Former WWE Diva/two-time Playboy cover model, Torrie Wilson, was a featured guest on this week’s live edition (10/11/10) of Monday Night Mayhem.
Torrie Wilson joined The Big Mosh & “The Chairman of the Board” Todd Vincent on “Your Home of Wrestling Radio” (in her first post-WWE interview) to discuss & preview this Saturday’s Legends of the Ring convention (at The Crowne Plaza Hotel in Monroe, NJ). Her first-ever appearance on Monday Night Mayhem is now available in Windows Streaming Media or via the official MNM Podcast on iTunes:
Interview highlights courtesy of The Mayhem’s official correspondent, Paterson from New Jersey:
Torrie’s reason for departing the WWE/why she did not wish to return to a full-time schedule and her transition from the world of professional wrestling/sports-entertainment to being an actress & self-employed businesswoman: “I ended up leaving the WWE because I had to have back surgery, so it was kind of an abrupt thing. I came home and had back surgery and called them up back after my surgery and told them that it wasn’t something that I wanted to go back to. I was kind of not wanting to travel, and it was just the pain of not being actually working in the ring and be sidelined because of back surgery, so I just decided to give it up. I opened up my own business here in Houston, with the full intentions are to do a lot of other entertainment-type things. I was on a reality show last summer called “I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out if Here” (on NBC), which did really well, but more importantly the business here…I didn’t realize how much work it was going to be. It definitely pulled me away from doing many appearances & other TV things, so I just closed my business here a couple of weeks ago, and I’m getting ready to move out to California, which I’m really excited about. I just started doing some appearances here & there, and it’s really exciting & fun to see my fans & some of the wrestlers there (at Legends of the Ring) as well.”
How she first got into the wrestling industry & the impact of Kevin Nash for getting her first big break in WCW: “I can definitely say I credit Kevin Nash fully for me getting in the wrestling business. I’ve heard a few people in the business talk crap, and say I was never a wrestler to begin with, and fell into it, and yadda yadda yadda, but I was given this great opportunity, and obviously I did something with it to stay in the business for nine years. Kevin basically saw me in a fitness magazine as a fitness model and thought that I would be great for wrestling. It just so happened that one of my good friends was friends with Kevin Nash and took me to a WCW show, and we got backstage and met a bunch of the wrestlers, and on a whim they asked if I would be interested in walking Scott Steiner to the ring that night, and I did, got a decent reaction, and the next thing I know Kevin is calling up my agent asking if I’d be interested in doing a storyline. One thing after another just snowballed, and I’ve never looked back. I could never thank him enough.”
How her time in World Championship Wrestling did not prepare her fully for what was to come in World Wrestling Entertainment, the differences of what she was taught in WCW vs. the WWE, & Madusa’s frustration with a lot of the girls on the WCW roster at the time: “It’s one of those things where at the time, I obviously knew nothing about what I was getting into and was very intimidated by all these big, burly wrestlers and going out there in front of these huge crowds, but I really didn’t realize until later when I went to the WWE how much I truly did not know. I was taught a lot more when I went to the WWE. They tried to teach us how to wrestle there for a little while in WCW, but the way we were known into it, it was kinda like ‘We’re gonna make you guys pay your dues right now and make you guys hurt,’ and Madusa, being the great wrestler that she was, was very frustrated at a lot of the girls that were in WCW at the time, and she just wanted us to realize how much it hurt for a lot of people. Looking back, I’m kind of embarrassed about some of the things I did in WCW without having a clue as to what I was doing.”
If there was any fear or intimidation about her debut storyline in the WWE as Vince McMahon’s mistress/his latest affair: “Major fear. I was already so intimidated by just being there backstage, and of course, Vince McMahon just being the man of power that he is. My first day meeting him, and being backstage, I had to kiss him, and do all these things with him, so I was extremely intimidated.”
Her memories of the WWE women’s locker room & the attitudes that resided in it, being part of “a man’s world,” and if she felt she was ever judged differently by the way she got into the business: “The women’s locker room was tricky at times. I can’t say that I got along just peachy with some of the people, but for the most part I had a great relationship with everyone that was in the locker room. Wrestling is largely a man’s world, and so for us, in the girls’ locker room, I felt like it was even more important to be able to get along and have people understand what we’re going through in a man’s world. Being someone that came from the fitness industry, and wasn’t a wrestler, and I didn’t work the independent scene for years, I think that there are certain people that don’t respect that, and think you should have ‘paved your way,’ and I personally think it’s pretty lame. There are a lot of industries where people all go in at all different ways: Some people fall into it, some people have a lucky break right away, some people work for years on the independent scene or whatever it is, and that’s the way they get there. When we’re there, and trying our best to improve, and obviously people want watch us on TV, you can’t fault really me for that. That was frustrating at times.”
Her candid thoughts on the now infamous “Stepmother vs. Stepdaughter” storyline between herself & Dawn Marie (involving her real life father, Al) and the largely negative reaction it received from fans: “It was definitely interesting. There were a few times during that storyline that I actually would go online and see what people were saying and decided that was not a good idea to ever do again. Of course, I didn’t really know what I was getting my father into or myself into for that matter. My father did a lot of interesting things to embarrass me backstage, just not knowing the etiquette or whatever. My brothers would be calling me mortified that dad was standing in his underwear in the ring, but there really wasn’t much I could do about it. It was an interesting storyline. It was cool that he got to see what my life was like on the road and do what I do for work & everything, but I was definitely ready for it to be over after that six-month mark.”
Much more is included in Torrie’s exclusive Monday Night Mayhem interview, including why she considers the in-ring chapter of her career closed, if TNA has made any advances towards her since leaving World Wrestling Entertainment, what the bigger adjustment was in her transition from WCW to the WWE, whether she believes that World Championship Wrestling has received a bad wrap over the years since the promotion’s demise in 2001 (and WWE’s subsequent purchasing of the company), the Divas that helped her the most, what she feels was her favorite storyline from her near ten-year career, plus so much more at www.MondayNightMayhem.com.
