Thanks to Caroline Walsh for the following:
Guest: Rosemary
Date: March 7th 2018
Your Host: James Walsh
She is a diamond in the rough at Impact Wrestling. No, that does not mean she teams with David Young, Elix Skipper, or Pat Kenney.It means she shines above the rest as one of the company’s largest and home grown stars. She is the leader of the Hivelings!
Of course, we speak of Rosemary! We interviewed the “Demon Assassin” herself on Wednesday afternoon and discussed her rise in Impact, the WOmen’s Revolution, and the new creative team at Impact Wrestling.
To download, view or listen, please visit: http://www.wrestlingepicenter.
“We knew it would speak to a certain amount of people. We just didn’t, we weren’t aware of how many there were or how quickly it would happen. When Decay debut in late January of 2016, later that month we were doing the UK tour. That episode had not yet aired in the UK for our debut. And yet, we stepped out in Manchester and the crowd was already singing our theme song and knew who we were. To have that kind of instant recognition and that instant connection, then that perhaps was the birth of the Hivelings, as they say (laughs) brought to us so very quickly and so very instantaneously. To connect with the audience so quickly was not expected by any of us in Decay. We simply went with it and became, not necesserilly, as you mortals like to say, “good guys” or “baby faces”? (laughs) We just did what came organically and the people came with us.”
On Rosemary taking a more fan friendly direction:
“We tolerate Allie. We would hesitate to use the word “friend”. The natural mistake is to say that we have chosen the way of the light. This is not true. We will never ever waver in our allegiance to the shadow and the darkness. It is simply that the shadow has seen fit to protect Allie and that is what we do. We follow our instructions.”
On the return of Taya Valkyrie to Impact:
“When Taya could not appear at Bound for Glory, you cannot understand the heartbreak that we suffered. To be promised a blood splattered battle and to have that taken away, perhaps we were a shell of ourselves for the latter half of the year? Not knowing when we would ever see her again and now, she’s returned to us! (laughs) And on the harizon, darling, is war. Do not think anything less could happen between us. They could not keep the Demon and the Valkyrie apart forever. When we do get her face to face, face to face mind you, nevermind these little games she’s playing. It will be war and it will be beautiful!”
On if not having the match at Bound for Glory makes it even more anticipated:
“Absense does make the heart grow fonder, doesn’t it?”
On being paired with Abyss in her debut:
“We’ve made it no secret that starting our training and even choosing where we would train was heavily swayed by then TNA since we’ve been watching since 2005. We chose to go to Scott D’Amore’s school because he had an influence in Impact Wrestling and because he had trained Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin, Petey Williams and out of Ontario had come Gail Kim, Traci Brooks, Angelina Love and people who were making waves. In 2009, we believe, the beginning of the Knockouts division, we wanted to be part of Impact Wrestling and now we are! So, not only those names having trained in Canada, one of the main reasons we kept watching TNA was “The Monster” Abyss. He was somebody we very much adored watching his matches and watching his character. So, to be brought into Impact Wrestling and to be paired with someone who we so adored and looked up to and considered a hero, perhaps? Somebody who we very much loved watching, to be paired with him was a dream come true to not mince words. To have his wisdom, his guidence, his expertise guiding Crazy Steve and Rosemary in our dark and distructive ways… Perhaps that led the way in why we were received so quickly by the fans.”
On what has caused the “Women’s Revolution” in wrestling:
“The winds of change are upon us. We are not content to sit on the be a side show, to sit on the sidelines, to let the boys run the show. We will be running it with them just as we did in a very physical representation with Decay. Abyss mixed it up, Steve mixed it up, and Rosemary mixed it up. And we shared an equal part in the group. There was no “Rosemary must sit on the sidelines because she’s a girl.” No! We did not engage in combat inside the ring for the majority of the first year. But, we were not afraid to mix it up to defend our brothers and to divert the attention. Women are not content to sit on the sidelines anymore. We are not content to be overlooked. We are embracing the power that we have inside of us and forcing change upon this world.”
On Impact Wrestling starting the trend for women with the Knockouts:
“Absolutely. As we said, it was TNA that inspired us to become a wrestler and to go out and get trained. Growing up, we played wrestling with our cousins and with our siblings and that was based on watching WWE, WWF at the time. But, it wasn’t until TNA and we found out that Scott D’Amore runs a school that we learned that this was something that we could do, should do, would do, and must do and that Impact was our goal.”
On the changes Don Callis and Scott D’Amore have brought to Impact thus far:
“Positive, very positive. Very much that there is a direction and that there is a clear direction and it is forward.Not backwards! Not stagnant! It is forward! They have ideas and they’re going to implement them. The flow of the show has changed as you’ve mentioned, it has been 4 or 5 weeks into the new regime and it is very much a different feel than it has been for the past year. It is very exciting and it is something that we, and hopefully the rest of the roster and the rest of the fans and anyone who is interested to see the growth of wrestling is something that we want to see where it goes and hope everyone comes along to see as well. If you want a good example, the Global Wrestling Network. It is not just Impact. There is a wonderful archive. There is a wealth of independent promotions that are featured on this Network so that people who perhaps have not had access to these shows before are now seeing how far wrestling reaches and how far it is coming. Growing together is an imcredibly important part of moving forward.”
On her future goals in Impact:
“Absolutely. Not necesserilly things that haven’t been done before in Impact but haven’t been done before by the Demon Assassin! There has been one, not Six Sides of Steel, but Lethal Lockdown. We would love to bring that back for the Knockouts now. Obviously with some alterations as there’s not six sides, we’ve gone back to 4 sides, but that will be all right. (laughs) It is still Lethal Lockdown! Of course, we loved taking part in the Monsters Ball. Oh, and lets throw a long shot out there. We’ve yet to have a Knockouts Ultimate X! We’re not the only Knockout that thinks that way, lets put it that way.”
On her reported knee injury a month ago and if she’s 100% or not:
“Hmm. Difficult to say. These mortal meat sacks are very different from our Demon form. We have yet to receive confirmation on whether or not we are 100% but we will be updating as soon as possible.”
On Impact Wrestling versus Lucha Underground at WrestleCon and the possibility of an inter-gender match:
“Either or, really! (laughs) It would not be our first inter-gender encourter. We’ve done several matches against males. It is simply a different mindset you bring to battle. But certainly we would not shy away from such an opportunity.”
On her objection to being told she should play SIster Abigail:
“It is not the thought that we have an issue with. It certainly speaks to recognizing our creativity and our willngness to be different. However, being tweeted or DM’d to you the same thought 6, 10, 20 times a day, as you said, as though it was an original thought. It gets a bit tedeous! (laughs) It makes us start to wonder… That is great that you’re writing Rosemary fan fiction in your head. But, how about enjoying what we’re doing currently because we’re certainly enjoying what we’re doing currently on television at Impact Wrestling. So, instead of imagining what isn’t and what may never be, why not we play with the world that we’re given and made it amazing?”
