Former WWE Diva Joy Giovanni sat down with Ring the Bell’s DS Shin to discuss her time in the company as well as what she is up to now.
Giovanni is a former Diva Search contestant who appeared in the 2004 Diva Search. That competition was won by Christy Hemme and also included big names in wrestling such as Michelle McCool, Maria Kanellis, and Candice Michelle. She also became close with Amy Weber from the competition who ended up being her close friend in real life and on-screen partner during the majority of the time they were in the company.
Giovanni talks about a lot of topics with Shin including the Diva Search itself. This included the Diss the Diva segment, her on and off-screen animosity towards fellow contestant Carmella DeCesare, and how the competition was set up.
Further in the interview, Giovanni comments on her WWE release and how it left her devastated. She was planning to go full time with the company and received the call of her release the night before going on the road.
“I actually, a lot of people don’t know this, but I was completely heartbroken by my release because over the time, part of my deal – my contract, was that I was only required to appear for televised events. So I was only there for TV once a week. I was there for press conferences and pay-per-views and things like that. I wasn’t on the road with everyone. Within a couple weeks before the release, I agreed to go on the road full time. So I was going to start training, I was going to go on the road full time, and I had my bags packed literally by my front door to leave for the airport in the morning and the night before I was to leave I got the call. Apparently I was the last of the 50 to find out. I was the last on the list of the calls.”
She continues, “I wasn’t given really any reason. They kind of said we do this periodically. And I was like, ‘how many people?’ And they said 50 people. That’s a lot of people to just release, you know what I mean? So that’s what happened. I was pretty devastated, because I was going to go full time with them.”
Giovanni also talks about many moments she had on screen, including the time she was kidnapped in the car trunk, her rivalry with Amy Weber, and where that was all going to go. She also talks about the plane incident that caused Weber to make her exit.
You can view the full interview below. And if you haven’t subscribed to Ring the Belle yet, what are you waiting for?
