– WWE Women’s United States Champion Chelsea Green spoke with Adrian Hernandez of Unlikely for an in-depth interview recently. During the discussion, the women’s wrestling star spoke about Mick Foley being supportive of her tribute ring gear during her recent Street Fight on WWE SmackDown.
“You probably know if you’ve followed my career that one thing that I do is I dive head-first into everything, whether it’s my gear, the character, the storyline, the feud, whatever it is,” Green said. “So I knew going into this Street Fight that I had to make it special, and I wasn’t sure how. I kept playing with the idea of, is it a look? Am I bringing something back that’s nostalgic for the fans? That’s how I landed on Mick Foley. I love Mick Foley. I’ve had a great relationship with him for the past ten years. So I texted him, and I said, ‘How would you feel if, not only I dressed as Cactus Jack, but I also came out with a shirt that was a parody, a play on the shirt that you came out with back in the day?’ He loved it, he was supportive, and I just knew that was the right decision, especially being in Philly with the ECW ties, the hardcore ties. I think he was the perfect person to kind of do that for, and we’re helping each other in a sense as well. I’m reminding people of how amazing he was, and he’s reposting my photos and my shirt. It’s just the best. I do feel like Mick Foley is one of those people, when they say you don’t want to meet your heroes or your idols, that does not exist with Mick Foley. He is just as amazing as you could imagine.”
Green continued, “I put myself, and I kind of get in the headspace of, ‘What do the fans want to see?’ The fans don’t care if I come out with specific colors on. Maybe they care if I’m wearing an Eagles jersey in Philly, but that doesn’t resonate with all of WWE. That just resonates with the people in the audience, in Philly, and I’m always trying to think, how do I get the entire WWE Universe talking? Not only that, if I’m backstage and people are stopping me, my coworkers are stopping me and telling me how awesome how awesome this outfit is, I did my job. I’m just always trying to get in the mind of fans, but it’s hard, and I’m learning as I go, too. People tell me on Twitter and on social media whether I did something right or wrong. Thank god that was correct [laughs].”
– During an interview on the Developmentally Speaking podcast, WWE producer TJ Wilson, formerly known as Tyson Kidd, spoke about being inspired by Chris Bey.
“A Chris Bey, for example. I’ve been in contact with him this whole time, DMing him,” Wilson said. “I’ve told him this whole time, ‘You’re gonna make a full recovery,’ and I truly believe that. Some of it’s from experience, but I was never truly in the same situation he was in. I was in a different version, but a similar one. So I tell him, some days are gonna be really hard, and these are going to just sound like words, but just know you can’t give up. The second you give up, it’s over. It’s absolutely over, in anything. If you keep going, you don’t know what’s on that other side. You don’t know. Chris Bey, I tell him…I was at my ring, he sent me a video of him standing up by himself. I was emotional. I was like, ‘Man, you inspire the hell out of me, man.’ Like I said, I’ve been in this business for 30 years, I’ve seen a lot. I’m inspired all the time by people, and I’ve never even met Chris Bey. I’ve never physically met this man yet. Mine and Nattie’s ultimate plan is to bring him to the dungeon. We really want to do that when the time’s right. But look at his progress. It’s because he just keeps pushing. He doesn’t give up. In that situation, put myself in a similar situation to him, you can’t give up. The worst feeling, getting hurt was brutal, and the paralysis was the scariest thing ever, but fast-forward a few weeks, when I had the surgery, when I woke up from the surgery was the worst, outside the paralysis, waking up from the surgery was the worst I felt because they had to cut through my head, so now my head was throbbing, on top of my neck. It was awful. I remember waking up and being like, ‘I wish I didn’t get this surgery.’ Then it was a process, and I couldn’t give up. I don’t know. That’s always my thing. Once we give up on whatever it is, it’s over. Again, that may not be a terrible thing sometimes. Sometimes, it’s a part of life. But it will be definite that it’s over.”
(H/T to Fightful.com for transcribing the above quotes.)
