By Jerry Del Priore
It’s a good time to be a female professional wrestler on the independent circuit. WWE made this evident as it signed Shotzi Blackheart. who announced her inking on Twitter today, to a development contract.
Blackheart, whose real name is Ashley Urbanski, gained notoriety when she appeared on WWE’s relaunch of its Tough Enough reality competition series –in which the 26-year-old California native just missed out on the final pick due to a medical aliment.
However, Blackheart received an official WWE tryout at the performance center in Orlando, Florida, back in 2016.
She has steadily improved over the years, performing for top independent wrestling outfits such as BEYOND, SHIMMER, RISE, Sabotage Wrestling, SHINE, and EVOLVE, where I saw her wrestling in Brooklyn last month.
To me, Blackheart proved to be a quality grappler that night and is well-deserved of the opportunity to rock NXT going forward.
