From humble beginnings, basketball player turned wrestler Jade Cargill takes AEW by storm

Jade Cargill is the embodiment of strength and confidence.

The college basketball player turned professional wrestler has taken the sport by storm, winning her first 26 matches and capturing the inaugural AEW TBS championship along the way.

But the native of Gifford, Florida, a small community of about 10,000 just north of Vero Beach, Cargill didn’t always have her confidence and swagger.

Chyna gives Cargill confidence

A tall, muscular and athletic teen, Cargill wasn’t always comfortable in her own skin.

Until she saw Chyna. The revolutionary women’s wrestler who rose to fame in the late 1990s was unlike anything Cargill had witnessed.

“She was something that we’ve never seen in wrestling before and she made me love my body more than anything,” Cargill said. “She looked totally different. Her build was different. Her confidence was different. I grew up very muscular and the fact that she loved herself, she loved what she was doing, she loved her body, it made me love myself more than anything.

“She helped my confidence rise to a remarkable level, and I felt good about myself growing up.”

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Humble beginnings at Vero Beach High

That confidence helped Cargill star in high school basketball. She played her freshman and sophomore seasons at Sebastian River High School before playing at Florida Air Academy (Now Florida Prep) in Melbourne for her junior season. She played her senior year at Vero Beach High School, where she helped her team to a district title.

“It made me who I am. Being from Vero Beach, it humbles you and it shows you a different perspective from life and what it’s really about: small town, you know your neighbor, you know everybody in the neighborhood, everybody knows your grandmother, your auntie, your brother, everybody knows everyone,” said Cargill, who now resides in Atlanta. “(Vero’s) a close-knit community and it taught me character more than anything and to know my roots and where I’m from.”

After graduating from Vero Beach High, Cargill went on to play college basketball at Jacksonville University.

Once again, it was an experience unlike anything she had witnessed.

“I felt like I had joined the military,” she said with a laugh. “When you play sports in college, it’s no joke. Your life is signed away, signed sealed and delivered.”

It also further helped shape who she is.

“Playing basketball gave me the mindset I have today and the work ethic I have today,” she said.

Cargill’s work ethic also helped her graduate from Jacksonville University with a social science degree, and she went on to get a certified master's in child psychology.

She quickly found her chosen occupation was the challenge of a lifetime — dealing with children who had endured unspeakable circumstances.

“I love kids. I absolutely adore kids, but at that time I knew I wasn’t mentally mature enough to deal with kids, and when I say that, I mean, when you work, anything with children, you kind of have to take your heart out of your chest. And I’m a person where I care a lot and I’m the type of person that wants to help and save everyone,” she said. “So at the time I wasn’t really mentally mature for dealing with what I was dealing with.”

In just her second year of her occupation, a unique opportunity landed at her doorstep.

Mark Henry helps Jade get a chance

She shared a mutual friend with Mark Henry, aka “The World’s Strongest Man,” a WWE Hall of Famer, and through him got a wrestling tryout.

“He said, ‘I’m putting my neck on the line for you. I need you to go out there and bust your butt,’ and I promised him that I would,” she recalled. “I said, ‘I will never embarrass you. I want you to be proud about what I’m about to go do because I know I can do something great and remarkable right now.’ “

And she did.

Cargill impressed at her tryout, then began training at two well-known wrestling schools.

She joined AEW in 2020 and made a splash immediately. In her debut match on March 3, 2021, her partner was none other than NBA (and wrestling) legend, Shaquille O’Neal.

Cargill, with her signature white hair and impressive muscular figure, and the physically dominating Shaq defeated wrestler-turned-reality star Cody Rhodes, son of wrestling legend Dusty Rhodes, and partner Red Velvet.

Cargill captures AEW TBS title

After that, the run was on. Cargill, who was established from the start as a heel, won her first 10 matches. Then her next 10. In her 23rd match, on Jan. 5, 2022, she defeated Ruby Soho to complete a tournament sweep and claim the inaugural AEW TBS Championship.

Hoisting the title over her head was the culmination of a lifetime of athletic achievement.

“I had to fight back the tears,” Cargill said. “It meant the world to me because I want to be the best example for my daughter and I want her to know she can do anything in this life.”

Cargill, 29, knows her 4-year-old daughter, and girls everywhere, may watch her the way she watched Chyna, so she wants to build a legacy of doing things the right way, even if her character is a heel.

“I want to be an inspiration for all little girls,” she said. “I was put on this world to do something with my life and to help the next generation. I’m very conscious of this and what I put out there and what my daughter will see. I want her to be very proud of her mother.”

Her daughter isn’t the only person proud of her. Henry, the World’s Strongest Man to whom she made a promise to never embarrass, also is proud of her.

“He told me I never let him down. And to hear that, it made me feel like my hard work had paid off,” she said. “Obviously, holding the belt, it’s a privilege. So, if anything, my work has just started and it’s time to turn it up to another level.”

How to watch professional wrestler Jade Cargill in action

AEW can be seen Wednesday at 8 p.m. on TBS and Friday on TNT at 10 p.m.

She also will be part of AEW’s next pay-per-view, AEW Revolutions, on March 6, 2022.