Trauma Queen
"The Trauma Within" is a weekly podcast hosted by Jimanekia, a Trauma and Sexual Assault expert, queer media consultant, and comprehensive sex educator. Join us as we normalize conversations about life's most challenging experiences, from sexual assault to mental health and beyond. Discover stories of resilience, expert insights, and a safe space for discussing some of life's most complex topics. Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/traumaqueen/support
Trauma Queen
The Trauma Within Navigating Wrestling Fandom W/ Cher Delaware
Do you have any questions, any comments about the episode? Jimanekia would love to hear from you!
What happens when a sport you love becomes a battleground for harassment and bias? We tackle this pressing issue head-on with Cher Delaware, a passionate wrestling fan and parent, who shares her journey of navigating the wrestling community while maintaining online anonymity for safety and privacy. From our first meeting on Twitter to unforgettable karaoke nights, Cher's story is a testament to resilience and the importance of community support. She bravely recounts her past traumas, including a childhood kidnapping and abusive relationships, and how these experiences shape her approach to life and parenting.
As we reminisce about childhood memories of iconic wrestlers like Sting and DDP, we shed light on the unique challenges female wrestling fans face, especially the biases and misconceptions that still persist. We discuss the growing presence of women in wrestling media and the distinct struggles of fans from different racial backgrounds. Despite the hostility from some male fans, our love for wrestling remains unshaken, fueled by the joy it brings to our families and the lasting memories we've created. The conversation takes a serious turn as we explore the toxic nature of fan culture and the moral dilemmas of supporting an industry with a problematic past.
Privacy in the digital age is more complex than ever, especially for those active in the wrestling community. Cher shares her humorous yet serious experiences of being mistaken for her pseudonym and the steps she takes to protect her children's identities. We reflect on the impact of the #SpeakingOut movement and the ongoing issues within the wrestling community, emphasizing the need for serious attention to accusations. Through it all, we highlight the significance of community, the importance of feeling safe at events, and the heartwarming connections forged through our shared love for wrestling. Join us as we uncover the multifaceted world of wrestling fandom, where every story matters.
Thank you all for listening. Set a boundary with yourself this week, set a boundary with someone else. If someone else does not respect that boundary. LET THEM LOOSE YOU! Stay hydrated internally and externally. We do not have an ashy family.
IG: @The_Trauma_Within
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thetraumawithin
Jimanekia Ig: @Jimanekia
Oh, hey, it's me. So you are getting this episode a little bit earlier than it was supposed to be coming out. Why? Why? Because there has been a huge uptick in fans going to wrestling shows that happen to be males that have been harassing the women wrestlers that have been harassing female fans, women wrestlers that have been harassing female fans. And you know we recorded this conversation a little while ago and it was going to come out a little bit later, but right now it's really a great time, especially following up with the conversation we had last week with Lowe and, you know, seeing the women of AEW being harassed, literally as they are trying to work.
Speaker 1:So let's dig into this conversation, buckle up, because hopefully you learned something from this Tips, tricks, ways to be better, ways to be an ally, transitioning to an accomplice, all of the above baby. So here we go Listen to this conversation with Cher Delaware and I. This conversation is going to be so fun and I do truly hope that people walk away from this with, honestly, being a better person and having more understanding, and so this is going to be good. It's one of my favorite humans. We talk almost every day and you'll figure out how we met. So my first question for everyone is who are you?
Speaker 2:So that's a funny question because I you know me, you know who I am, but I don't really share who I am online because kind of why we're here today? Because of the way that people act. But I would say, as you know, first and foremost I'm a parent and that's as, as we always talking about, kids are wild like being a parent is an experience and pretty much everything in my life revolves around being a parent. So that's part of the reason that I don't go by my name online as Cher Delaware, because of being a parent and because of protecting that. But being a parent and just, I guess, being a wrestling fan is what most people know me as.
Speaker 1:We'll talk more about that, that parents and all the things. How did we meet?
Speaker 2:So I was thinking about this last night at like two o'clock in the morning, laying in bed, unable to sleep because I don't sleep and I'm like I think we met through Joel on Twitter, oh, okay, and like, like I know I know it was on Twitter, we obviously know that, but I think that it was through Joel on there and I was like, I just remember we were just following each other and we started talking to each other and then we met in person at karaoke in Vegas that was a fun karaoke yes, that was that was a time.
Speaker 2:We've been to karaoke twice together now.
Speaker 1:So it's true, it's true, and I think karaoke that was a really fun karaoke.
Speaker 2:Neither of us sing, we just go to karaoke.
Speaker 1:It takes a lot to get me because I'm like I don't want to hear people that can't sing sing.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, the one in Chicago was not near as fun as the one in Vegas, but yeah, we met at karaoke in Vegas and now we've been to wrestling shows together. We've done all kinds of things together now Living in California and Illinois, apart from each other.
Speaker 1:See, it works y'all. The internet works. What does trauma mean to you?
Speaker 2:Oh gosh, um. What does trauma mean to you? Oh gosh, um.
Speaker 2:I think that for me we've had discussions before about the things that both of us have been through in our lives and I have different things that I classify as, I would almost say, different levels of traumatic experience than my life.
Speaker 2:You know, like I was kidnapped when I was six, so that it honestly doesn't affect me as much now because I was so young and I don't remember a lot of it, and it's more like it almost plays like a movie in my head if I think about it and it's like was I really there? Am I just watching this happen to someone else when I was obviously there? It very much happens, yeah, but I'm getting ready to be 31 now, so it's been 25 years since it happened, and so I kind of I that one doesn't affect me as much in my daily life, except for in my parenting. I'm very overprotective in my parenting and I don't trust people with my kids, but that might've just been because the way the world is too you know like that's a lot of people are that way, but then trauma from past relationships and abuse and things like that.
Speaker 2:That is something that I carry with me a lot now and I think that the trauma shapes who I am as a person. It is the way that I react to things the way that I carry myself and me choosing to be around or not to be around people for sure.
Speaker 2:And we chose wrestling. So let's start there. When did you find wrestling? So I have an older brother who is 10 years older than me he's my only brother and he was obsessed with wrestling.
Speaker 2:My family was from North Carolina so they were in WCW territory and my dad would take him and our cousin who was his age to wrestling shows when they were little. My dad hates wrestling. My mom would set it up and he would have to take them to shows and he would be so mad, like how did I get volunteered into this, to shows? And he would be so mad, like how did I get volunteered into this? Which is probably why I didn't go to a show until I was 24 25, because there was no way my parents were going to take me. But I started watching I the first time I remember watching I was like three or four and my brother would always watch WCW. So I didn't really know WWF at the time until like 2000-ish, because that just wasn't what we watched. We watched WCW. So I was a Sting fan. I liked, yeah, we bond over.
Speaker 1:Sting.
Speaker 2:For some reason I was really obsessed with DDP and Big Papa Pump. Same, I'm a.
Speaker 1:Buff Bag. Papa Pump, same, I would have buffed that girl.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Just watch that documentary.
Speaker 2:Yes, those, were my people and so getting to see Sting again as an adult. I posted the meet and greet I was never going to do a meet and greet and paid to meet Sting five years ago because I was like it's Sting. How do I not meet Sting like five years ago because I was like it's Sting? How do I not meet Sting like so? Yeah, I think that I was probably like three or four at the time and my brother was into like NWO, like that was kind of more his thing, and then he still kind of keeps up with it now at 40. So we still talk about wrestling a little bit now. I love that.
Speaker 1:I love that you had someone. I was the child that found it by herself and everyone was like what's happening? Where did we go left and how do you find it by yourself?
Speaker 2:I had cable in my room. That's fair that's fair.
Speaker 1:um, as being a wrestling fan, I think that people assume that wrestling fans all look one way and they don't look like us and so, uh, this is where we start to really, really kind of dive into this conversation about being like a wrestling fan, and my question for you is like, what type of pushback have you experienced, like as you have been, like more open and understanding as being a woman, as being a female wrestling fan?
Speaker 2:Um, I will say I feel like in maybe the past year it has gotten a little bit better. But I think that's because there are so many more women as content creators and wrestling now doing wrestling media and things like that, and I have experienced some stuff being a female wrestling fan. But I'm also a white female wrestling fan, so I know I don't get it as bad as black female wrestling fans Hispanic female. They get it way worse than I do too, and I'm fully aware of that because I've seen things said to other people, but it's mostly just they think we don't know what we're talking about. It doesn't matter if it's an opinion, we are always wrong. They don't. We are always wrong we. They don't understand why we're watching and it's so strange because you go to shows now and there's so many women at shows, yeah, but they act like you're the only woman they've ever met that's ever watched wrestling before and they don't understand why you're there and it's it's very strange because I'm into a lot of other sports too. I post about other sports.
Speaker 1:You're a sports child, I'm a sports girl.
Speaker 2:And like there are men in other sports that treat women that way too. Hockey is especially really bad about it. But going to games it's pretty much the same. You see a lot of women, you see a lot of men, you see kids, but at games they don't treat me that way. At wrestling events they still treat women that way. At an event Like you paid money to be here, why you don't even know what you're watching, you don't even know what's going, and I'm like why are you so concerned with if someone else knows? If they know the history of wrestling, who cares? Who cares if they just became a fan last year? Like, yeah, I really I'm not ever trying to like find you know, my favorite thing is always. Well, I've been a fan for 35 years. Whenever they say anything and I, I'm like cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah, congratulations. I don't. There's not like a measuring test where you win because you've been a fan for longer. It's very strange to me and our dear friend Will Washington. He and I talked about this one time because everyone knows I love Brian Danielson and I had posted that he was my greatest wrestler of all time and I got death threats from people and like people were calling me just horrible names and things like clearly you've never seen a Bret Hart match and I'm like I mean I have.
Speaker 1:I too have the internet.
Speaker 2:I have seen them and that's fine if he's your greatest wrestler of all time. I'm saying what my opinion is. I mean, it was insane. I had to go private on Twitter for a while and at that time I only had like 5,000 followers and I had to go private on there. I had people finding my Instagram and messaging me. It was crazy. Will posted the same thing and there was people like oh man, I don't really agree. I think that it's Shawn Michaels, I think that it's you know, and he's like why is it such a vast difference in coming at a woman so aggressively about it, telling me I was stupid, telling me that I've clearly never watched wrestling before, and I'm like it's just very strange the aggressiveness that men have towards women in the fandom yeah, what brings you back, like why do you like wrestling?
Speaker 2:So, honestly, probably within the last month I've really started watching wrestling again, because I kind of stopped for like six months because of the way that people treated me online. I stopped posting about wrestling at all. I would watch my kids my kids love wrestling, so I can't. We would watch the pay-per-views. So we would watch WWE and AEW pay-per-views, kind of like catch up on what was going on a little bit, just so we knew what the matches were going to be. But we weren't watching weekly and my kids train in wrestling too, so we were having wrestling practice four nights a week. There's no way to watch wrestling when you've got wrestling practice four nights a week and it's 40 minutes away. So that was just basically our entire night, monday through Thursday.
Speaker 2:But I I just had to take a step away because I was like this thing that I have loved for almost my entire life, that I met some of my best friends through, and even my best friend that is local to me, that she was in my wedding. I was in her wedding. We became really good friends because of wrestling. Her mom hated wrestling and I got her to start watching it when we were like 10. And we had like notebooks we would write down the matches in the notebooks and like, have VHS tapes where we recorded stuff and everything. Like she was big into Randy Orton, I was big John Cena. We had posters of them everywhere. Like every year she would buy the WrestleMania DVDs and then we would watch them afterwards because we were way too broke to buy the pay-per-views fair, fair but like she still kind of watches.
Speaker 2:Her husband is a wrestling fan too, so that helps, so she still kind of watches. But it made me not want to watch wrestling when every time I post something, it's causing people to just be awful to me. I mean, we know there are accounts on Twitter that are dedicated to hating one company or the other and hating specific people, and there were people that were taking my pictures and making accounts to just be awful and I like because you don't like my wrestling opinions. I'm so confused, I just don't understand, and they would post horrible things to other people, but with my face attached. So it looks like it's me saying these things and I was just like things and I was just like I can't do this anymore. I don't have the mental capacity to deal with people who have no life to the point that they are trying to ruin my life and just say horrible things, and I wasn't enjoying going to shows anymore because of it. I just didn't want to be a part of any of it.
Speaker 2:My last. I go to a lot of pay-per-views and such. The last pay-per-view that I went to was in September of last year, so it was all out in Chicago. I have not been to a pay-per-view since then. I've taken my kids to shows, but that was it. I just kind of left everything and I felt like I needed a break. And it wasn't because the wrestling on tv was bad or anything like that. I was still, like I said, kind of following along with storylines. I knew what was going on. I have friends in each company that would keep me updated on things and such, yeah. But because I God, who can watch that much wrestling anyway? So I'm like okay. And then the lead up to WrestleMania. I was like, okay, I know my kids are going to have me watching 18 hours of wrestling this weekend. I know we're going to do it. I need to know what's going on. So we've watched a little bit.
Speaker 1:We will not stay up till 10 o'clock on a Monday night to watch three hours, three hours you don't want to do three hours.
Speaker 2:It's never going to happen. You know me, I am in bed by 830 at the latest. We watched the first hour or so and then I kind of catch up the next day on Twitter see what happened. And then I kind of catch up the next day on Twitter like see what happened. But we've kind of got back into it a little bit. My kids always knew what was going on because they watch a lot of wrestling YouTubers that are more for kids who talk about it. Bde is he does like a lot of gaming stuff. I met him in Vegas. He was the one that I went over and was like take a picture with me in Vegas, because I was like my kids are a fan of gaming stuff.
Speaker 1:I met him in vegas.
Speaker 2:He was the one that I went over and was like take a picture with me in vegas, because I was like my kids are a fan of his.
Speaker 2:They're gonna love it yeah they do not care anything about me, but the fact that I met him that was the greatest thing ever, like they did not care about anything else, but they kind of kept up with things like that so they knew what was going on. Like last week, we week we went to bed, of course, before raw ended the next morning on the way to school. They're telling me how raw ended the night before and I'm like okay, like cool, you get this update.
Speaker 1:You're watching your teeth.
Speaker 2:I'm like it is 745 in the morning. How do you already know this? But yeah, like that. So they already knew. So I I didn't feel as bad because they could kind of keep up with it that way. But we've got back into it a little bit and I am enjoying both companies. I can't watch any more companies than that. I know people are always like but you've got this one and this one and no.
Speaker 1:I'm also tired.
Speaker 2:I'm a grown up and I'm also watching basketball and football and baseball and I cannot do it all. I can't. Yeah, I don't even watch TV. That's all I'm watching is all this crap all the time.
Speaker 1:So it's true, it gets overwhelming.
Speaker 2:It's a lot. It's a lot. When I was told that the dynamite last week or the week before was going to be three hours, I was told like three weeks before and I was like, oh, that's a no, I'm out, so you get two and then good luck.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you're gonna be lucky if you get an hour and a half, to be honest. But yeah, I mean, I think that I still had so many friends in wrestling that I was kept up on what was going on, and I have curated my timeline so specifically on Twitter, with so many people, words muted, that I don't see a lot of what the negative stuff is anymore, and I think, taking the break for so long, those accounts have mostly left me alone. Since I've come back Now, who knows how long it'll be before they start coming at me again. There are specific people that I've learned that I cannot interact with on Twitter, even though they are my friends, because then things get accused of me doing things and them doing things and it's all all just insane and I just don't have time for it. And like we are in our 30s, who has time to be? It's high school stuff that I'm like.
Speaker 1:It's like middle school take care of yes it's worse. You don't use your name on the internet anymore. But when I first met you, you did. I did what pushed you to fully change it.
Speaker 2:So I have had Twitter since like 2009,. I think I've had it for forever. I was in high school. I didn't use it, and I started using Twitter again during my divorce, which was in 2018. So, six years ago and it was about this time six years ago and I got on there and I unfollowed everyone that I was following, because it was people that I'd followed when I was 16 years old Different person.
Speaker 1:We're different people. We don't want that.
Speaker 2:I unfollowed everyone I was following and I started following years old. We're different people. We don't want that. I unfollowed everyone I was following and I started following wrestlers and I followed just like some people in wrestling media and things like that. I never expected to have 15,000 followers like I have now, like that was never. You know, I'm like I'm just on here to see what's going on and to distract myself from the things that were going on in my life. And I started posting about wrestling and people started following me.
Speaker 2:I honestly I don't know why but, people started following me and things like that. But and it was it started happening so quickly that I got like all of a sudden I had 3000 followers and I was like, okay, you know. And then people started being mean to me. Once I got to a threshold, basically, people started being mean to me and I took my last name off. So my name on there was my first and last name, but my username was my first name and my maiden name from when I had made the account and so I changed both because I was like I don't want either of them on here.
Speaker 2:So I changed my username to just had my first name on there, like yours is just your first name. That's how mine. Mine was just my first name and then it just it kept getting worse and I didn't have my last name on there anymore. But people were still like trying to find my information, which is so strange. And our friend Seahawk Cameron Hawkins one day was making fun of me about something and he called me share Delaware and I was like that's the name I'm going to start using. Yeah, so he makes all the time. He's always like I feel like I deserve royalties or something.
Speaker 1:You're like from zero Great.
Speaker 2:So I just like jokingly changed it on there to share Delaware, and then that's, I just changed all of my public social media to that. I my Instagram, everything was changed to that, which I'm glad it was, because about a year after that, someone got mad at me over wrestling and they found my Facebook.
Speaker 2:They messaged my mom. They were posting where my kids go to school and I was like what it was? It was very crazy and thankfully, like my mom does not understand Facebook, her Facebook is logged in through my phone so that I can fix it for her all the time. Oh, okay, so I'm like I just yeah, I just blocked anybody that was trying to contact her on there Because, like, the first person messaged her, but then there was like ten more people trying to ask.
Speaker 1:See, I didn't know you intercepted it. I thought she just told you no, the first message.
Speaker 2:She did see the first message, but she was just like okay, but then they were trying to add her and it was like a whole group of guys Most of them were Canadian, and it's like this like cult, I swear. And so I just got on there and just kept blocking people and I think that they figured out that they weren't going to get through, so they they left her alone, but also my mom she calls it her website, like she literally does not understand Facebook, so they were not getting anything accomplished with her.
Speaker 2:I'm always like mom she's like can you make me a webpage on my website? No stop, like my parents are in their sixties, they don't. They don't do something my dad does not have social media at? All but so wild?
Speaker 1:Yeah. What is the purpose in doxing you, right, like, let's name it. Yeah, these random people tried to dox you because of an opinion.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and so made up thing. So many people have followed me since then. I have 15,000 followers now that they think my name is actually Cher or Cherilyn, and so I think you've been with me before when people have been like every time I tackle I'm like who the hell is, Cher?
Speaker 1:Oh, that's you.
Speaker 2:And someone will be yelling it and someone will be like, hey, that's I'm. Like, oh, hello, it is me. Yeah, and sometimes I'll tell people like, if I went, I always women, I always introduce myself as my name, and so I'll be like, oh, my name is, and they're like your name's not actually shared.
Speaker 1:No, like you thought it was shared Delaware.
Speaker 2:That's wild, you know I have people that will be like oh, so you, it's Delaware. Because you live in Delaware, I'm like I've never been to Delaware.
Speaker 1:No, no not on the travel list no, that is not correct.
Speaker 2:So a lot I mean a lot of people really think that my name is sharon al, which is it's very funny. Yeah, that's what I want. I don't want people to know what my name is, so I'm like, but then I'll have some people who will not remember it and they'll like slip up and say my name, responding to me, and then I message them. I'm like, I don't want to be rude, but can you please delete that comment because I am trying to protect my kids. I I no longer post anything of my kids publicly. Um, I don't share their names.
Speaker 2:If I post pictures, their faces are covered because of weirdos, and that's not just when within the wrestling community. I mean, there are weirdos trying to find people's kids on the internet everywhere. Yeah, but people that were sharing pictures of my kids really made me be like what are you trying to accomplish? Because, okay, you hate me, that's, it's still weird, but that's fine. But my kids at the time were like five and seven and you're posting their faces and that's very strange. So I was like to protect them. They're just done. They're no longer.
Speaker 2:I share them on my Facebook. I personally know everyone that I'm friends with on my Facebook, so, but I do not share them on my Facebook. I personally know everyone that I'm friends with on my Facebook, so, but I do not share them on Instagram. I do not share them on Twitter. Like I said, I don't share their names anymore. I usually just say their age, or the tall one and the little one you know the little one. They're like what Anybody that's met, my kids too. My oldest is almost as tall as I am and he's nine, so because you're not that tall.
Speaker 1:Let's, let's tell people I know you think you're six feet tall. You think you're six feet tall?
Speaker 2:it's wild. Seven, my nine-year-old should not almost be my height they're different these days they are, they're built different.
Speaker 1:Are the kids aware of how, like kids are very intuitive and your kids are so connected to you like I know that. Are the kids aware of how you have had to navigate wrestling?
Speaker 2:not really, because I I mostly protect them from stuff they do think it's so funny. When people come up to us at shows, though, and call me Cher, they think that is so funny, and my youngest is always like making fun of me about it, because people say that to me and I'm like, well, that's what they think my name is, and then I've kind of got it through to them, because they watch YouTubers who don't use their names. So they're like, oh, okay, kind of like you know bde, which his or his initials, I think, but that. So they've kind of got that through, and they're older now too, but they think that it's hilarious, and my oldest does not like people. So when people Like you.
Speaker 2:He's very much like me. So when people come up to us at shows he's like he gets so irritated with it but we'll be sitting before a Smackdown or whatever and friends that work in the company will come out and say hi to him. And my youngest is talking to him and my oldest is like talking to him and my oldest is like how dare you, how dare you have adam pierce say hi to me right now and I'm like kid, there are kids up here that would like die for someone to come out here and look at you he's like this is terrible, this is the worst experience of my life.
Speaker 2:And then I'm always like I tell them that they have to be very grateful because we are given the tickets to shows, because they got to go to 10 shows last year between AEW and WWE, that we paid for none of them, and I'm like most kids your age don't get to go to 10 shows in their life and you guys are going we didn't get to go until we were old enough to buy our own shit. We were buying our own tickets.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And I'm like you have to be very grateful for this and understand that you are. You're experiencing something that a lot of people don't get to experience, and we're almost always on the floor when we get the tickets. My youngest became best friends with pat mcafee a few years ago because we were in the front row behind him and pat was teaching him to say things he should not have been saying, and then he was about right he was going sorry mom, sorry mom.
Speaker 2:Every time you would do it like and my youngest, of course, is just eating it up because that's who he is as a person. But I've taught them like you are very blessed to be in the position that you are in, but I don't want them to know the extent of what I have had to go through and, like, none of the people that I'm friends with within the companies have ever treated me badly and like you're they're just people. I'm just a person. I treat them like people and that's why we get along. Yeah, but they will sometimes laugh about the way that people act online. Like, if I say something, people will be like jumping all over my case and they're like what is their problem? I don't know, I don't understand. When WWE was doing the releases last year, for some reason everybody thought Adam Pearce was fired and I was getting tagged like I'm his freaking keeper and I was are you the?
Speaker 2:boss. I messaged him and was like sir, can you please say something, because people will not leave me alone asking if you've been fired, like like, if he got fired, he's gonna message me immediately and be like hey, just so you know, I'm no longer employed. I probably wouldn't have known until everybody else knew. You know, like it was very strange and they're like why do people think that you know everything? I'm like I don't know, but I wish that one of these companies would cut me a check with the way that people think that they cut me a check it's true, there is one of us getting a check on this conversation and it's not.
Speaker 1:It's not you that's not me um something that really bought me back, brought me back into wrestling uh, was hashtag speaking out?
Speaker 1:yes um, and I think it would be um I'm about to say remiss, is that the word? I think that's what the girls use if we didn't address that like having that conversation as being a wrestling fan on twitter, because we're not calling it that one letter, um, and like watching it play out as a woman was so shitty and I feel like people act like it happened a few years ago so it's over, but you and I both know as the year, this last year or so, that it never stopped. People just stopped talking about it and for me, because of the work that I do, I'm like silence is where bullshit continues to breed and thrive. How was it for you seeing this, these conversations, and like how they went?
Speaker 2:I had to take breaks from all of it because it was a lot and I was trying to keep up with everyone everyone's stories, the victim stories and then everyone because you don't see everything on twitter, and I know that people are always like, why haven't they made a comment on this? Yet I don't even see everything on twitter, and I'm on twitter a lot like I don't expect wrestlers to see everything on twitter, you know, and so I was trying to keep up with the people, and then people that made statements, and then there was like, thankfully, a running list of everyone that had been accused of everything, like what they had been accused of, because I wanted to make sure I was not supporting anyone who had been accused of something. And you know, I know that there's people that are always like, well, it's just an accusation. You and I have been through this so many times. I post that all the time about how many people are actually arrested when you go to the police, about things and things like that. I'm always retweeting that post because an accusation does hold weight and there are it's mostly men that think that it doesn't.
Speaker 2:But I did not. You know, whether a person did do something or not. I would rather be on the safe side and not give them my money and not support them. And some of it was just sickening, like some of it was so painful to read and, like you said, the stuff that came out last year and earlier this year. I had to get myself in a headspace to read those filings too, because I was kind of told what they were going to be beforehand. You know, giving a little bit of heads up and it's just, it's so hard and it's like this within anything, but it's so hard when something you love has such terrible people in it and it's like, how do you grasp still supporting this thing and not supporting those people? And it's just a really hard balance to find. And I told somebody one time I will always support wrestlers within companies who are wrestlers that I like, wrestlers I'm friends with. I'm never going to be like, well, I'm never going to watch you wrestle again Because you're working for this person, because this is their job, this is how they're getting their money.
Speaker 2:And if I didn't, if I, you know, banished every corporation or whatever, I would do nothing. I wouldn't be using my iPad right now. I would you know like I would have nothing. But I think that you have to kind of pick and choose through what you're doing there. But every company, every business has horrible people in it and it was just so hard to see the sheer amount of horrible people within wrestling. Sheer amount of horrible people within wrestling yeah, it was. It was painful and to know like they got away with this for so long because it is such a boys club, it is such the fandom, the actual wrestling, everything is such a boys club and I'm glad that it is changing to an extent. I mean it's still still has issues, but it's not as bad as it was before and I wish that more men within wrestling would stand up for women and not just you know. Oh well, that's my friend who I wrestled three times. Like they can still be a terrible person.
Speaker 1:I always say that, like you this is something my mom always taught me is you will never know anyone a hundred percent. You are not with them every second of their day in their life and people are different with other people. Yeah, like you can't be like, well, I've never seen it. Well, I'm sorry, you've never seen them rape someone. Yeah, yeah, I mean that would be a conversation. Yeah, they're probably not doing it in front of you.
Speaker 1:How people move, that is how we choose to navigate. Once we see what you do and even seeing, like, who would defend and who would then go after these survivors. Again, as you and I both know, it's real fucking hard to come out to share that information and, as someone that does this work, it's like one to 2% of people that lie. People lie, but it is one to 2% because, as we do know, you come forward and these people's lives were threatened, dragged, they lost opportunities, they lost jobs, like safety and we'll talk a little bit more about safety Like all of that was jeopardized because they didn't want to keep having this happen. And then what happens? Like it's continued and then people think, well, they're not talking about it anymore or they dropped it. I'm like they're fucking tired.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like it's a fight yeah, and it's mentally taxing to have to continue to defend yourself and be like no, I'm not lying constantly to to strangers, to strangers nonetheless. You know, like that that is always. I mean, just when I have shared my own story, I've had strangers who, like, accuse me of lying. They don't even know the person that I'm talking about, no connection to him whatsoever, but they're going to defend him because they don't like me, and so it. It's like is it worth it? It, because sometimes it doesn't feel like it is. It doesn't feel like it's worth it to tell someone, you know, like, I support you I've been through this when it's just constant other people tearing you down for it, and when it's someone famous, I can't imagine because, like we laughed about this last year, there's always drama going on within wrestling. There was a wrestler who did something and there was a girl who posted he could literally kill someone and I would still support him because I don't know his reasoning for killing someone and I'm like what? What Are you serious right now?
Speaker 2:I'm like you know saying like he could quit his job, and I would still support him.
Speaker 1:Or people are like you could rape me. Excuse me, I don't know. I've been raped. You know what? It is Not fun, fuck you.
Speaker 2:Still fucked Wood hard pass. Yeah, that, like just some of the comments that people make, I'm like and it's always people that you're like you've never experienced any big trauma in your life to be able to say that because it's not funny. It's not funny to your friend who went through it. It's just not something that is amusing, it's not a joke, and so it's almost better, like you said we do, to just say nothing because I would rather watch. You know, everything does not need my input, it does not need my commentary. I wish other people knew that. Yes, and I like it's okay to be quiet sometimes we don't need your opinion on it.
Speaker 2:You know, like me, and you will text back and forth and say how we feel about something, and I have other people that I will talk to. I I don't need to make a post every time something happens. I don't, I don't care, I don't need to have people. You, you know, like I wonder where she stands on this. It doesn't matter, because it's not my, it's not my situation, and if they knew me, they would know where I stood on it. So that's all that really matters, and it it is. You don't have to pander to your followers on Twitter every time something happens and tell them. You know like, oh well, I read these filings and this is my take on it. Who cares? 800 other people just gave their take on it in the last five minutes and I didn't care about those.
Speaker 1:No, and I'm not reading any of those either.
Speaker 2:So who cares?
Speaker 1:I'm like, oh, don't care, you kind of got into this, but how has your mental health been as a fan, especially since since the last five? What years was 24 the past like five years? How has your mental health been as a wrestling fan? Okay, there's that face.
Speaker 2:I'm gonna clip that I would say up and down a lot. I mean, you know, not taking into account other things going on in my life just like it's hard to be a wrestling fan, sometimes, when things come out and when it, especially when it becomes mainstream news, because it's it's like when you're a wrestling fan amongst people that are not wrestling fans, you are the token wrestling fan, you are the person that they are going to about the question.
Speaker 2:No, I don't want it I posted the other day, 6 30 in the morning, I got a message from somebody asking me about how owen hart, it's 6.30 in the morning. Also, Google's free Wikipedia exists, Like, what, Like why I linked them to the Dark Side of the Ring episode. Yeah, that's perfect. I mean they're like well, I know you know about wrestling and I'm like like what?
Speaker 1:It's 6.30 in the morning. You want to wake up and talk about death. That's wild Right, good morning.
Speaker 2:Hi, nice to see you. So it's like they come to you and my dad does that to me too. Anytime anything happens in wrestling, he's like, oh, I saw on the news today and I'm like, yeah, like I don't, and he will watch wrestling now, which is so funny because he wouldn't when I was a kid, but he will with my kids.
Speaker 2:So like while you and I were in LA last year, my dad was watching with my kids and then when I got home he's like, yeah, that that one guy went out there when Cody was out there and I'm like, okay, dad, like, but he wants to talk to me about it and I'm like I don't want to talk about this, like I am not online and that's all anybody's talking about online and I don't want to talk about it with people that I know outside of it either, and that's. I always laugh like you work in wrestling adjacent more because you're not like in the wrestling part of wrestling you know you're in the mental health.
Speaker 2:Part of wrestling I got but I gotta stay attached yeah, like, like we do not talk about wrestling very much no, we don't have my friends actually, yeah, like any of my friends that work in wrestling, any of my friends that are wrestlers, we barely ever talk about wrestling. Any of my friends that report on wrestling barely ever talk about wrestling. Any of my friends that report on wrestling barely ever talk about wrestling. The only time wrestling is talked about is like if something big happens. It's like, oh, this happened. Oh, yeah, that's pretty much it. But it's the other people who want to talk about it constantly and I'm like I don't want to hear about this anymore. I just need a break from it. I don't want to talk about about it. So sometimes it's like, even if you disconnect from online, it's still happening. It's like, yes, I know that it happened. If you know that it happened, would you not think that I know that it happened? Like, yes, I know I already, I, yeah, I know.
Speaker 1:So it's just Wrestling is a weird place and what I? I am very thankful for Twitter because I found wrestling community.
Speaker 2:Like.
Speaker 1:I feel like I have been a wrestling fan but I never had community until I found Twitter and I was like is this where everybody's been? What the hell? Why didn't anyone tell me what? What is community like for you and also, how important is it for you in this space?
Speaker 2:I would say it's really important for me because I don't have a lot of friends where I live. We, you know, we always joke about where I live well, it's because you fuck this.
Speaker 1:She lives in the backwoods of nothing. If you send her a gift, she'll be like maybe I'll get it in like three years.
Speaker 2:It's wild when I had surgery and everybody was trying to send me flowers and they were gonna have to work to me via fedex, because we don't it's wild y'all yes, we don't have things here. Like all the time people will be like just get uber eats, we don't have uber eats. We don't have, we don't have anything. We don't have these things like. We have mcdonald's, dairy queen and subway.
Speaker 2:That's what we got like wow so I don't have a lot of friends where I live. I mean, I did not live here, as you know. I lived in California for a little while and I loved living in California. But, girl, you can't afford to live in California.
Speaker 2:As someone that lives in California, I know I know, yeah, like I mean that was and that was 10 years ago. I think about that all the time. In June it'll be 10 years since I moved from California, so I loved living out there, like when I was out there last year, it was like like with the smog and all I can breathe.
Speaker 1:You got to. Just you know, keep your, get closer to the ground to the ground.
Speaker 2:Good thing I'm not tall, I mean it was I. Just I need the people in my life from that. I've met through wrestling, like I said, even though we don't talk about wrestling like we became friends because of wrestling. That's not what we talk about, because we became better friends because of all the other reasons that we connected. And most of the wrestling trips that I go on have nothing to do with going to see wrestling there, because I get to go see my friends and that's been the hardest part for the past six months for me is not getting seven months now, goodness, not getting to see my friends not being in Philly this week. Do I care about going to Philly? No, I never need to step foot in Philly this week. Do I care about going to Philly? No, I never need to step foot in Philly in my life. But I know that all my friends are going to be there.
Speaker 2:I was upset that I didn't get to go to North Carolina last month because I knew all my friends were going to be there, that I didn't get to go to Tampa or wherever that was in January because everybody was going to be there and so, like I took my kids to a show January, february, something like that. Like I took my kids to a show January, february, something like that, and we'll came out and sat with us through like half the show at that one and I hadn't got to see him and I think, since September. So so nice to be able to just sit and talk to him. And I'll get to see him in a couple of weeks oh God, it is April. Yeah, I'll be there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'll be there weeks. Oh god, it is April, yeah so I'll be there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, I'll be there. I'm booking my flight, I'll be there. So, like I'll get to see him in a couple weeks and get to see you in a couple weeks and then I think next month I'm gonna be in Vegas. So get to see everybody then. And it's more about getting to see my friends because, like you have to work during the show.
Speaker 1:You know, like I do be working you don't get to enjoy things anymore, don't you know? I appreciate thank you for acknowledging working and wrestling. You're like I didn't see. I'd be like, did you see it? I'm like, no, I saw none of the show. You were there all eight hours.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was there yeah, like the edge, edge, edgeland, edge, copeland debut. When you yeah, when you came out, you recorded it, you sent it to me. You were sending me people's reactions and stuff. Like you get to see small things if you go out for it, but you're back, you're working, you got an office, you know like you're stretching. You're sending me pictures of you stretching in the back.
Speaker 1:So much for noting my. I take care of myself in the back yeah, like you're doing your thing back there.
Speaker 2:It's a job for you, you're back there working, but like the days around that we get to hang out and that's like the best part of those trips for me. I don't care about the wrestling as much as getting to see my friends, and it has, I don't know, especially especially because of the pandemic. Oh God, the pandemic was so hard, not getting to see anybody. But I don't know how I would have made it, sometimes through the pandemic, without just being able to check in with my friends and everything, even though we're all over the well, all over the world. Honestly, like, everybody always makes fun of me because I don't have a passport and I'm like but you have a passport so you can come to me, oh, dear you.
Speaker 1:Okay, one of us does look at that, but there's a lot more shows here than there.
Speaker 2:So you come to me like last year in LA, that's, you know, at my hotel. You came to my hotel and hung out for a little while and everything. Like alex mccarthy, who I he lives in the somewhere in the uk, I don't know somewhere over there, and he's like when are you gonna get a passport? And I'm like you're here, get a passport. I have a passport holder. I'm going to fight you.
Speaker 1:I'm going to fight you. You're like I have part of it, not the part I actually can utilize anything for.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like my dear friend Frankie is like can I get you a passport? Like can I just crop one of your pictures and like apply for a passport? He's always mad at me about it.
Speaker 1:And I'm like it.
Speaker 2:Just it seems like a lot of work to go have my picture taken. I just don't want to do it, but I will eventually. I mean I'm going to be 31. I need to get it done at some point.
Speaker 1:I didn't get my passport until I was 30, and I will be 37 this year, which is wild Cause. Look at me.
Speaker 2:You look amazing it is almost our birthdays. We are almost there.
Speaker 1:We take cash, venmo, paypal, may.
Speaker 2:We take everything.
Speaker 2:But yeah, like just getting to see people, like I said, from all over the world. Like I have become such good friends with people. People like I talk to you almost every day and we have group chats with other people where we check in on things. And then, like Jeremy, I met through Fightful and went to his wedding two years ago. You know, like I was two years ago that's's why and drove to Ohio I had never been to Ohio in my life Seven hours with my kids to Ohio for his wedding and then drove back straight through through the night, like when we had a blast, and I think that was one of the moments that was the coolest for me seeing everybody that came to his wedding.
Speaker 2:Because Jeremy had just moved to Ohio. You know he was from North Carolina, he just moved there for I call her Mrs Jeremy because he doesn't share her information. You know, like he just moved there for Mrs Jeremy. He didn't have friends there really, and everyone that was at that wedding for him that wasn't his family was people he'd met through wrestling and we had like two and a half tables full of us and we took a picture at the end and I mean there was people from everywhere, like we'd driven in, flown in, denise flew in.
Speaker 1:I couldn't make a flight work.
Speaker 2:I know I remember we were trying to make it work and I was like Denise and her I don't think, maybe I'm trying to think of her and her husband were married yet I don't think so yeah, but he came in with her and like she stayed at an Airbnb with me and my kids, and Joel and his wife came in from Canada, you know, like just people from everywhere coming in, and it meant so much to him and I think that that was really when I was like this is so cool that, you know, all these people came here for him and he did not expect a lot of people to come.
Speaker 2:So when SP3 showed up from New York and when Steven Jensen came in from Georgia and everything, like he was just kind of amazed that so many people cared enough about him that he just met through wrestling to come, and I was like we love you, like that's why we're here, we, we are happy for you and we want to support you, and I think that that's such a cool thing that we all may have not ever met if it wouldn't have been for wrestling.
Speaker 2:You know, like wrestling and twitter, yeah fuck you, elon, but yeah, like twitter the closest I live to anybody throughout like is three and a half hours away, and it's people that I go visit, you know. So it's just really cool to see that many people be able to come in for someone and, like I said, we wouldn't have known each other otherwise, so it's like man, this is awesome.
Speaker 1:I love that as the one that we'll. We'll end with a fun comment, but I think there's also something to even talk to. Is like safety, um and we've talked about mental health and all the things, and I always look at safety as two ways, internally and externally. If there's any tips and tricks you can give to femme, women, ladies we are not the gatekeepers of what that identity looks like, but like any safety tips to want to attend these shows, because I know I've been to shows and I'm like they got one more word and I'm about to get kicked out because we're about to fight. I'm about to jump over, like I have been in places and I'm like, oh no, I start like taking my shit off. It's like I black out, because I think you and I are very similar in the ways of like the ways that we go to protect others and we're like, well, fuck it. Kind of thing.
Speaker 2:Yes, If I see someone that I can tell they're going in on themselves and they don't want to stand up for themselves. I used to be that person and, like my mom always says that, I have become very um hardened since my divorce and I'm like I'm just not naive anymore and I was a kid I was 20 when I got married like that should be illegal.
Speaker 2:You shouldn't even be able to get married at 20 and I'm like I couldn't even drink, like which I don't drink, but if I wanted to, I couldn't drink at my own wedding reception, like that's so true you're? Yeah, I was like sorry, you know. So I'm like I, I used to be that person. I was the person who would let people say things about me and let people laugh about it because I, I wasn't going to stand up for myself. So if I'm at shows and I see that happen 100%, I'm always saying something like I will yell at people, and then people are like Like I will yell at people and then people are like cause I don't, I don't dress like a wrestling fan.
Speaker 1:You don't let me. If y'all don't know. I've been out and I'm like am I? Should I go back to my room? Where are we going? I'm like in leggings. This bitch is fully dressed.
Speaker 2:I'm like well, I was in a dress and heels when we went in LA. I got some Nikes on. You know it's okay. The only time I go anywhere is when I go to wrestling shows, you know what.
Speaker 1:But also I always say, like, if this makes you feel comfortable and happy, who the fuck cares?
Speaker 2:Yes, exactly, do whatever you want, but I'm always going to stand up for people. So I've been to shows with my kids before where people were yelling racist remarks like people in the crowd yelling racist remarks at wrestlers and stuff and my kids are always like, oh God, cause, they know I'm going to say something.
Speaker 2:They always they're like and I do, and I'll say, and usually the person will sit down because everybody everybody else around them, you can tell also feels uncomfortable but they're not going to say anything and I will say something every time because I don't care and I'm like I don't ever want people to feel singled out in wrestling the way that I have felt, so I'm always going to stand up for people in that safety. Going to shows. Yeah, I stopped going to wrestling shows alone because I didn't feel safe. Um, I used to go to all of them by myself, unless my kids were coming with me, and even sometimes with my kids. I don't feel safe because people are.
Speaker 1:You've had many instances, we've talked about them. So many instances, what, like, what. Why are you trying to talk to my kids? I'm always like do I have like a neon?
Speaker 2:sign on my head, that's like come mess with me.
Speaker 2:Like we were at a show the second house show, back after COVID. We were in Kentucky. We had second row seats, we had four tickets, but there was only us three. I don't remember seats. We had four tickets, but there was only us three. A guy on the floor you're not supposed to be able to go on the floor unless you show him your ticket. This guy tells he's drunk off his ass and he tells the security woman like that's my wife. She has my ticket. Does she ask me? No, she just lets him sit there.
Speaker 2:He's trying to take pictures with me and my kids in the background, like I have my youngest on my lap. So this would have been? Was it 2021? Yeah, yeah. So my youngest was four at the time and I have him on my lap and he's like like touches his leg, trying to get him to smile at him, and I'm like, no, this is not happening and it was just like we missed a whole match. That was going on because I was trying to deal with this situation and the people behind us were like he's not with you, is he and I back? And they got the WWE security to come get this man and make him leave because the arena security just let him sit down.
Speaker 1:That's the shitty part too and I've had this conversation, amanda and I have had these conversations with other women too is like go to the security that works for the company Arena security are just hired. Yeah, some don't know what the fuck is going on, they're doing yeah no yeah, so we had that recently.
Speaker 2:We had last year um, it was the show after the bray memorial, so we went to that smackdown and then we went to a house show the next night and we had the guy who was there working with mentally disabled adults who kept asking me for my phone number.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I remember that yeah, would not leave me alone and kept and being like, call me and like was absolutely 20 years older than me at least, kept going on and on and then my youngest was like what did he say to you? And I was like he me on a date. He cackled because my kids know I don't date. And he's like he thinks you're going to go on a date with him, Like he thinks it's so funny and I'm like yeah, I know, that's your biggest bully.
Speaker 2:He really is. He bullies me more than anyone. But at that show I nobody that I knew within the company was there, and so I just had to deal with it and we were in comp seats. Their facility had gotten comp seats, so we were just next to each other and we ended up leaving early because I was like I cannot deal with this. I can't deal with this man bothering me the entire time. He's ruining the experience for my kids because I'm so on edge because of it, and there's a different level of protectiveness when my kids are with me too, even if the person is bothering me.
Speaker 2:I've never had anyone like mess with my kids, because then it would be a whole different level. But going to shows alone I've not. It's not as fun. But you're looking over your shoulder a lot more, you know. Like when you and I went together we had fun. We, you know, watched whatever, but like we knew that we had each other's backs in everything too. When you're by yourself, you know you're the whole time like, oh, this person over here and this person over here, and I just realized like this is not as enjoyable for me going by myself.
Speaker 2:So, even if I'm going by myself but meeting other people there, I find that better and I I'm always, if I have my car, volunteering to drive people, cause I'm like, then I don't have to be driving.
Speaker 2:I'm like I don't have to go to my car by myself, I don't have to, you know, be in a parking lot by myself, because even if it wasn't, there are creeps everywhere. Like it's not, like it's just in wrestling, it's. There are creepy people everywhere and I just think meeting other people within wrestling, like the heels community and.
Speaker 2:AEW has. I saw that they have a. They're going to have a heel seating section at shows now where they can all sit together and everything. And I think that that's amazing because you're building a community within the community and you know, find other people that you get along with and start, you know, buy tickets near each other at shows and things like that, because it makes it a lot more enjoyable to have the experience with someone else, but you feel safer in that too, because there are always going to be weird people. Well, I actually forgot about this one at mania when I went down to the floor to say hi to our friend emilio.
Speaker 1:Yep and oh yes, I was, like she, gone a long time.
Speaker 2:I do remember this, yeah the guy cornered me on the floor and was like I saw you at your hotel earlier and was like grabbing my arm and stuff. And I'm like dude, like please, let me go. And he was like forcing, like let me have your Instagram, I'll follow you on Instagram. And I'm like no, I'm good. And finally one of the security guards because you're not supposed to stand on the floor like outside of the sections came over and was like you need to go to your seats and I was like I'm going back upstairs, like I'm good, I'm not gonna be down here. But that was the only reason that he finally left me alone. And it's just like the aggressiveness can be very and I wasn't alone then, but I was alone at that moment and I had just left you to go down there to say hi to him and he was like yeah.
Speaker 2:And he was like, well, if I would have known and I'm like you were watching the show, you know, I mean it's there wasn't anything, unless somebody was with me that anybody could do. And think about that. How many people are around in that arena and someone has the audacity to do that in front of people and it's just like and nobody says anything. All these people standing there and nobody says anything, and like he's got a hold of my arm. You can tell I'm uncomfortable and I'm just like man. We really people just do not look out for other people.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's like the everything is a community. We have different aspects of it, but it's also like see something, say something as cheesy as it sounds like how you could really be helping someone in a moment If someone was like what are you doing? You good, like I will pretend I know somebody. Quick, hey girl, come on, it doesn't matter. Like it is so scary just navigating every day outside, and then you go into, like this more concentrated area where we already have these preconceived notions that have continued to be accurate of I'm not welcomed here, you don't want me in this space the danger of it all, and like navigating it.
Speaker 1:People ask me like well, what does safety look like for you at wrestling shows? And I'm like stay and ready. Ask me like, well, what does safety look like for you at wrestling shows? And I'm like staying ready. And it does take away from the enjoyment of the actual show, which is like a lot of people pay a lot of money to go to these shows. Wrestling's not cheap. Oh, that's so annoying. Um, what have been the good parts of wrestling for you? Because there's been a lot of shit. What are the good parts, though?
Speaker 2:I'm muted Cause there's a train. Um, I would say like the things that I've got to be there to witness wrestling wise and then experiencing them with my friends and meeting the people. Like, as I said before Brian Danielson, I went to a random SmackDown in St Louis I don't even know what year that was 2019, I guess I was sitting by Randy Orton's wife and all 87 of his children Don't do that, and there's a lot of them. A few.
Speaker 2:A few do that and there's a lot of them a few and that was the show where brian turned heel and won the world title from aj and when he became like, changed it to like the eco title and everything after that and just randomly getting to be there for that as a huge fan of his was always something that I go back to and always talk about. I got to go to. Well, I went to the Royal Rumble in St Louis, but that was my first Royal Rumble. Royal Rumble is my favorite.
Speaker 1:Same. You know we love a rumble.
Speaker 2:Yes, so I was so excited when we got to have it in St Louis, and then it was terrible. But that was when the sign caught on fire.
Speaker 1:Right above me I was sitting with Issa, oh, I remember you were like there's a fire. I was like, what do you mean? There's a fire above my head.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was sitting with Issa and it was just like right above us, so that was, yeah, that was the one when Seth came down, did the shield entrance and he came right next to us so like you can see us during that entrance. That was really cool to experience For us. The show was terrible. But I went to the Rumble last year I guess, which was in San Antonio, and I got to go with my friend Frankie, who works for WWE, who we never got to go to a show together before and he lives in Connecticut. Of course, we've actually became.
Speaker 2:I knew who he was through a shirt company that we both followed on Facebook, which was just because he was always doing giveaways where he would give away like WWE stuff. They would do like guess who's going to win this, and then do a drawing or whatever through the company. And he had started following me on Twitter, had no idea who he was and I'm like, why is this guy always commenting on stuff? And then I put two and two together with the name and followed him back and now he is one of my best friends. We talk all the time. He and his wife just had a baby and so I'm like buying stuff for their baby all the time and everything.
Speaker 2:But we got to go to that show together and it was so much fun to get to experience that with him him as a fan, because he has worked as a producer for the company. It's real different. Yes, he's worked as a producer for like 14 years for the company, so he, you know, when he's working it's a different experience than going as a fan and we had so much fun at that show. Different experience than going as a fan and we had so much fun at that show and it was. It's just really fun to get to experience different shows with different people too, because I've sat with so many different people.
Speaker 2:Now, like I said, you and I sat together last year and I've sat gosh, just so I can't even think of all the people that I've sat with. Just you know different shows. Like hey, we're both gonna be here, let you know, sit near each other, whatever. And like t and his girlfriend in vegas last year at that show, I think we're gonna sit together again this year and like me just dancing to everybody's themes the whole time, like that was my whole show was me dancing to all the themes and everything, and I think that that's like the memories of getting to experience those things with my friends is always something that I'm like yeah, you remember when we were at that one together and we got to see that that really cool match and whatever like it's, it's just fun yeah, people think that my favorite things, people like you like wrestling, like perfect, like professional wrestling, like WWF, and every time they ask the question, they just lean in harder, like it's you could lean back.
Speaker 1:They're shocked. Yeah, go back. It's the. The answer is going to be the same.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm like you watch cartoons yeah, I'm like it's okay, you like spongebob f42.
Speaker 1:Why are you my business?
Speaker 2:yeah, like I'm not a marvel girl, but there's people that like obsess over that stuff.
Speaker 1:We'll bite you yeah.
Speaker 2:All you talk about is like ranking your favorite Marvel movie. It's okay, like yeah, I think that's part of why I could never date, cause if somebody was like I'm, I can't. I can't deal with somebody that watches wrestling. I'd be like bye, see ya.
Speaker 1:I think that this conversation was so needed and to have it with you. I think it really shows more of like who you are, just like a person. People always see you as like this person on the internet, but also like you're a whole human, and people forget that the internet's not real fun fact. Twitter is a show. It is a game. You don't have to fight for the death for these wrestlers when you don't know who they are. You don't know their real names most of the time, like you don't know these people at all. They do not stop it. They don't.
Speaker 2:They don't know you, baby and why are you trying to fight people and they don't want to?
Speaker 1:and stop standing outside people's hotels.
Speaker 2:That's creepy that and inside don't stand inside the hotel or outside the hotel stay out.
Speaker 1:How do you find the host? I don't even want to know how you find it. Stop finding it, stop looking. Um, I appreciate having this conversation with you. Is there anything else you would like to tell women wrestling fans just like I said before, just find your community within wrestling.
Speaker 2:You know like follow female. We all kind of stick together. Follow female content creators like they share other female content creators.
Speaker 1:I remember how I found you. It was that tiktok video where all of y'all were changing the outfits of your favorite wrestlers.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yes, that's what it was.
Speaker 1:Oh, that is so good, and that's why I was like look at all these hot women. What the hell Beautiful women that love wrestling, and I followed everyone.
Speaker 2:That's what it was. That's what it was. I can't even remember. I remember it got taken down off Twitter because of the song.
Speaker 2:Like was I can't even remember, I remember it got taken down off Twitter because of the song. Like that, it got like a DMCA strike, but it's on TikTok somewhere still. Yeah, alex, queen of the Ring, alex was the one who put it all together and it was so much fun and I was so excited to be a part of it. Like, yeah, that was. I remember that. Now I forgot that we even did that. That was like the beginning of COVID, wasn't it? Like yeah, yeah, yeah, because the female wrestlers kept doing like the same one over and over and over and we're like we got it, we got it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh, there it is. I love how it just popped up at the end there sparkle at the end. Um, I like to end the show with a question that is for my pure entertainment and for the folks. Now, what is the wildest thing because I know you get wild shit that someone has texted or DM'd you in the last two weeks, and wild is relative.
Speaker 2:I get a lot of wild stuff.
Speaker 1:It's true, I know.
Speaker 2:Not as many in the texting because I don't give out my number. I've had people find my number on the internet, which is very strange. I've had the same number since I was 14 years old, so like, please don't make me change my phone number.
Speaker 2:But, I'm like I don't want to do that, but I get a lot of crazy. Even with my DMs like mostly close, I get a lot of crazy DMs. So I had someone this happened today, okay, but I get a lot of crazy. Even with my DMs like, mostly close, I get a lot of crazy DMs. So I had someone. This happened today. Okay, I posted my birthday is May 1st. So I posted April 1st, like just a reminder. My birthday is a month from today. And this person sent me a message and they said how old will you be on your birthday and what's your favorite number? And I said I'm going to be 31. And my favorite number is 22. I don't know why that's my favorite number. I mean I do. There was a baseball player who I was obsessed with, but that was 20 years ago, but that was like my basketball number. Everything that I did had to be 22.
Speaker 1:Mine's 58 because of MTV back in the day it just like stuck.
Speaker 2:My sister's was 15 because of a baseball player Whose number like that was her number through everything High school basketball Like yeah, so he's like okay, it's about to be weird, I feel it. He says well, I shot myself in the foot. The idea was 31 times 22, $682. I'm going to send you that, half this Friday and the other half next Friday, happy birthday. So apparently I'm getting $341 on Friday. Okay, well, two days. I'm checking in, I'm getting $341 on Friday.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, two days. I'm checking in, I'm gonna send you a text. Did the money come through?
Speaker 2:So what's funnier is? I don't know what this man's name is.
Speaker 1:I don't know who this man is, and he thinks my name is Chelsea.
Speaker 2:He calls me who the hell is Chelsea? So you're not getting this money, chelsea which I mean my cash app, is at share delaware. But he's always like hey, chelsea. And I'm like where did you get chelsea from? Like that's so strange to me. Don't know who this man is. He used to message me very inappropriate things oh, he said to switch it up.
Speaker 2:Very inappropriate things and I had blocked him on another account and then he followed me on this account and so now I guess he's just sending me money. So we're going to see. I can't wait. I know I mean to be continued. If he sends me $341 Friday, that's going straight to tea for the Airbnb in Vegas.
Speaker 1:You're like look at this gift we have.
Speaker 2:Look at this. Thank you for the Vegas trip.
Speaker 1:This was good. I truly hope that people listen to this and understand how hard it is to just sometimes enjoy things Because people are shitty. You're allowed to have your own opinion and not want to dox people and also believe people like. Believe women when they say they feel unsafe it shows. Believe people when they say they are harmed. The questions, the who, what, when, where, why they're fucking shitty and no one wants them. Yeah, fucking shitty and no one wants them. Yeah, where can him? Hey, they, zim zay zee find you. If they want to find you. I don't know what you're going to tell. You might tell them nowhere.
Speaker 2:I usually always say don't find me. Which is you know, like from the New Day podcast, when Vicky would be like I don't need your follows, I don't need your follows, I don't want your follow. I love e. He's such a time, he's the best, he's hilarious. But um, uh, you can follow me on twitter, because we don't call it that letter uh, we're not using that, no, I'm never like when people are like. I reposted, no, you retweeted, that's what you did.
Speaker 2:I don't know, what that means yeah, um, and then on Instagram it is share period Delaware, but those are really the only ones that I use. I've got like all the threads and blue sky. I don't use any of those. I forget that they're there same.
Speaker 1:I have them, but I don't, I don't.
Speaker 2:I forget and then I'll be like it'll show me I got like 15 new follows and I'm like cool.
Speaker 1:I'm like, why, I'm always like. Why are you following?
Speaker 2:That's why, okay, well, I'm good. But yeah, you can follow me and see my. I don't post about wrestling as often as I used to. I mean, I'm still posting about it some, but I just can't get that deep into all of it again because it's just too much. But you can see me have meltdowns about other sports all the time with my. I hate baseball, I hate hockey Constant.
Speaker 1:Well, this was fun, Y'all. You know where to find the next episodes and until next time.
