Jade Cargill @jadecargill is an American Model and professional wrestler.
@jadecargill
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Jade Cargill, B.S., M.S. 🇺🇸🇯🇲
Athlete
Mum to Bailey🌻
WWE
Owner of @thetexassmoke
A woman who knows her worth is a dangerous thing
Shrink. Actress. AKA💕💚
Followed by qimmahrusso, emmalee_mc_, nelly
HollyWood Stars and Social Media Influencer Profiles - Bio,Wiki,Biography,Bio Ideas, Age,Height,Weight,Family,Career,Net Worth,Instagram,Social NetWork
Personal information
Birth name Jade Cargill
Born June 3, 1992 (age 31)
Gifford, Florida, U.S.
Alma mater Jacksonville University
Spouse Brandon Phillips
Children 1
Family Peter Cargill (cousin)
Professional wrestling career
Ring name Jade Cargill
Billed height 5 ft 10 in (178 cm)
Billed weight 160 lb (73 kg)
Billed from Vero Beach, Florida, U.S.
Trained by AR Fox
Bryan Danielson
Dustin Rhodes
Heath Slater
Q. T. Marshall
Sonjay Dutt
WWE Performance Center
Debut March 3, 2021
I was tall, and I was very muscular for my age. I didn’t think I was the prettiest girl growing up — I guess because I wasn’t one of those dainty girls who’d get all the attention. I learned to get over it, but I was always aware of it. Whenever the other kids were messing around, I’d try to stay out the way. I didn’t want anyone talking about my body, and I knew that when it was my turn to be the butt of the joke, that’s what they would resort to. Like, manly looking ass or whatever.
In middle school, my friends all started getting love letters and that kind of stuff, but I didn’t have that. I remember I would always complain to my grandmother, who I was really close with. Oh my gosh, nobody likes me. My grandma’s name was Bernice Salmon — like the fish. When I was growing up, she was my rock. My mom was as well, but my grandmother?? Our bond was different. We were very in tune. And when she would catch me getting down about boys and relationships, she’d say the same thing every time: “You don’t need all that.”
I mean, this was middle school, so everybody’s making a big deal about how they’re “in love.” Passing notes and stuff like that. And if you’re not getting any of those notes it can feel bad. My grandmother, though, she was just like, “Laugh at it.” She had a way of making it all seem so ridiculous. She’d tell me, “You have a place to go in life — and if these little boys don’t find you attractive then that’s their fault. You need to be in a relationship with basketball and school. That’s it.”
So that’s actually where this story starts.
Basketball was my whole life. It had been my thing since I was like six. And even when it was hard, I stuck with it because of my grandmother. She supported me so much in it. She made me believe that I could be great — that I could do anything I put my mind to. She always knew there was more in the world for me than Vero Beach, Florida.
After my sophomore year, I decided to start at a new high school. It was the school where everyone from my summer AAU team was at, and I didn’t really think much about it beyond “I’ll get to go to school with my teammates.” But it actually turned out to be a big deal. My old school filed a complaint to the state, claiming recruiting rules had been broken, and my family ended up having to go through this long, emotionally draining ordeal. My grandmother was in her fifties, and had been a scrub tech for over 10 years at an old surgery center — a great job with benefits. And she quit to work as a janitor at my new school, which at the time we thought would solve the issue and make it so I’d be allowed to play basketball there. But even after all that, they still didn’t let me play.
Things in my life started to change after that. I still hooped: After sitting out my junior year, I landed at another high school as a senior (and we actually won district). And I ended up playing in college as well. But I wasn’t the same person anymore. You didn’t see me with a basketball on my hip like you used to. You didn’t see me wearing basketball clothes every day anymore. Honestly that whole experience just made me love what I was doing a little less. I feel like basketball kind of broke my heart, you know what I mean?
And to make it worse, my grandma couldn’t get her old job back, so she ended up just going into retirement. That ate at me so much — because I feel like she made the biggest sacrifice of anyone, and then it ended up being for nothing. So that’s when I decided I had to find success. Because somehow, some way, I was going to make it up to her. It became like a mantra in my head at night. I’m going to make this up. I’m going to make this up. I’m going to make this up.
Want to go someplace where you can get away from everything, lay on the beach, not worry so much? That’s Vero Beach, Florida.
It’s a retirement haven — a small, old, rich community that used to be a spring training town for the Dodgers. When the Dodgers were there, it was thriving, basically a tourist town. There were polo clubs, there were golf clubs on golf clubs, you know? Lol. A lot of rich people from up north would travel down for the winter to vacation homes in Vero. We called them the Snowbirds. They’d have all these houses on the beach that were $20 million, $30 million, probably more. Beautiful. And these were all like CEOs of Maybelline and retired baseball players and famous authors. Money like that.
When the Dodgers left and went to Arizona, the town changed, too. It’s not a ghost town, but it’s not as much of a tourist destination as it used to be. Now it’s more of a hidden gem.
In Vero, you have the rich, the elite — and then you have everybody else. I’m from Gifford, which is the poor part of town. Basically, we worked for the rich. Everybody who lived in Gifford, for the most part, worked for people who lived in Vero. They worked for somebody on the beach.
I remember in first grade we had this “reading club,” where you’re partnered with these adult volunteers. Very, very wealthy people. You probably know the type. The club is their retirement thing. They’d almost, like, adopt us, and take us to these fancy events.
My volunteer happened to be this older white woman. She had me and this other girl named Shanette. And I remember she and her husband took us to a play — I had never been to a play in my life. This was just so far outside my world. Or like…. so far outside the way I understood the world, if that makes sense.
Everybody was super dressed up. And I remember smiling the whole way through it. It was a great play. I didn’t think much of it at the time, because I was so young, but there must have been over a thousand people in that theater (and my home wasn’t even 10 minutes away!) — and Shanette and I were the only Black people. That’s probably the first time that ever happened to me.
After the play, we went to this bookstore nearby, and they were like, “You can get whatever you want.” Keep in mind, this wasn’t like a Books-A-Million or a big department store or anything. It was one of these high-end boutique children’s stores, very, very nice. You could pick out a stuffed animal there and it’s like $50.
Me and Shanette looked at each other, and our eyes got big. We didn’t talk about it, but I think we were kinda thinking the same thing. Like, O.K., “whatever we want”…. but how much is that?? We didn’t really know the polite thing to do in this situation. So at first we were really shy about it. We were like, “We’ll just get this book. We’re fine.”
But the lady insisted. She told us, “No — here’s a cart. Enjoy yourselves.” Like I said…. a whole different world. It was one of those moments that’s weird and thrilling, all at once.
After that, Shanette and I became inseparable. We started going to all these plays and shows together and just learning this whole different way of life. We really didn’t think nothing about it. We just were like, “Are you having fun?” “I’m having fun.” “Are you going next time?” “Yeah. I’m going next time.” “Are you O.K.? Do you feel safe?” And I would tell her I’m safe, I’m fine.
I lived in one of those places where, when the last bell rang for school at the end of the day, it was like: Drop your bags off. Do your homework if you have any. And then enjoy yourself outside until the street lights come on. That was us. Everybody in my neighborhood watched each other. We had the old lady on the porch, making sure no one comes along that’s not supposed to be there. And she had every parent’s number in her phone.
If we weren’t outside, it’s because we were inside watching wrestling. We were all fans of Triple H, or Stone Cold Steve Austin, or The Rock, or Chyna — the big Attitude Era stars. Later, when we were back outside, we'd be trying to put these moves on. Everything we could do to each other, we did. I won’t lie, I left the craziest stuff to the boys.… but the punches and the suplexes, I was right there with them. And keep in mind — we’re not selling anything!! We’re kids, so we’re not missing lol, we’re hitting each other in the face for real. One time we found an abandoned house, and we were jumping off the roof doing moves. It was so reckless. We had this trampoline in our backyard, too, so everybody in the neighborhood came to it, and we would add in all kinds of flips and things.
And it was always some type of competition to be the fittest. Like, You can do two flips and hit this move? O.K., I’m going to bust out three. And of course everybody had their wrestler they wanted to be. For me, that wrestler was always Chyna. “The Ninth Wonder of the World.” The one-woman phenom. She was my idol.
And that was a big deal for me, discovering Chyna. Like I said, I always got picked on growing up because of my muscular body. So watching her go out and flex on everyone, and be as swole as the guys, and not try to hide the fact that she had these muscles — while also being sexy as hell?? It was everything to me, especially at that age. To see someone out there who was both strong and sexy. It’s hard to explain, but Chyna looked like she had a purpose. She just had this presence about her that stood out. And that was like a lightbulb going off: Oh, standing out is a GOOD thing. It made me love my body — and it made me realize the value of knowing your worth.
A woman who knows her worth, that’s a dangerous thing.
I met Brandon when I was 22 years old, in 2015. I’d started modeling, and my manager was actually a childhood friend of his. And one day, my manager and I were meeting at a Starbucks — and then directly after, I guess he was meeting up with Brandon. So I was walking out the door as Brandon was walking in, like a rom-com or something. And I guess he noticed me and asked about me. Like, “Who was that??”
It took four months for me to actually say, “Alright, fine.” I’m not big on athletes!! Lol. Being an athlete myself, I just know the operation. Plus, I was living in France at the time to model. But he was trying, trying, trying. And eventually I was like, “Alright. Give him my number. Let’s see where this goes.”
One thing that’s crazy is, at one point Brandon did spring training in Florida. And he’s 11 years older than me — so we always do the little math of where we were at different times in our life. My elementary school always went to the spring training games. So I’ll joke with him, like, “Wouldn’t it have been so funny if you were playing at Dodgertown, and we went to watch with the Little Dodgers?” I legit think I must have been at one of his games when I was in elementary! That’s pretty wild.
But the dynamic is sweet. Brandon is a goofy, fun-loving man, and I’m very similar, so we just mesh. He’s the person that calms me down, I guess you could say. He’s my peace.
And over those next few years — from that day I finally let him have my number — we started building a life together. We had a little plan we were following, and everything. And it was going great.
Until I undid all of that lol.
It started with a silly conversation between me and Kelsey.
Kelsey is a friend of mine, and one night we were just sitting around having a casual jokey joke situation. We were on Instagram — this is like the fall of 2019 — and I think we were going through comments and stuff like that. People would comment on my pics, like, “You look like a professional wrestler. You look like a superhero.” I was getting a lot of those comments at the time.
And as we’re laughing about how funny that is, Kelsey asks me, “You ever thought about wrestling?” I give her a look and I’m like, “No way.” We were really just joking with each other. Scrolling online. But then some minutes pass and she’s like, “Actually I’m serious — would you ever get into it for real? I have this friend who is a wrestler.….”
O.K.: Turns out he wasn’t just a wrestler. He was a WWE Hall of Fame wrestler.
Kelsey’s friend was Mark Henry.
That night, I brought the conversation up with Brandon. I told him that Kelsey might be able to get me an opportunity with WWE. His reaction was: “Why would you want to go out and hurt yourself?”
My mom said the same thing when I tried to talk to her about it. “You’re a beautiful girl, Jade, and you’re going to hurt yourself. Why would you want to do that? You don’t need to do that.”
But I think what they didn’t understand is that this had nothing to do with how I look. It was a lot deeper than that. Like…. I’ve had a coach tell me I wasn’t going to be “nothing but a housewife.” I’d watched my dreams as an athlete disappear right in front of me, at such an early age. And maybe I was better for it — I made new dreams, I got my master’s degree, started a family, I found work that I enjoyed. But those old wounds were still there. And those old dreams never died. Deep down, I felt like I’d never gotten to show the world what I was capable of.
Brandon is the most supportive partner I could ask for — but even when I explained it to him like that, he still didn’t quite get it. He was like, “You have everything you want here. Aren’t you comfortable? Is there something missing from your life?”
And I just said to him, “Brandon, as an athlete, you should understand more than anybody. I never got the chance to see what I can really do. This is my second chance.” I think he got it when I put it like that.
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So we set up a meeting with Mark Henry.
Mark asked me, “Can you do a handstand for 10 seconds?”
I said yes.
He said, “You’ll be fine.”
Going into tryouts, I knew my weaknesses. I’d never had any gymnastics training, so some of the stuff we were doing wasn’t intuitive to me. For example, even something fundamental like rolling. In basketball, you slide — you get hit with a screen or something, and you’re taught to slide. In wrestling, you don’t slide. You roll. So I had to learn to do things like that very fast.
But one thing I knew — one thing I’ve always known — was that I’m strong. I’m strong as hell. And when we all sat around looking at each other before getting in those rings, I think that’s when I remembered, O.K., I’m here for a reason. I just looked around, and said to myself, Let’s be honest…. I have the best body here. For a fact, I have the best body here.
Being in the ring was intense. I did good for a rookie, but I’m not ashamed to admit I wasn’t the best. I had never hit the ropes before!! That was an experience. And as rough as I played as a kid, I’m not used to like…. throwing myself at the ground on purpose. So my body had to adjust and adjust very quickly. The first day or two, I’d go back to the hotel, and I’d go to the ice machines on the floors and get a bucket, and just started dumping buckets of ice in the hotel bathtub. I was in excruciating pain — my body had just never taken a beating like that. It was a total freaking shock.
The way the tryout works, there’s basically two kinds of people: the wrestlers and the athletes. By wrestlers, I’m talking like…. people who had been grinding on the indies for years, working their ass off to perfect their craft. But for one reason or another they hadn’t yet gotten that big chance. And by athletes, I’m talking more like me — people who maybe played in the NFL for a minute, or did competitive weightlifting, or were popular trainers on Instagram or that kind of thing. People who have a lot of raw talent, or a look that pops, but not the actual wrestling experience. And I’ll be honest, I was a little naïve going in. But I came out of it with a lot of respect for the men and women on both sides of the room. Whether it’s spending years on the indies, or it’s coming from a whole other background and learning to wrestle on the fly…. nothing about this journey is easy. It’s HARD.
When tryouts ended, they basically told me, “We want you…. but we want you to make sure you really know what you’re getting into.” I think I knew what they meant by that. When I cut my tryout promo, I’d really played up that I was rich and that Brandon played baseball and so on. And while I was doing it in character, there was obviously also truth to it. And I think that created some doubts about my level of commitment. Like, since I didn’t “need” wrestling, would I be willing to put in the work? They didn’t seem sure. So they asked me to find a good training school, and send them monthly updates about my progress — with the idea that after that, I’d be ready.
Mark recommended that I go to a school called Face 2 Face Wrestling, in Morrow, Georgia. At the time, I didn’t have one match under my belt — so a lot of my training at first was literally just getting my butt whooped by grown men who weighed like 250, 300 pounds. They were huge. Picture a montage of me getting suplexed every which way by these old dudes with meaty hands.
Brandon was always great about making room for my schedule. We’d work it out so he would stay home with our daughter, Bailey, during my training, then I would get home and he would go train. But while he was supportive in almost every way, the one thing that took some time for him to come around on was the idea of actually watching me in action. I’d ask him if he wanted to go to a practice and he’d be like, “I love you, and I support you in this 100%. But I don’t want to see nobody beating you up.” And he wasn’t even wrong: I was showing up at home with bruises, I’d landed on my neck at one point — it could get brutal. I understood where Brandon was coming from. But I still wanted to share that part of my journey with him.
And then one night he finally came to watch. We were doing a little practice match, and it had some of everything: I was hitting the ropes, taking suplexes, getting chopped to hell (those chops HURT!), doing all the moves and sequences I’d been working on.
After we finished, I looked over at Brandon and gave him one of those faces, kind of like, “Well — what did you think?”
My guy was beaming. He was like, “That was SO freaking cool!!”
He was proud of me, for real.
After training ended, there was a lot to think through. I hadn’t signed a contract yet, and WWE definitely wanted me. So it was time to figure out if that’s what I wanted.
And it’s crazy, because — right around this time, that’s when I started to become familiar with AEW. I’d been trying to study the wrestling business during training, and had watched some episodes of Dynamite on TV. I liked what I saw. And when I mentioned this to a friend of mine, he suggested that I meet Tony Khan.
The minute I talked with Tony, I just instantly was put at ease. He made me feel comfortable, and like I could be honest, about both my fears and my ambitions. I felt like Tony saw me as more than just a number. He understood my purpose.
A few days later, I was going down to Jacksonville for a tryout.
“Do you got to be so…. naked??”
That was the first thing my mom said when she came to see me wrestle for the first time. She was watching me cut a live promo before my match — I’d just signed with AEW, and my debut was going to be in a tag team with Shaq (a good friend of mine) against Cody and Red Velvet. What’s funny is, I was wearing long sleeves!! I had on this long-sleeve red outfit and I was like, “Mom — out of everybody, I think I have the most clothes on right now.”
My first official wrestling match was on national TV. That’s pretty rare. I can’t remember how many tickets I had to ask for, but I know it was some insane number. Must have been over 50 people who showed up. My mom was there obviously…. my friends were there…. my cousins from Orange Park in Jacksonville were all coming…. of course Brandon and Bailey weren’t going to miss it…. you get the picture. I was like, “I’m so sorry!! My family and friends are very proud!!”
I think on some level they also just wanted to see me in this new element. I’m usually such a chill person. And so for them to see this other side of me, this mean side of me, it was almost like — O.K., who IS this girl?! And how did she even get into wrestling?!
My family is Jamaican, and I’m a first generation American. They watched a little wrestling in the late ’90s and early 2000s — my mom can actually recall all the old-school wrestlers better than I can. But the new-age wrestling they’re not so into. My brother, Shawn, on the other hand, he’s obsessed with it: I’ll just be minding my business, and I’ll get a text from him.… and it’s some clip of a match he looked up and wanted to send to me. And of course he watches my stuff all the time.
My mom watches my stuff, too, but she didn’t really know what she was watching at first. So that’s why I think she didn’t love the costumes. I had to explain to her that the guys aren’t actually wearing underwear, and the women aren’t actually wearing bras and panties. It looks that way, but it’s wrestling gear. It’s the culture. But it’s pretty jarring if you’re not from that world.
Once she got it, though, she loved it. And she even tries her best to keep up with the storylines.
She’s really happy for me.
It’s a little crazy talking about your “life story” at 29, but it feels good to write this.
Even though I’m pretty young, in some ways I already feel as if I’ve lived like three lives. I have so many different sides to myself. There are so many different shades of who I am. High school Jade is totally different from college Jade. College Jade is totally different from when I became a mother. And then wrestling Jade is totally different from anything.
I think the experiences I’ve dealt with in my life — the people doubting me, the people judging me, the people telling me what I’m going to and not going to become? All these experiences have shaped me into the woman I am. And that’s a woman who, if she wants something, she’s going to go for it. It’s that simple. I’m going to go hard for it.
I know there will always be people who are going to talk their talk. People who think I wasn’t ready when I became TBS champ. People who think I haven’t paid my dues. And honestly I’m not even mad at those people. I appreciate that a lot of those opinions, they just come with the territory when your audience is as passionate as ours is. And at times I’ve felt many of those same doubts. Believe me, I was shocked and humbled to be the first TBS champ — and I had moments where I was questioning things. Like, How will this be perceived by our fan base? How will my coworkers feel? How am I going to feel? All of those thoughts were on my mind.
At the same time, though, I can promise you another thing: I would’ve never entered this sport if I didn’t think I had it in me to be great. Not good…. great. And I’m still growing, that’s just a fact. This is my second year as a wrestler. I debuted in front of the whole world. Half the time I feel like a lab experiment for TV viewers. And when I’m feeling doubts, I just remember that my daughter — she’s one of those viewers. And she’s seeing her mom be a champion. She’s seeing me grab life by the horns, and refuse to settle.
I come from a proud, Black family, and generations of proud, Black women. So I’ve always grown up with that special armor, that ability to be the only Black person in a room and keep my head up high — because I feel like I’m representing a lot of Black people who aren’t there. And I feel like I’m representing them even more in the role I’m in now. In everything I do, I want to be a pioneer for the next generation. I want to be proof.
And I especially want to be proof for one Black girl in particular. I want Bailey to enjoy every second of this. And when someone asks her, “What’s your mom do?” I want her eyes to light up as she tells that person everything she’s absorbed. She’s only four, so I won’t lie: She used to cry during some of the shows because she thought I was getting beat up. (I felt so bad!!) But now Bailey can’t get enough of it. She watches Dynamite, she watches Rampage, she watches every pay-per-view. She has her favorites: Ruby (loves her music), Rosa (every time we play she’s always like, “Thunderrr Rosaaa!!!!”), hopefully Jade Cargill. She’s starting to cut promos on me. She’s already a natural heel.
It’s funny, a lot of wrestlers have names they use to separate their character from what’s real. But I’ve always been grateful that I get to go by Jade Cargill. I’ve always felt that my character is just a version of who I am. Maybe a little less chill, a little more violent, a little larger than life. But still Jade. Still money. Still you-know-who. I actually am That Bitch.
It’s been over a decade since I swore I’d “make it up” to my grandmother — that I would find success to pay her back for all the sacrifices she made. And though she passed, and never got to see me wrestle…. I like to think she’d feel that I kept my word.
Because the thing about my grandma is: She made me feel loved and powerful. Like I could do anything I put my mind to.
And when I’m in that ring — the things she saw in me?
Now I see them in myself.
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WWE. Pro Wrestler. Bailey's Mom. 💕💚
@jadecargill The Big 3 is back 💪🏾💪🏾💪🏾 #Big3 #womenswrestling #wwe #training #wrestlingtiktok #wrestletoks #fyp #jadecargill #foryoupage #biancabelair #naomiwwe #jadecargillwwe #wwetiktok #wwe #skeeyee #knuckifyoubuck ♬ Knuck If You Buck x SkeeYee - Jah The DJ
@jadecargill Here’s a reminder in case y’all forgot. #Big3 #womenswrestling #wwe #training #wrestlingtiktok #wrestletoks #wrestling #jadecargill #fyp #foryoupage #biancabelair #naomiwwe #jadecargillwwe #nickiminaj #wwelive #theglow #storm #theest @Bianca Belair @THE GLOW ♬ sonido original - trix ♞
@jadecargill …now we here 💪🏾 #womenswrestling #wwe #training #wrestlingtiktok #wrestletoks #jadecargill #CapCut #wrestling #wwetiktok #wwetok #fyp #foryoupage #bts #jadecargillwwe #drake ♬ DJChose Minor SetBack - djchose
@jadecargill Go B! Go B!👏🏽 @Bianca Belair #Wrestlemania #womenswrestling #wwe #jadecargill #wrestling #wwetiktok #wrestletok #jadecargillwwe #smackdown #biancabelair #chelseagreen #piperniven ♬ original sound - quinaudi
@jadecargill Shoutout to my makeup artist, @Marandan Renea, for ensuring that i had the best makeup for my FIRST #Wrestlemania. 💋 Here are the deets: Primer: @Smashbox Cosmetics Photo Finish Foundation: @Too Faced (color chai) Concealer: Too Faced (color warm sand) Loose Powder: @Morphe Cosmetics Pressed Powder: @Imani Cosmetics @Mac Cosmetics Contour Powder: @Fenty Beauty Eye Shadow: @Juvia’s Place Silver Pigment: @Mehron Makeup Lip liner: @Jeffree Star Cosmetics Liquid lip: Too Faced #womenswrestling #wwe #jadecargill #wrestling #wwetiktok #wrestletok #jadecargillwwe #makeup #makeupartist #makeupart ♬ SWEET ★ HONEY ★ BUCKIIN' - Beyoncé & Shaboozey
YouTube
Jade Cargill Talks AEW Wrestling, Nyla Rose, Family Life, Bow Wow Beef + More!
Jade Cargill vs Anna Jay (Full Match) AEW Rampage: January 21, 2022
Bianca Belair, Jade Cargill & Naomi vs. Damage CTRL: WrestleMania XL Saturday highlights
About
Jade Cargill (born June 3, 1992) is an American professional wrestler. As of September 2023, she is signed to WWE, where she performs on the SmackDown brand. She is also known for her time in All Elite Wrestling (AEW) from 2020 to 2023, where she was the inaugural AEW TBS Champion; her single reign of 508 days is the longest for any AEW championship.
Early life
Cargill was born in Gifford, Florida in a family of Jamaican descent. She attended Sebastian River High School and Vero Beach High School, helping her teams to two basketball district championships. In 2009, Cargill played Amateur Athletic Union basketball for the Orlando Comets.
Cargill graduated from Jacksonville University with a social science degree; during her time at Jacksonville University, she played basketball for the Jacksonville Dolphins, and was named to the Atlantic Sun Preseason First Team in her senior year. Cargill went on to attain a master's degree in child psychology. After receiving her master's degree, Cargill worked with foster children as a child psychologist until 2019.
Professional wrestling career
Training (2018–2021)
Interested in becoming a professional wrestler, Cargill was introduced to WWE veteran Mark Henry by a mutual friend. Taking advice from Henry, who she described as her "mentor", in 2018 Cargill attended the Face 2 Face professional wrestling school in Morrow, Georgia owned by Heath Slater, Ron Simmons, and Teddy Long. In April 2019, Cargill attended a WWE tryout at the WWE Performance Center. Subsequently, Cargill began training at AR Fox's WWA4 Academy. She then trained at Nightmare Factory under Q. T. Marshall and Dustin Rhodes. Sonjay Dutt and Bryan Danielson started coaching her when they arrived in All Elite Wrestling (AEW) in 2021, at the request of AEW founder and owner Tony Khan.
All Elite Wrestling (2020–2023)
See also: Baddies
Cargill made her professional wrestling debut with AEW on the November 11, 2020, episode of Dynamite, interrupting Cody Rhodes, and teasing the arrival of Shaquille O'Neal. The next day, Tony Khan announced that Cargill had signed a multi-year contract with AEW. She worked with Cody Rhodes and his wife Brandi,[19] leading to a tag team match pitting her and O'Neal against Rhodes and Red Velvet on the March 3, 2021, episode of Dynamite; she won her first match. On the March 17 episode of Dynamite, Cargill wrestled in her first singles match, defeating Dani Jordyn. Despite Matt Hardy offering his managerial services to Cargill, he was shunned in favor of Mark Sterling, which was announced on the May 28 episode of Dynamite.
In October 2021, it was announced that Cargill would participate in the AEW TBS Championship tournament to determine the inaugural champion, and would be one of four women to receive a first round bye. Cargill went on to defeat Red Velvet in the quarterfinals on November 24 and Thunder Rosa in the semifinals on December 29. In the finals, which took place on January 5, 2022, she defeated Ruby Soho to become the inaugural AEW TBS Champion. Two weeks later, in her first title defenses, she retained against Anna Jay and Julia Hart on episodes of Rampage.
Throughout the early part of 2022, at various AEW events, Cargill continued her undefeated streak and retained her title against numerous opponents, most notably The Bunny, Tay Conti, Willow Nightingale, and Leila Grey. In mid-April, she formed her own stable called the Baddies, which consisted of her, Kiera Hogan and Red Velvet. On May 29 at Double or Nothing, Stokely Hathaway became her new manager and a few weeks later in late-June, Grey became part of the stable, replacing an injured Velvet. Around the same time, Cargill entered her first feud with the debuting Athena. The two eventually faced off in a title match at All Out on September 4, where Jade squashed Athena in a match that lasted less than five minutes. After fending off other contenders such as Madison Rayne and Diamante, she began a feud with Nyla Rose, who stole her TBS championship belt. The feud between the two lasted nearly two months and culminated at Full Gear on November 19, where Cargill defeated Rose to retain her title.
On January 5, 2023, Cargill reached the one-year mark as TBS Champion. The following week on January 13, she became the longest-reigning champion in AEW's history at 373 days, breaking Hikaru Shida's 372-day record with the AEW Women's World Championship. She held the TBS Championship until Double or Nothing on May 28, 2023. At the event, she beat Taya Valkyrie in a scheduled title defense, before she lost the title in an open challenge to the returning Kris Statlander in less than fifty seconds, ending her reign at 508 days and ending Cargill's 60-match unbeaten streak. Cargill made her return on the September 9 episode of Collision attacking Statlander. On the September 15 episode of Rampage (taped September 13), Cargill lost to Statlander in a title rematch. This marked Cargill's last match in AEW.
WWE (2023–present)
Following Cargill's departure from AEW, she reported to the WWE Performance Center in Orlando in September 2023, with reports that she had signed with WWE. On September 26, WWE officially announced that Cargill had signed a multi-year contract and had begun training at the Performance Center. She was WWE's first signing under TKO Group Holdings. Cargill made her first appearance on WWE programming during the Fastlane pre-show on October 7, where she was shown arriving at the arena and was met by WWE chief content officer and head of creative Triple H. She subsequently made brief appearances on Raw, NXT, and SmackDown, teasing which brand she would join.
Cargill made her WWE in-ring debut on January 27, 2024 at the Royal Rumble, competing in the women's Royal Rumble match. She entered the match at 28, eliminating Nia Jax, Becky Lynch, and Naomi before being eliminated by the number 30 entrant, Liv Morgan. Cargill then was assigned to the SmackDown brand. She made her debut on the March 29 episode of SmackDown, saving Naomi and Bianca Belair from an attack by Damage CTRL. At WrestleMania XL, Cargill, Naomi and Belair defeated Damage CTRL in a six-woman tag team match when Cargill pinned Dakota Kai.
Professional wrestling style and persona
Cargill wrestles in a powerhouse style. Her signature moves include a bicycle kick and a chickenwing facebuster which she calls Jaded.
Cargill has credited female wrestler Chyna and X-Men character Storm as her inspirations. She has also cited Jacqueline Moore and Jazz among her favorite wrestlers.
Other media
Television
Year Title Role Notes Ref.
2021 Rhodes to the Top Herself — —
Video games
Year Title Notes Ref.
2023 AEW Fight Forever Video game debut
2024 WWE 2K24 Global Superstars Pack DLC
Personal life
Cargill has a child with her husband, former Cincinnati Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips. In March 2023, Cargill and Phillips were announced as owners of the Texas Smoke, the fourth franchise of Women's Professional Fastpitch (WPF), based in Austin, Texas. Cargill's cousin Peter Cargill played for the Jamaica national football team in the 1980s and 1990s.
Championships and accomplishments
Cargill was the inaugural AEW TBS Champion, and holds the record for the longest reign of any AEW championship at 508 days
All Elite Wrestling
AEW TBS Championship (1 time)
TBS Championship Tournament (2022)
AEW Dynamite Award (1 time)
Breakout Star – Female (2022)
Pro Wrestling Illustrated
Ranked No. 5 of the top 150 female wrestlers in the PWI Women's 150 in 2022
Rookie of the Year (2021)
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Rookie of the Year (2021)
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