Paige VanZant Reveals Why She Signed With AEW

On the last episode of AEW: Dynamite, Paige VanZant officially became ‘All Elite’, signing her contract on Tay Conti after beating down the Brazilian star.

‘12 Gauge’ had made several AEW appearances before putting pen to paper, and explained to ESPN why she’s made the jump to pro wrestling:

"The more I got involved, the more I loved it," said VanZant, who admitted she saw a future for herself in pro wrestling. "I just realised I was meant to be a part of the show. I wanted to be one of the wrestlers for them and I knew I would be really good at it.”

VanZant will still compete for bare knuckle boxing federation BKFC and hasn’t ruled out more MMA fights in her career, but for now she’s focused on wrestling, and is training under Gangrel to prepare for life in the squared circle:

"My only frustration so far with my whole pro-wrestling journey is I would show up and I said, 'Hey, I want to jump off the ropes tonight. I want to slam someone through a table tonight - someone is getting slammed through a table.' They're like, uh, you should probably train first. My only concern is they don't let me do the crazy stuff right away. I want to go in there and I want to do all the crazy stuff. I want to fully immerse myself in this world,” continued VanZant.

VanZant has legit cross-over appeal, and her signing is a coup for an ever expanding AEW. "I'd love to see my face in AEW every week. I think I bring a lot to the table," VanZant said. "I have a whole different audience that doesn't necessarily follow [AEW] yet. I have the pro fighting audience - pro MMA and pro boxing. I think I bring a lot of value with my name brand."