How Chelsea Green survived to become a mainstay in WWE's women's division

Chelsea Green is used to having to wait.

She had many false steps to becoming a WWE superstar, a dream she had since she entered the industry. But on Dec. 14, 2024, all of her hard work became validated when she became the inaugural WWE United States Champion. It was the culmination of her perseverance and consistency. The fans were behind her, eager to explode in euphoria after the ref made the 1-2-3 count after she hit what she calls the “super unprettier” to crown Green.

“It took my breath away,” Green told the Sun-Times. “It was something that we dream of in wrestling. You go to do your finishing move, and everyone stands up and hopes that this is the moment. And as the referee counted 1-2-3, every single person in that building was counting, too. It just felt like that whole night was my night. Like I don't care what you witnessed on that night, who you saw wrestle like to me, that night was meant for me, and nobody can take it away from me.”

But to know Green is to know that her path was anything but linear. It was filled with multiple bumps that forced her to redirect her path. WWE chief content officer Paul Levesque — also known by his ring name Triple H — used this Maya Angelou quote to define Green: “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

And that’s how Green has endeared herself to the WWE fan base. They’ve seen her get the rug pulled underneath her, like when she didn’t wrestle in her hometown of Vancouver, or be unceremoniously released. But she wasn't deterred, each time she just tried to find ways to reinvent herself.

‘I thought that was the moment’

Green began training to become a wrestler in January 2014, which was a fortuitous time to be trying to break into the industry in the women's division. Throughout 2014 — and turbo-charged in 2015 — women's wrestling transformed in WWE. The women went from being called "divas" to "superstars" and were given more time on the main roster after decades of being underutilized.

Green’s WWE journey began in August 2014 when she debuted on-air as Megan Miller, the physical therapist to Daniel Bryan.

“I thought that that was going to be the moment I was signed,” she said. “I was sure I did the best job I possibly could, and I was meant for WWE, and then I actually didn't get a call for another year.”

In 2015, she heard from the company about competing on Tough Enough, its reality show. Green said that producers told her she was going to win and earn a WWE contract, but it didn’t materialize. In the intervening years, she wrestled for companies like World Wonder Ring Stardom (WWRS), Total Nonstop Action (TNA) and at All Elite Wrestling’s inaugural show, All Out.

“In fact, I was not called again after being eliminated from tough enough until 2018, when I was hired ... and then I was fired during the pandemic,” Green said. “When I was rehired [in 2023], it just felt like now's my chance. Now is my time to hit the ground running. Now is my chance to prove to the fans, to prove to Triple H, to prove to creative, to prove to my co-workers, to all the indie wrestlers that I was meant for WWE.”

Green has done more than prove that she merely belongs in WWE. She’s shown she can be one of the top players in the country. Green has drawn the praises of wrestling luminaries like The Undertaker, who said on his podcast, “Six Feet Under,” that Green “can be a top player. She has that thing, that ‘it’ thing. And I just think there’s a lot of great things coming for that young lady. I’m a big fan of hers.”

She’s carved out a lane for herself by being willing to try anything on television — she was involved in the first WWE women’s dumpster match, which saw her get powerbombed into the dumpster by Michin. Green’s perseverance and determination also stood out to WWE superstar Cody Rhodes.

“Chelsea green is, I think, [someone] people in the business will say, like a survivor,” Rhodes told the Sun-Times. “I'm very, very proud of her. I don't think she realizes how special she is to the fans. And I think she still thinks the glass of water in front of her is her last, and it's not, but the good wrestlers always think that's the last one. And I wish that she could take an outside perspective and look at what she's done, and know she's done a lot, and it's an indication that she can do even more.”

Given the ups and downs she’s experienced throughout her career, Green doesn’t get caught up in her win-loss record. The lows birthed a self-awareness that is useful in the unpredictable world of professional wrestling in which plans change at a moment's notice.

“I lose, and honestly, I lose often,” Green said. “I lose probably more than any other woman on the WWE roster. But at the end of the day, I'm traveling the world with some of my best friends, doing my dream job. I'm putting on sparkly gear, and I'm doing what I love in front of hundreds of millions of people.

But when it comes to what’s next for Green, she doesn’t confine herself to the squared circle because she doesn’t have much control over whether she’s at WrestleMania or who she’s in a feud with.

“What I can focus on [are] my goals outside of professional wrestling," Green said. "I want to improve my acting skills, my public speaking skills and my hosting skills to to make sure that I'm constantly building a resume that is undeniable. “ I would love to be the next John Cena of professional wrestling for the women's division. I would love to be in movies and TV and elevating the next generation of WWE talent, but that's a big goal. So, you know, I'm going to continue to work on that and put it out into the universe, and I'll manifest, and whatever happens, happens.”