Show: Wrestling Epicenter
Guest: Gia Miller
Date: 07/08/2021
Your Host: James Walsh

Gia Miller is Impact Wrestling’s backstage interviewer and one of the hosts of Before the Impact on AXS TV. But, this southern belle is more than just another pretty face! In an exclusive interview with James Walsh of the Wrestling Epicenter, Gia discusses her family’s love of pro wrestling, training with Mike Jackson, and how she happened to find her way into Impact Wrestling. Plus, we discuss the upcoming Slammiversary pay-per-view spectacular and more!

Impact Wrestling presents Slammiversary celebrating its rich 19 year history and a lot of questions will be answered live on pay-per-view including if Sami Callihan can bring the company’s World Title home from AEW’s Kenny Omega, the return of the Ultimate X match, and more! For more information, visit www.ImpactWrestling.com.

To listen and for more great content including our extensive archives of over 750 other great interviews, please visit www.WrestlingEpicenter.com!

GIA MILLER:

On how she fell in love with pro wrestling:
“Oh my Goodness! I don’t even think it is gender specific because this world (the wrestling world) is so crazy, for anyone to get involved with it, it is a big jump! (laughs) But, I got into it because of my Dad. My Dad loves it. Funnily enough, my Mom was trying to get my Dad to become a wrestler before I was born because she wanted to be a valet so bad! (laughs) She bought my Dad’s first tickets. My whole family loves it. I always watched it with my Dad. So, it was always a big bonding activity – Watching wrestling! Then, I started playing all these sports. And, as I got older, I got into performing. And, I just wanted to get on a bigger stage. It led me straight to wrestling.”

On how she ended up getting to be part of Impact Wrestling:
“Right place, right time! I was in the middle of nowhere Alabama when Impact was coming to Atlanta right before COVID. Mike Jackson, who was my tag partner and is one of my trainers – I was going to go to the Impact show and just buy a ticket. I really didn’t feel that I had anything to offer for them to take a second look at me yet. Plus, I know some of the Impact roster and I didn’t want favoritism or anything like that. I didn’t want to just show up. So, he (Mike Jackson) said, “Well, I’ve been invited to wrestle on the show. You come with me!” I was like, “OK! I’ll go with you!” We got there super-duper early. And, the first person I run into is Madison Rayne. We strike up a conversation and through that, there was talk about trying me out as a backstage interviewer on the show. She talked to some people and some other people talked to some people and I was supposed to audition that day and it just kind of fell through. Fast forward, I was in Ohio visiting Ace Austin for Spring Break – What a choice, right? (laughs) COVID had hit and Impact had decided they were going to do some closed set tapings. They were like, “She’s with one of our talents so we know she’s quarantined.” And, that was the beginning of the end, I guess! (laughs)”

On a word association for Ace Austin:’
“So much potential!”

On coming off as a polished TV presenter on Before the Impact:
“Thank you so much! That really does mean a lot because I had little to no experience. I was still in college when I got the job! I was only, that semester, taking on camera classes. I had taking lots of Journalism based courses before. But, this was the first on camera class. And, I was also a Theater Major in college. So, that could contribute to being polished because I treat everything like a performance. It was really nice to have that jump. Because, I graduated and I had a job. So, I avoided that scary moment where, like, “Ok, I’ve got a degree. Now, what can I do with it?” (laughs)”

On working with Jon Burton & Josh Mathews on BTI:
“They have been such great mentors of mine! They are so easy to work with! Like I said, I had little to no experience and they both have been working in their field for so long. It would have been so easy for them to thumb their nose at me but they didn’t. It is always fun filming those BTI’s. There is no script for that show. We just rattle off and talk to one another and that is what I love about doing that show.”

On masking her country accent:
“Oh, definitely! I try to reign that in a little bit. And, even when I’m doing media interviews, it can make it difficult for people to understand me sometimes if I get too excited! (laughs) They (Impact) never told me not to have a southern accent. But, as a performer, I just know to tone it down a little bit because you don’t want it to be too distracting. But, I am allowed to have my personality and that is why I bring out some phrases… I was surprised to find out not a lot of people know the “like a horse to the barn” analogy. (laughs)”

On the backstage interviewer role:
“I love doing backstage interviews! Not a lot of coaching goes into that. And, especially now because they know, “Ok, we can trust her.” Sometimes they might say, “Why not say this instead?” But, it is always for improvement. Mostly, they just let me fly. “Ok, 3, 2, 1, go!” And, it is so great because you’ve been able to see how much I’ve improved as a backstage interviewer over the past year. I feel I’ve made great strides. And, they’ve only been there to help lift me up!”

On Gail Kim teasing that Gia is working on making her Impact Knockouts in-ring debut:
“Don’t hold your breath! (laughs) I have a lot of work to do and I’ve got a long way to go. But, I’ve got the excitement and all of the hard work within me ready to get out. But, it is going to be a while until I feel I’m ready to perform at the TV level. But, I’m hoping sooner rather than later.”

On the return of the live crowd at Slammiversary:
“Oh my Gosh! I cannot wait! This will actually be my first show since having a job with Impact that there will be a live crowd. My entire time has been no crowd, no interaction. I don’t know how much I’ll see the live crowd because I don’t typically get in the ring. But, if I can find an excuse, I certainly will! But, it is so exciting to have all the fans coming back. It is only going to get better from here!”

On Skyway Studios which has become the Impact Zone for the past 16 months:
“I’m super excited for people to see the closed set. This building is super cool. But, it is a lot smaller than you might think that it is. It has been a lot of fun to be there and I’m excited for the fans to see it. And, I’m excited to see them!”

On what she hopes to see most at Slammiversary:
“This Slammiversary – I honestly didn’t think anything could top last year’s Slammiversary but this year’s Slammiversary is going to be nuts! I’m honestly most excited about the return of the Ultimate X! I’ve never seen this structure. I’ve never seen any kind of Ultimate X anything. So, it is going to be a great night!”