By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
“Andrew Thompson Interviews” with guest Kamille
Host: Andrew Thompson
Full interview available at YouTube.com and PostWrestling.com
Kamille on her year-long reign as NWA World Women’s Champion: “It’s meant a lot [one-year reign as NWA World Women’s Champion]. I feel like I’ve come into my own this past year, a little over a year and really kind of shown everybody what I’m made of because when I first won the title, I had only had a few matches with the NWA at that point so, ever since then, I’ve really grown as a performer, as a wrestler, as a talker, just everything so it’s been an incredible year.”
Kamille on NWA EmPowerrr: “So I do think that it would be something nice to do a once a year type of thing, an EmPowerrr event just because it was such a great turnout last year. I performed both nights and I actually enjoyed the crowd on the first night more. I thought they were even more into it. So, it is something I would like to see but, Mickie James, it was basically her event, she was a huge part of it and I know now that she’s back in kind of the swing of things and she has a lot going on so I mean, that plays a part in it to it not happening this year… because it was her baby, you know what I mean? So, it’s something I would definitely love to see in the future for sure.”
Kamille feels that although she has been champion for a year, she’s not in those conversations about the top women’s champions in wrestling: “I’m not ever in the talks, even though I’m the longest reigning champion right now there is, with the Deonna Purrazzos, Thunder Rosa, Taya [Valkyrie], even though I’ve literally beat all those people and so it’s like is that because I came onto the scene as just a manager? I don’t know. So that’s also an interesting thing to kind of think about and people need to realize, okay, I am a wrestler now and a very legit one at that.”
On once showing up to the WWE PC and asking for an opportunity: “Luckily, I had no idea about wrestling etiquette, any of the unspoken rules because I don’t have anyone in my family who’s in this business. Like it’s a completely new venture for me, so I knew nothing about it. So when I moved down to Florida to train at Team 3D, I didn’t realize that I wouldn’t have time to have a normal job because I had always had a very regular job up until that point. So, one day when I first moved there, I got my resumes together and I was all dressed up, looking nice for interviews and stuff because I’m old school. I like to go in person and drop off my resume and meet whoever is most in charge and while I was doing that, I was like, you know what?
“I know the Performance Center is down here somewhere and at that point, you could not find the address to the Performance Center so, you know, I’m a female so I’m a super sleuth, so I somehow figured it out and figured where it was and then I was like, I can just go there, drop off my resume and I thought that I would maybe be able to work in marketing there and then train as a wrestler at the same time, like I had no idea and so I just buzz on the buzzer and I was like, ‘Hi. I’m interested in working here and also becoming a wrestler’ and they were like, ‘Uh… one second’ and then they buzzed me in and I just talked to the manager of the building and then yeah, led to me getting a tryout but they did explain to me, they were like, ‘But you can’t work a regular job and be a wrestler.’ They were like, ‘That’s not how it works.’ I didn’t know any better.”
Kamille is hoping to stay with NWA, can see herself there in the long-term, wants to help out behind the scenes once her in-ring career is over: “So, I love working for the NWA. I love my bosses, I love my co-workers. It’s just a really great atmosphere especially when it comes to professional wrestling. The reason I quit a long time ago, even on the indies is because it can be a very toxic place and some pretty bad people involved and that’s something I just truly stand behind the NWA is that the locker room is great, the office is great and at the end of the day, I hope to stay with the NWA and right now, it’s my career and I make a good career doing it and as long as I can stay happy, healthy and make a living doing it, I’m in it for the long haul and when I’m done in-ring, I would still love to be involved in the company, helping the women’s division in any way I can. Something I take pride on is the way I put my matches together and I think that’s something that I can help a lot of girls with so that’s something I would definitely be interested in doing in the future as well.”
On the addition of the NWA Women’s TV Championship, hopes more legit tag teams are added to the Women’s Tag Title scene in NWA: “So I think it’s great that more women will get even more opportunities through that [NWA Women’s TV Title] and a little more eyes on them is something that they can hold that feels important to them, and we also have NWA USA and I think that’s a great title for that show, so I think it works out really well. You mentioned the NWA Women’s Tag Team Titles, I do wish that we could grow that division a little bit more because to me, if you’re gonna have the titles, you need to kind of have people in that division if you will. So that’s something within the next year I would like to see grow a little bit more.”
Kamille shares that Alundra Blayze helps agent the men’s matches in NWA and comments on how helpful Jazz has been in: “She [Alundra Blayze] works a lot with the guys, the guys’ matches so she hasn’t been my agent or anything but just as a person, obviously everyone knows she’s just super cool and down to earth and then Jazz, she’s like my mama bear. I talk to her about everything and Jazz is so cool, especially for everything that she’s done in this business and she already doesn’t get enough credit for it. She’s so laid back and humble and that’s just somebody that everybody can learn from and she doesn’t talk down to you. She’s just such a cool person.”
That’s a pretty awesome story about her going to the Performance Center. Glad her career is going well!