It’s WrestleMania 42 week in Las Vegas, NV, and if you are an indie wrestling promotion, you likely have an event during the week in hopes of making new fans off of the WWE’s “show of shows.” And if you are an indie wrestler, this is your opportunity to gain new fans and be spotted by someone from the WWE, leading to something bigger. For Kristin Lubeskie, who goes by Kristin Blaze, this is what she was meant to do, and this week is all about taking her career to new heights.
Blaze, who was born in New Jersey but raised in Central Valley, NY, and calls herself the “1% of 1%,” isn’t your typical wrestler on the come-up. Although she considered herself an athlete since rolling over at just eight weeks, Blaze was first a gymnast, then a pole vaulter, which she did at Florida International University. While in the middle of a competition year, Blaze received a DM (Direct Message) on Instagram from an unlikely account, which she didn’t believe at first but did after verifying it.
“I never thought I would be doing this, but I’m so grateful to be doing it. I was reached out to by the WWE via Instagram DM,” Blaze told FightsATW. “It was a recruiter (from the WWE), and I was invited to a tryout. I went to the tryout and made it to the callback at the Performance Center. At the time, it didn’t work out. But my recruiter told me that if I wanted to do this, to find a school nearby, learn the ways, and see where it takes me.”
The whole experience captured her full attention, so it was time to find a wrestling school nearby so she could continue pursuing this new passion. “I did a quick Google search, and that’s how I found CCW (Coastal Championship Wrestling). I’m trained under Gangrel now. I’m so grateful to call him my coach, and I think everything happens for a reason.”
Prior to that DM on social media, there wasn’t much interest in wrestling. Sure, she knew the big names, like John Cena and The Rock, but she didn’t watch it as much as her father did, so she didn’t know all the storylines and characters. But once she caught the bug for wrestling, she never looked back. Her first match was in December 2024, and, just as you would expect, she was all over the place emotionally beforehand.
“I felt like I was going through cycles throughout the day,” said Blaze. “I was like, ‘Oh my God, I’m about to do this,’ then I was like, ‘Chill, I got it.’ It was that whole cycle throughout the day. Then I told myself that performing in front of an audience is nothing new and to trust my training. The moment I went through the curtain, I was in ‘go mode.”
After that match, Blaze would get on a roll, earning CCW’s Rookie of the Year and, more recently, the CCW Women’s championship. After achieving that much success in such a short period of time, what does Blaze think about that whole experience?
“Amazing,” she said. “One of the things Gangrel always teaches us is that the journey is the jewel at the end of the destination. Hearing that, taking a step back, and realizing how far I’ve come in such a short time, I’m very grateful for everything I’ve experienced so far.”
On Wednesday in Las Vegas at the FSW Arena, Blaze will be taking on Roma on a card hosted by Boca Raton Championship Wrestling (BRCW) at 2 pm PT to kick off her WrestleMania week. She will follow that with another match later that night and appearances throughout the Vegas Strip.
As Blaze continues to reach new heights in her wrestling career, before the calendar flips to 2027, there is something she wants to keep fresh in her mind. “I want to keep making myself proud and stepping out of my comfort zone.” Follow Kristin Blaze’s journey as she looks to move from the independent circuit to the main stage in the years to come.
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