree weather with two or so feet of snow outside, bashing into trees and jumping off of roofs. It was just so exhilarating, so exciting, so painful, it was all the things, and that has kind of made wrestling so easy, because stunt work is the hardest work you can do. It’s not just like one skill set, true professional stunt women do everything from gymnastics to fighting to knowing how to drive cars and motorcycles to falling, just like we do in wrestling, except they’re doing it from a 10-story building.”
While her passion for stunt work is clear, Green is in acting classes, thinking about what comes after WWE. “Having won a singles championship at WWE. I really think that my goal is now outside of wrestling, because at the end of the day, we can only control so many things in wrestling. It is what it is. We have a whole team behind us that is deciding the fate of our character. I can only hope for the best, I can only show up with a good attitude.”
As she builds up her credits and works on honing her craft in Orlando, Green has dreams of getting complex leading roles, more akin to characters who would show up in the works of M. Night Shyamalan or Patty Jenkins. “I want to be the female James McAvoy in Split. Ever since I became the hot mess in TNA, I have never been able to get these kind of characters out of my head: the split personality, the multiple personalities. I love diving into deep, deep character work instead of just playing someone that I am.”
