How do you make time on the road? You referenced how hectic your schedule is, especially as a world champion. Do you set aside moments each day or is it more on the fly and just sew when you can?
It’s definitely on the fly, especially having the championship schedule. There’s more appearances, there’s more traveling. I might have, let’s say a month, before Wrestlemania, but I might only be home five days out of that month. So, there’s only five days at home I could possibly do my gear. It’s a lot of multitasking. I do as much as I can at home, but then most of the time it’s packing a sewing machine in my suitcase, or getting to the hotel and Instacarting a sewing machine.
For “Elimination Chamber” this year, I also made my husband’s gear. I brought the sewing machine with me and I go to pull it out of my suitcase, and a piece of the sewing machine was missing. So I had to Instacart a sewing machine (laughs). And you would think I learned my lesson, but I had to Instacart a sewing machine to myself this morning because I opened my suitcase and, again, a piece was missing. A lot of times people ask me, ‘Why don’t you delegate this to someone else? It’ll free up your time!’ But I take so much pride in it. I can’t imagine myself stepping in the ring now in gear that someone else made.
WWE
When you think about a wrestler, you might think about their mannerisms, or their in-ring abilities, or their skills on the mic. But how important is a wrestler’s look when it comes to the total package?
What a wrestler looks like plays a huge role in their success. You can be great in the ring and you can be great on the mic, but as a wrestler, your look is everything because that’s the first thing people see. Someone can have that “it factor”—and maybe you can’t describe the “it factor,” but you know what it looks like, but someone can look like a superstar simply based off how they carry themselves and what they wear. So, entrance gear and our in-ring gear is a huge part of our success. It tells people who you are, shows people who you are, and helps you stand out. The best way to be successful in this business is to be unique. And if you look at every top superstar in WWE, there’s something very specific about them. They all have their own style. Each and everyone has a very signature look to the point where I have little girls that dress like me for Halloween, because I have the braid, the bamboo earrings, the lip prints, I have sequins, I have the boots. Everything is a signature look and you want people to know that signature look, because that’s how they identify you. Even for WrestleMania, everyone’s excited for the matches, but they’re equally excited about seeing the entrances and the gear. It’s a huge part of what we do.
There’s so much anticipation for those big entrances and the theatrics that go into it. What’s next on your list beyond WrestleMania?
I want to eventually do my own clothing line with me and my husband, so riding this momentum, continuing to make gear, and making my mark as big as possible in the fashion world is a focus. I’ve made gear for my husband Montez Ford and his tag team partner Angelo Dawkins, and I want to continue to push myself outside of the wrestling bubble. Eventually, I want us to start our own clothing line. My husband, we always dress alike and we love fashion, and I’d love to collaborate with him.
What can you tell us about your gear for this year’s WrestleMania? When did you start and how’s it looking?
Um, so I actually started about two days ago… [laughs]. I don’t have a lot of time. I wish I could be very prepared and start my gear weeks in advance, but I just can’t. We just had two live events, a show Saturday and Sunday, and I was making my gear backstage before my matches, on the airplane, at the hotel, and I’m going to take it with me to work on at “Raw.” A lot of that is lack of time, but it’s also something that keeps me from being nervous. It’s like an adult coloring book. It calms my nerves and my anxiety, so I like to keep busy. This year, I started pretty late, which is usually what happens. But WrestleMania’s in Los Angeles this year, so I’m going to make it Hollywood style and stick with that theme.
Sean Neumann
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