WOW champion Santana Garrett talks choosing pro wrestling over teaching, Jeanie Buss in the ring and more

The pro wrestling world is incredibly vast. Champions sit on top of every promotion and sometimes, it’s hard to keep track of who is the best of the best throughout the sport.

Santana Garrett has announced her presence with authority with the Women of Wrestling (WOW). Garrett has appeared in WWE, All Elite Wrestling and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) in her career and has found success at WOW.

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She is one of five WOW superstars who have held the WOW World Championship twice. No wrestler who has ever competed in the promotion has won the belt more than that.

Garrett, a second-generation pro wrestler, opened up about her career with OutKick Dropkick recently. She said she knew her life was going to take her down one of three paths – to the ring, to the weather desk or to the classroom.

“I’ve been in the industry my entire life. I’m a second generation wrestler. My father was a wrestler on the independent scene. I grew up as a fan watching it with him, going to shows. So, just kind of always being around it,” she said. “When I was a little girl, I knew that I wanted to be a weather girl or a professional wrestler or an elementary art teacher. So, I took the route of professional wrestling and it’s been an incredible journey.

“It has taken me all over the world. Along the way, there’s been obstacles, ups and downs, like anything, but I wouldn’t change a thing. It’s been it’s been so nice. And I just recently won the WOW World Championship, which I’m so proud of. I won it once before, but it’s been a very long time and a lot has changed. You can imagine 18 years, you evolve and this time it just feels so different and I love it.”

Garrett said she grew up watching the likes of “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Trish Stratus and Lita and began training in her grandfather’s backyard in Ocala, Florida. She said from her first real workout in St. Louis, she knew she could make a career out of pro wrestling.

She won her first title in 2016 when she defeated Jungle Grrrl and The Beverley Hills Babe. She pinned The Beverley Hills Babe in the triple-threat match. The title was vacated more than 740 days later after Garrett and Jungle Grrrl had both pinned Tessa Blanchard.

Garrett lost the title then only to regain it years later against Penelope Pink.

Now, Garrett said she’s more than ready to be the face of WOW.

“It feels incredible,” she told OutKick Dropkick. “And like I said, it’s just, it’s different this time because you think about, let’s say, 15 years ago when … WOW was one of the first companies, major companies, to give me an opportunity, that believed in me, that really made me believe in myself even more. I remember back then, it’s like, OK, you think you’re ready, you’ve done the training, you’ve got the gear but looking back, I’m like, oh my gosh, I was not ready whatsoever.

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“And I was doing it for a lot of other people too. This was my dream but also my dad’s dream and so now I’m doing it for me and I am ready. There’s no doubt I am exactly where I’m supposed to be. I know I deserve it. And so, it’s just it’s very different this time.”

In the next season of WOW, Los Angeles Lakers minority owner Jeanie Buss is expected to have an on-screen role. Buss is the co-owner of WOW and is expected to get in on the action.

Garrett said Buss’ on-screen presence was “way overdue.”

“I am so excited. Jeanie Bus is a legend,” she said. “She is an incredible woman. She’s smart and just kind and so easy to talk to. I just I think the world of her.

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“For her to have more of an on-screen presence, it’s well overdue. And I know all of the girls are very excited for this.”