Jordynne Grace reveals surprising reactions from WWE friends at the Royal Rumble

WWE really put effort into Royal Rumble surprises this year, but new details have been mentioned by Jordynne Grace after the TNA Knockouts World Champion featured in the bout.

The current TNA Knockouts World Champion entered at number five and lasted 19 minutes and 10 seconds until Bianca Belair made her the 7th elimination of the match. The announcers acknowledged Grace's championship reign during her entrance and mentioned that she beat Naomi to win the title.

Speaking to Fightful, the first Knockouts Triple Crown Champion, recalled how she was put into the hotel used for surprise talents. She then visited the WWE Performance Center in Orlando on Thursday for Rumble rehearsals, and that's when her friends found out. It was noted that several people were shocked to see Grace there.

"I didn't tell anybody, besides obviously like my husband, but I didn't tell any wrestlers because I was... I was so scared of like, anything getting out... which of course it did anyways, but it could have gotten a lot... you didn't do it, you didn't do it, but other people of course did it, ruining the surprise... you can't have surprises in pro wrestling anymore. But yeah, people were shocked," she said. [From 1:30 - 3:22]

Grace continued that Chelsea Green was mad at not being told about the surprise. The star also revealed that she did not tell Trinity, her on-screen rival in TNA.

"So many people that I've known for just years, and they all officially thought that I was, like, this was my official debut, and I was like, 'No, I'm TNA Knockouts Champion and I'm just there representing TNA.' And that was even more shocking to them. So, I saw Chelsea Green, who was really mad that I didn't tell her. [laughs] She came up and she hit me, and she was like, 'Someone just texted me and said you were here and I didn't believe them, but here you are.' And she was really shocked I didn't tell her but I was like, 'Come on, like, it's better that I'm here as a surprise. " I also didn't tell Trinity, which was the funniest thing. All week, I'm texting her and I'm like, 'Hey, I'm really excited to see you in The Rumble, blah blah blah... but what she didn't know was that I was going to be standing across the ring seeing her, so yeah," she said. [From 3:23 - 7:10]

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Jordynne Grace on keeping her WWE debut a secret

Speaking during the same interview with Fightful, the Knockouts World Champion recalled going to the Performance Center on Thursday for rehearsals and how her friends finally reacted to her being there.

"Yes, I thought that it was better that I just keep that a secret unti I saw her at the Performance Center, just because it was funny. And you know how you kind of see someone out of context and you don't recognize them... that's exactly what her reaction was. She was just like, confused... she was like, 'What are you doing here?' [laughs] Before the excitement took over, but she was just like, so confused about why I was there. [laughs]," she said. [From 7:40]

Naomi worked her last three TNA matches with Grace. Their last was Naomi's rematch for the title, which she failed to win at the Impact main event last Thursday.

If using quotes from this article, please credit Fightful for the interview and give an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription.

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