AEW's Jamie Hayter is seizing her moment: 'I have more at stake than Mercedes' Moné
The city of San Antonio has four large indoor sports and event venues, three with its own signature, legendary San Antonio Spur who provided incredible moments and enduring memories. The Frost Bank Center saw Tim Duncan at the helm of the Spurs' dynasty, winning four NBA championships since its opening in 2002. The Alamodome, a tank of an arena in the heart of downtown, had "The Admiral" at the controls, with David Robinson establishing franchise record after franchise record in its hallowed halls. But the start of it all was at the Hemisfair Arena, with 'The Iceman' George Gervin finger-rolling his way into the NBA Hall of Fame, one smooth drive after another.
The fourth space, the Freeman Coliseum, doesn't have a silver and black deity in its rafters, but it does have the distinction hosting one of AEW's greatest matches to date: 2022's Women's World Title match between challenger Hikaru Shida and then-champion, now Owen Hart Cup finalist Jamie Hayter.
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As she looks to once again climb that mountain and sit alone atop the AEW Women's division, at Double or Nothing, Hayter's out to show the world that setbacks can't stop what hard work has put into motion.
Best-of lists drive conversation and spark outrage, but there's just something different about two focused combatants choosing to go out and kick each other's asses for divisional supremacy. Even in preparation, Hayter's interest is in whatever physique grants her the best opportunity to beat the hell out of whoever stands across from her. 'I like to have a bit of meat on my bones, to be honest," she says. "I like to be a bit more stockier. I don't really care about having abs so much. I just like to be a bit big. As big as I physically can.' Hayter and Shida went to war without having the same weapons of strategy, something Hayter appreciates across AEW's Women's division. There's variance in size and style, but the most important thing is being able to bring the pain to your opponent whenever called upon.
'That's the wonderful thing about wrestling, isn't it?" she says. "It really is for anybody. I don't really think it necessarily matters your body size or shape. I think if you can go in the ring, you go in the ring. Let that do the speaking for you. There'll be plenty of naysayers that will be like, 'Well, I actually think this about this body type, or I don't think they should look like this and that.' But it's just like, 'Well, f*** them.' That's what I say. Let your in-ring do the talking.'
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That focus on force, regardless of physique, helped Hayter retain her title with a deliberate, decapitating ripcord lariat finisher, appropriately titled 'Hayterade.' Yet the contest's importance was twofold: It was for the AEW Women's World Championship, but it was also one of AEW's rare televised women's main events. 'I'd never main-evented a 'Dynamite' before,' Hayter reflects. 'This is pressure, because the main event of a show, you want to send everyone home happy and entertain them. You don't want it to be bad, and you're thinking about all these factors that go into it, and you want to put on a great show.
"I'd never wrestled her before. I don't even know if we had really done much in the ring together. ... In general, I think it's definitely maybe my favorite match or my second-favorite match ever.'
Hayter originally won the title in an interim fashion from Toni Storm at 2022's Full Gear pay-per-view, and carried it until 2023's Double or Nothing, where she gave way to the now-megastar and current AEW Women's World Champion Storm prior to Storm's transition into her 'Timeless' persona. Outside of the ring, the two were very close, both having honed their crafts in World Wrestling Stardom. They lived together during the pandemic and spent their time watching every piece of professional wrestling media they could find, regardless of participant, era or location. 'What else was there really to do?" Hayter says.
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"We would watch pretty much anything. YouTube is such a great hub for finding so many random bits of wrestling. … All Japan [Pro Wrestling], women's wrestling, or I'll watch some World of Sport or some random French wrestling from the '50s or something like that. Then [Will] Ospreay really enjoyed putting on some backyarding stuff, which I hadn't really watched so much of.
"I think it obviously kept our wrestling brains intact, because not doing it for so long, you almost feel like you're going to forget how to do it. I kept having dreams that I didn't know how to run the ropes anymore, so certain I'd wake up in a hot sweat like, 'Oh my God!''
Joining AEW during its infancy in 2019 then enduring the global layoff was one thing, but Hayter still had her wits, her time and the space to improve. She had a second drought of sorts, this time due to a nagging injury that finally hit home. Hayter took time off due to two herniated discs in her back that were so severe, she almost gave up wrestling entirely. With the pandemic, she could go from her bed to the couch to soak in all forms of her chosen passion, but the injury grounded her to the point that stimuli outside of the bare necessities was almost impossible. 'I'd be at work, and my God, it was unbearable," Hayter says. "I'd be crying all the time. I couldn't even walk properly or anything like that. I would never wish it on my worst enemy because it was really, really horrific.
Jamie Hayter has torn up the ring since returning to action. (Photo via AEW)
(Lee South)
"I couldn't even laugh because I'd be in that much pain. … Just laying in bed, I don't know if you've ever bed-rotted for a while or been in that situation where you're in bed and you're like, 'God, well, this is my life now.''
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Whoever Hayter prays to clearly holds her in their favor, as her life finally returned to normal in the fall of 2024. With AEW All In emanating from her native England, she ripped through Sayara's friends and family to confront her, stunning and satisfying the crowd of over 45,000 fans. She also began to form her new signature look, a strong 1970's vibe inspired by The Doors frontman Jim Morrison and fellow Englishwoman Kate Bush. 'I wanted to dress [in what] was more my style," she says, "and outside of wrestling … I enjoy doing more things on my hair and changing up my style a bit more.
"I treat it like albums. I have my independent pro-wrestling album, my Japan album, when I first came to AEW and then post-injury, changing and evolving. Imagine if your favorite band did the same thing every single time, didn't change anything up, and it was just the same. I think that's boring, personally. I think, why not experiment and see how it goes?'
Since then, it's been a slow burn back to prominence, but comes Sunday, Hayter is jockeying for pole position with Mercedes Moné, who has yet to suffer a singles loss in AEW. The two Owen Hart Cup finalists have both experienced massive success in AEW, and while they both have individual goals, they both want to solidify the AEW women's division as the best in the world. They have a chance to sway opinion once more with their tournament final matchup. 'We want to make this the best women's division, the deepest woman's division, the most interesting woman's division that we can," Hayter says.
"I really do think, given the opportunity, every single woman has something to offer. ... Even though we're not shouting and screaming it from the rooftops for everyone else to hear, it's almost like an inside mission. It's something that we all want to achieve, because we all believe in the division.
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"We want to live up to the, 'Where the best wrestle,' tagline. ... We're going to get there, and I think we're definitely on that path.'
Jamie Hayter will vault into a world title shot if she emerges victorious Sunday. (Photo via AEW)
For Hayter, the best way to serve the masses would be to serve herself. Defeating Moné, then going on to face and conquer 'Timeless' Toni Storm at July's All In: Texas showcase would go a long way in reaffirming her as the division's best. She's already a San Antonio legend, but Dallas, with its emphasis on size and stature, would be a different beast to conquer. '[Winning the Owen Hart Cup] really does mean a lot to me. I'm not going to lie," Hayter says. "I think I have more at stake than Mercedes does.
"I haven't really done anything [since I came back]. This is the first thing I've done of note, and I've been back since August 2024. Hey, that's just how it goes. But this is my opportunity to really show people, maybe I look a little bit different or whatever, but I'm still the same person in the ring. I'm still aggressive. I can still go.
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"That fire gets lit in you and you're like, 'No, I think I'm starting to believe in myself more again,'" Hayter continues. "I want to show people that I never left and I can go, and I can be at that level that so many women now have gotten to that level. Toni Storm and Willow [Nightingale] and Kris Statlander — all these girls have been smashing it since I've been gone as well. They're really at the top of our division. I want to join them.'
While others have staked their claims in Hayter's absence, there's still that night at the Freeman Coliseum, that David Robinson-esque quintuple double in the "AEW Dynamite" main event that has yet to be duplicated, replicated, or even truly imitated. But it's a finals performance that Hayter wants to put on tape to show that she's not only all the way back, she's all the way in as the division's best.
'Winning the Owen Hart Cup would be great because it's a fantastic tournament," she says. "It honors Owen Hart. It's great for honoring his legacy. I also will give Mercedes Moné her first loss in AEW, which, I think that'd be pretty cool. I think that's a little brownie point for me. Then going to All In, potentially facing Toni Storm, I think that would be interesting because we haven't stepped in the ring together for quite some time. She beat me the first time for the belt, then I beat her, then she beat me again. I almost feel like I could do it — I really could go all the way.'
Hayter has the frame, the fervor and the fight to once more sit atop AEW's women's division, and she's ready and willing to run through anyone blocking her path.
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