Chelsea Green won't be competing at WrestleMania 42, but she's not exactly sitting it out either.
In an interview with Esteban Ramirez recorded ahead of the Las Vegas event, the WWE Women's U.S. Champion confirmed an ankle injury is keeping her out of in-ring action. Her plan for the weekend: watch every match from backstage and do as much press and media as she can to help fill seats.
"I will be sitting there backstage watching every single match, doing as much press and media as I can to make sure those seats are filled and everyone enjoys their time," she said.
Green spoke candidly about the pressure this year's event carries. WrestleMania returns to Las Vegas for the second consecutive year, which she said raises the stakes for everyone involved.
"There's so much pressure this year to put on a really incredible show because we're in the same place that we were last year, and that does not happen very often," she said. "This WrestleMania is going to be absolutely insane, because it has to be."
Undertaker, Michael Hayes, and a Ceiling She Refuses to Accept
Green also addressed the widely-discussed comments from WWE Hall of Famer Michael Hayes, who suggested she was better suited as a mid-card act. She admitted the remarks stung, even if she understood where he was coming from.
"Two things can be true at the same time," she said. "I can care that there's maybe this ceiling put on me, and I'm not able to get out of that box. But I can also come to terms with the fact that I have this really amazing job that pays me great money to do exactly what I want to do in life."
She revealed that the Undertaker has been a private mentor throughout her run, well before he publicly backed her against Hayes. According to Green, he recruited her for Triple A, put the belts on her and Ethan Page, and has been coaching her character backstage in ways that never made it to television.
"He's the one that has really hyped me up backstage and told me things you guys don't get to see," she said. "Try this with your character, try that with your character, turn this up, turn this down, you can do it. He has been there."
His public defense of her was gratifying, but not a surprise. "I knew he believed in me," Green said. "But the fact that he just said it right to Michael Hayes, it was all so hilarious to watch."
Still Chasing a Bigger Spot
Despite her championship reign, Green said she has never appeared in an Elimination Chamber and has rarely been given significant pay-per-view time. That's the next thing she wants.
"I would love to show people what I can do if I was given 15, 20, 25 minutes, or if I was put in the ring with some of the quote-unquote top girls," she said. "I've never even experienced an Elimination Chamber. That's crazy."
She was clear about her long-term ambitions: "I'm not doing this to be a mediocre star. We're all doing this to go to WrestleMania, to be a top dog, to make the most money we can possibly make."
Husband Matt Cardona Also on the Card
Green's husband Matt Cardona is back in WWE, which marks the first time the two have been under the same roof at the company for any meaningful stretch of their relationship. She said the return matters to him on a deeper level than opportunity.
"WWE is his first and really his only love," she said. "He grew up wanting to be at WrestleMania. He didn't just want to wrestle, he wanted to be a WWE superstar. And so he needed to come back and close this chapter in whatever way that looked like."
Her greatest WrestleMania memory is watching Cardona win the Intercontinental title off a ladder, from a hotel room in Dallas surrounded by fellow indie wrestlers. She said she wants to be there live if he has another moment like it.
