Jessica Maldonado Roundtable Pro Wrestling interview on Ajax

Jessica Maldonado Roundtable Pro Wrestling interview focused on the work behind Ajax’s wrestling career, the influence Sir Mo had on their family and the 15 matches she refereed across three shows in Las Vegas. Speaking with Roundtable Pro Wrestling, Maldonado also explained why independent wrestlers sometimes have to pay their own way overseas.

How does Jessica Maldonado support Ajax’s wrestling career?

Jessica Maldonado said most of her time goes toward managing Ajax’s schedule and being his mother, rather than planning her own refereeing dates. From Little Rock, Arkansas, the family travels regularly for wrestling, including trips to Texas and Tennessee, with a Pennsylvania appearance alongside Ricardo Rodriguez on Ajax’s calendar at the time they spoke.

Her planning starts with his bookings. Maldonado said she checks Ajax’s calendar before her own because helping him pursue wrestling is the priority. She described her own work in the business as something she does for fun and exercise, while treating the travel and logistics around his career as a larger responsibility.

That approach has also shaped her view of Ajax’s opportunities. She wants him to work with people who can help him improve and to recognize how much he already knows. Later in the conversation, she described both his ability in the ring and his reluctance to draw attention to it.

What did Jessica Maldonado say about refereeing 15 matches in Las Vegas?

Jessica Maldonado said she refereed 15 matches across three shows in three days in Las Vegas, a schedule she questioned even after enjoying the trip. She also assigned the matches for every show, drove people and equipment around, and had her then-17-year-old daughter with her.

The Las Vegas workload

The refereeing was only part of Maldonado’s job. With her daughter accompanying her, she had to work out whom she trusted to look after her during the shows. She said she somehow became the driver for everyone and everything as well. Looking back, Maldonado emphasized that she had chosen the demanding schedule herself, including the match assignments.

Working with friends

Despite the workload, Maldonado said she had a great time because the shows let her work with friends she might otherwise struggle to see in the same place. She named Su Yung, Olivier Vegas and Richard Holliday, and said she spent time with members of the OIWA group, including Ajax, Ryzen and Dante.

Finishing the trip changed her sense of what she could handle. Maldonado said it proved she could do more than she had thought, even if she was still asking herself why she had taken on so much at once.

What did Jessica Maldonado say about independent wrestling travel costs?

Jessica Maldonado said independent promotions have budgets that often cannot cover an overseas worker’s travel. She has worked internationally in less than two years as a referee, but made clear that reaching another country can require paying for the trip yourself rather than expecting a promotion to cover thousands of miles of transportation.

Her blunt explanation was that paying to travel makes it possible to go more places. She compared international bookings with work for promotions closer to home: both have financial limits, and a wrestler or referee has to decide how to handle the gap.

Maldonado also spoke about investing in yourself and branching out instead of waiting for opportunities to arrive. She estimated that she had worked for only seven or eight promotions, despite having already refereed internationally. For her, the point was not to treat a booking as proof that every expense would be paid, but to understand what pursuing it would actually cost.

What did Jessica Maldonado say about Sir Mo’s influence?

Jessica Maldonado said Sir Mo supported her family, encouraged her choices as a referee and took a close interest in Ajax’s development. She remembered his direct answers when she was unsure about her presentation and described disagreements with him over whether Ajax should work for another promotion.

Choosing her refereeing look

Before she started refereeing, Maldonado asked Mo what he thought about wearing shorts and worried that people might object. She recalled him encouraging her to do it anyway. After her first appearance, she asked about adding fishnets and said he supported that choice too. His short answers could frustrate her, she said, but she knew he would speak plainly if he disliked something.

Debating Ajax’s opportunities

Maldonado and Mo also argued about Ajax going to another promotion. She recalled Mo’s position that they could give Ajax what he needed themselves, while she pointed to the other promotion’s much larger YouTube audience and the value of someone else helping pay for his development. She said Mo eventually accepted her reasoning.

Her gratitude went beyond those decisions. Maldonado said Mo had invested time in her family and that their conversations often centered on Ajax and Alexis. She did not suggest that his support was limited to them; she acknowledged that he had helped many other people too.

What did Jessica Maldonado say about Ajax training wrestlers?

Jessica Maldonado said Ajax has enough knowledge to teach other wrestlers, even though he doubts he would be good at leading a seminar. She described watching him coach people at different stages of training, working on the gaps they identified rather than giving everyone the same lesson.

Timing drills and individual gaps

At one session, Maldonado said a trainee asked about timing. Ajax responded with drills covering ring movement, coordination with another wrestler and getting into position for tag-team moves. At other points, he asked trainees what they wanted to learn or where they felt their foundations were incomplete.

She said Booker T had told Ajax he needed more wrestlers like him. Maldonado was proud of Ajax’s coaching, but felt his humility sometimes kept him from recognizing what he could offer. Recalling advice Shane Taylor had given him, she described the distinction between staying humble and diminishing his own ability.

Ajax in England

Maldonado also recalled Ajax’s first show in England, where he was playing the villain. She said he grabbed a Union Jack from a child, tore it and stepped forward so that his foot landed near the flag while an American flag showed on his knee pad. The resulting photograph captured the character he could become with encouragement.

Maldonado summed up what she saw in Ajax with one line:

our kid is a bad man when encouraged.

How did Sir Mo shape Ajax’s training and Jessica Maldonado’s remembrance of him?

Jessica Maldonado said Ajax was the last wrestler fully trained by Sir Mo, who made a point of being present when Ajax trained. As Roundtable Pro Wrestling reflected on Mo’s death and the people he brought together, she described a coach who pushed Ajax to meet a demanding standard.

Maldonado said she checked her understanding of Ajax’s training with Jay Song rather than assuming she could speak for everyone who worked with Mo. Her account was that Mo attended whenever Ajax trained, even if someone else led the session, so he could refine what Ajax had learned.

Ajax, she said, described his training as different because Mo would not let him fall short of his best. Mo could call out a sequence of moves and ask Ajax to repeat it back. Maldonado remembered Ajax meeting that demand rather than being thrown off by it.

Near the close of their conversation, Roundtable Pro Wrestling spoke about October 19 as a difficult date and thanked Maldonado and the OIWA family for their support. Maldonado’s memories of Mo throughout the discussion showed why his absence remained personal: he had helped her make decisions, challenged Ajax in training and given time to their family.