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Former SmackDown Women’s Champion Naomi was a guest on this week’s “Making their Way to the Ring” podcast with Lilian Garcia. The interview was conducted prior to Naomi having to relinquish the Women’s Title due to an injury. Highlights of the interview, (courtesy of Wrestling INC) below:
On how it felt to win the Women’s Title: “I’m finally starting to feel it. I finally feel like even though I’ve been here for years, I’ve just arrived. Strange but I finally feel like I’m here, this is me, I’ve found my niche and the fans are starting to connect [with me] and know who I am and what I’m about.”
Her first live wrestling show experience: “I was 21. My brother was a wrestling fan growing up but not me. I never knew much about it other than what I saw from my brother. I saw the show live and I remember at the time it was a six Diva bikini tag match. I remember it was Gail Kim, Kelly Kelly and Alicia Fox. But I mean to see these amazing bodies, wrestling, kicking butt, looking beautiful and being entertaining. I saw those girls and I was like, I want to do that. I can do that. That is awesome. Then from there I started asking questions and then I ran into Ricky Santana who actually got me my tryout, helped me get my tryout at FCW and then I was signed from there in 2009.”
Why Naomi sometimes finds it difficult to enjoy her success: “I think it’s so competitive, and I think because I kind of have been on the back burner for so long and social media and there’s many things that, there’s just so many critics out there and things that make you sometimes doubt yourself and just want to improve and I think that plays a big part in it.”
Where she got the idea for “Feel the glow”: “The inspiration comes from a movie from the 80s, called The Last Dragon. It’s about this martial artist who is on this journey to find the glow. It’s all about him really at the end of the day finding his confidence. He had it all along. He just had to look within himself.”
Was the company quickly receptive to her idea: “No. Absolutely not. Two years. It took me two years to get them to finally hear me out on this concept, this idea, and the entrance and everything.”
Naomi says she doesn’t know why she’s been cut from the cast of Total Divas twice: “I never could get a straight answer, and I think there are a lot of us girls, and I don’t know if it’s just them wanting to give everyone an opportunity, or they just like the idea of switching people in and out, to give the fans a different taste.”
Watch the full interview below:
What are your thoughts on Naomi’s interview? Have you been enjoying the ‘Feel the Glow’ movement? How would you book her return? Let us know in the comments below!
