Random Question 7: Which WWE diva do you think you could have a great match with? ODB: Nattie. For sure. A lot of them have characters which is good. I like them all. I do watch Total Divas. I like that show. I like drama, as long as its not my drama. Id like to get in the ring with Paige, AJ, but me and Nattie got to work with each other in OVW together for a little bit before she got called up. That was cool. Random Question 8: What are your thoughts on Dutch Mantells (Zeb Colter) run as head of the Knockouts division? ODB: That was probably the best times for the Knockouts. I think when Dutch was there and then Scott DAmore, it was all characters. You had Kong, you had me, you had the Beautiful People, (Raisha) Saeed, Cheerleader Melissa as Kongs manager, Traci Brooks and (Christy) Hemme was wrestling, Gail Kim, Roxxi. You just had all these characters, and we were all excited because that was the first time TNA ever had a womens division, so there was a lot of pressure on us. We were like Hey, its up to us to put this division on the map, and I think all of us working together did a hell of a job and its still going. Random Question 9: During that time, the Knockouts segments were usually drawing the highest ratings on the show even though there were guys like Kurt Angle and Sting on the roster. Do you feel that management or TNA didnt capitalize enough on the Knockouts? ODB: Yeah, they gave us a lot of time, and they gave us a lot of segments. Not only did we wrestle, but we also had good talking segments. I remember feuding with The Beautiful People one time and we were having a ladder match, or something, and whoever lost had to get their head shaved and the Beautiful People were making fun of me, Gail and Roxxi the babyfaces, and the showed up on screen how we would look bald. I thought that was entertaining. It was just like they just let us have fun and be ourselves. We went outside the box and we all had a little part, well I had a big part in my character. I basically got to do whatever the hell I wanted until they said Hey, dont do that no more. Throughout the years in the indy scene and OVW with my character I basically said Screw it. Im going to see how far I can take this damn character and let loose. AS: Did they think you were too controversial? ODB: I mean, I remember one time I had to cool it on grabbing my boobs for a little bit. Wrestling always goes through phases. So if I was told to not do something Im like Okay, Ill cool it off, but then Ill slowly bring it back in. With the boob grabbing, that was my thing and yeah, maybe I did touch them a little bit too much in the beginning, but I was pulled aside and told You know, you really shouldnt grab your boobs too long, maybe count to three and thats about it. And I was like All right. A few months later I was back and grabbing them a little bit more.
As Rust Cohle from True Detective said "Life's barely long enough to get good at one thing. So be careful what you're good at."
Sadly, I can't solve a murder like Rust...or change a tire, or even tie a tie. But I do know all the lyrics to Hulk Hogan's "Real American" theme song and can easily name every Natural Born Thriller from the dying days of WCW. I was once ranked 21st in the United States in Tetris...on the Playstation 3 version...for about a week.
Follow along @AndrewSoucek and check out my podcast at wrestlingwithfriends.com
