Jade Cargill

Jade Cargill (born June 3, 1992) is an American professional wrestler signed to WWE. She is best known for her time in All Elite Wrestling (AEW) from 2020 to 2023, where she was a one-time and inaugural AEW TBS Champion; her reign of 508 days is the longest for any AEW championship.
Early life
Cargill was born in Gifford, Florida in a family of Jamaican descent. She attended Sebastian River High School and Vero Beach High School, helping her teams to two basketball district championships. Cargill is a Jacksonville University graduate with a social science degree, where she played basketball, and was named to the Atlantic Sun Preseason First Team in her senior year. She also has a certified master's in child psychology.
Professional wrestling career
Training (2019–2021)
In April 2019, Cargill attended a WWE tryout at the WWE Performance Center. Subsequently, Cargill began training at AR Fox's WWA4 Academy. Taking advice from Mark Henry, who Cargill described as her "mentor", she went to train at Heath Miller and Richard Borger's Face 2 Face Wrestling School. She then trained at Nightmare Factory under Q. T. Marshall and Dustin Rhodes. Sonjay Dutt and Bryan Danielson started coaching her when they arrived in All Elite Wrestling (AEW) in 2021, at the request of AEW founder and owner Tony Khan.
All Elite Wrestling (2020–2023)
Cargill made her professional wrestling debut with AEW on the November 11, 2020, episode of Dynamite, interrupting Cody Rhodes, and teasing the arrival of Shaquille O'Neal. The next day, Tony Khan announced that Cargill had signed a multi-year contract with AEW. She worked with Cody Rhodes and his wife Brandi, leading to a tag team match pitting her and Shaq against Cody and Red Velvet on the March 3, 2021 episode of Dynamite; she won her first match. On the March 17 episode of Dynamite, Cargill wrestled in her first singles match, defeating Dani Jordyn. Despite Matt Hardy offering his managerial services to Cargill, he was shunned in favor of Mark Sterling, which was announced on the May 28 episode of Dynamite.
In October 2021, it was announced that she would participate in the AEW TBS Championship tournament to determine the inaugural champion, and would be one of four women to receive a first round bye. Cargill went on to defeat Red Velvet in the quarterfinals on November 24 and Thunder Rosa in the semifinals on December 29. In the finals, which took place on January 5, 2022, she defeated Ruby Soho to become the inaugural AEW TBS Champion. Two weeks later, in her first title defenses, she retained against Anna Jay and Julia Hart on episodes of Rampage.
Throughout the early part of 2022, at various AEW events, Cargill continued her undefeated streak and retained her title against numerous opponents, most notably The Bunny, Tay Conti, Willow Nightingale, and Leila Grey. In mid-April, she formed her own stable called The Baddies, which consisted of her, Kiera Hogan and Red Velvet. On May 29 at Double or Nothing, Stokely Hathaway became her new manager and a few weeks later in late-June, Grey became part of the stable, replacing an injured Velvet. Around the same time, Cargill entered her first feud with the debuting Athena. The two eventually faced off in a title match at All Out on September 4, where Jade squashed Athena in a match that lasted less than five minutes. After fending off other contenders such as Madison Rayne and Diamante, she began a feud with Nyla Rose, who stole her TBS championship belt. The feud between the two lasted nearly two months and culminated at Full Gear on November 19, where Cargill defeated Rose to retain her title.
On January 5, 2023, Cargill reached the one-year mark as TBS Champion. The following week on January 13, she became the longest-reigning champion in AEW's history at 373 days, breaking Hikaru Shida's 372-day record with the AEW Women's World Championship. She held the TBS Championship until Double or Nothing on May 28, 2023. At the event, she beat Taya Valkyrie in a scheduled title defense, before she lost the title in an open challenge to the returning Kris Statlander in less than fifty seconds, ending her reign at 508 days and ending Cargill's 60-match unbeaten streak. Cargill made her return on the September 9 episode of Collision attacking Statlander. On the September 15 episode of Rampage (taped September 13), Cargill lost to Statlander in a title rematch. It was Cargill's last match in AEW as her contract expired the same day, with her entry on AEW's active roster page subsequently removed.
WWE (2023–present)
Following Cargill's departure from AEW, she reported to the WWE Performance Center in Orlando during the week of September 18–22, with reports that she had signed with WWE.
On September 26, WWE officially announced that Cargill had signed a multi-year contract and had begun training at the Performance Center. She was WWE's first signing under TKO Group Holdings. Cargill made her first appearance on WWE programming during the Fastlane pre-show on October 7, where she was shown arriving at the arena and was met by WWE chief content officer and head of creative Triple H. She subsequently made brief appearances on Raw, NXT, and SmackDown, teasing which brand she would join.
Other media
Cargill made her video game debut as a playable character in AEW Fight Forever.
Personal life
Cargill has a daughter named Bailey Quinn with her husband, former Cincinnati Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips. Cargill has credited late female wrestler Chyna and X-Men character Storm as her inspirations.
In March 2023, Phillips and Cargill were announced as owners of the Texas Smoke, the fourth franchise of Women's Professional Fastpitch (WPF), based in Austin, Texas.
Filmography
Television
Championships and accomplishments
All Elite Wrestling
AEW TBS Championship (1 time)
TBS Championship Tournament (2022)
Dynamite Award (1 time)
Breakout Star – Female (2022)
Pro Wrestling Illustrated
Ranked No. 5 of the top 150 female wrestlers in the PWI Women's 150 in 2022
Rookie of the Year (2021)
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Rookie of the Year (2021)
References
External links
1992 births
Living people
African-American basketball players
African-American female models
African-American female professional wrestlers
All Elite Wrestling personnel
AEW TBS Champions
American exercise instructors
American female professional wrestlers
American sportspeople of Jamaican descent
American women's basketball players
Basketball players from Florida
Cosplayers
Female models from Florida
Jacksonville Dolphins women's basketball players
People from Vero Beach, Florida
Professional wrestlers from Florida
Sportspeople from Florida
21st-century African-American sportspeople
21st-century African-American women
21st-century female professional wrestlers