Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Awesome Kong On Retirement, AEW, GLOW, Her One Match In WWE

Episode Date: July 5, 2022

Kia Stevens (@meanqueenk) is an actress and professional wrestler better known as Awesome Kong in AEW and TNA Wrestling and as Kharma in WWE. She joins Chris Van Vliet to talk about her recent retirement from pro wrestling and what went into that decision, her role as Tammé Dawson on the Netflix series GLOW, what inspired her to become an actress, her only match in WWE as an entrant into the men's Royal Rumble in 2012, working for AEW, being part of the Nightmare Collective with Brandi Rhodes and much more! For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com If you enjoyed this episode, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast/iTunes? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests. Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

All systems are going. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Blin. Well, here we go. Welcome back to another audio adventure here on Insight. I'm CBV, Chris Van Fleet, and this is an awesome one. So much pun intended. You know Kia Stevens as Awesome Kong in TNA and AEW. She was Karma in WW.

She's one of the most dominant forces ever in women's wrestling. And if you watched her in the Netflix series glow, you know how great of an actor she is. She recently retired from wrestling, and we cover a lot during this conversation from growing up in and around Hollywood to chasing her dream and getting into acting and pro wrestling

to what she's up to now. Give her a follow if you're not already on social media. She's at Mean Queen K on Twitter, at Spinning Fist on Instagram, and if you're not following me, I'm at Chris Van Fleet, and please take a screenshot, tag both of our accounts on social media, so we can share it out as well.

And I'm assuming that you're following insight on the podcast app that you're listening on right now, but if not, please do it right now or at least check to see that you're following the show because we've got a lot of amazing episodes coming up, including this one right here. So ladies and gentlemen, the legendary awesome con. Well, here we go.

We're doing it for real now. Let's go. Yeah. You're one of the rare people who live in L.A. Who's actually from L.A. Because I've moved to two years ago, and nobody's from here. Nobody. Yeah, no, yeah.

Born in South, Southern California, born in San Diego and moved to L.A. when I was six. So what do we call you, an Angelino? Is that what they're called? Yeah, Los Angeles. Los Angeles. Los Angeles. I think a lot of people don't even, you know,

can't put that together. Like a lot. Or just Angelinos, you know. And we're really, we're really loose and fluid about it. We don't get touchy. Like, you know, if you go to San Francisco and you're like, well, I'm in Frisco. You know, people there are like, you can't say that. Yeah.

Or like if you're in Atlanta, you're in Atlanta and you call it hot Lanna. They're like, you are clearly not from. Right? You will get red. Okay. So, L.A., we're very chill, unless it rains. And then we lose our fucking mind. Yeah, the one day a year that it rains, it's like snow everywhere else.

Right? They like, have you experienced it? I did. Because of the 4 years will lose their mind and act like they have no idea what to do. And it's not, it's like a light drizzle. And they're like, I can't go to work. I can't drive. My kids can't go to school.

There's gone. It's like, okay, people calm down. I think the funniest part about it is it's the top story on the news. Like, this just in, it is raining. Seriously? Did you remember that day where all of L.A. watched that dog get in rescue from the wash? Did you see that?

It was near the studio in a dog. It's a washed river basin thing. And all of L.A. was like, oh, my God. Rain can do that? That's why rain is dangerous. Yeah, that's it. You're like the most different person in real life compared to your character.

Like more so than I think anybody else in like. Oh, really? Oh, yeah. Well, wait, I know that, yeah, I'm not as like, you know, sick and demented as Kong, you know, I'm very extremely silly and because I'm from, you know, Southern California and I grew up here, and because of the school system I went to, I speak like, like a Southern California. Not exactly Valley, but, you know, with, you know, from Southern Californians, you know, Everything we talk, everything we say sounds like a question. So you can't have like a big strong monster and be like, you know, I'm going to pick your ass. And it doesn't work.

So we just made, you know, call mute and just like scary. Because I'm going to scratch you everywhere. Doesn't really work with. Yeah. It's like you're saying you're scary until you start talking. Right. Yeah. Yeah.

How do you get such an awesome name? Did you have any part in that name? No. Zero, none. My first wrestling name, drum roll please, was Vixen. Okay. Okay. That seems a little cliche. Oh, my gosh. You know, your first wrestling persona is all, are all the things you built up in your mind and stole from your favorite wrestling characters, you know. And remember, at that time, Trish Radish.

It's like the chick, you know, 20 years ago. And I had just got off of a reality show that was like a weight loss show. So I had this, you know, this figure going on. So I had to get my black spandex on, honey, and my boots, my hooker boots, and my hair down and there with my face beat, baby, and come out swinging. And, you know, my booty is 100% USDA. This is all natural rounds, honey, no fillers. And I had to go out there and show it, all right?

And, you know, that's because that's what you do with your first. Every wrestler, I will tell you their first one never really works out, but it's all that self-indulgence that you just have to, like, get out and work through. Sure. You know, naturally get to the persona or the character that's a right fit for you, you know? Right. Well, with that said, if you wanted to be like that, everything you described, Awesome Kong feels like the furthest thing from that.

Well, yeah. I mean, you have to realize that I live in a world. We live in a world where women who look like me automatically have this pre-eathing. pre-dispo, you know, pre-ideal, you know, image that a lot of promoters, you know, tend to cling to because they, you know, they're like, that's where the money is. You know, that's what's going to sell tickets. You're big. You're black. You're scary.

Go working. You know, instead of conforming to a new idea that is truly. closer to who I am and what would have actually made me more happy. Even though I love Kong, no shade on Kong. You know, Kong has taken care of me and my family for 20 years. So no shade on Kong. But Kong is a construct that was built by other people that, you know, were basically in charge of where I worked and what kind of money I made.

You know what I mean? So if it were my choice, I think that the trend that Kim Kardashian, Megan the Stallion, and all of them have been exploiting with a big, booty, small waist, big, you know, tattas, you know, with the hair down to bam, probably, you know, would have kicked off 20 years ago. But I really couldn't find any promoter that was willing to take that leak with me where Big was. beautiful and accepted and not a gimmick and something to be laughed at. You know what I mean? Not a joke.

You know what I'm? Because where I'm from, my neighborhood, I walk down a street, baby. I am you can't even talk to me. In high school, I was that bitch, okay?

We talked about cheerleader. Kong was the homecoming queen, baby. You were the homecoming queen? I was the homecoming queen. Carson High School. in 1995, get the year, but look it up. I was that bitch. I was the bitch that niggas woke up to see every day.

I got to wake up and get dressed for Kea. She going to be at school today. I was that bitch. Wow. So when they present you with Awesome Kong, are you like, wait a second. That's not how I envision myself at all. Oh, I mean, like, I don't know if you heard the story about when I first heard my name. It was amazing Kong, right?

It was amazing. Kong, but they have your story. No, bring it. All right. So I'm training at New Japan Dojo, Santa Monica. And they're training me

to get ready for my first show out in Japan. And Shenzke Nakamura, you know, this is when he's brand new, was there on a rotation because they would rotate some of their new, that's when he was a new boy. They would rotate some of the new boys in and out of the U.S.

and I walk in and he points at me and he's like, imagine Kong. And I was like, what the fuck did you? Wait a minute. Is that what the mall in Japan where y'all just point at black people

and call him Kong, baby, you can't do that here. You're in the US of A now. I've got to teach you some, come over to this coin, let me teach you some manners. And so once we got the miscommunication or misunderstanding,

he showed me the magazine, where there was a press conference when they had announced that Amazing Kong was going to come in and be the main event for that show coming up. And I was like, oh, so they named me, didn't tell me, didn't run it by me, didn't ask me,

how you feel about that? Do you feel like, you know, you'll be exploiting, you know, your people playing basically a menstrual character or whatever? But I don't think the Japanese promoters actually understood the context or the potential problems that that name could denote. You know what I mean? Because, you know, Aja, Aja was Aja Kong.

And that, you know, successful, well-respected female, you know, top dog wrestler who wouldn't want to be a con. She would goddess, you know what I mean? But that's not something that I knew at the time. I just knew call A building Yeah Living on a white woman

I got you know This is a lot of nuances I gotta figure out So but You know I told them I had to think about it And I was in my little apartment In Hollywood

I'm Wilcox in Hollywood You know that area right I do yeah I had a little apartment And a song NWA song came on and he might have been fucked the police, I can't remember. But I was like, you know what, if NWA can be NWA,

that I can be calm. What that's going to mean is that I'm going to have to own it. And I'm going to have to turn this into something that people respect. So if someone hears the name, Amazing Calm, and they're going to sit up straighter or stand up and salute me, bitch, because they have that much respect. And so I'm like, okay, I'm going to take it on and make sure I move the marker a little further for those who come after me. Yeah.

So they can have a choice, you know, whether to put up with it or be like boo bye. You know what I mean? I'm sorry, I don't usually talk like boo bye and X-Y. Really, this is not really my dialect, but I was just benching a show on HBO Max call. on legendary. And it's about like, I don't know if you know, polls, but it's like, you know, the houses where they pose and they have teams and stuff,

and they're like, and I just finished that for two days. So I, this is going to be. So I mean, it's so, I mean, my best friend is. This is great. This is so great so far. I don't know her. What is, what is this with Kia? That's like, you know, it'll be gone in a week.

It'll be going to do. Or when I find out who win the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, trophy out, you know. Okay. We'll do another one then, yeah. When growing up in Hollywood, like, being surrounded by that, were you like, I'm going to grow up and I'm going to be a famous movie star? Well, the thing is, is that my mother, the reason we moved to LA is my mother was in

entertainment. She was an actress. And from an actress, she moved on to be a producer and a contestant coordinator for for what's called game shows and whatnot. For family feud, right? Yes, for family feud and for classic concentrations. That's correct. Markets and productions, yes.

You know how cool that job is to pick the contestants? Oh, it's so cool. Just the whole process and the family and the crew. And my mom, when she started off as a, well, she started off as a contestant. Hello. Wow. Yeah, on the show Classic Concentration, which Alex Trebek was hosting that. And they loved her so much because she was, I'm a copy of the original, honey.

You love me, you had to have met my mom because she was, oh, she was something. And what had happened was she got to the main round, and she had figured out there was a system of code. because you would have to match up these numbers, you know, and when you matched up the numbers, there was a car behind it, and if you got to the last match, whatever car was behind it, that's the car you won.

Well, she had watched the show every day and was like, there is a system. They got, you know, there's a code. Two and six goes together, three and nine, two and fourteen, and X, Y, and Z.

So when she got to the main, to the last round, and hit, all the codes, they freaked out. And they had to have meetings like, I think she's cheating and whatever. And then she told them how she figured it out. And because they had to deal with her for an extended period of time, they got to know her and they invited her to be an intern.

So she would come home with all the, we surveyed 100 people and blah, blah, blah. And my brother and I would have to do the, like, tally it up and stuff. And it was really, it was really fun. So those are actual surveys on the, the family feud? Actually survey. I mean, Steve Harvey, who's hosting it now, says it all the time. Like, we surveyed 100 people.

Back then, they did it. They would go to, like, malls and stuff and surveyed people. And my mom would come home with all the papers and we sit around the dining room and help her tally up the surveys. Now, I believe it's electronic and very, you know, easy. But back then, it was very, you know, analog. Yeah. I think for, but it was a blast. You know, Ray Combs, that was when Ray Combs was the host for the most part.

And he was a very, very lovely man and Louis Anderson. And then who was it that co-starred on Home Improvement? He was there for a loss. Oh, he'd ever know. But they love him. I always call him Al Borland. Yes, yes. Richard Kearns.

And Richard Kearns. What's that? Richard Kearns. Richard. Kurt. Sweetest man you would ever know

as well as Alex Trebek may he rest in peace who never forgot my name. Anytime I came to the set

Alice Trebek would be like hi Kia not Kea not you know love whatever he always knew my name

and he was always very polite and he would always ask me very very interesting questions when you were when you were growing up

Kia's weren't a car yet were they? No no You were not a car yet. Do you remember seeing your first Kia? I've owned a couple of Kia's. Are you serious?

You can't help me. They're very, they're cheap, I like myself, but they're cheap. So if your name is Kia, you can go grab your Kia real quick and, you know, roll in it. It's, you know, fun. Come on. You get, like, a little car, like a little cheap car. You can go get, this your name, and you, you and Kia, you with your buddy. If my name was Toyota, I'd probably.

drive a Toyota. Yes. I'm totally with you here. And I think Manami Toyota, who's a wrestler in Japan, I think she owed a Toyota too. So. It makes sense. So growing up being around this, were you like, I definitely

want to be part of this world? No. I was the shyest little girl you would ever be. That is so hard to believe. Wow. It's really hard to believe that you'd be shy. Like, especially with everything we're seeing now. Oh.

Well, you have to understand, let me turn this on bad on. You have to understand that my mom was an extremely outgoing and boisterous person. You know, if you met her once, you never forgot her. And she has this booming voice. And not to mention, I mean, you know, she would never like hit a woman, but she would slap the shit out of a bitch I mean like you know

so when you see you see someone who's like that and who's like life of the party but quick to like snatch a bitch out her car through the window okay mind you like I said

I grew up in San Diego for six years of my life a lot of racism down there okay so she was quick to be like okay I could be that inward for you right now. Let me show you what one really looked like. So that would, seeing that would, you know, it's scary to be in those situations a lot, you know. It's scary to, um, be at a birthday party, you know, because we live in the neighborhood where we were the only

black family, you know, we live in a fairly affluent, uh, neighborhood where we're the only Black kids around. So we got invited to a birthday party and like at Chuck E. Cheese and there was like an after party at, you know, the house. Well, the black kids had to go home and they weren't scared and talk about how the black kids had to go home and couldn't go in the house. So, you know, hearing those kinds of conversations and being accosted by, you know, random people over something, I didn't quite really understand, couldn't grasp quite yet, but quicker than I should, kind of made me into an introvert. You know what I mean?

It was better to be quiet and watch and see who is safe to interact with versus just putting myself out there. You know what I mean? Yeah. So, you know, and that shyness. led to, you know, fear of a lot of things. So when my mom would want to send me to auditions and stuff, I mean, he talked about anxiety. I mean, if they had had, like, you know, kitty, you know,

what's something for anxiety? Like Valium or something? Yeah, they had Kitty Valium back then. I would have popped them like a Pez. Okay, I would have had a Pez dispenser. Strawberry Shortcake, Pansettists. It's like Zanay, so when did you,

when did you come out of your show then? I came out of Michelle. It was a slow transition from junior high school to high school. What happened was we moved to Los Angeles, and when we moved to Los Angeles, my mother, you know,

she uprooted us from all white peoplehood. They're planted us into an all black name, brother of it, which had its own, gave me a different kind of cultural shock. You know what I mean? Because now I got it from both sides. You know, hey, well, pick a man to get away from me to, oh, I talk white, you know, X, Y, and Z. So I didn't know where I fit. So it was best to just be quiet. Sure.

and observe to see who was saying to talk to. However, long story short, I was bought. Let me tell you why. Around the junior high school, my mom put me in inner city drill to me, mainly for her to like converse with like the moms and stuff and be social because I was scared to death, but to also bring me out of my show. I didn't like it. We would practice every Saturday morning at the YMCA and Kingwood.

Every Saturday morning, I would find a reason to, like, hide under my bed or, you know, clean. Like, you know, the garage needs cleaning. We can't really. What kid is, like, you know, rather clean and go out and play? But that really gave me anxiety to have to interact with all those. black girls who I couldn't really identify with yet. So I was just a little outcast that just would rather just stay home. And I knew I didn't have to go to drill team if a certain cartoon,

if I got past certain cartoon, I knew that, oh, we're not going, and that'd be the best. But if she told me to grab my shoes before, I can't remember what it was, whatever cartoon it was, and I was, oh, we're going there. however by force that opened up my shell just just a wee bit just a little bit yeah that's junior high school

now high school this is where the bind this is where I got bought comes in um I when the junior high school was over I went out for color guard which is the tall flags okay nice little

activity not to show me, you know, say, right before during my junior year, they were having cheer tryouts for, you know, which would have been my last, my senior year. And I come home one day laughing. I hated cheerleaders. I thought they were so pretensions or whatever, and the leaders. And I come home laughing my hat off and telling my mom how there's 200 of my friends at a, you know, cheer clinic because they want to try out to be a cheerleader. And I'm just like, stupid, oh, shallow. And my mom's like, why don't you try out?

And I'm like, no, I'm covered to like, thorn. And she's like, if you try out to be a cheerleader, because she wanted to cheerleader daughter, honey. If you try out to be a cheerleader, I'll buy you that BMW you were looking at. So? Wow. So this is how you got bought?

This is how Kea Stevens got bought, y'all. Tia Stevens one day was driving down while riding down La Siena go with her mother and she saw the richest BMW ever.

It looked just like the BMW Kelly had in 9-0-2-1-0. Do you remember Kelly's BNW in 9-2-1-0? Just like that, except for Kelly. had a red one or a yellow one. She had a red, no, she had a red one, and I wanted, I wanted a red one. But this one was black, but it was okay. It was okay. We can make that work.

And every time we would pass it, you know, I'd give the, oh, mom, she's like, don't even, girl, don't even bother. She's pipe dreams, you know? But when I came home with, oh, they having cheerily a trial, I mean, everything changed. This was her chance to live vicariously through me and have her cheerleader daughter. Because remember, she grew up in an era where she wasn't allowed to even try out for cheerleading. She grew up in Southern Illinois. They weren't going to have any black cheerleaders. No.

Don't even think about trying out. So this was something, you know, this meant something to her. And the BMW meant something to me. And this was just to try out. You didn't have to make the team. Well, no, I would have to make the team to get the BMW. So if you made the team, you'd get a BMW. Oh, no.

Oh, no, it gets better, honey. Okay. So, you know, all right. Well, remember, the clinic had already been going on for about a week. It was a two-week clinic, okay? And there's 200 girls trying out. Well, I hadn't been there for the first week, okay? So one of my friends was on the squad, Ebony.

So I asked Ebony, hey, can you teach me the cheers that need to be done in the trial? And she taught them to me in an afternoon, which is why drill team came in handy. It's like a pick of choreography very fast. So she taught me the cheers. And I went on cheer day, on the trial day, I went and tried out. Even though I lost my voice because my mom had like practiced me. Like she was Joe Jackson. She was like, do it again.

And I'm running to share and see it. And so in the mornings up, I had lost my voice. And I'm like, how am I going to do this? And my mother, I've never seen her cater to me so much. It was so awesome. I mean, this woman came in with the honey and the lemon and the tea. And my mom, massage in my throat. I mean, she wanted that cheerleader daughter, honey.

And I went later and she massaged my muscles and my muscles. My muscles that eased up. She put me in the bath with Epsom salt. At that time, I didn't even know what Epsom salt was. I'd later learn. But, you know, you're going to do it. And I get there, I go down, and then back then I could tumble. I could do flips and stuff back down.

I'm going. I do the trial, and I mean, I slay it. I slay it, bitch. Nobody can touch me. Slade it. The girl who came out of nowhere, this girl wasn't even at the clean. where she come from? And a week

later what they would do is when you're at home room they'd get on the intercom and they would announce what girl made the team and then you would run down and they'd have balloons for you and it'd be like a big, you know, big thing. Yeah. And on the day, they announced my name and it was a big thing on my

balloons and that's what the haters, honey. That's what the haters, who are my friends, 200 of my friends. got so upset because there was only two spots. There were two spots. 200 girls were out for two spots.

And Kia got one of them. And Kia didn't go to the clinic and that was one of the requirements. And do you know that Kia has an FR report card? How do you know I got an FMR report card? Because one of my friends, who's supposed to be my friend,

you know I had an FMR report card, sold me out. Steele. Kia was so bad in her trial didn't matter. The coach was like, she will work at all. She'll raise it up.

I want her. She can toss a bitch in the air. She can catch her on her shoulder. I'll pick her flip. I want her. And that's what I learned to advocate for myself. Because this situation was so tense. And if anybody from the Carson High, 1994,

Spirit Squad, I remember was this. Yes, I remember this. too. This situation was so tense. So awful. Those 200 girls got together to petition from our removal from the team. Then we had to get together

with the student council and plead our cases. I had to plead my case in front of the student council. So that moment having to plead my case because I had earned that, you know what I mean? That is when I burst out of my shell. And I never could advocate for myself. Yeah.

Like if you mess with my friends, I would, you know, I'd send up for my friends, but I'd never learned to advocate for myself. When you got 200 girls hating on you, you know what I mean? For something that you feel proud of you. It was one of the first times I actually felt really proud of myself. You know what I mean? Because I busted my butt and did it. When you got them hating on you,

It does something to you. And that moment changed me. Having to publicly speak to the student council and plead my case when I had never spoken in public before. You know, every time my mom took me to an audition, I was like the, you know, the frog from the WB. Like beforehand, we would do all the, you know, say all the lines. And it'd be nice. and, you know, so-s-so cookies is number one.

And then I would get an audition room and it was like, rib it. And they went, thank you for coming out. I'm not leaving. So that was the first time that I garnered the courage

to stand for myself and advocate for myself because I felt worth it and take on 200 inches that was hating on me were half of them were my good friends. My good friends, okay, well, I would do anything for,

except for give up and cheers by. So it got so tense that the school had to make a new squad. They called them the Spirit Squad. And the Spirit Squad, they gave them some uniforms, and during the, during games, they stayed in this thing. They stood in the sat in the stands next to the band and would be like, rah, raw, raw, rock. All because Kia made the team with her F.

It feels like to me if this didn't happen, you wouldn't be the person that you are. Maybe you wouldn't have come out of your shell and even wanted to be a wrestler. Nope, I would not have. I was very, very, very comfortable with just being in. in the background in the shadow. But once I advocated for myself, honey, that's when I said, okay, now y'all want to hate on me?

Now y'all I'm going to have to bow down to me because guess what? I'm going for a homecoming queen. Bow, bishops, bow. Oh, you want to hate on me? Well, guess what? I'm about to put on a production of an all-woman cast of the art couple. And you're going to come out and pay your money to see me, haters.

Okay? And from then on, honey, there was nothing you can say to Kia to make her doubt person. Wow. I mean, there's always those moments in everybody's life that changes their life forever. I love that you can like pinpoint it down to this very specific moment. So then from there, I mean, we're fast forwarding a bit, but did wrestling find you or did you find wrestling? So from there, and I guess we're fast-forwarding a bit, but from there, do you find wrestling or does wrestling find you? A little bit of both.

I, you know, yes, fast forward. I'm a social worker at a facility called St. Anne's in Los Angeles for pregnant and parenting teenagers. Wow. And, you know, teenagers already are volatile, but you add in some pregnancy horrors. You know, it's like, ah, you know, it's a battle royale every other night, you know. And so we would watch

wrestling in the rec room and, you know, even though they say don't do this at home, we would emulate, not to the point of contact, but, you know, we cut promos in the, you know, in the call. And if I was busy and my favorite character. My favorite worker

was on the TV. The girls would call me and I'd run to watch, you know, what they were doing. And it was a very fun bonding activity for the girls. For some reason, watching people be violent actually calm down. Ironic.

So Tough enough. MTV Tough enough came out. The second season. And my brother-in-law, wanted to try out for it. And this is in the early days of the internet. So he didn't know how to download an application.

I don't know what I downloaded is that? So because where I worked and because I was familiar with computers and had my office, he asked me to download the application. I said, sure. And I downloaded, printed out his application. And I was like, I'm a problem with ourselves. And so I did. Read it, filled it out.

sent in the tape they wanted and they called me for an audition in Las Vegas. So go out there and wait in the line that was like 18 hours. It was two days, but total waiting in the line was like 18 hours. We had to wait in this line. And I was right behind Kenny, you know, Kenny King. before Kenny King was Kenny King. He was right in front of me, and we kind of bonded over that day.

So when his name got called to be on the show, so happy. I was like, you know, I gave him my luck. He got picked because of me because I'm so generous to give my aura and my winningness. So this is season two,

the season John Morrison and Matt win, right? Yeah. Yes. Yes. And I think, is it Leslie? Big girl. Big tall black girl. So Leslie? My tough enough history is not great. Well, she went on to get a contract. She has to have a black leather and she has to have two dudes that were in like chains and she'd whiff them and stuff. And it was like a dominatrix type of. Okay. Google it. Google it. So that was your first introduction to it.

was like, that was our first introduction. You had never taken a bump before. I don't even know what a bump was. They, they caught, you know, they get us all the contestants together,

uh, or potential contestants together in a room. And they have this ring in there. And they talk about the ring that's going to be set up there we're going to be in. And they start using this lingo, you know, this is a no bump ring. So don't take any bumps in the,

you know, and they're saying this, what's a, what's a, what's a bump? You know what I mean? Is somebody going to come out and do like Coke in the ring? I don't understand.

Like, I, like, bumping something different out here, sweetie. I'm like, you know, and luckily,

Kenny was in front of me and let me know what that mean. And Shelley, Shelly Martinez was there. Oh, okay. And I happened to come across her because she had a chain

that said, Vixon on it. And so I approached about it and struck up a conversation. And she actually wasn't that nice to me. I was in that meeting. And I almost jacked her for her mixing necklace. And I'm glad I didn't because later we ended up going,

I ended up going to the school that. Oh, that's right. Yeah. By the way, I looked this up. You're right. Linda Miles and Jackie Gator won season two. Jackie Gator. And I was going to season three, which was John and Matt.

Okay. There you go. Yes. Jackie Tall girl, nice, very nice. So you go there to the audition and you're probably thinking, man, I can crush this. This is for me. Oh, yeah. I mean, you know, they told us to, at the beginning initially, before we got out there,

they said we had to, you know, come up with a promo. I didn't know what a promo was, been learned. And then, like, we were going to do some physical stuff in the rain. And then when we got there, they told us the physical stuff. And it was a fair. They told us we were going to have to do with KIPAA, which I had to learn what that was. And so, like I said, this was an 18-hour process as far as the time we actually stood in the lines. Yeah.

But it was like over two days. So me, Kenny, a guy who kind of looked like a rip-off of the rock, a girl. who was like former friends with Stacy Keebler, but had fallen out and I guess we're there to like try to get a job. So if you were, I don't know, she had some drama with Stacey Keebler. I don't know. My mom had went with me and she had got all the tea from her. And we're in my hotel room because I made a trip of it.

We stayed at the Sears Palace and I had a big suite. So we went up to my suite and we were all trying to learn how to do the KIPA. And I, like I said, I was very athletic at the time. I could tumble and I was. very fit at the time, even though it was still a big girl. And I learned how to do it. I did it more than a few times. I'm like, okay, I got it.

It's hard on the abs, but all right, I have it. However, when we got in the rain, when it was time for the audition, they had you do the physical stuff first. I mean, they had us rolling around for 30 seconds. Then we had to do like some jumping jacks, and then blah, blah, blah. and we had to do the KIPP up last. So you're blown up. Sure.

For those who don't know what blown up means, it means you're out of air and you're very, you can't catch your breath. So you're blown up and then you have to do this very difficult move. And so by the time I had to do the Kipup, I didn't impress any money. It was like a wet fish out of water. And then we had to do the promo.

I was proud of my promo because, you know, I grew up in acting. And I was out of my show. Yeah. To be and not to be. And so I can't remember the whole promo, but I remember like the last line was because hell has no fury. Like a woman's scorn.

And I, honey, I went to the magic shop and got this book that had had flame paper in it. And it was like reading. from my old, hell has no fury like a woman, scorn, and the fire came out the book, I closed it, because I had read them, bitch, okay? Library was closed, and I was proud of myself. And then it was like, crickets, crickets.

No way. And all of the judges were like, we don't know what to do with this. And J.R. was like, okay, thank you. Goodbye. And I was like, what? He was like, thank you to go. I was like, oh, wait, no.

No, I'm not going anywhere. I just draw my raggedy-ass keel from L.A. through the mountains of Las Vegas to get here and spend my last check on the suite. I didn't put it all in because I knew I was about to be a millionaire. I'm not going anywhere to you ask me one or two questions. And I can't remember the first question J.R. asked me, but it was a snarky one. but then Bob Holly was there, bless his heart, and was like, no, I want to, actually, I find her interesting, and I want to ask her some questions.

And then, so that engaged the rest of the judges, and we got to rapping and got to talking. And then J.R. bless his heart at the time, because, you know, he was in a certain kind of thinking that may get hard out. He's there for a pimp like me. It was like, I'm sorry, but I don't think a girl your size can ever make an wrestling. You're too big to ever make an wrestling. You would never make it. Wow. And I was like,

what? And it was like, you would never make it at WWV? You're too big. He was gracious enough not to use the word fat. But I didn't think I was fat. I just, I thought I was thick, honey, and I was. I'm not fat now.

But back then, honey, I was just, I had the build of like Megan the Stallion, I would say. Well, she had the build of me back then. There it is. You know. And stick in love with my body. And I was like, a gaw. And, but that was,

ooh, if that man hadn't said that to me, because that was the fire. I remember, 200 bitches hated on me in high school. And I was like, my clap back is you're going to kneel because I'm going to be your queen. My clap back is you're going to have to give me some reviews and rave and throw roses at me after I take my bow, bitches, okay? Yeah. My clap back is, I'm always going to clap back.

So, J.R. said that to me on TV, national TV. I had to clap back. Thank you, Carl. We're friends today. J.R. know I love a weak girl. reconcile. What was the first interaction with JR like years later? And did he even remember? No. No, no, no, no. However, he had heard about it from interviews I had done. So other people had brought it up to him, I'm sure. But at the first interaction, we were at CAC, Calfour Alley.

Club. And for those who aren't familiar with CAC, I encourage you to Google it, look it up. CAC, I think, that org cauliflower alley club. It's called that because of the cauliflower

ear that you know, bigs martial artists get from, you know, all the rubbing and stuff and all the kiloids and stuff. I was this close to getting mine, but then I got scared. I was like, I want my ear all right? Now I'm going to wish I had went ahead and didn't, not put on the protective here.

Oh, come on. You know, because, you know, Sarah Del Rey, me and Sarah Del Rey were getting ours at the same time. But Sarah was like, I want mine. I'm getting mine. Sarah, if you ever see Sarah Del Rey, she got hers, honey. But anyway, yeah, we saw each other at CAC. We had a very warm, you know, reached out. It was kind of like, you know, he was very proud, very happy that I approved him wrong.

And not only that, oh, Lord, I'm good. I'm here, y'all. That he's feelings. Because this is us until tomorrow, this season, finale until tomorrow, y'all. Not only that, he advocated for my signing at WWE. Oh, wow. Em, oh, emotional. Talk about full.

So cold and McSolley, between the three and him, personally contacted missing man, you know? Because they'd seen your work. I mean, like, wow. Because they'd seen your work in TNA? Yes. Wow. And still have you worked in TNA.

And, but not only that, because I got, W.E had contacted me once before, about a year and a half before, but there was like some kind of miscommunic, and then I went to TNA, so there was no more communicate. But what it was, every girl who was sending in takes of their,

best matches to WWE. I was on all these tapes. So, I mean, you know, because I never reached out to WW, I never sent in a tape or anything. I had a plan of what I was going to do before I did that.

You know what I mean? I didn't want to be premature. I had a plan. But they called me before before the part of me calling them had been implemented And my plan, honey, because those little girls were like, that was a good match. That's the best match I ever had. Let me send out to WEO.

So every time WWE put in a tape, they see my ass on there. Hey, how, Bob? Yeah, they're going, who's this girl? We need to know more than her. Right. Is this a rib? Is this woman like taking people to like? I think that it's, you're like a huge reason that women's wrestling is at the level that it's at right now.

Like, the knockouts division could completely change the game. But I think a lot of people will specifically point to the matches that you and Gail Kim had. Yeah, that was definitely a spark, you know, to this inferno of, you know, women's wrestling now, honey, because they are doing it. You know, it's just wrestling now. It's not even necessarily women's wrestling. They're just workers out there now going out there and doing, doing, doing. one of the deal. It's no more pop, you know, because it used to be

like the women were popcorn matches. They'd always put us in a second, you know, like the second match so that people can go to the bathroom or, you know, get their popcorn, hence popcorn match or whatever. And it's been, you know,

it's getting much more respect. Now women are demanding more respect now. And outside of Gail and I are our program

being successful I'd like to say and that being having influence over women's wrestling I like to say I had a lot of influence on women advocating for themselves because honey and TMA I would not keep my mouth shut

boy you would think girl you just got in here, who are you talking to you to the office like so. But I just couldn't understand some of the things that are going on. I'm like, that's backwards, honey. You can't tell me that when Kong and

Gail pop on a screen and y'all telling me that the numbers are spiking high, those are the numbers that are highest on life. You can't tell me that I'm not worth X amount of money on paper. Right. You know, for example, you know, one of my, they would put you through the gauntlet.

You know, they would put you through the maze of asking of how you were to ask for a raise or to implement change. And one of the times I asked for a raise, I had found out what Kurt had made. and I was like, all I want, all I'm asking for is one tenth of what he's making. Now, you look me in my eye and you tell me I'm not worth one tenth of current angle. I want you just to tell me that. And if you can't tell me that, then pay me that, you know what I mean? One or the other, you tell me that I'm not worth one tenth of a current angle? What am I doing here?

You know what I mean? I got to figure out some of the other stuff. But if you could tell me that, then I mean. Especially when you're the main attraction. You're the knockout's champion. Like you're one of the top female wrestlers, not only there, but in the world at that time. One of the top female wrestler than coming home to one couch, one for it, one spoon, one plate. I think you know where I'm going with this.

But, you know, well, not that if I had a bunch of money. buy a lot of furniture. I prefer. You might buy more than one fork, though. I live kind of like a cyclopath anyway. We like, we don't like a lot of busy stuff. Crazy people. It's too distracting.

But just to illustrate my point is, you know, when you're on the road in wrestling, when you're in wrestling and on the road, you have to maintain two households. You know, you're not an employee. They don't pay you as an employee in wrestling. You know, they like, they like to get you. They like to move, shake you in wrestling.

So you are an independent contractor. So you have all the responsibilities of expenses is on you, you know, hotel rooms. Sure. Yeah, rental cars. Rental cars, food, you know, all that. That's on you, except for flights, of course. But if it's a certain amount of miles, you may have to drive. you may have to drive.

And, you know, we would do stretches where, you know, we would fly one place by the end of that leg. We've driven over 700 miles. You know what I mean? Yeah. For three hours after a show, you're dead tire and you're driving, you know, 150 miles to the next town. You know, meanwhile, so-and-so got a big luxury charter bus, and they passed you like, you know, you got ice on your shoulder driving. I'm like, oh, okay.

I see y'all at the hotel. Well, no, I'm at a different hotel because y'all booked at a different hotel because the company paying for y'all because your employees and, you know, got health insurance every hour. So is that what led to you leaving TNA the first time around? First time around. What was the first time? Oh, no. There was a lot of different aspects that snowballed.

to where I was like, you know what? You know? And it was mainly the attitude of them thinking I couldn't go anywhere else. I can't remember exactly word for word.

You know how you can't remember exactly what was said, but you remember how it was but it was along the lines of like, well, you know, If, you know, if you quit, they're not going to hire you. Don't think you'll be on, like, we're on Monday or whatever. They're not interested. And they would say stuff, you know, like that.

And, but that wasn't the point to me because I made big cheddar in Japan. You know what I mean? I made Buku Bank in Japan. Japan, Tokyo is not cheap. And Kiev was living large in Japan. So to me, that wasn't really even an end. issue, but it kind of, oh, it kind of burned me up. And when I left, I only had $70-something in my bank account.

And they owed me, and they owed me money. And they were holding it because of all the controversy, all the stuff that was going on at the time. And they thought, well, you know, if we start her out, she going to shut up. And they didn't know me, bitch. I'm from California. I will sell oranges on the off the freeway. on wrap on the 110 or the 405 and make

my cheddar. Don't play with me, okay? I will get together and pluck some hair on some dogs and make me the finest wig. Don't play with Mama Keith. You know what I mean? Don't think you got me

over a barrel over some money. You know what I mean? Some of the happiest times my mother was in entertainment. In entertainment, you learned that they are lean days and there are, you know, big, big money days. You know what I mean? And it goes like this. So, you know, growing up, you know, we live in large, you know,

we was feaster famine with my family. But some of the happiest times when we were, you know, when it was famine time, those were the happiest times when we didn't have nothing. You know, my house burned down twice when I was a kid. We had to start from scratch twice. and when you have nothing and have to huddle in a hotel room for a few months until you build back up and find a new home

sometimes you're closer. You get closer and then there was some good times and then the whole, I can't remember, something expressed down there in Wilmington we stay until we found us a new house. And the second time we stayed in Torrance until the landlord fixed our house because not

all of the house burned down. Just my room. Just my room burned down. I told you a hot mess. I wasn't even there. My room burned down. For those who don't know what we're talking about before we started recording, Kong couldn't get it together.

She had with her a tripod and then we had the light that was too bright in the background and then her makeup was like this. You know, then we got there. We got there. We got there. But it was a hot, round hot glass.

And so there's always something with Kong where it's like, oh, it just can't be easy. I think with all of that momentum you had in TNA, I don't feel like you ever had the chance to really show what you could do in WWE. Is there like something specific you can point to where things went wrong? Let's wait. Say that again? Where do, like, you didn't really have a chance to show what you could do when you were in W&E. Was there like, could you point to like a moment where things went downhill? Well, after losing my son, after losing my baby, emotionally and psychologically,

I wasn't in the place psychologically and emotionally and physically to deal with the Okido. Now, when I say the Oky Dog, anybody. who's had a WW contract knows what the oky doke is and that's the politics

and the mind games and you know the expectations and the standard of high standard what you have to live up to

and I'm not about saying the okie doke all of what's in the okie doke is negative or bad but it is rigorous you know and

I wasn't up for the Okie Doke, you know? I'm not with the BS, you know what I mean? Don't play any games with me, especially when I've gone through what I've gone through. Because right after that, it was the end of like a two, a three-year run of me

just losing people. First, my mother, gone to cancer. Then my grandmother, gone. Then my best friend. from elementary school, died unexpectedly. And then my manager got arrested soul gone. And then now my baby's gone. You know what I mean?

That's a lot of death back to back. And in the meantime, I didn't take time off. I was doing me. You know what I mean? I can't take time off. Yeah. You can't take time off. I mean, the day we buried my mother,

I went from the repast, which is like the reception, straight to the airport to bounce from glory. You know? So it was like working. And the way they wanted to, the way they wanted me to come back wasn't going to be healthy for me.

My thing was, okay, you can bring me straight back to TV so I could just keep my head down and work. You know what I mean? And also pick up where you left off. Yeah. And just, you know, just going to autopilot and just work. Sure. Or let me, let me go somewhere where I can really process all this.

And, you know, a lot of people like to paint WWD as villains. And it's not as, it's not as easy as that. You know what I mean? It's very nuanced, you know what I mean? Sure. It's very arcane. You know what I mean? You have to be there to understand.

Because for the most part, they were extremely supportive. No, I'm not saying for the most part. They were extremely supportive. They invested in someone. They were excited about it. And it wasn't turning out the way they want to. And, of course, just my luck, mystical had to go and fall every day and wear every week.

And I'm like, get together. Damn it. Triple-A just got this job where he's booking people. You fall and I'm getting knocked up. He's not looking good right now. I'm telling me, this sucks, you know. Yeah. But at the end, they had asked me, you know,

okay, what do you want to, what do you need? Do anything that you need? What do you need to come back? And I told them what I needed to come back. It was very, very simple. And common sense, social, to just do that. It wasn't grand. It wasn't like, you know, I need someone to carry me on chariot everywhere.

Yeah. And we're not talking money here. No, no. If anything, I felt really bad that they were still paying me. And we had a few conversations about that. I was like, hey, if you guys want to like for right now, because I, you know, I feel bad that you guys are paying me and I'm sitting in it. You know what I mean? You wanted to feel like you were earning it.

Yes, exactly. And now I know, no, no, we're going to, you know, you're going to pay you, you know, you're part of family, you get healthy. That's finally. Told them what I needed. I told them I needed to go to the facility in Colorado because they wanted me to lose the baby weight. They wanted me to lose the weight and get, you know, a little toned. And there's a facility where the biggest loser people like train that stuff in the same Colorado. And I found it.

And it was just a coincidence that's where the biggest loser people trained is just, it had what I needed. The facility had what I needed to get my physical, mental and emotional will-being in alignment so I can go back to war. quickly. And I told them that. I told them, you know, I'll pay for it. That's where I want to go. You guys ask me, that's what I need to do. Can't help me do that?

And then it was like, we'll call you back. And they call me back to them out, we don't see you down, you know, let's see me down to Florida for a while. And I was like, I don't need that. That's what I don't. That's the opposite of what I need. You know what I mean? I really do not need to be thrown in the mix where everybody's asking me, you know, how's the baby?

And, you know, that's a bad idea. And they're like, well, let's truck. And they send me down there and they booked me in a hotel that was full of roaches and had bedbugs and whatnot. And also, you know, you don't want to complain. But you don't want to, if you can't sleep me, you're sleeping in a pair like this every night. you know, sleeping roaches or in your rental car, there's something wrong.

So, you know, well, no, they change and send me to a nicer place, but, like, it,

it wasn't, it was so not what I needed. It wasn't going to work. It wasn't going to work. It was never going to work. You cannot, people think with depression that is,

you know, like a pseudo, a pseudo condition. You know what I mean? Like, you can just get up and go. and just do it. It's not, you know, a Nike slown.

Depression will knock you on your butt. You couldn't, you literally could not have paid me a million dollars to get out of bed on some things. You came with a suitcase from deal or no deal. And instead of a girl in heels came with a five somebody, you know, five men with a six-pack and some booty shorts, glist and all over his body with the deal or no deal. suitcase like here here's a million dollars get out of bed today i wouldn't have been like uh close it out

take your tight so glistening on our own skin ain't getting out bad today so how did you deal with the depression um i waded it out i treated it like an enemy yeah i treated it like a enemy you know like were you i'm sure you were getting a little bit better over time Is that what you mean? Well, yes. And yes and no. But yeah, I basically treated it like an enemy, a unwanted visitor,

waded it out, cussed it out sometimes, and just told myself, it's temporary. It's going to pass. There's nothing you can really do about it right now. Yeah. So let it just wash all over you. and hang on.

You know what I mean? Just hang on, girl, because, you know, today is not tomorrow, and tomorrow may be the day, you know, where it ain't even, you know what I mean?

Tomorrow might be the day where we stroll on out of here, you know. And it's a process, and it's hard, but it's, you know, it's like a broken leg.

Sometimes, you know, would you, could you run a marathon on broken leg? No, you know. And what sucks about depression is people, people, a lot of people who are in charge of your life, you know what I mean? You know, people who are your, oh, God, your supervisor don't really see it that way, you know. Or don't have, they don't have empathy for it.

They're really like, you know, because. That's the biggest thing. Yeah, it's empathy. Yeah. They don't understand. They don't understand. When there's a lot of A-type personalities in entertainment and especially a wrestling, you know what I mean? We're a band of overachievers, you know what I mean?

And so when you're an overachiever and you have been all your life, you can't understand, you can't understand not doing, not being productive. And you can't empathize with it. You think it's lazy or, you know, like just, you know, do your legs work? Can you breathe in and out? Can you see? Are all your functions, you know, your senses functioning? Yeah.

Well, get up and do it. And it's not like that, unfortunately. Yeah. And we've lost people. We've lost a lot of people. You know what I mean? Because a lot of other people don't understand and do not empathize and do not give space.

proper support a safe space to listen and um time you know you know because you can call you can call one of your other worker friends

overachievers and just want to just want to be heard just want to vet and they all want to fix it they all got what you need to do is X Y is it's like I'm a calling for that

I just need you to hear and be like yeah yeah that's gonna be tough you know and just saying yeah I hear you that's gonna be tough that sucks can help when you got people giving you unsolicited advice sometimes sometimes that can be a detriment to your healing and really even put you down further

because you're like okay I called just for an ear and you're telling me you know better than me I'm a grown person I don't what the hell I got to do, I just can't do it right now. You know what I mean? Did you feel like, I mean, people, so many people know you from Glow. And I feel like a wrestling locker room is probably so different from the vibe that you have when you're on a set of a TV show like Glow.

Oh, it's so different. Yeah. Oh, it's night and day. And I have to remind myself that this is different. Yeah, I mean, I've only been on a handful of sets, but I feel like everybody there is. working together for the greater good of the show, you know, from top to bottom, the actors and directors, but also like the lighting and the makeup and the costumes, everybody wants the script to look great.

Oh, yeah. Well, you know, you always have one person in every place you work at, but, yeah, for the most part, that's true. It seems like it's a lot harder to go into business for yourself on a TV set. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you would think. but, I mean, I've been in entertainment all my life. You know what I mean? I've been around it all my life.

Yeah. And they don't use the word, you know, Diva for nothing. Not that Glow had, I'm not saying Glow had me, but I'm just talking about the entertainment industry in general. You know, the question is of, I'm going to my trailer.

You know what I mean? You know, again Hollywood actors A type personalities kind of narcissistic

yeah I was talking about Hollywood you know the stereotypes you know I want to somebody writing

oh these are just the general stereotypes yeah these are general stereotypes of Hollywood

you know people people you know general stereotype is that actors are very vain

narcissistic and megal maniacs, you know, who, you know, will storm it on a director and be like, you know, you cut my lines, you know, that's funny thing. And so I think every project has some of those moments, you know what I mean? I will also believe that every project is like a family,

and families fight, squabble, disagree, and all of that stuff. with all of that said about wrestling, how much thought went into the idea that you were going to retire? It was an off and on continuous running thought in my mind. Always running of like, kind of like, I don't know if you're familiar with double dutch. Yeah.

Like jumping rope, yeah. I'm a rope. And in another that, you got to get your rhythm and know what to jump in. And for me, retirement, I was like, I know what moment, you know, feels right for me to just be at peace with not continuing anything, you know? Well, there's this thing in wrestling where a lot of retirements don't stick for very long. And I'm not saying that about you at all, but there's a lot of, like, I think it can draw you back in, right? right? Because there's that. Oh, always. So I'll put it this way. Awesome Kong retired.

Okay. Uh-oh. Let that be the headline. How long were you thinking about retiring for? Because it was what? About a little over a year ago that you officially retired, right? Yeah. Um, I think in the middle of, in the middle of one of the seasons, of bloke, like towards the MFC2 or something like that. And then I went in the head and went to AW. I was there.

I was there double or nothing. Your music hit and it was one of the biggest pops the night. I was so funny, crazy. It was so insane, especially the night before when I was like, are they in my memory? There were three surprises that night. You were one of them. Bradhart coming out was one of them. And then, of course, John Mawks at the end.

Craziness. AW, they love to give it to y'all. They always, they constantly in there and they, um, and, um, brewing up, what can we do to pop them again? Yeah. They, they love it. I love, I love how much they love to love the fans. It's always, it always makes you feel good, you know? Yeah.

It's something that's been just brewing. a few years now, more than a few years. So you're saying if AEW didn't come along, you might have retired earlier. Oh, for sure. Oh, yeah. You will. Yep. Yep.

100%. Yeah. Yeah. I think a lot of, I mean, I'm sure you've heard it, but a lot of fans didn't love the nightmare collective. Do you think that, like, did you enjoy it? We have a lot of leaders. They have an idea or perception of how things, you know, they have a vision.

And everyone only gets a piece, a little piece of that vision in to this and to the picture and to the art piece. Sometimes it don't work. Yeah. You know? and the thing is I don't want to sound like I'm bashing lacrual there AW

especially since you know we were just up and running we are all new executives and we are trying to think outside the box and really uh give

to y'all. You know what I mean? Yeah. Give you something new, something that hasn't been seeing you. We haven't seen at all, you know? We haven't seen it all so much. There's sometimes when we put matches together, we're like, okay, you know, let's pull of WrestleMania 3 and in the boat, you know what I mean? It's like, you know, you reference big moments in wrestling history

as something to put together in your next, whatever, because we've seen it all. So, you know, we were trying to give you something you hadn't seen, you know. But I feel, for me, I felt unheard. You know, I wasn't, I wasn't in control. You know what I mean? All I can do is say, hey, I have this idea of X, Y, and Z. And I couldn't get in the room where final decisions were made. And believe me, honey, she has stopped that room.

I would stay there after like the big meetings and like pick up the water bottles and the cuffs and say like, huh, y'all, huh? Yeah, would you, yeah, was your, honey? No, okay, yonnie did you go? Okay, I'm still going to take these bottles. Okay, okay. I tried to get into that last meeting where decisions were made, you know, but, you know, You never had a chance to?

Never had a chance to. And after all, you know, I'm like, okay, so that's just not going to happen. So I'm not going to push it. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, when you obviously see that it's not, that's, this is a click, this is soon they're comfortable making decisions. And that's not a read.

I'm not reading on, you know, I'm not, that's not a critique. I'm not downing on them or anything. But that's, that's, that's, comfortable making decisions. And so it's like, what, what do you do? It's out of my control. That's out of my control.

And I had control. Come on. Give me 15 minutes of Tia Howard. Give me 15 minutes every show of just this is kia saying he is 15 minutes of fame we need this is what we need awesome if awesome Kong is retired we need kea stevens this character's great my name all that image is working work it go out there and steal me this show from their boy by the way that's me them ready so i'm two you and you not go steal me this show you

show from them bull. By the way, did Impact not own the name Awesome Kong? I'm sorry? Did Impact not own the name Awesome Kong? Yeah, they did, but they gave it to me. Oh, wow. Did you have to, like, buy the rights for it? No, it's like, I have you in this home owner. Wow. That is so rare.

I mean, um, I, I, Well, clearly. They put me through the rigmaroles at least a thank you do. Yeah. It was good karma that they did that. Yeah. Sorry. So what does life look like now post A.W.

And, you know, into your newfound retirement from wrestling? Um, well, right now, I'm just doing Hollywood thing by tomorrow. Um, I'm doing a table. read for a very well-known movie producer who was getting a new movie up and running, and they need people to read a script for him for the studio. So I'm going to go in tomorrow and read a few of the parts so he can get his movie made. Nice. And you're probably still getting those nice checks from Netflix. Oh, my residuals shrunk. Yeah, they come at the end of the year.

Oh, it's just once a year? Oh. They're not too much. They shrink every season. They do shrink a little bit every season. They come around. They're handy at Christmas time. They're, you know, they're, they're fine.

So you're doing a lot of auditions? Well, I wouldn't say a lot because remember, this is Hollywood. There are not a lot of parts for women who look like me. But for those parts that have been written, for women that look like me for open casting, yes. So I would say I am doing a lot of auditions

for my category. Have you ever thought about doing stand-up comedy? You'd be amazing. That's what I'm, that was my original plan. You know, I used to be a champ counselor at Camp Hollywoodland. Do you want to guess

what my staff name was? What? Come on, give one day. Yes. Your camp's name? Yeah, my camp name. Because every counselor had to have like a camp name, like a nature name. And when my friend actually, I joke, she was interviewing for camp.

And she needed a ride. So I drove her up there. And she was like, why don't you go interviews? They're doing just interviews. So I filled it out. And they were like, pick a camp name. And I was like, oh, it was like, oh, it was like, oh, it was like, oh, it was like, wrote something down for a joke to me.

I didn't care. I wanted to go back home and want to. watch all my children. You know what I mean? It was summertime. I wanted to go, you know, do that. I just graduated into high school. But I got the job and I loved this one of the best shows I've ever had. My cat's name was Bambi. So for four or five years, I answered to Bambi. Like, even my family at that time would call me Bambi and that's all. That was my name for like four years, Bambi now? So Bambi was going to be a stand-up comedian? Well, Bambi, because of all the little things you do at Camp,

Bambi was going to go join an improv group, the Groundlings here in L.A., because her best friend, Cricket, who's still the program director at Camp Polywood Land, kept saying you have to go out for the groundlings. You have to go do comedy. You have to be on SNL. And that is on my bucket list to say, you know, live from New York and Saturday night.

So, you know, I may go out for, you know, go join the groundlings and do some stuff. So that was the original plan until wrestling came and fit me on the ass. You 1,000% should do it. There's no better city in the world to do comedy than here. Laugh Factory and Comedy Store and the groundlings, like. Oh, well, I have gone on. And I've gone on the mind. on some

open mic lights, yes. So I've cracked my cherry as far as, you know, the stage for that. It's just with COVID, it kind of took a it took a, you know, a little for a bunch of ranks in the plan

as far as stand up is concerned. But I have my routine. My person team was talking about my dog about how, you know, when you're using the bathroom, when your dog just opens the door on you, and even though you're alone, you're, like, still embarrassed, and it's like, you're vulnerable. And your dog comes in and they, like, smell what you're cooking and they just leave. And it's, like, offensive and stuff. They're vulnerable, offended by your dog.

Oh, guess when now we don't even have any toilet paper. And it's just, it's a hot mess. You know, pets can be cruel. And ironically, we're watching them when they're going to the bathroom all the time. Oh, all the time. Yeah. We work for them. I work for my dog.

I'm just at 40. Same. My dog is right next to me here. I'm with you. What kind of dog do you have? Do you want to meet Luna? Yeah. Okay.

Luna's a Chiaweeney. So it's my girlfriend, Rachel's dog, but I'm now the dog dad since we moved in together. So a Chihuahua with a snap mesh now here, but a. Come here, Looney. This is Looney. My best friends dog. You look like Elwood. She's a...

So she's a Chweeney. So she's a weener dog and a chihuahua. Well, can you text me a picture or email me a picture of her? She looks exactly like my god dog. Yes, I'm a person who has a god dog. She looks exactly like my god dog. Elwood. Exactly.

They look like twins. I'm going to send you a picture of Elwood. And you're going to be like, oh, my God, they do. Oh, I got to see it. Luna's very upset because she was sleeping. She's like, why'd you wake me up? What's going on? Sorry, Lou.

She's a grumpy old lady. She's like 13 years old. Bless your heart. She's so sweet. Kia, I've enjoyed this so much. We have gone, we have run the gamut here of everything during this conversation. I taught you here off, huh? No, this is amazing.

People are going to love, nobody, I think there's a lot of people who haven't met Kia. They know Awesome Kong. They haven't met Kia. That is very true. Well, I enjoy this too. Because remember, I haven't, like, I haven't human, and, no, that's not right. I haven't, like, I was it, I have socialized. That's the one.

I haven't socialized in a while because of the pandemic. So, like, you know, other than my husband, you know, I haven't, you know, this is fun when you talk to, like, other people. So I get excited. I get, like, you know, Chris Farley, like, and, you know, like, you know, like, she was aware of the registries. Yeah. I'm like,

I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, you should do more of this. People need to, people need to meet, Kia.

Okay, when I'm going to invite you. You got to come out and see it. Done. All right. So I end every conversation with gratitude because I wake up every day.

I say out loud three things that I'm grateful for. What are three things in your life, Kia, that you're grateful for right now? I am grateful for my living,

you know, like, like, I won't say my lifestyle, but like my lifestyle, I'm grateful that I'm blessed. I feel blessed as far as my needs

of being met. I'm grateful that my needs are met. Love it. I'm grateful that my loved ones are in a state of health right now and the one who's not she's hanging on.

And I'm grateful she's still here. And I'm grateful for the possibilities. I'm grateful that I'm not settling, that I'm not appeased. What's the word I'm looking for? I'm not content. I'm grateful that I'm not content. You're not complacent either. When you have all your needs, man, it's easy to rest on your laurel.

So I'm happy that I still have that fire to go out there and do more. Yeah, I love that. Well, and you could. You could rest on your laurels easily. You're a Hall of Famer. You're a legend. Right, but that wouldn't get me to where I want to be. And not many people know this,

Big Bowie knows it, but I want to be able to sponsor an African village, be rich enough to sponsor like an African village. You know how Oprah Harris School? Yeah. Well, her African village, I don't want my African village. I want to be able to go to Africa and be like, it's my village. I pumped out the well, you know, and whatnot. Yes.

I love that. Kia, thank you so much. This has been so much fun. Thank you. You are awesome. We'll do the next one in person. Okay. Yeah.

Sounds good. Bye, guys. Oh, thank you so much for listening to this conversation. Thank you to Kia for joining us and for being so honest, so open during this. If you like this episode, Take a look in our back catalog. We've got about 370 other episodes just like this. And share this link with a friend, either from the podcast app that you're listening on or from ChrisFambleet.com.

And if you do take a screenshot, please tag us on social media. She's at Mean Queen K on Twitter. She's at Spinning Fist on Instagram. And tag me. I'm at Chris Van Vleet. And speaking of Twitter, how insightful is John Cena on there? I'm going to leave you with a quote that he tweeted out last week. I retweeted it because it just meant so much to me.

Don't run away from what's happened, but don't let it define you. Let it teach you. Be great and be grateful. We'll see you on the next one for some more insight. Jim Rome takes on sports. Why? Because I have a job to do with rapid fire takes. So I don't want to hear from you lava pigs on this notion today.

No idea what you're talking about. You're complaining more than you. you like to breathe air. It's like you get up in the morning only to complain and cry and moan on social media about things that you don't even understand. He's the spitfire of sports smack. Take advantage of it, but get up in here. The Jim Rome Show podcast. What should be? Follow and listen on your favorite platform. You've been warned.