During an interview with A Wrestling Gal, AQA (formerly Zayda Ramier in WWE) spoke about getting sick during her training.
"Thereâs a few misconceptions out there about what happened [concerning my departure from WWE]. I saw one report that said that I asked for it and I was like, âIâm glad you think that I got the bravado to do thatâ but Iâm like no, I didnât ask for it. But, basically what happened was it started in June. So, June was my last match. June, was it 1st, 6th, 7th? Something like that and I was in a tag match. It was like me and Zoey Stark versus Indi [Hartwell] and Candice LeRae and so I got hurt in the match. I got â my ribs got bruised, so I was out for all of June, and so July, I was basically getting ready to come back, get in the ring, training, everything like that and at the end of July, I went to gym class one day and I woke up that morning knowing like, âI shouldnât go today.â It was just like, you know how you can just feel it? Like youâre just not into it? I was like, âI shouldnât goâ but Iâm like, âIma goâ and so I go in my refrigerator and I grab whatever I can see. I just shove it down. Iâm like, âLetâs go, itâs leg dayâ so I had to eat something and so I get there and the first exercise is fine, itâs fine but itâs not challenging and Iâm like, âEveryoneâs pumping iron,â going boom, boom, boom.
You know, you got Ivy Nile over there just picking up Bron Breakker and squatting him and Iâm like, âYou know what? Fine. You know what? If you guys showed up and showing out, Iâm gonna show up and show out.â That was mistake number three. One, was deciding to go and then two was when I decided, âHey, Iâm gonna do the sled pushesâ and so then I go over there to the sled pushes so this is where mistake number three comes in and I do âem and I feel great but when I stop, I get like â my body kind of tells me, âYou need to chill out a little bit.â You know how youâre doing an exercise and do a little rest break? And Iâm like, âNah, nah, I got this. Iâm ready, letâs goâ and so I do a few more and I come back and immediately, my bodyâs like, âOh my Godâ and Iâm like, âOkay. I need to sit down.â Even my friend â Iâm not gonna say anyoneâs name because I donât want anyone to be brought into it but, one of my friends that was there and sheâs doing great on NXT, Iâm so proud of her. She was like, âYou need to sit down,â because I got really hot. Like I felt like I was a human furnace. I was like, âWhy am I so hot?â And so, me being a dummy, I walked straight past my water bottle and I go in the restroom and Iâm like splashing water on my face and itâs giving me this temporary relief and Iâm like, âOkay, okay. Whatâs going on?â
ÂAnd then I look down and my hands are starting to shake and theyâre all clammy and Iâm like, âWhat is this feeling?â Unbeknownst to me, I deal with anxiety. I have anxiety which almost everybody does but, I always have those exact symptoms except for itâs always followed by like the hyper, Iâm like [breathing rapidly]. Thatâs how I know Iâm having an anxiety attack but I had every symptom except for the breathing so it just canceled out in my mind. So Iâm just thinking like, âMy bodyâs like, youâre dying.â You know, this is the last little hoorah and so I go to the medical team and Iâm like, âHey, I feel like Iâm finna pass out. Iâm really hot, shaky, Iâm jittery. I donât know whatâs going onâ and the person, sheâs like, âOkay. Let me sit you down.â They did like a little legs up thing and I was like, âThis ainât doing nothing for meâ and she goes back and she gets an orange Gatorade.
I remember it specifically because I wanted the blue one. But she gives me an orange Gatorade and an ice pack and immediately, the hot goes away. But I still have these really bad shaky jitters and not realizing itâs just my anxiety acting up, trying to tell me, âHey, calm down. Everythingâs all right. Just chill outâ and I got these little jitters and Iâm like, âOh okay, hey, the hotâs goneâ but whatâs going on with my body still? It was still jittery and then she asked me casually, sheâs like, âYou ever been hot like that before?â And then I was like, âWell, when I was about 13 on my trampoline, yeahâ and she asked me to describe that and I was like, âYou know how you stand up too fast and you see the black?â So I described [it], then I was like, âYeah, that was the last time I felt like how Iâm feeling right now.â
AQA also spoke about being medically disqualifying from competing.
"And then she was like, âOh okay, coolâ and so Iâm not thinking anything about it and so as time goes on, about two, three days later, one of the head doctors comes in. Heâs telling me, heâs like, âHey, you know, just to be sure, weâre gonna pull you for a little bitâ and they gotta double check, triple check, quadruple check all their boxes before they put you back in the ring so Iâm like, âAll right. Iâm probably gonna be out at the most, two weeks.â So Iâm like, âAll right.â So I felt fine immediately after I had that Gatorade and everything so Iâm like, âAll right. Just doing normal protocol or whateverâ and so as time goes on, the weeks go on and then the months go on and Iâm like, âWhatâs going on here?â And by the time I got to about the third doctor, this was like the third doctor that had asked me like, âHey, tell me about what happened to you when you were 13â and I was like, âOh noâ and in that moment, I realized, âThey might think whatever happened to me at 13 is whatâs happening to me right now,â you know what I mean? So, those two â that story basically followed me all the way to my release, was just that they was like, âYou know, weâre unsure of why that happened now and the last time you ever felt like this was when you were 13.â But to be honest, when I was 13, I was outside on the trampoline, hot in the middle of the day and honestly, when I was 13, I would go in the house and get maybe one or two sips of water because I had energy. Iâd be on the trampoline for hours just teaching myself stuff that I shouldnât have been doing and so I put in my â I was like, âOh no, I think they think that the two stories go togetherâ and itâs no oneâs fault. Itâs not my fault for answering a question and itâs not their fault for following up on it. So I wanted to make that clear. No oneâs at fault here. Itâs just that they were going along with the normal protocol so they put me through â they thought it was my heart at first, so they put me through a bunch of tests and everything. I passed every single test with flying colors, especially this one â it was one, this one test and not that they were hoping I would fail, but if I failed it, it was like, âOkay, this is what it is and we got a diagnosis nowâ so it wasnât like, âFail, fail, fail.â It was just like, âOkay, now we know what it is.â
ÂAnd I passed that one and it stumped them and it was like, âYou werenât supposed to pass that one because that one would, you know, prove what weâre thinking right nowâ and so I passed that test and then I had to be put on a heart monitor for like a whole month. We did that, came back, all the test results for that was great and so September kind of goes dead silent and my medical team person, heâs like checking in and Iâm not getting any updates. What I later found out was they were basically trying to come up with some new tests for me like, âOkay, letâs test this and if sheâs in the ring for this long or someone lifts her up, will this happen?â You know, they were just trying to figure out something so they could get me back in the ring and then finally come about October 5th and thatâs when I had sent the tweet out like two weeks before when I was like, âYou gotta laugh at the ups and downs.â It was like a Steph Curry GIF and heâs like going back, then Iâm like, âYou just gotta laugh at the ups and downs.â So that day actually, I came to NXT and I got medically disqualified. They were like, âWeâre gonna disqualify youâ basically because â this was the exact quote, it was, âYouâre 100 percent fine to wrestle. You just canât wrestle here,â which means like we canât basically â we canât tell Vince [McMahon] and them youâre all right but we donât know why you almost passed out that day. Like why you thought you [were] gonna pass out basically, you know what I mean? They worded it a very nice way like, âYouâre good. Youâre good to go but itâs just, we canât use you here until, you know, you or another doctor figures out what exactly happened that day.â Itâs like, thereâs no â because I donât wanna come off this way because I literally, I had a beautiful experience. If I started talking bad about WWE, Iâm lying. I didnât have a bad experience at all. Everyone I met there was great, everything that happened to me, it was great. It was just an unfortunate decision. Like the outcome was just unfortunate.â
On getting more tests:
"But, as I started talking to some of them and like I said, I wonât say anyoneâs names but, and you can come to your own conclusion but it basically came down to I was dehydrated that day. So, thatâs what happened and I went to my P.C.P. [Primary Care Physician] and I got all the medical work done. I was like, âHey, can you test me for what A, B and C might be?â Because I was like, I felt great the next day and I didnât feel any â up until now, I donât feel anything, you know what I mean? It was just that one day and that one moment when I got extremely hot and jittery and like I said, as soon as I had that Gatorade, it all went away and so, I just think it was something where â when I talked to my doctor to have him do all my bloodwork and tests and then she pulled out, she was like, âYeah, you have a deficiency in this and that but all of these other levels are great so weâre gonna get you some Vitamin D and stuff, get those levels back upâ and I went to a doctor that was recommended to me by them [WWE]. I went to him and basically [he] told me the same thing. He was like, âYeah, you were dehydrated that day and I can see thatâ and he wrote me a letter of clearance. Heâs one of their hard doctors and he was like, âYeah, youâre fine. Iâm gonna clear you. There you go.â So I had that and so what I later discovered was there was a bit of an inaccuracy on my paperwork so thatâs what I think eventually led to my firing because all my doctors were in agreement that like, âYouâre fine,â you know what I mean? âBut because of this particular diagnosis, we canât clear you from thatâ and which I understand. Liability, business, all that, I ainât dumb. You donât become a billion-dollar corporation out of nowhere, you know what I mean? So you gotta check all your Ps and Qs so I get it. It was no hard feelings on that and so I had ended up speaking to the doctor that put on my paper work, it was like, âYou have two true episodes of syncopeâ and I was like, âBut Iâve never synco-fied. Iâve never passed out before.â All Iâve had was the, you stand up, you see the black and thatâs it, you know? Youâre back to normal or doing whatever youâre doing and so I spoke with him on it and basically, I explained the situation.
ÂI was like, âHereâs what my doctor said and hereâs what your other colleague said.â I was like, âHow can we, you know, work together?â Because for me, it was more so about, I just want my record clean, you know? Because that could affect my work elsewhere, you know what I mean? Because people are, âOh! I donât wanna take a gamble if you got medically disqualifiedâ but, Iâm 100 percent fine and good to go. Itâs just I was like, I need that â even if they donât hire me back, I was like, âI just want that off of my medical record that I had syncopeâ because I had never had that before and so I was in talks with him and he basically told me, he was like, âYeah, Iâm gonna work on it for you. Iâm gonna get with your doctor.â He already had my doctor in his system so I was like, âOh, this is greatâ and weâll see what we come up with and what we can do so, still waiting to hear back on that. Like I said, more so I want that just so everyone knows Iâm fine to wrestle. I donât want anyone thinking theyâre taking a risk on me and be like, âOh, it could be my ring that she collapses in,â you know what I mean? So, Iâm fine and everything. Iâm just waiting for that to clear up a little bit. So thatâs basically what happened. It was no âthey didnât treat me rightâ because I saw a lot of that online and it was just like, âOh, they didnât give her a chance and they threw her to the wolvesâ and I was like, âNo, no, no, no. They gave me plenty of chances.â
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