{"id":218602,"date":"2026-06-27T19:14:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-28T00:14:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=218602"},"modified":"2026-06-27T21:35:39","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T02:35:39","slug":"exclusive-maya-world-details-process-of-finding-out-she-was-going-to-be-in-the-owen-hart-foundation-tournament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2026\/06\/27\/exclusive-maya-world-details-process-of-finding-out-she-was-going-to-be-in-the-owen-hart-foundation-tournament\/","title":{"rendered":"EXCLUSIVE: Maya World details process of finding out she was going to be in the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-1989309929\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p>AEW wrestler Maya World\u2019s brother, Jatwane, was killed in a traffic accident earlier this month. With the AEW TV tapings and ROH TV tapings set to take place a short time after the tragic death of her brother, World didn\u2019t make the decision to go to the tapings until 9:00 PM. the day before she was set to fly out, as she felt it was right for her to go.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYeah, no, well, it, the decision for me, it was kind of like, you know, I think I flew in that Wednesday morning, so it was, like, the day before at, like, 9:00 PM,\u201d said World during an interview on <a href=\"https:\/\/vip.pwtorch.com\/2026\/06\/25\/vip-podcast-6-25-radican-worldwide-interview-with-maya-world-getting-signed-by-aew-working-with-her-mentor-athena-inspirational-run-though-owen-hart-foundation-tournament-after-passing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Radican Worldwide<\/a> available now for PWTorch VIP members. \u201cI finally was like, \u2018Hey, please, like, you know, I&#8217;m, I&#8217;m okay to be there. Just, like, let me be there.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>World said prior to making the decision to go to TV, she had spent the previous few days mourning her brother with her closest family members.\u201d &#8216;Cause at that point, my brother passed at 3:00 AM Sunday morning,\u201d said World. \u201cSo, as soon as we got the news, we all, my whole family were together. Like, all 20 of us, well, all 20 of the closest ones that are in the area.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe had came together, and we had been together for the past, like, literally barely sleeping on and off from that Sunday at 3:00 AM till that Wednesday morning when I finally drove to the airport. Like, we had been together for so long, just a lot of crying and tears and just trying to distract ourselves, just playing games, just doing, like, just trying to be together.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW&#8230;<\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Check out the latest episode of the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Post-show covering the latest episode of Raw: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spreaker.com\/episode\/wwe-raw-post-show-6-22-keller-radican-declare-that-oba-is-ready-but-wonder-if-now-will-be-his-time-plus-street-profits-lyra-bayley--72641442\">CLICK HERE<\/a> to stream (or search \u201cwade Keller\u201d on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any other iOS or Android app to subscribe free)<\/h3>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"WWE RAW POST-SHOW (6\/22): Keller &amp; Radican declare that Oba is ready but wonder if now will be his time, plus Street Profits, Lyra-Bayley\" src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?episode_id=72641442&amp;theme=light&amp;playlist=false&amp;playlist-continuous=false&amp;chapters-image=true&amp;episode_image_position=right&amp;hide-logo=false&amp;hide-likes=false&amp;hide-comments=false&amp;hide-sharing=false&amp;hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"200px\" frameborder=\"0\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>World said she knew she needed a distraction and was hoping to get a match against someone from Stardom or CMLL during the tapings set to take place for ROH Global Wars. \u201cSo,I just felt like I needed to get away,\u201d said World. I knew I was gonna, you know, I knew Thurs- that come Thursday I was gonna be back, be back into that crying and all that.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo, I was just like, \u2018Please just let me get away from this. I just need to be distracted. I wanna be at work. I wanna have a match. Like, I wanna wrestle.\u2019 Um, and I was just expecting, you know, like, a Global Wars, like, um, wrestle someone from someone from Stardom or CMLL, &#8217;cause, I love Stardom. So, like, I was like, you know, \u2018Just let me, let me wrestle someone. I don&#8217;t even care. I just wanna get my mind off of this.\u2019 So I, it was a very easy decision to go to work whenever I finally, like, decided.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>World wasn\u2019t originally scheduled to be in the Women\u2019s Owen Hart Foundation Tournament, but Stardom wrestler Saree was not cleared to compete by AEW\u2019s medical team. AEW owner and booker Tony Khan delivered the news to World she was going to take Saree\u2019s place in the tournament against Sky Blue. \u201cI was in a little bit of a shock when Tony told me,\u201d said World. \u201cSo, I remember him saying it, and then I was confused for a second.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-3383227539\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>\u201cAnd then I was like, \u2018Oh, wow.\u2019 Like, I got really emotional after the match (against Sky Blue). Like, I broke down crying as soon as I got through the curtain, but before that I kind of was in a shock and I just had to instantly like, \u2018Okay, you gotta go.\u2019 Like, I couldn&#8217;t even be, like, emotional as I wanted to be because I just thought, \u2018Wow.\u2019 The Owen, I mean, it means a lot to me just because I know Owen and his story and everything.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>World didn\u2019t expect to be in the tournament this year and said she never got discouraged when she didn\u2019t see her name in the original bracket. \u201cSo just being in it, I didn&#8217;t expect that,&#8221; said World. &#8220;And when the bracket came out, I was hoping, and you know, I wasn&#8217;t in it, and I was okay with that. Like, wait your turn. I&#8217;m like six months into my, you know, contract.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI&#8217;m like, [laughs] you know, it&#8217;s new. So, um- I mean, I never got discouraged. I was like, \u2018Okay, I&#8217;m not in it\u2019 like, \u2018There&#8217;s other things to do,\u2019 you know? So, when I got that, it was just a lot of shock, and like I was just, I had to instantly rewire my brain to like, \u2018Okay, we gotta go,\u2019 you know?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>World said not knowing she was going to be in the tournament was better than knowing in some ways because she didn\u2019t have time to think about anything other than she wanted to win for her brother. \u201cAnd Sky Blue&#8217;s been someone I had been wanting to face too, so it was kind of like, \u2018Okay, I finally get this match, but it&#8217;s also for this, so I gotta make sure I win for my brother,\u201d said World.<\/p>\n<p>\u201dIt&#8217;s like, i, and like as soon as I said that, I was like, \u2018Okay, I gotta win for my brother.\u2019 Like, it&#8217;d been two days since he passed. It was so fresh, and it&#8217;s still like it&#8217;s fresh now. So, I just had like my re- my brain was just like, \u2018Win,\u2019 and that was all that, that was all it was.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The way the bracket unfolded, World ended up beating her mentor, Athena, in the semi-finals to advance to face her wrestling idol Mercedes Mone at the Forbidden Door PPV in the finals of the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament on June 28. World\u2019s inspirational run through the tournament and facing two opponents so close to her heart has seemed like something out of a fairytale.<\/p>\n<p>World said the craziness of her run through tournament hasn\u2019t sunk in yet for her. \u201cIt&#8217;s honestly like I said, I had been so numb,\u201d said World. \u201cI don&#8217;t even know if it still has even settled in yet. If like, even the fact that when I beat Athena, it definitely didn&#8217;t set in until like maybe a day or two after.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was like, \u2018Wow, I&#8217;m really doing it.\u2019 Because again, I just had to rewire my brain to win. And it is kind of written in the stars. I honestly just thought about it, like how I, that&#8217;s who I replaced, and how it was set up, and things like that. Um, but I mean, it just for me in particular, I just, like I said, I knew if I, like when I beat Athena, I honestly wasn&#8217;t even focused on Mercedes yet. &#8216;Cause I&#8217;m like, \u2018This is already a tall task.\u2019&#8221;<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-45627996\" class=\"pwtor-content-1 pwtor-entity-placement\"><!-- Tag ID: pwtorchcom_test_300x600 -->\r\n<div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __300x600\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>World is set to face her hero, Mercedes Mone, in the finals of the Women\u2019s Owen Hart Foundation Tournament on June 28 at the Forbidden Door PPV. The match is being billed as being part of a triple main event alongside Swerve Strickland vs. Will Ospreay in the Men\u2019s Owen Hart Foundation Tournament Final and Team MJF vs. Team Mark Briscoe in a 12 Man Steel Cage match. The show will be available to watch on PPV on HBO Max, traditional PPV providers, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ppv.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">PPV.com<\/a>. Starting at 8 p.m. ET. The Zero Hour pre-show will air free on HBO Max and YouTube beginning at 7 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n<p>To hear the entire interview with Maya World <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/govip\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Go VIP<\/a><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Wade Keller Post-show (6\/22) - WWE Raw w\/Keller &amp; Radican\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/hz-CvSX1iTc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-1831733896\"><div id=\"pwtor-302152838\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>AEW wrestler Maya World\u2019s brother, Jatwane, was killed in a traffic accident earlier this month. With the AEW TV tapings and ROH TV tapings set to take place a short time after the tragic death <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2026\/06\/27\/exclusive-maya-world-details-process-of-finding-out-she-was-going-to-be-in-the-owen-hart-foundation-tournament\/\" title=\"EXCLUSIVE: Maya World details process of finding out she was going to be in the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":218622,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6163,2,4247],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-218602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aew-news","category-prowrestlingnews","category-interview-highlights"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2026\/06\/IMG_7124-e1782614129120.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218602"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218602\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":218616,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218602\/revisions\/218616"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}