I was the butt of the joke in WWE but used it to my advantage to make history, says Women’s US Champion Chelsea Green

WWE superstar Chelsea Green has come a long way from being simply the “butt of the joke” to a history maker.

Green, 33, returned to the pro wrestling giants in 2018, following a hapless first stint, with much more experience under her belt following successful spells at TNA and Lucha Underground.

Chelsea Green used to be booked as mainly the ‘butt of the joke’Instagram / chelseaagreen

But Green learned to use her WWE gimmick in her favourGetty

Green went on to become the first ever Women’s US ChampionInstagram / chelseaagreen

Green learned to control her WWE in-ring characterInstagram / chelseaagreen

But despite stunning matches away from WWE, which saw her crashing through ladders and stealing the show in a rare intergender match against Penta, the Canadian bruiser opted for a completely different path back to the big leagues.

The ex-NXT star’s second run in the main roster started with her being booked as a comedy relief character that mainly put more established stars over with short matches, where she barely got any offence in.

That led to her breaking the record of shortest time spent in a Women’s Royal Rumble Match in 2023 when she was eliminated in just five seconds – she now shares that record with Valhalla.

However, Green saw an opportunity as her antics – especially her Rumble woes – grasped the audience’s attention and became a focal part of many conversations surrounding pro wrestling.

The ex-TNA star took advantage of her momentum and that led to much more TV time on RAW as well as SmackDown.

The popular wrestler continues to be booked as a mainly comedic character but learned to have full control as she is the one that “comes up with the jokes”.

That resilience led to her becoming the first ever Women’s US Champion at Saturday Night’s Main Event three months ago when she defeated Michin in the tournament finals.

Her patience and perseverence led to a much more flattering record than the one she still holds at the Royal Rumble as she is now in the same conversation as legends like Buddy Rogers, Harley Race and Ric Flair.

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Green discussed her journey with SunSport: “Well, when I first came back. You know, we kind of had a wishy washy idea of what we wanted to do with my character, and so I knew going into the Rumble, I needed to make an impact. It was my re-debut.

“I needed to make people talk. But I didn’t think that the way to make people talk was to do a ton of moves or do something crazy. It wasn’t that. It was the opposite.

“What can I do to strip it down to the bones? What can I do to make people talk that’s not going to take time away from anyone else, and for me, that was get in and get out and make the most of it with my facial expressions and like my backstages and things like that after I was out and I think we did that.

“I think we achieved that because I got people talking, and whether they hated it or they loved it, they thought it was funny, they thought it was ridiculous, they were speaking.

“And that’s all I needed, because, again, that kept the conversation going until the week later, and it gave creative an idea of what they could do with me the next week. Okay, let’s make her a complainer. Let’s make her a Karen.

“And then we’ve just built on that, and I feel like we’ve snowballed into this beautiful, beautiful character, where I’ve kind of evolved along the way in these past couple of years. It’s been really fun.

‘I embrace my character’

“Well, I think at the end of the day for me, it’s different, because I enjoy that. You know, I’ve done it all.

“I’ve been doing this for 11 years, I’ve got into the ring with Pentagon and done all the crazy moves. I’ve fallen off the ladders. I’ve shown you guys that I can do the hardcore stuff. I go down to NXT. I have the fast-paced matches.

“So I don’t mind being the butt of the jokes. I think it’s different when somebody’s telling you you’re the butt of the jokes, as opposed to I’m making myself the butt of the jokes. That’s the difference, right? I embrace the character. I come up with the jokes. I make myself the joke. I’m okay with that.

“It’s a little bit harder if you’re the butt of the joke and you don’t want to be, and I can’t speak on on that, but at the end of the day this is our career, and we’re able to change the trajectory. We can simple things in the ring.

“[We] Can shift how people feel about us, can shift the way that people perceive us. Can shift like we can go from doing comedy stuff to still being hard hitting and still hit good moves, still have good false finishes and things like that.

You don’t have to fit into one tiny box. You can kind of do it all. And I hope I’ve shown the audience that.”