The latest guest on MCW Backstage Pass was Velvet Sky, who spoke about her decision to move to commentary after her in-ring career came to an end, something she is very much enjoying now in the NWA. Sky isn’t shy of crediting fellow commentators Joe Galli and former NWA world’s champion Tim Storm for helping her along as she gets more comfortable at the booth. Highlights can be found below.
Knowing that she wanted to stay in wrestling after retiring from in-ring competition:
I retired from in-ring action in 2016. I just had felt my time in the ring was up. As wrestlers, we have a shelf life. You just gotta know when enough is enough on your body, gotta listen to your body, and I felt pretty good in 2016, but I felt like I did all that I had set out to do. But I knew I wanted to stay involved in the industry and just kind of branch out or transition into a different role, just not in the ring. So in March 2021, totally unexpected, I get a call from the NWA, and they told me that Billy Corgan, and I worked with Billy Corgan in IMPACT, specifically requested that I come in and do commentary. I was like, ‘Wait, what?’ No [I hadn’t done commentary before], but I thought it was super cool. First of all, I was a huge and still am Smashing Pumpkins fan growing up, and I’m like, ‘Wait, Billy Corgan?’ So it wasn’t Billy that called me. It was Pat Kenney, and he’s like, ‘Yeah, Billy wanted me to call you and offer you this. We think you’d be great.
Says she’s feeling more confident at the commentary table, crediting Joe Galli and Tim Storm for their guidance:
I was so excited, but at the same time, not to doubt myself, but I’ve never done anything but wrestling. I’m confident in my ability to transition into any part of the business, but Pat was just like, ‘Don’t worry. We’re never gonna set you up to fail. Joe [Galli] and Tim [Storm] are pros, they’ll guide you right through.’”So I’ve been there now for about a year and a half. The transition was actually smoother than I had anticipated. At first, it was a little nerve-racking because I didn’t know a lot of the faces in the NWA. But there were a lot of familiar faces that I had come up with in IMPACT and on the indies. I knew their names, their move set. But there was a whole roster of new faces that now I had to learn their names, their move set, their back story. But for me, it was kind of like clockwork. Once I got in the seat, Joe and Tim, they would guide me, and I would chime in here and there. But now I feel so much more confident than I was a year and a half ago. I still have a lot to learn, obviously, but it’s like second nature with commentary, and I love it. I love that I’m able to still be involved in the wrestling industry.
How happy she is with the work she has done:
It is an acquired skill. I feel like as long as you know the move sets, you might not know somebody’s name at first, but you can call moves as you see them. So that’s kind of what I was doing at first, just chiming in with ‘Oohs’ and ‘Ahs’ and ‘oh, big suplex.’ Then after a while, it’s just second nature. So I’m really happy with my role in the NWA.
(H/T and transcribed by Fightful)
