To celebrate a historical year for women’s wrestling, in collaboration with Pro Wrestling Illustrated, Bell To Belles interviewed over 20 women who have ranked on this year’s PWI 500 ranking, creating the “Women of the 2021 PWI 500” Interview Series. To empower women in wrestling even more, some of the interviews were conducted by the talented women who make up wrestling media.
Alice Crowley, who ranked #471 on the 2021 PWI 500, shared with Kristen Ashly of Bell To Belles her thoughts on intergender titles, international aspirations, educational endeavors, and more!
KA: First, we want to congratulate you on your first year ranking on the PWI 500! That’s really exciting news. How does it feel to be ranking for the first time on the list?
AC: It’s is an honor for me to be on the PWI 500. To be on a list with people like Kenny Omega, Roman Reigns and my friends Hoodfoot and Chase Holliday—I am honored.
KA: Your last year was successful for plenty of other reasons too, including your IWA Tag Team Championship reign with Becky Idol. The title is an intergender one. Is it important to you that titles are intergender?
AC: Our IWA Tag Team title win was the first time that women won a “men’s” title in IWA history. We went into that match the underdogs but we walked out making history. Me and Becky Idol made those intergender titles. I believe that intergender titles are important, but I also believe that any and every title is intergender, you just need to find a booker with the guts to book it as such.
KA: Considering your intergender career, are intergender matches an important part of your career, or is it just simply business as usual?
AC: The short answer to both questions is “yes”. I started training to be a wrestler at 14 years old. My trainer (Randi West) told me from day one that I am a wrestler. Not a “girl” wrestler, but a wrestler. My training was with mostly men, my first bumps were with people like Hoodfoot and Apollo Starr so intergender wrestling is a very important part of my career. So for me, it’s also business as usual.
KA: Though a big chunk of your last year features work with OVW and IWA Mid-South, you’ve also wrestled for other indie promotions. Any favorite matches from last year?
AC: One of my favorite matches from last year would definitely be my SHIMMER debut at the Collective. I was in a scramble match with Elayna Black, Jody Threat, Queen Aminata. I love being in the ring with them. It was a great debut for me and an even better win. I was only 17 at the time, so it was an amazing experience and pleasure to be a part of that match. Another one of my favorites was a match I had with Dillon McQueen at Flawless in Knoxville. I absolutely love Dillon and we had a really good match.
KA: Your career has typically stayed within the US. Assuming COVID cools down sometime soon, would you like to work within the international scene?
AC: My goal is to be a full time professional wrestler, so working internationally is absolutely something I will do. I want to work in Canada, Mexico, Great Britain, Japan…anywhere in the world who would have me, I will make my way there. I grew up watching New Japan, World of Sport and some AAA so it’s just a natural progression for me to branch off into the international scene. I just graduated high school this spring (2021), so it’s just a matter of time before you see me on the international scene.
KA: You’ve competed in a few tournaments over the last year, including your second Ted Petty Invitational. Are you a fan of wrestling in tournaments? There’s a lot of impressive names in the Ted Petty Invitational…any favorite moments from that tournament?
AC: When I first started watching independent wrestling, it was at a local show in Indianapolis. Each year they had a tournament called “Young Guns” that had some of the best young wrestlers come through. I got to see Calvin Tankman, WARHORSE, AJ Gray and many others work those shows and it was the most exciting thing in professional wrestling to me. I was lucky enough to be in the Young Guns Tournament in 2019, that was an incredible group of wrestlers that year as well, and again, an honor for me. Tournaments in wrestling are fun, I love being in them but I am a fan of watching them, too. My absolute favorite Ted Petty moment was wrestling John Wayne Murdoch in the semifinals of the 2020 TPI. A few weeks prior to the Ted Petty Invitational, I was booked against John Wayne Murdoch in a match on an IWA show. After the match, Mr. Murdoch grabbed the microphone and told Ian Rotten that I was a tough gal and that I deserved a spot in the Ted Petty. Ian put me in the tournament and I made it to the semifinals and lost to John Wayne Murdoch. That was a rough match, but I relied on my training and survived. I lost, but I limped away from the ring proud of what was accomplished over those two nights.
KA: One of my favorite past stables of yours was the Stupid Youth Project. Any chance the band gets back together soon?
AC: There is always a chance for the Stupid Youth Project to get back together. We started that team when we were first getting into wrestling. I won my first title with Billie in that tag team—if we wrestle as a tag team or as opponents, we are always at each other’s throats. We have had more arguments about how we are going to work as a team than when we work against each other. We have had a few potential matches that haven’t happened due to scheduling. I’d love to see Stupid Youth vs. The Rejects, Team Sea Stars, Boomer Hatfield/[Shea] McCoy…just to name a few. I don’t think you have seen the last Stupid Youth match…not yet.
KA: You announced a while back that you’re taking some time off to rehab your elbow and pursue educational endeavors. Any updates we can share with our readers?
AC: I have fully recovered from my elbow injury but I am currently working on regaining my strength. I should be back in the ring around Halloween. You should see me in SHIMMER, IWA, OVW and a couple other places that you wouldn’t expect to see Big Al. I get to travel more now that I am done with school. I am proud to announce I have finished my first year of college. I received my CNA certification and State License, I have certifications in CPR/First Aid, COVID-19 prevention, Dementia Care and I am a Certified Health Science Specialist. I will return to wrestling a lot smarter and better equipped to help backstage if needed.
KA: We really appreciate you taking the time to answer our questions, and really enjoyed looking over your career for the past year. Are there any future plans you want to share?
AC: My future plans are to continue training, in the ring and in the gym. Continue watching matches to expand my knowledge and to not take things for granted like I did before my injury. I hope to capitalize on some missed opportunities that came up when I was injured. I had a couple opportunities that would change the game for me, but my injury made me take a pass. But I will get back to the place soon and you will see Big Al on a bigger stage, hopefully sooner than later.
Be sure to follow Alice Crowley on Twitter @AliceCrowley19!
Order the digital version, or pre-order the print edition, of the 2021 PWI 500 issue at pwi-online.com. Follow PWI on Twitter @OfficialPWI.
Return to Bell To Belles for more news, opinion, exclusives, interviews and advocacy on your favorite women in wrestling! Subscribe to our YouTube channel by clicking here.
When using this interview, please credit Kristen Ashly of Bell To Belles.