I recently had the pleasure of interviewing AEW star Skye Blue during All In Texas week, where she opened up about her return from injury, her unexpected start in professional wrestling, her relationship with fellow wrestler Kyle Fletcher, and her surprising love for hardcore matches.

Skye Blue is officially back in action after a grueling 10-month recovery from a severe ankle injury. She's thrilled to be back in the ring, though she's still adjusting to the physical changes. "It's so good to be able to bump again," she said, despite the pain and having to get used to the feeling of "having metal in your foot."

Her journey into wrestling was heavily influenced by her parents, who were already big fans. Wrestling was a constant presence in her home, but it was a specific moment that solidified her career path. "I was watching a hardcore match with my mom and someone went through a table and I was like, 'Hey, I'm going to do that one day.'" She recalled that her mom's response was a skeptical, "No, you're not." That didn't deter the future star. "I booked my tryout for spring break of my junior year, and the rest was history."

That early exposure to hardcore wrestling clearly left an impression. Skye Blue admitted to having a deep appreciation for the more brutal side of the sport, enjoying everything from steel cage matches to first blood matches. She recounted her first time in a hardcore match with a laugh, calling it "so fun" because of the adrenaline, even though it ended with a serious injury. "I bust my head open... I cracked my head open and I was gushing blood."

After getting her head wrapped, her first thought wasn't about the pain, but about catching the main event. Her mom, however, had other plans. "Before I can even get out of the locker room, my mom is right there. She's like, 'We're going to the hospital.'"

At the hospital, still in her wrestling gear, her mother’s instructions to the staff were blunt: "Don't ask. Just don't ask. Just staple her head shut."

On a lighter note, Skye Blue also shared the story of how she met her boyfriend, Kyle Fletcher. It happened during a Dark taping in Orlando. "I was in an elevator with Billie Starks and him, and he was shirtless."

Fletcher had just come from a match where he had been brutally chopped. "His pale chest was red and purple with handprints... and my first interaction with him was telling Billie not to hit him."

Now, the two live and train together, with Fletcher being a key part of her recovery and training.

When she's working out, Skye Blue listens to a playlist she’s had since high school, featuring bands like Sleeping with Sirens, Sleep Token, and Evanescence. Looking ahead, she has her sights set on a match with Alex Windsor and would love a street fight against Willow Nightingale, complete with light tubes and fire.

We also interviewed Kyle last weekend, watch our interview with the Protostar here.

11 Most Shocking + Violent Moments in AEW History

"I am unapologetic about my love of... whatever you want to call it... the deathmatch style, hardcore. I love that stuff," Jon Moxley famously told Chris Van Vliet. "I understand most people are gonna think that's crap and they're not gonna want to watch that. Although I make no apologies that I like that stuff, I would never foist it upon everybody else. It's not like I walked into AEW and was like 'Look, all my matches are going to be crazy.' I never imagined we'd be able to do stuff like that."

Since its official formation in 2019, AEW has become wrestling's premiere destination for extreme acts of violence. With an entire locker room influenced by Atsushi Onita's FMW and Paul Heyman's ECW, both the men and women of AEW have created gruesome and iconic moments that rival any era of pro wrestling.

Tables, ladders, chairs, garbage cans and even kendo sticks have become commonplace in hardcore matches. But a bat full of a nails? A hypodermic needle? A champagne bucket filled with broken glass? These instruments of pain remain sickening to the core.

Check out the most shocking and violent moments from AEW below.

Gallery Credit: AEW