WWE legend Mick Foley posted a blog this week revealing that he felt several of the WWE Divas in the company today wouldn’t make it, and reveals that after working alongside them at WrestleMania in Miami, he has become a ‘believer’, attesting to how hard they work.
In a must-read blog, Mick writes:
I believe I will look back on 2012 as the year I finally understood just how hard our WWE Divas work, how their contribution to the company extends far beyond their work inside the ring, and just how fortunate WWE is to have such diverse, determined group of young women representing them.
Foley continues:
There will always be part of me that is proud to be considered “old school” – for that romantic image of sacrifice, paying dues and respect that such a sacred term brings to mind. Several years ago, when I heard of WWE’s intention to actually recruit beautiful women and teach them to wrestle, I thought the notion to be utterly ridiculous. You didn’t find the female stars of tomorrow through a televised search; you found them the old-fashioned way – by finding that certain quality that allowed talent to shine in the armories, middle school gyms, and county fairs that dot the independent wrestling landscape. Female wrestlers, I was sure, could only be found training in the Dojos of Japan, like Kharma, finding bookings in whatever country would have her, like Lita, catching eyes and turning heads at every stop like Beth Phoenix, or born with the business in their blood, like Natalya.
I still think I’m largely right; combing those Indy shows is still a great way to find those stars of tomorrow, and I hope one day I can suggest a few women who have done great things, and fallen just short of a well-deserved shot with WWE. But as I’ve come to see, you really can recruit beautiful women and teach them to wrestle – if they’re willing to work for it. This business has a way of weeding out the ones that don’t really want it. If you don’t learn to love it, you’re usually going to hate it – that’s just the nature of the beast that asks those lucky enough to be selected to find the joy in being slammed repeatedly, both emotionally and physically, while traveling the country and the world at a pace that few could withstand.
Speaking on Kelly Kelly and the Bella Twins, Mick reveals that he didn’t think they’d make it in the WWE but they’ve proved him wrong.
It’s hard for me to even fathom that Kelly Kelly has been in WWE since 2006. But go back to that summer and you can actually see footage of Ms Kelly dancing, with Melina and yours truly (yes, I was actually dancing on ECW, albeit poorly) while Joey Styles provides the very finest in shocked and bewildered commentary. I vividly remember thinking, “nice kid, beautiful girl…she’ll never make it”, after that initial dance extravaganza. Yet, there she was, six long years later, hitting a move I’d never seen, on the biggest show of the year in front of 78,000 screaming fans.
I smile every time I think of Brie and Nikki Bella. Maybe because I honestly never thought I’d see them again after our inaugural (quite memorable) interaction over five years ago. Months later, I was stunned to see them hanging on – when I had the opportunity to address WWE developmental talent in the fall of 2007. I had thought the wrestling business would have chewed them up and spit them out almost immediately. Yet there they were, perspiring profusely, listening intently, looking down-right determined, giving me tiny, identical waves, as if to say, “yes, it’s us, we’re still here…surprised?”
Read the full blog here.
