At just 25 years old, Leyla Hirsch has made quite the impression inside of the squared circle. It has been in AEW that she has had one highly aggressive match after another and fans could not be more elated. The former amateur wrestler is certainly exciting to watch.
She was born in Moscow, Russia and since an early age has been in the United States after she was adopted by an American couple, but she has never forgotten her heritage and she often wears her country of origin’s colors to the ring, which is her right.
She started her pro wrestling journey in 2017 and since then has made leaps and bounds towards her goals in the sport for sure. She has made prominent stops in Combat Zone Wrestling, Westside Xtreme Wrestling, and other places on the indie circuit and all before signing with AEW on March 15th of 2021; this was after quite a few appearance with the company throughout 2020.
Her feud with Kris Statlander was a good attention-grabber for herself and Statlander over the last few weeks, and there should be more storylines in her future, or rather we at least hope so…perhaps even a (or a few) TBS or AEW Women’s World Championship run to boot.
Seeing that she is Russian-born, and that she does adorn herself in the Russian flag—even recently at Revolution in her match against Statlander—she felt the need to make a statement on Twitter considering what is happening in Ukraine right now; especially since many decided to criticize her, her heritage and her aforementioned ring gear. Here is what she had to say:
“I want to make something very clear. I stand with Ukraine one hundred percent and my heart breaks for its citizens who are suffering at the hands of Vladimir Putin. I came to the US at eight years of age and became an American citizen…
I cannot change my heritage any more than any other citizen can change theirs. The mere fact that I was born in Russia does not mean that I support this brutal dictator. Everyone who would even suggest such a thing is simply wrong, plain and simple.”
via Lelya Hirsch on Twitter
Her courage to make a statement in these circumstances, and her sentiments on how patriotism for one’s country and its heritage and culture and its people doesn’t always mean supporting your country’s leader or his/her decisions is exemplary.
Dax Harwood on if he’d ever return to the realm of McMahon
Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler, who were known for most of their time in WWE as The Revival, were released in 2020. Since then, they have worked in AEW. FTR has dominated, also winning the tag championships in AEW, as well as wrestling in AAA, where they are the current tag champs…and defending.
On AEW TV, it seems as though they have made a face turn, and who knows where that will go, especially seeing that they fired their manager, the legendary Tully Blanchard.
It was just recently that he also tweeted that legacy was important to him and his tag team partner, Cash; so perhaps this has something to do with their character direction. Regardless, he held a Q & A on his Twitter feed and one fan asked him if he’d ever consider going back to WWE. This is what he had to say in response: