WWE broadcaster Renee Young recently spoke with Lilian Garcia on her Chasing Glory podcast to discuss her experience on Total Divas, how she and Dean Ambrose got together and thoughts of possibly joining WWE’s commentary team again. Highlights of the interview below, courtesy of Chasing Glory.
The story behind the name ‘Renee Young’: I sent them a bunch of alliterations, which truly I thought were better. I had Renee Ruston, which is Aubrey Hepburn’s real last name. I had Renee Rogers which is Prince’s real last name. I had Ryan which is my closest aunt’s married name. And then I did Young for Neil Young. I was literally flipping through my records, I was like, ‘Oh, that could be cool.’
Her experience on Total Divas: It was a cool experience, but I think when I was in the middle of it and even when we started and I get the call, ‘You’re going to be on Total Divas, I was like ‘Okay…’, because I knew I was going to have to broach this subject with my significant other. Now listen if it was destiny, it probably would have been a little bit different, but I also might not have been on the show if it was just me. It was hard, it was really hard and even now when I see the girls and they’re on the road, and you’ve got a camera in your face, and you’re taking these vacations that aren’t really vacations, it’s exhausting, it’s really a lot of work. I commend them all for doing it. For the people that it’s great for, its great for, but I think the problem that I essentially ran into was that I’m not a private person and my husband is. I didn’t want to make him do something that he didn’t want to do.
How she and Dean Ambrose got together: I feel like we just always talked. We would like to connect and hang out, but at this point, I did not know that he doesn’t talk to anybody, because he always just talked to me. So we would be on Voxer this app, it’s like a walkie-talkie app and we would just message each other all day long and we would always make plans, try to hang out. As soon as we actually like hung out, he came and met me in Orlando. We were on like neutral territory, I was down there doing NXT because there were times when he said he was going to come to New York and I’m like, ‘You’re not staying in my apartment! What do you think that means?!’ So he came to meet me in Orlando and we hung out and we’ve literally been together since.
On wanting to try commentary again: I enjoyed doing it at NXT. I didn’t love doing it when I was doing it on Main Event because I felt like doing a two-man booth always stressed me out. I feel like my strengths of being on commentary is like quick tidbits, quick reactions, sharp little things here and there. But, like, to provide more of a bulk to this match I don’t really feel like I do it justice. So being in a three man booth and being able to do a little bit more character stuff, and flirt with William Regal across the table, or whatever that was going to be. Yeah, it stressed me out more then but I also was so much newer in the company that I felt like and I did this to myself, I think but I felt like I was on such a tight rope about what I can say, what I can do, how I can behave, how I’m supposed to come across, and I was like ‘who am I? What is this thing that I’m delivering to people? Because this doesn’t feel like it’s me. I feel like I’m trying.’ I just feel like I had to rework how I speak and I can definitely be a little crass, or I can make fun of stuff in ways that doesn’t work here. So I feel like now that I’ve been here long enough, and I’ve been on the panels long enough, that I have such a better perspective of how everything works from a non-scripted idea. So I think if I were able to apply that again in the second round, it might be a different outcome. I feel like that time is not far off. I really feel like it’s not far off but I also, and this is a pretty new thing for me, but I feel like it’s my spot and I want to take it. I really, I feel like I want. I’m really excited to put in the work and try to hone a craft in that or be somewhat passable in it and grow, and learn, and figure stuff out. But I feel like if that spot is going to open up and they want to put a female on a desk I really want it to be me.
Young also discusses being inspired by female comedians, moving to Los Angeles at 19 and coping with the stress of her parents’ divorce growing up.
You can listen to the full interview below:
What did you think of the interview? Did you enjoy Renee Young on Total Divas? Would you like to see her give another try on the commentary team? Let us know in the comments below!
