Former WWE Superstar Gangrel has been training Paige Van Zant, but says another female MMA star could also be “popping up somewhere” soon!
MMA star Paige Van Zant officially signed her AEW contract on the March 9th episode of AEW Dynamite, and shortly thereafter, it was learned that she would not be training with AEW talent, but instead with WWE Attitude Era icon Gangrel.
Speaking to Nick Hausman on The WrestlingInc Daily, Gangrel talked about training the Van Zant and also revealed that he’s been working with another female MMA star in the ring.
“Yes, one of them is Paige Van Zant, although she’s ghosted on me for a few days. But she’ll be back in the mix. She’s definitely one of them. Then there’s another lady, I don’t think I can mention her name yet, until she gets out of the contract she’s in right now. But she definitely looks like she’ll be popping up somewhere, one of the big companies soon.”
Though he can’t yet reveal which other star he’s working with, Gangrel had high praise for Paige Van Zant’s athletic ability and spoke about how he believes she’ll fare in AEW.
“I think she’s taken to it well, she’s extremely athletic. She’s a gymnast, a ballerina, and heck, anybody that can place second, runner-up on Dancing With The Stars has got to be coachable. Plus she’s a fighter, a bare-knuckle fighter. So, she’s tough, she’s pretty, she’s agile, and she can flip. I think she’s going to do just fine in AEW.”
When comparing which female MMA star he believes is more passionate, Gangrel said it’s the other woman that he’s training – but he doesn’t deny that Van Zant is talented and does have passion for wrestling.
“Out of the two, I am going to say that the girl I am training today is more passionate than her. Paige is just so extremely talented. I’d hate to go out on a limb and say it’s business, but I don’t feel the same passion that the girl I am training today has. But no, she’s passionate. To give up and walk away from her other career, she’s definitely passionate about it and stuff like that.”
h/t WrestlingInc