WWE Divas: Sexy, strong and stylish

When you mention wrestling, beauty and femininity aren’t the first words that come to mind. But after a chat with WWE ‘Divas’ Kelly Kelly and Maria, it’s clear there’s a lot more to the sport than choke-slamming.

How did you get into wrestling?

Maria: I entered in a contest five year ago called Diva search, got in the top five and worked rear end off until I got a job
Kelly: I signed about four years ago, I was 18-years-old, just out of high school and they found me. I was modelling, they saw me in a catalogue and the rest is history.

Was it something you were a fan of before you became part of the sport?

Maria: I loved The Rock, I thought he was hot so when I first saw the opportunity to do the Diva search I thought it would be really cool to work with The Rock but I was a big wrestling fan. I used to watch Lita and Trish and thought they were amazing. So basically I was a wrestling fan but I also love The Rock.

Kelly: I was actually the same but with Stone Cold. I was obsessed and I loved his little bald head! But I used to watch it with my dad when I was younger when The Rock and Stone Cold were together.

So what’s the lifestyle like, is it as glamorous as it looks?

Maria: I would say yes and no. It’s just as glamorous as you see on TV but sometimes being on the road isn’t as glamorous because it’s long drives and a lot of travel and you’re staying in a different hotel room every single night. So I suppose it’s very, very cool but at the same time you miss home and you miss your family and you miss your dog and all that kind of stuff.

So what about the daily routine, what sort of training is involved?

Maria: I try and do about an hour of cardio a day and then I also do abs and light weights and I try and fit in some yoga here and there, so it’s a little bit of everything. I think the biggest thing is just carrying all the luggage. It’s like one of those things we have to do all the time.

Do you have a special diet at all?

Kelly: I try and eat as best as I can on the road as there’s only so many places that are open at midnight on the weekend and stuff, and it’s usually just fast food that’s open on the road so usually we’ll try and eat what’s best there like salads and stuff.

How do you both manage to maintain your femininity whilst taking part in such a masculine sport?

Maria: Well you definitely have to fight for it. The guys will treat you like guys if you let them! But you do find your ways. You still have top do the whole manicure and pedicure thing, get your hair coloured - all the girly things - while you’re on the road. I think you just try and bring the comfort of home with you, so whatever makes you feel like a woman.

So what’s it like being a sex object?

Kelly: I don’t really consider us as sex objects I see us more as hot girls kicking butt and since we’ve become PG I think we’re known a lot more for our wrestling now, which is very important and it’s nice to be known as a pretty face who can get out there and wrestle.

What about boyfriends, are they intimidated by your career choice?

Maria: Mine used to be a football player and then he was also a football coach and he’s also a New Yorker, and he’s scared of nobody. But it depends because some guys are very intimidated right off the bet - you can’t even date them, because this is a huge part of our lives and we have got to have a strong man and very confident man in order to deal with our lifestyle.

Obviously you have to be glamorous every single day and at the same time keep fit. Is it difficult to manage both?

Maria: I think that most of the girls involved with WWE are naturally beautiful so even when we’ve been on a plain for hours and hours, with no sleep, whatever it is, there is so many beautiful women in the company that can wake up that way. So I think that part is more of a natural thing and at the same time a lot of us are girly girls so we like that part of it. Then there are other girls who don’t like it as much so I suppose it depends on the individual.

What’s the relationship like between all the girls - what’s it like behind the scenes?

Kelly: We all get a long really well and of course there’s the girls like Maryse who like to be the Diva of the locker room, but besides that we all get on really well  and we travel together all the time as well.

What about getting on with all the men?

Kelly: Errrr yeah, some of the guys you don’t want to catch on a bad day because you’ll get a mouthful, so you just stay a way, but most of the guys are pretty respectful.

Why do you think the divas have become such an important part of WWE now?

Maria: Because most of our fans are men, I’m sorry but even if me, if I’ve seen five matches of men in their underwear I’m ready to see come matches of girls in their underwear. Also there’s so many hard things going on, you’ve got the hard ring, the hard moves, the hard guys, then all of a sudden you have the femininity coming back, so I think it’s a huge part. And plus we have a lot of female fans who look up to us and say ‘wow,’ I want to do that.  I also think that’s awesome.

So do you have a lot of fun with what you’re doing?

Kelly: Yeah we both love our jobs. Maria’s been here for five years I’ve been here for four years and we’re living our dream. We love what we do and really put 110 percent into our wrestling and into everything else that comes with it.

Why do you both think it’s important that women athletes are taken as seriously as men athletes?

Maria: Because it takes a lot in the ring to be athletic, it takes a lot to keep beautiful and athletic at the same time and I think that our fans definitely realise that.

So what about the Royal Rumble coming up at the end of this month, is it something everyone is getting excited about?

Maria: Of course, it’s probably one of the biggest pay-per-views we have in the entire year. You guys can catch it here, it’s on Sky box Office, it’s at 1am and it’s on January 31st.

Kelly, can you tell me more about the Expose?

Kelly: When they brought me in I was only hired for a month or two and they said, ‘okay, we have this thing we want you to do. We want you to be an exhibitionist and take off your clothes.

I was not the best dancer and it was very hard for me to do it every week but I knew this was my way in because ultimately I wanted to wrestle, so hopefully after a few years I’ll be able to do what I want to do, but at the time I had to do the expose thing. It was fun, I had a good time with the girls when we had the Extreme Expose, so  it was fun.

What’s been your proudest or most exciting moment so far?

Kelly: Probably just finally getting the chance to wrestle and showing everybody that we’re not just pretty faces we can wrestle too.

Why do you think that so many women want to become Divas like yourselves?

Maria:  think a lot of women want to become wrestlers like ourselves because we’re powerful and we get to do something we believe in and be glamorous at the same time. We fight for what we believe in and a lot of people are too scared to do that and we’re actually out there doing it and I think that that inspires a lot of women.

Maria, you’ve got lots of other interesting hobbies, can you tell me a bit more about them?

The biggest one for me right now, is that I’, actually coming out with a EP an it’s a partial album an it’ll be out on April 13th and I’m almost positive that it’ll be over here (in England) as well.

What sort of future ambitions do you have?

Maria: Well I definitely want a hit record, that’s probably my biggest one and I want to become known  for being a great singer or at least a great writer because I  wrote most of the music on my album. I also just got Diva of the year and it was an amazing experience and it was great but I’m still want the championship, so I’m still fighting for that.

I’ve been here for a while and I keep thinking to myself I know it’s got to happen but other than that I want to get married and have babies.

Kelly: I’m just trying to concentrate on my career here and like Maria said I would also like to get the Diva championship and it’s been a very long hard road trying to get where I am now and I just want to get in the ring watch time and show 110 percent and prove to people that I can actually get in there and wrestle and prove that I’m worthy of holding the championship. And hopefully that will happen.

So what kind of things have you learnt from being a Diva over the last 4/5 years?

Maria: Well we’ve definitely learnt lot about fake tan and how to apply it, but you also learn how to eat well on the road because you have to find things to eat that are healthy and you have to learn how to deal with all types of people from all different walks of life.

You have to learn how to cope with that and cope with being away from your family as well, and it really makes you learn a lot about yourself and what you can and can’t do.

Kelly: Yeah I agree with Maria. Like I said I was 18-years-old when I started so I’ve grown up in front of everybody’s eyes. A lot of people have taken me under their wings and shown me the ways.

I go home and I see people my own age and they’re like ‘oh my God you’re so mature,’ and I say to them it’s because I’ve had to grow up so fast. I’ve seen so much and I’ve had to get my own hotels, my own cars and being so young it’s not the easiest thing to do.

What sort of advice would you give to people who would like to follow your footsteps into the wrestling scene?

Maria: Know what you’re getting into. It’s a long road and it’s hard. But at the same time it’s amazing and fun, and it’s heart-warming seeing the fans out there but at the same time it is a lot of hard work. So if you’re going to try, go to a trial for WWE, and just keep fighting.

If you have something you believe in, fight for it.

The WWE Live Events Tour takes place in the UK from 8th - 13th April  in  Newcastle, Glasgow, Liverpool,  Manchester, Nottingham, London, and Sheffield

FemaleFirst Georgina Farrer

When you mention wrestling, beauty and femininity aren’t the first words that come to mind. But after a chat with WWE ‘Divas’ Kelly Kelly and Maria, it’s clear there’s a lot more to the sport than choke-slamming.

How did you get into wrestling?

Maria: I entered in a contest five year ago called Diva search, got in the top five and worked rear end off until I got a job
Kelly: I signed about four years ago, I was 18-years-old, just out of high school and they found me. I was modelling, they saw me in a catalogue and the rest is history.

Was it something you were a fan of before you became part of the sport?

Maria: I loved The Rock, I thought he was hot so when I first saw the opportunity to do the Diva search I thought it would be really cool to work with The Rock but I was a big wrestling fan. I used to watch Lita and Trish and thought they were amazing. So basically I was a wrestling fan but I also love The Rock.

Kelly: I was actually the same but with Stone Cold. I was obsessed and I loved his little bald head! But I used to watch it with my dad when I was younger when The Rock and Stone Cold were together.

So what’s the lifestyle like, is it as glamorous as it looks?

Maria: I would say yes and no. It’s just as glamorous as you see on TV but sometimes being on the road isn’t as glamorous because it’s long drives and a lot of travel and you’re staying in a different hotel room every single night. So I suppose it’s very, very cool but at the same time you miss home and you miss your family and you miss your dog and all that kind of stuff.

So what about the daily routine, what sort of training is involved?

Maria: I try and do about an hour of cardio a day and then I also do abs and light weights and I try and fit in some yoga here and there, so it’s a little bit of everything. I think the biggest thing is just carrying all the luggage. It’s like one of those things we have to do all the time.

Do you have a special diet at all?

Kelly: I try and eat as best as I can on the road as there’s only so many places that are open at midnight on the weekend and stuff, and it’s usually just fast food that’s open on the road so usually we’ll try and eat what’s best there like salads and stuff.

How do you both manage to maintain your femininity whilst taking part in such a masculine sport?

Maria: Well you definitely have to fight for it. The guys will treat you like guys if you let them! But you do find your ways. You still have top do the whole manicure and pedicure thing, get your hair coloured - all the girly things - while you’re on the road. I think you just try and bring the comfort of home with you, so whatever makes you feel like a woman.

So what’s it like being a sex object?

Kelly: I don’t really consider us as sex objects I see us more as hot girls kicking butt and since we’ve become PG I think we’re known a lot more for our wrestling now, which is very important and it’s nice to be known as a pretty face who can get out there and wrestle.

What about boyfriends, are they intimidated by your career choice?

Maria: Mine used to be a football player and then he was also a football coach and he’s also a New Yorker, and he’s scared of nobody. But it depends because some guys are very intimidated right off the bet - you can’t even date them, because this is a huge part of our lives and we have got to have a strong man and very confident man in order to deal with our lifestyle.

Obviously you have to be glamorous every single day and at the same time keep fit. Is it difficult to manage both?

Maria: I think that most of the girls involved with WWE are naturally beautiful so even when we’ve been on a plain for hours and hours, with no sleep, whatever it is, there is so many beautiful women in the company that can wake up that way. So I think that part is more of a natural thing and at the same time a lot of us are girly girls so we like that part of it. Then there are other girls who don’t like it as much so I suppose it depends on the individual.

What’s the relationship like between all the girls - what’s it like behind the scenes?

Kelly: We all get a long really well and of course there’s the girls like Maryse who like to be the Diva of the locker room, but besides that we all get on really well  and we travel together all the time as well.

What about getting on with all the men?

Kelly: Errrr yeah, some of the guys you don’t want to catch on a bad day because you’ll get a mouthful, so you just stay a way, but most of the guys are pretty respectful.

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