Black Widow
07-15-2010, 09:15 PM
It's been seven long months for WWE Diva Melina. During that time, the former Women's Champion has been working on a return to wrestling after suffering a torn ACL late last December.
Now, she's working on her comeback at Florida Championship Wrestling -- the WWE's developmental group -- and will appear at their next show on Wednesday night in Orlando, Fla.
On Tuesday night, Melina was a guest on my Between The Ropes radio show where she talked about how her rehab was going and plenty more. At the time of the interview, she was planning on having her first match back at the FCW show. But on Wednesday afternoon, Melina had to backtrack from that as she wrote on her Twitter page: "Bad news peeps. I was just told I couldn't wrestle tonight. My heart dropped. I'm sorry. But I will still be there & keep you posted."
Brian Fritz: First off, I have to ask this: are you going to be a part of the bikini contest (at the FCW show)?
Melina: Well, I did bring my bathing suit just in case but I also brought my ring gear. So, I'm actually thinking about calling out a challenge. If any of the girls of FCW want to have a match, if they want to step up, I'd happily have a match with one of them.
I saw that on your Twitter that you called out the open challenge.
I was like, I'm feeling good. I came out of practice and was like I'm feeling good today!
So how has your rehab been going because we know that you suffered a torn ACL at the beginning of the year?
Everything has been really tough. It's been strenuous. I always get worried because I'm thinking I'm not getting better quick enough. But after a while, I've just accepted the fact that it's going to take as long as it needs to take and I was really worried coming back this week to see what I can do. We were just going to do some wrestling therapy, like wrestling movement therapy so not actually wrestling to see what I could do. I was scared at first and some things felt awkward but then all of a sudden I did a little more and a little more. Then I just started going at it and was like yes, let's do this! I'm ready and it didn't hurt!
How do you gauge what you want to do and what you should do during your therapy?
It's really hard to gauge because ... The way I see it, the doctor told me that I'm fine. If I'm not comfortable doing something, then I shouldn't be doing it. If it feel wrong, if it hurts then obviously I shouldn't be doing it. In my mind, I think it's more of a fear than if I can do it or not. So I have two doctors – the WWE doctor and my surgeon – and they both said you look fine and it healed perfectly. You should be ready to go. So, it's just a matter of me feeling comfortable.
Do you think it's more of a mental thing that physical for you?
When I wake up in the morning and before I start, I need to warm up more than I ever did before. But it gets stuck a little bit and I can tell when I'm doing certain exercises like when I'm isolating the knee, it has less strength that the other knee. So, I still have a ways to go but when I was rolling around in the ring today, it was as if I never left. It felt good.
You have a mentality as a wrestler that you want to continue to go out there and sometimes have to work through the bumps and bruises and you get that in your mind that you can suck it up and go and you want to go because you're used to that. What's it like for you now because you have been out of the ring and you're probably chomping at the bit?
Oh yeah. I've been tweeting about this so much. (laughs) I've been telling people that this is everything that I've worked so hard for and for so many years that it would be a waste if I just through it all away. I need to come back because everything I've given up, everything that I've been through is for something and I'm going to make it for something. Also, it's seven months of wanting this back and aggression and everything, like seven months that's built up and ready to come out. Although I know I get a rep for being, like, a certain way or whatever, I know my heel character was so intense that people think I'm mean and I'm not. But when it comes to the ring, I want people to put in their heart because we can create something beautiful. You have no idea. Unless you've worked the best, you don't know how it can be, like, what you can create and how the crowd gets into it and how the fans appreciate what you can do. So I want to be able to teach these new girls what they can do, what we can pull out of them and what they can give to the world when they go out there. So, I want to do this for wrestling because – and I can tweeting about it – after I'm long gone, whenever the day comes that I stop wrestling, I wanted people to have that passion and carry that long after I'm gone.
When you first joined the WWE, you were with MNM and you did a lot of shrieking. Some people thought it was great for the character, others people got annoyed by that. Do you think that turned some people off to you?
Maybe. I admit, back in the MNM days when I would do that scream, I loved it. I love that scream because my mom would scream when ... our family would scream when we would do to baseball games. This is the way my family cheers so that's part of me. But then sometimes when I watch my wrestling back, I watch matches back, I don't realize that I'm doing it a lot. I'm sorry people, I'm so sorry! Seriously, I don't realize how much I do it. Sometimes, I annoy myself. It's just a natural thing. When I do really put something into it, I really do just kind of scream. It's just the way I throw a punch, like take this! I don't know why I do it.
So how many of the people, when you were ringside, said once you got to the back that I think I'm deaf in one of my ears because of your scream?
Oh my goodness! I remember, there were people that were like we were in the locker room and this was like deep in the arena and we could still hear you screaming. That is impressive! (laughs) So it came like a competition if I could outdo myself from the day before. Can I be louder this day?
Something like that, I think you can't develop. It can only come naturally.
I think it's a little bit of both. It does come naturally because my mom, you could hear her laugh or she would cheer for my brother at a baseball game. I could be across the park and I could hear my mom. She'd be so loud and I think part of it's natural, like I inherited that. And the other part of it is that I think you can extend your lungs to see how much air can come in and you can really belt it out. It's like stretching and flexibility. Some people have natural flexibility and I lucked out on that. But you can actually learn how to do it.
It's funny that you mentioned flexibility because I'm sure some people were worried about that when you got injured because that's part of your ring entrance.
That's my trademark to be able to do that!
Can you do splits right now?
Oh yeah! Even when I was rehabbing it I was able to do the splits. I think my biggest concern was whether I could jump into it. But the flexibility is there. It's just the concern of if I hit my knee or it's just the fear with filled in me right now. But I'm telling you today when I was in there at FCW, I felt like I'm back.
It always seems like whenever you get in the ring, we see you working on some new moves and incorporating some new things that we have seen you do before. While you are working on coming back, have you been working on some new moves?
I've been brainstorming on certain things. I thought that this time around I'll have a couple of new stuff but at the same time whenever someone asks me 'what do you want to do' I'm thinking I have so many things. (laughs) And I keep adding and adding and adding. I have in my arsenal so much that I can never put it all into a match. So, yeah, you'll be seeing some new stuff but at the same time you'll see the old stuff that you always miss.
Brian Fritz hosts the Between The Ropes radio show which can be heard Tuesday nights from 6:00-8:00P ET on ESPN Radio 1080 in Orlando, FL.
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Now, she's working on her comeback at Florida Championship Wrestling -- the WWE's developmental group -- and will appear at their next show on Wednesday night in Orlando, Fla.
On Tuesday night, Melina was a guest on my Between The Ropes radio show where she talked about how her rehab was going and plenty more. At the time of the interview, she was planning on having her first match back at the FCW show. But on Wednesday afternoon, Melina had to backtrack from that as she wrote on her Twitter page: "Bad news peeps. I was just told I couldn't wrestle tonight. My heart dropped. I'm sorry. But I will still be there & keep you posted."
Brian Fritz: First off, I have to ask this: are you going to be a part of the bikini contest (at the FCW show)?
Melina: Well, I did bring my bathing suit just in case but I also brought my ring gear. So, I'm actually thinking about calling out a challenge. If any of the girls of FCW want to have a match, if they want to step up, I'd happily have a match with one of them.
I saw that on your Twitter that you called out the open challenge.
I was like, I'm feeling good. I came out of practice and was like I'm feeling good today!
So how has your rehab been going because we know that you suffered a torn ACL at the beginning of the year?
Everything has been really tough. It's been strenuous. I always get worried because I'm thinking I'm not getting better quick enough. But after a while, I've just accepted the fact that it's going to take as long as it needs to take and I was really worried coming back this week to see what I can do. We were just going to do some wrestling therapy, like wrestling movement therapy so not actually wrestling to see what I could do. I was scared at first and some things felt awkward but then all of a sudden I did a little more and a little more. Then I just started going at it and was like yes, let's do this! I'm ready and it didn't hurt!
How do you gauge what you want to do and what you should do during your therapy?
It's really hard to gauge because ... The way I see it, the doctor told me that I'm fine. If I'm not comfortable doing something, then I shouldn't be doing it. If it feel wrong, if it hurts then obviously I shouldn't be doing it. In my mind, I think it's more of a fear than if I can do it or not. So I have two doctors – the WWE doctor and my surgeon – and they both said you look fine and it healed perfectly. You should be ready to go. So, it's just a matter of me feeling comfortable.
Do you think it's more of a mental thing that physical for you?
When I wake up in the morning and before I start, I need to warm up more than I ever did before. But it gets stuck a little bit and I can tell when I'm doing certain exercises like when I'm isolating the knee, it has less strength that the other knee. So, I still have a ways to go but when I was rolling around in the ring today, it was as if I never left. It felt good.
You have a mentality as a wrestler that you want to continue to go out there and sometimes have to work through the bumps and bruises and you get that in your mind that you can suck it up and go and you want to go because you're used to that. What's it like for you now because you have been out of the ring and you're probably chomping at the bit?
Oh yeah. I've been tweeting about this so much. (laughs) I've been telling people that this is everything that I've worked so hard for and for so many years that it would be a waste if I just through it all away. I need to come back because everything I've given up, everything that I've been through is for something and I'm going to make it for something. Also, it's seven months of wanting this back and aggression and everything, like seven months that's built up and ready to come out. Although I know I get a rep for being, like, a certain way or whatever, I know my heel character was so intense that people think I'm mean and I'm not. But when it comes to the ring, I want people to put in their heart because we can create something beautiful. You have no idea. Unless you've worked the best, you don't know how it can be, like, what you can create and how the crowd gets into it and how the fans appreciate what you can do. So I want to be able to teach these new girls what they can do, what we can pull out of them and what they can give to the world when they go out there. So, I want to do this for wrestling because – and I can tweeting about it – after I'm long gone, whenever the day comes that I stop wrestling, I wanted people to have that passion and carry that long after I'm gone.
When you first joined the WWE, you were with MNM and you did a lot of shrieking. Some people thought it was great for the character, others people got annoyed by that. Do you think that turned some people off to you?
Maybe. I admit, back in the MNM days when I would do that scream, I loved it. I love that scream because my mom would scream when ... our family would scream when we would do to baseball games. This is the way my family cheers so that's part of me. But then sometimes when I watch my wrestling back, I watch matches back, I don't realize that I'm doing it a lot. I'm sorry people, I'm so sorry! Seriously, I don't realize how much I do it. Sometimes, I annoy myself. It's just a natural thing. When I do really put something into it, I really do just kind of scream. It's just the way I throw a punch, like take this! I don't know why I do it.
So how many of the people, when you were ringside, said once you got to the back that I think I'm deaf in one of my ears because of your scream?
Oh my goodness! I remember, there were people that were like we were in the locker room and this was like deep in the arena and we could still hear you screaming. That is impressive! (laughs) So it came like a competition if I could outdo myself from the day before. Can I be louder this day?
Something like that, I think you can't develop. It can only come naturally.
I think it's a little bit of both. It does come naturally because my mom, you could hear her laugh or she would cheer for my brother at a baseball game. I could be across the park and I could hear my mom. She'd be so loud and I think part of it's natural, like I inherited that. And the other part of it is that I think you can extend your lungs to see how much air can come in and you can really belt it out. It's like stretching and flexibility. Some people have natural flexibility and I lucked out on that. But you can actually learn how to do it.
It's funny that you mentioned flexibility because I'm sure some people were worried about that when you got injured because that's part of your ring entrance.
That's my trademark to be able to do that!
Can you do splits right now?
Oh yeah! Even when I was rehabbing it I was able to do the splits. I think my biggest concern was whether I could jump into it. But the flexibility is there. It's just the concern of if I hit my knee or it's just the fear with filled in me right now. But I'm telling you today when I was in there at FCW, I felt like I'm back.
It always seems like whenever you get in the ring, we see you working on some new moves and incorporating some new things that we have seen you do before. While you are working on coming back, have you been working on some new moves?
I've been brainstorming on certain things. I thought that this time around I'll have a couple of new stuff but at the same time whenever someone asks me 'what do you want to do' I'm thinking I have so many things. (laughs) And I keep adding and adding and adding. I have in my arsenal so much that I can never put it all into a match. So, yeah, you'll be seeing some new stuff but at the same time you'll see the old stuff that you always miss.
Brian Fritz hosts the Between The Ropes radio show which can be heard Tuesday nights from 6:00-8:00P ET on ESPN Radio 1080 in Orlando, FL.
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