Angelina Love Wants “Edgy Sexy Stuff” In ROH – Angelina Love took some time to speak with Liam Alexander-Stewart of Inside The Ropes about her impressive career that has spanned over two decades. She recalled fond memories of being signed by WWE, but was designated to Deep South Wrestling and Ohio Valley Wrestling before being released.
“Um, well quite a few like, Well, obviously getting hired by WWE was like, everything, I’m sure like, anybody who ever dreamed of like growing up and working for WWE would say, like, getting hired. But you know, plus, I was Tommy Dreamer’s first hire, I adore Tommy,” Angelina explained. “So like, that was a big deal. And I just remember thinking that I was like, set for life. And that’s such a joke, like nobody, like a small percentage is actually set for life when they’re in WWE, but, um, so that was awesome, because that was something that I always wanted to accomplish. Like, I got hired by WWE, I had a contract.”
Angelina is proud of her time with TNA/Impact Wrestling, which includes six title reigns as TNA Knockouts Champion. She believes that her work with “The Beautiful People” stable alongside key members Velvet Sky and Madison Rayne elevated TNA to a point similar to WWE’s Attitude Era.
“And then you know, like TNA was obviously, like Beautiful People was obviously like, our best time, our favorite time because it was just, it was like the second coming of the Attitude Era, like what we were doing in TNA, you know what I mean? So, like, we weren’t being PG at all, obviously,” Angelina said. “But it was just like, we were open, and we were having fun. And you know, there was a ton of us that were in TNA that weren’t able to succeed the way we wanted to in WWE or not even given the chance. And we were just rocking and rolling in TNA.
“And it was the perfect time, that’s why so many things were so successful, and a lot of us were able to become like household names without having that WWE machine behind us, which is a huge accomplishment, you know, like kind of being outside of that, but then still making yourself known, like AJ before he got to WWE or regulation styles,” she continued. “So you know, and then just, you know, me starting with are kind of coming back to Ring of Honor in 2019. Because that was the first like major promotion I worked for. I did a few shows for them in 2004 right before I got asked to go in and do my WWE tryouts, which I got hired out of so it’s like 15 years later, you know, and a lot of stuff accomplished in between and like I’m back at Ring of Honor, and it’s super fun. It feels very homey. I love the roster, we have an easy schedule. Yeah, it’s awesome.”
As a member of the Ring of Honor roster, Angelina is looking forward to what her future may hold. She thinks that tournaments and tryouts are a good way for the women’s division of RoH to gain quality in-ring talents.
“Um, well, it’s, it’s awesome, because like Ring of Honor is different from like your TNA. WWE know, to me, like the fan base is different, they’ve always just had a different style, which I think is great, because you can’t have the same everything in wrestling. So it’s good, you know, we were doing good stuff with the girls, but then like 2020 happened, right? So that kind of screwed everybody, you know, but we didn’t have like a huge roster,” Angelina explained. “So I feel like the way that we’ve been going about it by you know, just the way that we’ve kind of had to block off our taping so far with restrictions and all that kind of stuff.
“The only way to build the division, because so many people are already signed to the only way to build a division is just bring in people for tryouts, you know, and just see how they go. Um, and that’s essentially what we did and how we got like this women’s tournament going, which is what you know, is airing right now,” she added. “So I was asked, like, you know, “do you feel like we’re going about this the right way?” And I said, “Absolutely, I feel like this is the only way to be honest. We can’t just like hire people without seeing them first or you know, seeing them in the ring or seeing how they are just professionally and etiquette and stuff like that”. So I feel like we’ve gone about that the right way. And so far, so good, I’d say”
Angelina went on to explain how proud she is for her work in TNA/Impact Wrestling. She’s pleased that the company allowed her and The Beautiful People to bring a sexy flair to the product when WWE was veering in a PG direction.
“When the knockouts division was really kicking it? Yeah. Well, my proudest moment is just it in general, you know, because we, once again, everything is like the right place, right time, right people when it comes to wrestling, so you know, they were so I had got released from WWE in May 2007. Come September, I’ve been hired by TNA so it was just like a five-month period or so in between. And it was like, yeah, it was 2007. And we really got crazy with it in 2008,” Angelina said. “And it was just the perfect time like WWE was doing PG stuff. And I think everybody wanted to still have that edgy, sexy, you know, kind of saying that wrestling had been, you know, in years previous and that’s what it was, you know, doing the best at that time as well. So, I’m just proud that I was an OG of that, you know, like nobody can take away from us ever that we started the knockouts division and it blew up and we’re so thankful to like Jeff Jarrett and everybody who they, it was literally like, well, let’s try it. It’s either gonna sink or swim, right. So that’s kind of like can’t let them down, can’t let ourselves down. Like we all like really, really wanted it to succeed. And we were just so thankful to be given that opportunity. And I think it’s swimming and swam very well. ”
Looking towards the future, Angelina considered who she would want to become a part of the RoH roster. She thinks that establishing different looks and characters will be what truly enhances whatever talent they bring in.
“Well, there’s that there’s a lot of girls that were on the knockouts roster that I think would have some kind of place, you know, like Jackie, Miss Jackie, you know, she was such an entity in herself, you know, and then Kong, like, I’m always gonna say Kong, cuz I just, you know, love her,” Angelina said. “Even though she gave me like, the hardest matches of my life, I just really do. Um, it would be really, really cool. If in Ring of Honor, we could kind of have like that, when the knockouts division first started type of vibe, where it’s like, everybody has a different look, everybody has a different style, you know, someone’s doing the really edgy sexy stuff, we got the Lucha we got, you know, the this and that, like, whatever, you know, we got a gothy vampire girl, like, who knows, but that gives everybody who likes something, something to like, right? It’s not just like, 14 blondes, and it’s like, pick your favorite one. You know, like, that doesn’t work anymore. So, um, that would be cool.”
Angelina Love Wants “Edgy Sexy Stuff” In ROH
