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Please welcome the new Women's Intercontinental champion. Sol Ruca is here. Sol, is that the first time that you've been officially introduced as the Women's Intercontinental champion? Yes, it is. It sounds like it belongs then. I mean, have you taken a beat? This has been a whirlwind for you. I feel like it was, what, six weeks ago? It was the Monday after WrestleMania, the last time we spoke, and you were literally looking at us and saying, "Yeah, I don't know.
They just told me they needed me for Raw. I don't know what this means for next week. I don't know what brand I'm on at the moment." And since then, you've been in the ring with some of the best women on the roster. You're a Raw superstar. Now you're in Italy on a five-match PLE, wrestling and beating Becky Lynch and becoming the Intercontinental champion. How are you? I am a mess, in a good way though. I'm just like emotional mess, physically a mess, in the best way possible.
I had a moment as soon as the bell rang, as soon as I hit my finish on Becky, where I just kind of got a little bit emotional, was a bit just shocked and just like, oh my God, I did it. This is my defining moment. This is the start of my next chapter in a sense. And yeah, just the overwhelming love and acceptance from the fans tonight was absolutely incredible. Especially being so far away from home, knowing that these people know who I am, care about me, care about my story, care about what I do, it's just absolutely incredible.
I still feel like I have a lot more things to just decompress and feel out, but it has been like go, go, go ever since I got back from the curtain. But yeah, I'm feeling good. I mean, congratulations would certainly be an understatement for you. Did you think about this? When you were in NXT for as long as you were in NXT, I'm sure everybody there has this goal, everybody there wants to be in the position that you're in right now. Did you think about that, and what it would feel like and what it would look like while you were down there, and is it the same, is it different, are there surprises? So, I feel like I would try not to get, I guess, my hopes up or try and,
I guess, daydream about it too much, because this world, this universe, it changes so frequently. Things happen, injuries happen. It just changes so much that it's hard to really have a set idea of what it's gonna look like when you get called up. And I kind of made it my goal to just take it day by day, step by step, and whenever they think I'm ready, that means that I'm ready, instead of anticipating, oh, I wanna be up on the main roster by this time, or oh, I wanna only be in NXT for this long.
I kinda just like took in as much as I could in NXT and then, once I got the call up, I was like, okay, this means that I am ready, and I kind of took that and ran with it. Congratulations, Sol, on becoming the Intercontinental champion. I know Sam has said a lot of loving things about you. I'm very happy to see that your main roster time is just, you've skyrocketed. But I do have to ask about the match tonight and your thoughts on the officiating, because there were a few moments that got a little questionable out there for both you and Becky.
I mean, Jessika Carr did knock you off the top rope. Yes. You know, this is something that Becky typically tends to do. She'll do whatever it takes, whatever means necessary to get that victory. We saw that happen where she pushed Jessika Carr into my finish. Luckily I had a glimpse of her as soon as I went up and was able to not flip all the way through. I ended up still hitting her. But it was just like damn, she is really willing to do whatever it takes to keep this. And I kind of knew something like that was gonna happen today.
Unfortunately it did. She did give me that superplex on the top, but I eventually countered it. There was some other moments with a rollup where she pushed Jessika Carr out to the outside. That ended up backfiring on her. But that's just the name of the game, and you just have to be ready for anything. Did you feel like? I mean, I feel like this was a huge moment for you for a lot of reasons, but I also, and you could kinda hear it in Megan's tone a little bit with the way that question was worded, in a more hostile fashion than I would've thought, but it feels like, and this is my observation, that when you were in NXT, and even before that as you were coming up, there was a lot of rooting for Sol, rooting for Sol,
and it feels like ever since you've been on the main roster, there are a lot of people that are kind of watching your every move, ready to pounce on anything that might go even slightly wrong and go, "Oh, what about this, what about that?" It feels like the level of hyper criticism has gone up. Is that something that you have to actively just push out to make sure you have a performance like you did tonight? Yeah, a hundred percent. I mean, even in NXT, we get people that are watching your every move, and we get people that are leaving hate comments and all this negativity. And essentially, being up on the main roster, you have more eyes, which means more hate,
but also means more love. So it is something that I've had to kind of navigate. And it wasn't something that I thought of when I got signed, that it was gonna be like, oh, this means that there's gonna be more eyes or more people trying to nitpick everything. But at the end of the day, especially with people on social media, that's such a small percentage of our fan base. And as long as the crowd in person is happy and everyone backstage is happy with what I do, then that's fine with me. How does it feel to know that not only are you the Intercontinental champion, but the way you got that title was by beating Becky Lynch for it?
It's not to take anything away from anybody else, but Becky Lynch is somebody who I think has not only defined that Intercontinental Championship, but is one of the original Four Horsewomen, is one of the pillars of what this division is, and I feel like one of those models that this whole thing. She was among those first women that said, okay, this is the process, this is what we do, this is the beginning of what this evolution is. For you to have beaten Becky for the Intercontinental title, does it make it that much sweeter? Oh, absolutely. I mean, yes, she pretty much founded what we see today within women's wrestling, and she's absolutely incredible. And I totally get her perspective of these newcomers coming in and getting these opportunities,
where she's been doing this and been putting in the work and whatnot. But times are changing with how NXT's bringing up people. And I mean, she is one of the greatest, and I'm honored to be in the ring with her. I have no hard feelings towards her. I know she was a bit hostile towards me. But I mean, I get it, she's got her own perspective and that's totally fine. But at the end of the day, I came out victorious, and I'm thankful that she even agreed to have this match with me, somewhat agreed. I mean, there was a little bit of pushback from her, but essentially we got the match. So, I'm thankful for that.
Sol, there was a lot of people questioning, not just Becky, but a lot of the fans as well, questioning if you were ready for this moment, your first PLE in Europe. There's five matches on the show, and you are in one of them, for the Intercontinental Championship. Do you think tonight in your performance, not only did you prove that you're ready, but that this is just the beginning? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I definitely heard people saying that stuff. Becky made sure to tell me that she thought I wasn't ready, and it definitely for sure got to me a little bit. But again, at the end of the day, I'm here for a reason. And I trust myself,
I trust the process that I was brought up in, and I just had to lock in and just do my best and see what happens, and proved everyone wrong, that I am ready, and I'm your new Women's Intercontinental champion. It did get to you for a second, so were you nervous out there? Oh, absolutely, totally. I mean, I try not to get nervous up until I'm backstage about to go out, and then as soon as my music hits, my nerves kind of go away because it's go time, I have no time to be nervous. But with how the arena is, that ramp is so long, and you're standing out there and watching Becky come out, watching her take her time all the way down.
I'm like, all right, getting a little nervous now. But as soon as the bell rings, it's go time. I mean, do you feel like the more things go right in a match like that, the kind of easier it gets to get to the next thing? Like for example, there was so much going on, and there were so many moments throughout that match that I think people are gonna have to go back and kinda look through. But I mean, I'm thinking about that moment where you had to hook your legs into the top rope while you dangled on the outside and kind of crunch up and then Becky hits the post.
I mean, in order for that to be effective, there are so many tiny little steps that would have to go right just to make this one moment. Is that how your brain works with it? Do you go like, "Okay, that worked. Now I got the confidence to move on to the next thing, to move on to the next thing"? Or are you just truly in the moment? Absolutely. I think especially the first thing in the match, I feel like once I do the first bump or the first, if I'm on top, the first close line, whatever it is, once that happens, I'm like, okay, I got this.
We're in it, it's go time. And then from then on, I try and just, yeah, like be in the moment as much as I can. I mean, I do still have those moments of hesitation or getting nervous. But essentially, yeah, the first thing, once that's outta the way, it's go time. Same with promos. As soon as I say the first line, I'm chilling. It's probably too early to even ask, but have you thought at all about what you want the Intercontinental Championship to look like with it around your waist? What do you want this reign to look like with you as champion? I mean, I definitely wanna be a fighting champion.
I want to defend this thing as many times as I physically possibly can. I was a double champion on NXT with the Women's Speed Championship and the North American Championship, and I feel like my reigns were not up to par with how I feel like I can be a champion. So I'm wanting to kind of prove myself a little bit more as a champion this time, and I want to give championship opportunities to literally whoever comes and whoever's ready. I don't wanna be the person that says you're not ready to be here. Shots at Becky Lynch for doing that to me. But I wanna be the person that's open and potentially bringing some girls in from NXT to defend this title.
I love it. Well, Sol, I mean, congratulations again. What a night, what an amazing moment for you. I hope you soak it all in, and take a moment to reflect on tonight and the last several weeks. Because tomorrow is Monday Night Raw, and everything is gonna be move, move, move after that. So, congrats. Thank you so much. Thank you, Sol. Thank you, guys.
