Интервю с Angelina Love

[nWoHulkster]

Първото й пост-TNA интервю:

- Angelina's departure from TNA was completely amicable. She spoke to the right people in charge and they mutually decided that it was time for her to leave. She pretty much worked with every Knockout storyline-wise and accomplished everything she could during her five-year run in the company.

- Angelina felt sad about leaving TNA but at the same time she got to live her dream and travel all over the world. She's grateful for the opportunities given to her but eventually changes happen and everybody has to move forward in life. She cherishes all the friendships and memories she had during her time in TNA.

- Angelina said she would have liked to do another program with Gail Kim. The other idea she pitched to TNA creative was being a valet and working alongside the men, just to try something different.

- Angelina praised Hulk Hogan as a super cool guy. Despite popular belief, Hogan was actually very supportive of the Knockouts division and would always watch their matches and give feedback to the girls.

- Angelina described the early days of the Knockouts division as a crapshoot. TNA management didn't know in the beginning if the division was going to work or not. They were all really surprised when the division started taking off with the fans. Angelina said she is proud to have been one of the original pioneers of the division. Every girl on the roster at that time had been working hard in the independent scene for years so they all kind of grew up with each other when they were signed by TNA. Angelina had a lot of fun working with Velvet Sky during their feuds against Awesome Kong, Roxxi and Tara. She also enjoyed being a babyface and feuding against the Beautiful People.

- Angelina didn't know how her storyline with Winter came about. It was an idea conceived by Vince Russo as he was always very big on having as many girls involved on the show as possible. Angelina thought it was an odd pairing but she still enjoyed working with Winter. It was completely different from what she had done in the Beautiful People with the glamour, makeup, tiaras, etc. The most difficult part was playing the silent, emotionless Terminator type character. She was hardly allowed to blink or react to anything whatsoever during her matches. Overall, she liked the whole sexy, edgy Goth aspect of the storyline because she thought it was a fun challenge for them to play with.

- Angelina spoke very highly of her pairing with Velvet Sky in the Beautiful People, calling it the best work she's ever done in her career. They had met each other prior to joining TNA and clicked right away. They share the same sarcastic sense of humor and personal interests outside of wrestling. Angelina said Velvet is like both her sister and her best friend.

- The idea for the Beautiful People gimmick originated when people backstage suggested that Angelina and Velvet should be a tag team since they were both blondes and always hanging out together. Angelina and Velvet had also considered the idea as well because they thought it would be unique with no female tag teams around at that time. It didn't exactly catch on with the audience in the beginning, so they decided to get themselves over as heels and started incorporating their normal pre-show routines with the makeup and such into their characters. They felt more comfortable working as heels anyway. After they were given their new ring names (which Angelina admitted sound like porn star names), they came up with the idea to call themselves Velvet-Love Entertainment. Vince Russo later came up with the Beautiful People name and they decided to go with that instead. Angelina appreciated that Russo gave them the ball and let them run with it. She noted that the key to their success was that they had very strong characters.

- Angelina liked the additions of Cute Kip and Madison Rayne into the Beautiful People. Kip seemed like a random choice but he had a great attitude about his role in the group. Madison also clicked and actually enhanced Angelina and Velvet's characters because she was the lackey being bossed around by her bitchy superiors and doing all their dirty work.

- Angelina didn't have any personal problems with Lacey Von Erich replacing her in the Beautiful People after she left TNA due to her visa issues. She praised Lacey as a beautiful, sweet and funny girl. Lacey's addition to the group still made it a hot blonde trio, and the good thing was that it served as a ready-made feud for Angelina when she returned to the company.

- Angelina didn't think much of what WWE were doing with LayCool. She just took it as a huge compliment to her and Velvet if the WWE did base those characters around what the Beautiful People were doing in TNA.

- Angelina discussed her time in WWE developmental. She was first invited to a tryout for WWE in June 2004. A few months later WWE had just released Jazz, Nidia and Gail Kim from their roster. So they held a two-week tryout for a bunch of girls (some models, some independent wrestlers) at OVW. Tommy Dreamer was working for WWE at the time and encouraged Angelina to go. After a few days, WWE decided to sign her to a developmental deal and sent her to Deep South Wrestling, where she stayed for about two years before it got shut down and transferred to OVW. Angelina noted that she was the only female there with 16 other guys during that period, and the experience helped hone her mic skills because they had to practice doing a bunch of promo exercises every week.

- Angelina and Velvet decided to reform the Beautiful People in the independent scene after they both left TNA. They both wanted to do it and the fans wanted to see it, too. They're currently scheduled for a lot of bookings together over the next few months.

- Angelina is open to the idea of joining WWE. She said she would like to work with any of the women there. The only ones she had previously worked with in the independent scene are Beth Phoenix and Natalya, so it would present a lot of fresh match-ups and storylines for her (and Velvet should WWE be interested in them together). Angelina also noted that her dream match would be against Trish Stratus.

- Angelina spoke a little about her acting career. She had attended the Dark Rising movie premiere in Toronto a few years ago and was introduced to the producers, who were also huge wrestling fans. They later cast her in the Dark Rising television series, which is set to premiere in the spring of 2013.

- Angelina wrapped things up by thanking all the fans that continue to support her. Even though she is no longer with TNA, she said she will continue wrestling and acting and basically doing what she loves to do.