Rising star Johnnie Robbie underscores hustle mentality during WrestleMania week

LAS VEGAS – Johnnie Robbie will enter WrestleMania week as a relatively unknown rising pro wrestling star, but when the dust settles in Las Vegas this week, fans will definitely know who he is.

Robbie is a California native who trained in New Japan Pro-Wrestling and had brief appearances in Ring of Honor and All Elite Wrestling. She will enter the week as the women’s champion of West Coast Pro wrestling. He’ll appear in about a half-dozen matches throughout the week, headlining the company’s show and competing in several other matches as well.

He told Fox News Digital about his background and how he got started.

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“I watched it a little bit when I was a kid,” Robbie said about getting into professional wrestling. “I got out of it for a bit. Then my best friend got me into it and then I started watching again. Then I thought I’d rather do it than watch it. A little bit about Johnnie Robbie – he doesn’t take anything from anybody.”

“I come from Chicano roots; I’ve been praised a lot for that. You can see from the sneakers I wear to the way I dress that it’s street style, and it might remind some people of home.”

Robbie said he started training as a referee before he could take any more penalties.

“My best friend, like I said, was like, ‘Oh, figure out how to be a wrestler because every day you say you want to be something new,’ and that was something that I was looking into and trying to find a school because it’s kind of hard to find a school, especially here in Los Angeles because there’s only a handful of them,” he said. “I started training and I wasn’t recovering as well as everyone else and my coaches at the time. They suggested I be a referee until I was ready to make my debut. I guess that’s how they did it; the school they came from, they were going to do it. That’s where I got the idea from.”

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Robbie told Fox News Digital that he tries to strengthen his roots when he comes to the ring.

He said the clothes he wears from head to toe are related to his location and history.

“I’m here to have a good time and so I get angry or angry and I get angry very easily. I think I tend to show that in the ring. I get angry easily and if I’m on top, I don’t want to say a little cocky, but I really relax,” he said. “I think what you mostly see is someone who isn’t as big as everyone else or can just take hits and it shows how I move in the ring.

“I think it’s well-received in the sense that… Alan Breeze, one of my best friends, I say, ‘I don’t know what my style is,’ and he’s like, ‘You’re a little pitbull, you’re a little dog, you’re just like a mess.’ I think your style said ‘Bad’. I think that comes into play when you’re wrestling. You can see this. As I said, I draw from my upbringing by a group of ‘Colos’. Just like I said, the Chicano lifestyle. “I think you see a lot of that when I’m in the ring.”

Johnnie Robbie feels Persephone’s wrath in the ring. (Courtesy of Marc Blair)

Robbie emphasized that it was important for him to be able to share his history with the people who came to his shows and how much of a difference it made.

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“I personally love it because sometimes people are like, ‘Oh, you’re so cool,’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah, no, you don’t get it because you’ve never seen it before.’ I say. Unlike when I’m up here in Los Angeles or up north in San Francisco on the West Coast, I have little girls that look like me or I have older fans and they’re like, ‘Oh my god, you remind me of my sister, you remind me of Tiam,'” Robbie said. “Little girls see themselves in me, or they see their older sisters in me.

“So it makes a difference whether you don’t know where I come from or little kids see it or people who grew up like me see it. I’m glad that I’m that person somewhere that you’re reminded of because even if you don’t know my upbringing as a little girl here in Los Angeles, you’re still being introduced to that now. So I enjoy that, ‘Oh, that’s what they mean.'”

Robbie said he would start six matches during the week, but this wasn’t his first match.

He said he hopes to have at least three matches and put on quality shows until more people start calling him to wrestle. The hustle mentality is a driving force for Robbie.

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“I think we’re all rushing… But it turns out some fans have made a list of everyone who’s got matches and I remember thinking, ‘Oh, I only want three games this year’, because I think I had just as many last year. I want quality over quantity,” Robbie said. “I didn’t want to be over- or under-involved. And then, I came across these opportunities, big names or people that I always wanted to wrestle. So I thought, ‘Oh, okay, okay, I guess, I’m free, so…’ It’s ‘Mania week and I don’t even know how to explain it. You want as many matches as you can because even if you’re not trying, you keep getting those opportunities because everybody from all over the world is here.”

“If you’re not doing a lot of matches there or if you’re not there at all, I hope you want to get out there. I know it’s tough, a full week off. For me, just the hustle in general, that hustle mentality, do you give it your all in terms of what you can do? If it was three matches if I could and I did everything I could, it was good enough to do those three matches and go into WrestleMania week. … It’s okay to miss it just because the hustle is still going on on the other side. What can you do if you’re not around for that week? To me, it’s whatever it is.” I use it to chase, but at the same time I understand that you have limitations. To me, you’re rushing.

Johnnie Robbie appears in the Ring of Honor match against Persephone. (Courtesy of Marc Blair)

Robbie will be among dozens of wrestlers who will participate in matches throughout the week.

He’ll kick off his week with two matches on Wednesday, one at Pandemonium Pro Wrestling and the other at Unapologetic Pro.

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On Thursday night, Robbie will defend the West Coast Pro Women’s Championship at their respective event and then Fabulous will continue the event. He will then look for another belt in PrideStyle Pro and will face Chris Nastyy for the PrideStyle World Championship on Friday night. It will be his first of two matches here.

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