Independent wrestler Kiera Hogan took her career to the next level when she started appearing on Impact Wrestling shows last year, and she isn’t stopping there. While she battles the undead Su Yung on the Pursuit channel/Twitch, she’ll appear on the revamped WOW Women of Wrestling, which airs its first episode on AXS TV on Friday, January 18, as babyface superhero “Fire.”
Hogan says she got involved with WOW Women of Wrestling after series creator David McLane called her and asked if she was interested. “He already had Fire in mind for me, and he was like, “I love your look, let’s keep it.” And I was like, “Okay, I’m ready!”
Similar to fellow WOW star Tessa Blanchard, Hogan says fans of her work in Impact and independent wrestling promotions know what to expect from her character despite the name change. “I am ‘The Girl On Fire’ on the independents and I’m Fire here, so pretty much the same thing. It’s about the passion, the energy. You know, me being just a fireball in the ring. Catch me if you can, stuff like that. I’m pretty much the same person outside of here. I just feel like Fire is the amped-up version of ‘The Girl On Fire.'”
In keeping with bringing the “superhero” theme to the already over-the-top world of wrestling, McLane and other WOW folks have emphasized that their new show is meant to be family-friendly and empowering for girls and women. Hogan says, “I definitely feel that. It’s definitely empowering for women. Like, to be a superhero. I feel like Jeannie [Buss, WOW co-owner] and David came up with “Superheroes” because obviously, Jeannie grew up wanting to be a superhero, and I feel like… because the characters are so different, so, like, very well detailed… Our cast, in general, is very relatable to just about everybody. I feel like everybody can pinpoint a character that they can relate to.”
In case you missed Fire 🔥 VS Havok this weekend at @comicconla ….Here are some highlights 👊 The WOW Superheroes were live in action giving a preview of whats to come to @AXSTV in January 2019! #wowsuperheroes #wow #womenofwrestling #WomensWrestling pic.twitter.com/6LISrRyxJN
— WOW – Women Of Wrestling (@wowsuperheroes) October 30, 2018
Hogan says something else that’s different about WOW is the atmosphere behind-the-scenes. “I just feel like women’s locker rooms can be very, like, iffy sometimes,” she explains. “I feel like women can be very competitive. But the most recent locker rooms that I’ve been in like WOW and SHIMMER that I just came back from and SHINE, I feel like are very good locker rooms. It’s a very good dynamic with veterans and rookies and new girls and girls that have only been wrestling a certain amount of time like me.”
According to the Girl on Fire, this isn’t just because of these specific companies, but because of the changing role of women in wrestling. “I feel like now because women’s wrestling is such a big thing, I feel like more women are coming together than trying to tear each other down… especially with Evolution going on, and, like, WOW coming up, and I just feel like it’s way more empowering for women, especially like women from the independents going up to WWE, and, like, all the indie stars going to Impact Wrestling. I just feel like this is a very empowering era for women.”