Gabby Forza has officially signed with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), becoming a new addition to the company's Knockouts Division. Forza stated in an interview with OutKick that a significant reason for her decision to join TNA was the promotion's openness to intergender wrestling, where women compete against men.
Forza highlighted her background in wrestling men on the independent circuit as a core aspect of her professional wrestling persona and a strength she wishes to utilize in TNA. "For me, I wanted to join TNA really badly because I just felt like I could see myself there in general, but I was so excited to join TNA because there are so many women there that I want to work with so badly and I love that they do have intergender wrestling there as an option because from the moment I joined wrestling, I always wanted to wrestle men," she said. "That is kind of what I've made my schtick based off of, where I'm fighting men a lot on the independent wrestling scene. It's like I would say like one of my greatest strengths."
If given the opportunity to compete against male wrestlers in TNA, Forza named Ricky Sosa as a potential opponent she would like to face.
Forza's athletic background includes a career as a women's tackle football player, where she played linebacker for over a dozen years, and a period as a powerlifter. She described her wrestling persona as bubbly and positive but also capable of fighting individuals of any size, attributing this to her strength background. "Well, my wrestling persona is very much who I am," she explained. "So, just a very bubbly person, very positive. But I also can fight pretty much anyone of any size. I have a very big strength background in powerlifting, and I played tackle football for most of my life as a linebacker. So being a woman that is built like a linebacker is, I think, for most of our lifetime has been an insult to women. But for me, it's like the biggest compliment because that was my goal — to train to be one of the best linebackers in the world. And the fact I get to bring that into wrestling means I hit people really, really hard and it's very fun to do that and get to continue being an absolute menace in professional wrestling."
Forza began her athletic journey in cheerleading before transitioning to tackle football. She played the sport for 15 years, including five years on boys' teams as the only girl. This experience, she said, accustomed her to competing against larger male opponents and instilled toughness. "I was always the smallest on my football team, but I played for 15 years — five of those years being on boys' teams being the only girl," she recalled. "But I was always used to going up against guys who were bigger than me but that made me a very strong person physically. My brother was always the biggest person on the football team and I was always the smallest. All the other guys growing up would take it easy on me because ‘that's a girl, don't hit the girl. My brother did not care. He was like, ‘Oh, I can hit my sister, let's go.’ So, I do credit my brother for making me very, very tough because he was literally the biggest and strongest, couldn't be taken down by anyone, but then there was me and I was like, ‘I’m getting him.’ Chasing my brother and literally beating each other up our entire childhood on various football teams made me not scared of anyone of any size and that I got the biggest fight in me."
Following her football career, Forza became a seven-time All-American linebacker in women's tackle football and a two-time national champion. She pursued opportunities with Team USA, making the alternate roster once. She then transitioned to professional wrestling without any time off, aiming to apply her physical condition and competitive drive to her new career.
Forza also expressed a desire to inspire young women who may not conform to societal expectations of appearance. She sees TNA as a place where women who don't fit traditional molds can thrive. "I definitely aspire to inspire other people, especially young women who don't fit the typical shape of a woman, you fit the mold that society has built for us," she said. "That has made me want to be a TNA Knockout really badly because I’ve watched TNA and I’ve seen the type of women who thrive in TNA and I’m like I can absolutely be, not a wrestler in TNA but I feel like I can be a star at TNA and that’s kind of what I’m hoping to achieve and I think wrestling has been very good to me in the sense that I've been able to reach all these young people and young girls who come up to me all the time and tell me that I inspire them to work out, to get stronger, and not focus on being what other people expect them to be."
It remains unclear when Forza will make her TNA debut. TNA's weekly show, "Impact," airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on AMC.