On this week’s episode of Wrestlicious TakeDown, the promotion crowned its first champion in Glory aka independent wrestler Christie Ricci. Glory took the crown in a hard-fought bout — perhaps the best match produced yet by Wrestlicious — against fellow indy veteran, Rain, known in the promotion as Felony.
Hot on the heels of the episode airing, we caught up with Glory to discuss how she feels about being the first ever Wrestlicious Champion.
First of all, congratulations on being the first ever Wrestlicious Champion. How does it feel?
Glory: It’s exciting. Wrestlicious, I’ve been so excited to be part of it so it’s really an honor just to be able to represent the company. The match I had with Rain [Felony], I thought it was an excellent match and to be able to beat a competitor like that, it’s always exciting.
Most of the Wrestlicious footage was filmed some time ago and the champion has been kept a secret. Was it hard for you to keep it under wraps?
Glory: [Laughs]. Not really. Goodness, we filmed, I think it was August 2008. Almost two years ago. So once the filming was done, it was one of those things that you hoped would take off because I really enjoyed the product and working for them but at the same time, I’ve done so many of these pilots/shows that are gonna make TV supposedly that you have one filming for and you never hear about again. So it’s nothing new to do a pilot and say, ‘Alright, that was fun… it was a pay check’, you know? And that’s it, you never really think about it again. Whereas, with Wrestlicious it was a little different, we were hoping that it did take off and something was done with it. At the same time, it’s still a product that is so outlandish and really not accepted so easily in today’s wrestling market that you’re just like, ‘Alright, well that was a fun weekend with the girls. We had a blast!’.
The champion doesn’t receive a belt, rather the ‘Wrestlicious crown’. Do you like this break from convention or would you prefer a title?
Glory: I definitely like the break from the conventional. When I grew up watching pro wrestling, it was all big gimmicks, interesting storylines and big larger-than-life characters and it wasn’t so serious. People try – especially the females – I feel like the females put a lot of emphasis on the seriousness of the athleticism and the sports side. That’s not really one of the reasons that I got into wrestling, even though I do appreciate that side, it’s not what I grew up loving and was so intrigued by. So, I like the break from convention. As far as a belt, it’s not really important. A belt, a crown… whatever. It’s kind of interesting, I was actually a beauty queen. I was Miss Teen Tennessee in high school when I was 17 years old. I still have my crown actually, so I probably have more crowns than I have actual belts.
As mentioned, you faced off against Felony aka Rain, were you happy with the match?
Glory: Yeah, I was happy with it. I’m more of an old school wrestler and not one of those hardcore ‘let’s get every single move in that we know and try to make sense of it’ [wrestlers]. I’m very old school, I like taking it easy – to me less is more. So if we can tell a story and not throw ourselves into these huge move and with Felony, she’s a chameleon I think when it comes to wrestlers – if someone wants to go at it hardcore and pull off all these amazing moves then she’s up for it and if someone wants to take it slow and just do their thing, she’s up for that too. I was happy with the fact that it was with her and she’s so open minded in how to put together a match and how to entertain the fans.
Going back to the beginning of Wrestlicious, how did you become part of it?
Glory: Jimmy Hart is a pretty big part of the promotion as well as Johnny Cafarella. I did not know Johnny Cafarella but Jimmy’s been a really big supporter of mine from a long time ago. I was trained by Leilani Kai and I was travelling and used to wrestle her. When I met Jimmy, it was probably about eight or nine years ago. He’s just always supported me since then and when Johnny decided that he was going to do Wrestlicious, he told him, ‘You have to call Christie, she would be great for this’. That’s what Johnny told me and then Jimmy confirmed the story, so that’s how I came to be a part of it.
Are you a fan of the Glory gimmick?
Glory: I think it’s funny and ironic. Here I am with a huge back-piece tattoo. I don’t consider myself an ‘All American Girl’, so to put that gimmick on me… I think there’s other girls in the promotion that would’ve been a much better Glory. At the same time, yeah, I am a fan of it. I think it’s an interesting character – I think they all are. Does it suit me? I can’t say that’s the character I’d pick if I were choosing for myself. But I have enjoyed it, I’ve actually felt like I could bring a lot to the character, I enjoy the energy and I enjoy being Glory, so yeah, I guess I am a fan of it.
Any of the other Wrestlicious gimmicks that you’d pick for yourself?
Glory: There are a couple that I really liked. I really liked Kickstart Katie and Lacey’s White Magic, I loved her gimmick. They were really fun. But it’s also about people bringing to to the characters. Like Lacey just played that character so well and brought so much to it that made it that much more interesting. Those are the two that really stood out in my mind.
Now that you’re champion, what can we expect from Glory? Any challengers so far?
Glory: I think it’s been advertised that this Friday [May 28th] Wrestlicious is doing more filming for the end of the first season. I’m pretty sure that Toni the Top is challenging me. I think it may be a title match, but I’m not exactly sure. I know there’s a tag team match and I’m sure somewhere in there, they’re going to throw in a title defense.
Any last words?
Glory: I get a lot of criticism from a lot of wrestling fans as far as comparing it [Wrestlicious] to something like SHIMMER. Well, it’s not SHIMMER and it’s not trying to be SHIMMER. I know there’s a lot of girls that work for SHIMMER that are working for Wrestlicious and I think people are being really unfair as far as the product’s concerned like, ‘Hey, take a look at the corny jokes and gimmicks’. Well that’s what the product is. It is what it is and the girls, I’m not speaking for all of them but I am speaking for some as well as myself, we really enjoy the product. Wrestlicious is a great place that a lot of the indy workers can call home. To us, to have created this environment we’re able to enjoy, which is hard on the indy scene. So I would say to the fans just support us. It’s great wrestling. If you can get through the cheesy gimmicks, then just put up with it and enjoy it. Stop criticising it so much. We have enough SHIMMERs, I mean every promotion in the world is setting out to be a SHIMMER. We don’t wanna be SHIMMER, so I would just say support us and enjoy the ride because it’s going to be interesting, I believe.
Wrestlicious TakeDown continues on Mondays in Canada at 11pm on Bite TV, Wednesdays in the US at 11pm on Mav TV and is available online on Thursdays via bite.ca/wrestling.
— Additional reporting by Steven
