Denise Salcedo On Being Part of NXT Deadline Pre-Show, If She Was Told What To Say

Denise Salcedo was part of the kickoff show for NXT Deadline, and she recently discussed the experience. Salcedo spoke with Wrestling Inc for a new interview and you can see a couple of highlights below:

On how her appearance on the pre-show happened: “Yeah, so this was nuts for me, because you mentioned it’s an official debut, because I had done other appearances before. This was I think my fifth appearance, but the first one that was in person, there in real life, getting to soak in the moment and actually be, not just a minute or two minutes on the kickoff, but the entire thing. So it really was this big deal for me because I’m thinking, ‘Oh my god, I finally get to show people what I’ve been wanting to show people for the longest time’ …

“I’m going to say maybe a month ago. I was actually here in my office where I am right now, and I get a call, and it’s basically like, ‘Hey Denise, we were thinking about bringing you on for the kickoff show. They just had David LaGreca on the show prior, and we were thinking that maybe you would fit in and do the exact same thing, come on and do the kickoff show and obviously plug your stuff and just talk about the product. You obviously watch every single week.’ Which I do, and so that’s pretty much how that came about. And then I had to figure out some things on my end, and the next thing you know I’m like, ‘Okay, let’s do this, I’m on board.’ And that’s pretty much how this thing came about. Obviously they had already seen me do previous watch-alongs and other little pre-show appearances, but for the first time in person, this one was it.”

On whether she was given any direction for the pre-show: “They had told me on the phone ahead of time … ‘We’re not going to script you or tell you what to do … Just go out there and be yourself.’ And when I got there I was just basically asked, ‘What are your predictions? And just let us know ahead of time so that we get these graphics up.’ And so I told them, ‘Okay, these are my predictions.’ And then McKenzie and Sam Roberts, who I do want to shout out just a bit, because they were so helpful. Oh my god, they made it so easy for me to understand, ‘This is what we do on the pre-show and this is the flow of the show.’

“And so we ran through it a couple of times, but not once did anyone say, ‘Oh you have to say this,’ or no one said, ‘You have to pick this person.’ It was just, you say what you want to say … They were like, ‘Just be you, who you are on your post-shows.’ And I’m thinking to myself, ‘Oh my god, I don’t want to be exactly the way I am on my post-shows … Who is me? Who is myself?’ … I had some mental notes inside of my head where I’m thinking, ‘Okay, don’t mess up your words, get your points across, make sure you say what you want to say about your predictions that you’re making.’ And the other thing that I kept telling myself was, ‘Look alive. Make sure people know you’re excited to be there and that you have energy, react to what Sam and McKenzie are saying.'”