I made my wrestling comeback at 53 after seeing my photo in a museum

Blackpool Gazette

Meet Sammy Rodgers - the 53 year old woman proving it's never too late to follow your dreams, as she made a triumphant return to pro-wrestling after over 30 years.  Sammy explains in the video interview here, that she was inspired to take up the sport again after seeing an old photo of herself in Showtown museum.   With the help of Rascals Pro-Wrestling Academy, in Blackpool, she trained for her comeback match against Taylor Valentine - and won.

Transcript

00:00I used to wrestle a long time ago, like in my early 20s, and had quite a good wrestling

00:08career, and then it all ended when the promoter passed away. There wasn't really any work

00:14for girls wrestling at that time, so it just died out, and I just put it in the back of

00:18my mind and carried on with my life. And then somebody put a YouTube video of my wrestling

00:24match at Windsor Gardens in Blackpool, and then there was talk on this wrestling forum

00:29like, I wonder what Sammy Rogers did and what happened to her. So I answered in the

00:34forum, and then someone said, oh, Showtown Museum in Blackpool has got one of your posters.

00:41So I went down to the museum to see my poster from Windsor Gardens that's got my name on,

00:46and the Blackpool Gazette asked if they could come and interview me, dressed in my old costume

00:51as the cowgirl Sammy Rogers. And then they asked then, would you ever think about doing

00:56a comeback? And I thought, well, I said, never say never. And then after that, I was

01:00thinking about it, like, could I do a comeback at my age? Like, would it even be possible?

01:07So I thought, if I did, it's got to be in Blackpool, because that's where all my wrestling

01:11career was based. So I was looking online, and I found Ross's Rascals Academy in Blackpool,

01:17and I approached him, and I said, you know, I used to be a wrestler years ago. Could I

01:21have a few private sessions and see if I could get back into it and see what level

01:26I'm at? If I wanted to do a comeback show, even just one, could it be possible? So we've

01:31been training ever since October, every week. And then as it got towards Christmas, he said,

01:38what do you think about doing a show in February, and I'll pair you with one of the current

01:42professional female wrestlers. So that was it, and that's just gone in a blur. So we've

01:47been training really hard, and today's the day, and I've done my comeback, and it's been

01:53amazing. Mentally, it's been a lot harder, because now I'm a bit older. Like, I'm more

01:59frightened of injuries, so I'm a bit more careful with my body, and I'm overthinking

02:03everything. And my confidence levels have been so up and down during the training. Like,

02:09one week I wanted to do it, another week I was ready to give it up, and I just didn't

02:13have the belief at times, which is where Ross and Taylor came in, like, really encouraging

02:19me and pushing me and telling me, you can do it. Once you're in the ring, you're really

02:23going to enjoy it and have a great time, and I have. It's been amazing.

02:29I was so nervous this morning. I felt sick and I couldn't eat anything, but once I came

02:34through the curtains, I just felt like on top of the world again, and I just loved every

02:38second of it.

02:39I never thought I'd ever get back in a wrestling game ever again after 32 years, but Ross has

02:45made it possible and given me the encouragement and support and the opportunity to do it again.

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