One of All Elite Wrestling’s fastest rising stars in Red Velvet recently appeared as a guest on AEW’s Unrestricted podcast, where she talked about topics such as how she came up with her in-ring name, on being focused on her big Tag Team Match teaming up with Cody to face Jade Cargill and NBA legend Shaq on the March 3rd episode of Dynamite and on trying out for WWE Tough Enough back in 2015.
Below are the highlights:
On how she came up with her in-ring name:
“In college, I had my first life changing relationship. It put my life upside down and changed my life. It changed me as a person forever, so I went through this stage where I dyed my hair super red. I said I’m getting rid of everything in the past. I’m a new person. I had this red hair and my friends would say that was my alter ego. They were like, when Velvet switched modes, she’s like Red Violet.”
“A show came up asking for wrestlers and anyone can do it. I had to cut a promo. I went to my friend’s house and I was like, ok, I’m going to cut a promo. I’m going to be a wrestler. He said, ‘What is your wrestling name’, and he was a huge wrestling fan. I said, ‘Red Violet.’ He said, ‘Ew, That’s not good.’ I said, ‘I have nothing. That’s like my alter ego.’ He said, ‘You’re small, petite, spicy, you’re very elegant in the way you do things. Your hair is super red. Your skin is beautiful chocolate. You remind me of a red velvet cake.’”
“I said, ‘Ok, let’s wing it. Let’s use it.’ In the beginning, it was more of a comparison of what he said I was. I started putting some thought into it and as a person and my alter ego, how am I? It kind of all flowed. My sassiness and my sweetness because I am a really sweet person, but when you piss me off, I’ll give you cavities. Then the velvet, because I used to dance, so just like the way I started to move in the ring was very fluid and very elegant. Then it started taking off.”
“My personal trainer for seniors was making jokes about it and asked ‘Where are you going to come from?’ I’m like, ‘I don’t know, Florida, where I’m from.’ He’s like ‘How about straight out of your momma’s kitchen?, because that’s when Straight Outta Compton, the movie, came out and everybody was saying, ‘Straight outta this and straight outta that.’ He said, ‘How about straight outta your momma’s kitchen?’ I liked it and it took off and then now that is my whole persona, the kitchen, like, the oven is on. I’m going to stir it up.’”
On being focused on her big Tag Team Match teaming up with Cody to face Jade Cargill and NBA legend Shaq on the March 3rd episode of Dynamite:
“Well, of course in-ring training just to keep my cardio going and stuff like that. Mentally, I’m trying to get myself ready because it was a big thing to not let myself get caught up in how big this match is gonna be or who’s in the match or how much attention the match is gonna get. So, I’m trying to mentally disconnect from all of that and just focus on the task at hand.”
On trying out for WWE Tough Enough back in 2015:
“I stepped away from wrestling before that because I was training to become a professional dancer. So, dance took over my life, and I had stopped watching wrestling. Then I flipped the channel, and you have Triple H making the announcement that they are doing Tough Enough.
Anybody can do it, you don’t have to be a professional wrestler, you just have to show that you’re tough enough. So, I went on and did the YouTube video, and it took off. They showed it twice on SmackDown. I remember somebody woke me up to the video footage of my video. And then I had a follow-up Skype interview with a producer.
So, I had made it through round one, and then she asked me to send over some professional photos. At the time, I didn’t have any professional photos. I had like selfies. I had selfie-type, which were horrible. So, I didn’t make it on the show, but I think I’m a big believer of everything happens for a reason.
That was I think the bullet point that stuck for me to start wrestling. Then after, it just took off, and people were like ‘Why don’t you do it? You should do it.’ I said, ‘Yeah, you know, you’re right.’ So, I started looking up schools. I didn’t even know wrestling schools existed. I had never thought about how people became wrestlers.
When you see these celebrities, it almost feels like something that is so far that you don’t even know how to get there. Yeah, it’s unobtainable…..I think not making it on the show was the best thing that happened because it opened up my eyes to how much potential I had to become a wrestler. And then I joined the school and started wrestling.”
You can check out Red Velvet’s comments in the embedded audio player below:
