SAN ANTONIO — When Ki Vibez was introduced during one of her recent matches, she received the hugest pop of her career. It was because the wrestling card she was a part of took place in her old stamping grounds on San Antonio’s Southside.

“It felt like I was going to cry when I went out there because it was like I never got that kind of pop before. The fact that I went out there and this is my neighborhood, these are my people, this is my hometown,” Ki Vibez said. 

She’s wanted to be a professional wrestler since she was kid when she would attend independent shows with her late great-grandfather. When she approached her teenage years she was faced with two choices. 

“Either between a quincenera or wrestling school — that’s the two options my mom gave me,” Ki Vibez said. 

She’s now making a name for herself in the independent circuit through promotions like Mission Pro Wrestling, which is run by “La Mera Mera" Thunder Rosa, who became the first Mexican-born woman to ever win a world championship in the United States. Thunder Rosa wrestles for major promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and is currently the AEW women's world champion. 

“I think it’s very important when you have something and you are very passionate and you have to like really pursue it, and for me it was women’s professional wrestling and wrestling just in general,” Thunder Rosa said. 

The independent scene is the path that Thunder Rosa took to stardom and it’s the reason why everybody knows her name around the world, but the business took a nasty bump when COVID-19 entered the squared circle. 

It derailed the career of UK pro wrestler Simon Miller, who flew from across the pond to wrestle at Mission Pro Wrestling. 

Spectrum News 1 asked Miller if he’s fully recovered from the pandemic shutdown. 

“I’m still recovering in terms of the mental, because again in the UK we weren’t allowed to leave our houses for 18 months,” Miller said. 

That slowed all of the momentum Miller had. 

Just like Ki Vibez he’s trying to to establish himself as a pro wrestler even though he’s well known in the wrestling community as a YouTube star for WhatCulture Wrestling, a site full of wrestling content. 

Miller says he wants to pay his dues like every other pro wrestler in the business. 

“It’s been great in the UK since, but there’s been less opportunities because there’s less companies because the are still trying to get back on their feet,” Miller said. 

That’s been the case for Texas as well. 

“I got depressed so I walked away from it for like a little bit too because I was like there’s nothing to live for right now and this made me happy,” Ki Vibez said. 

The art of pro wrestling isn’t just being able to wrestle or talk on the microphone, it’s about wrestlers being able to market themselves and sell merchandise. 

It was difficult to do that during a shutdown or with a venue at half capacity. 

“I believed in the beginning it struggled a lot, but I believe it’s going up,” Ki Vibez said. 

It is going up, or as Miller would say on his YouTube show, "a golden up." 

Miller received the hugest pop of the night when he defeated his opponent. 

“Probably the best crowd reaction I’ve ever had, so you come miles across to a different country and people treat you like that, it’s pretty humbling,” Miller said.