Jade Cargill: “I’m somewhat a perfectionist”

TBS champion Jade Cargill recently appeared on the Complex’s Unsanctioned show to discuss a wide range of topics, including the advice Bryan Danielson gives her after matches, and how she’s been taking acting classes to improve her confidence. Highlights from the interview are below.

How Danielson asks her if she had fun in her match, then tells her to review her matches the next day:

So after my matches, I was just so frustrated if something went wrong, because I’m somewhat a perfectionist and I work so hard so I want everybody out there to see how much I’ve grown and how hard I’ve worked. So if something doesn’t go correct, whether it’s me, my opponent, something in the match that’s just uncontrollable, the time is cut, whatever it is, I used to come back and just beat myself up for it. I used to just like, ‘Aw man, something just went wrong. Now everybody’s gonna bring it on me.’ It could not be my fault at all, but because the position I’m in right now, it’s automatically gonna be pointed at me. Also, because I am so green, people are gonna automatically think it’s me. So, we [Jade & Bryan Danielson] had this talk when he was just telling me like… after a match, because every time after a match, he’s like, ‘Hey, how did it go? Did you have fun?’ And that’s all he cares about. He’s like, ‘Did you have fun? Don’t worry about the match right now, it’s happened. Digest it. If you had fun, soak that in and then tomorrow, go over it in your head and watch it but don’t beat yourself up because you have another match to focus on right now,’ and I started living like that, because I would go back, beat myself up, ‘What’s next? Can I do this better?’ And I wanted to have fun. Initially, I wasn’t having fun. I was just so focused on getting it right, rather than having fun and then all of a sudden when he said that, it started clicking. Like I was starting to have fun. It’s just like living in the moment. I was just living in the moment and listening to the crowd, hearing them say my name, hearing them boo, whatever, even though I need more people to boo me so boo for me guys but, I feel it, I feel it. I’m just starting to have so much fun so, one of the things he told me is just, you know, ‘Don’t stress yourself out. Have fun, because you’re gonna look at this 20 years from now and think to yourself that all that — you’re not gonna think the same thing you’re thinking of like beating yourself up. You’re gonna think happy times and when you had fun in these matches and like, people are gonna ask you, hey, what was the best match you ever had? Or who was your best opponent? Who was the easiest to work? That’s what’s important. It’s about the memories you make on the journey.’ It’s all a journey, it’s all a journey and I used to always — this is off-topic but I used to always stay in my room after shows and matches. I would really just go right into my room, unwind and just decompress and you know, I hear all these Hall of Famers and these previous wrestlers, they talk about all these great, fond memories that they had with other wrestlers and I wasn’t doing that, I wasn’t mingling, I wasn’t doing any of that so I wanted to come home and relax and I started doing more of that because I wanted to create a journey and I wanna be able to look at my co-workers 30 years from now, ‘Hey, you remember that time you did that?’ That’s what makes the journey what it is. It makes it fun, this all should be fun. All the hate and all this stuff, you already get enough of that. At least make it fun while you’re doing it and why you love coming to work and why you hate leaving. So, that’s the best advice he’s given me and I’ve really thought of that ever since he told me.

How she takes acting classes to improve her confidence, which she needs for interacting with her co-worker:

Confidence, it’s [acting classes] helping my confidence when it comes to being in front of the camera doing a promo because, it’s like, it’s just — I’ve taken promo — not promo classes but I’ve taken speech classes, I’ve done all that. I’ve done press conferences, I wanted to be a lobbyist which is me just talking to people all the time. But when you have a camera, it’s Mark [Sterling] and I, there’s a camera being pointed at you with like ten people behind you, then at that instant, let’s just say you’re backstage and there are like 40 talents just walking around, going to other wrestlers and somebody tells them, producers, ‘Hey everybody! Shut up! We’re about to film.’ That’s kind of nerve racking. Like because then everybody stops and then stares and these are your co-workers who have been doing this for more years, some of your co-workers have done this longer than you’ve been on this world. So that can be very nerve racking. For me in wrestling, I don’t get nervous, I don’t get nervous being out there at all, especially in front of — the more fans, the merrier, I love it. When I’m in front of my co-workers, that’s different, because they know what to look for, what not to look for, it’s a whole different formula. But, it’s helped tremendously because it’s helped me focus and I go to improv, I’ve done solo classes or private classes, I’ve done that and it’s just helped me tremendously to just block everything out and to just focus and to just take everything in and not just say the words but have people feel it or whatever I’m trying to get over because when MJF cuts his promos, you feel his promos. Regardless of if you love him, hate him, feel indifferent, you feel his promos. But that’s endless experience that he’s been doing this for so long. So, it’s helped me a lot of ways guys.