Lana Talks About Whether She Prefers Being a Heel or Face More

In an interview with Gerry Strauss for the 411 Wrestling Interviews Podcast, WWE star Lana talked about how much more fun she has being a heel instead of a babyface, explaining that she loves to turn a crowd against her, and she loves to

“I do think I have more fun being a villain,” Lana said. “I think, as an in-ring competitor, when you’re getting into the specific terminology of wrestling, I know I sell well, I know can get sympathy from the crowd, but it’s just so much more fun being a villain. I mean, common, let’s think about it. Do we want to count our blessings or do we want to complain? When do people bond more? Like I was at the locker room, the locker room always bonds a little bit more when we’re being salty and complaining versus like ‘Oh, hashtag blessed’. Now don’t get me wrong, I count my blessings. And I start my morning counting my blessings, and I am extremely, extremely, extremely grateful for all the things I get to do in my life. So, CJ Perry is saying, ‘No, you should be grateful, you should count your blessings.’ The Ravishing Russian Lana says, ‘No, let’s all be salty together.’ She brings the Russian side out. Once again, that’s where it goes when you act, you go, is it a version of the truth? The version of the truth is, the reality is, if you think about it, if you stop and think, people bond a little bit more over complaining than they do over, ya know, and that’s why Twitter bonds, because they’re always complaining. So that’s why, I take that version of the truth and I run with it. I’m like, OK, I’m going to be salty. I love being a bad guy.”

She went on to explain the challenges of being a babyface.

“The good guys, when you’re undeniably popular, like Becky Lynch right now, or John Cena, you don’t, you don’t have to beg for it, you’re undeniably popular. You can go out there and do anything and get cheered. When you’re lukewarm, when you’re, OK, you’re a popular good guy but not undeniably, it’s a little bit harder to provoke for that. You can, you can definitely get it, and you can definitely make the match right, and tell the right story, and tell a simple good vs. evil story in a match or in a promo and definitely get that reaction. But for me, as the bad guy, I know I can go out there and I can turn the crowd. I know I can get a cheer when I come out and I know I can turn that crowd. Hand me the microphone and give me 20 seconds and the whole place will be booing me, booing me out of the building, the loudest boos, and I know that because I do it at live events.”

She added that it is just so much fun to play the bad guy, and so gratifying to see the crowd reaction when she finally gets her butt kicked by the good guy.

“If you can cheat, why not cheat?” she said. “Of course I want to cheat if I’m a bad guy. I love cheating! Why wouldn’t I try to cheat to win? So much more fun. So yes, my answer would be, I enjoy being a bad guy. I enjoy stirring the pot. When I come out there and I’m stirring the pot, stirring the pot on Twitter, stirring the pot on the microphone, stirring the pot in wrestling, in the ring, I love it! I literally, I find it, it gives me so much joy to my heart. Then the good guys always win, and the good guys kick my butt, and seeing that gratification of all the people so excited to see the good guy kick my butt, I’m like, ‘Oh, I had a part of getting that good guy this reaction, because I did my part so well.’

In the full interview, Lana talks about how long she expects to stay with WWE, what her favorite WWE match of all-time is, if she prefers working as a heel or babyface, the evolution of her ‘salty’ character, if she likes being underestimated in the ring, on how hard it was to maintain her Russian accent and why WWE had her drop it, and MUCH more! Check out the full interview, which runs at over an hour, below.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit the 411 Wrestling Interview Podcast on 411mania.com.

Introduction (0:00)
On what she’s been up to since WrestleMania and going to Coachella (1:17)
On how her experience at WrestleMania this year compared to past years (4:40)
On if she likes being underestimated in the ring (10:28)
On her “salty” hashtag and what it means (12:03)
On using real-life frustrations as fuel for her character motivations (16:43)
On if she prefers being a heel or a babyface (19:33)
On her new comic book project Dark Country with Jason Starr (25:26)
On her time growing up in Europe and if she misses it (30:21)
On how long she expects to stay with WWE (36:35)
On how hard it was to maintain her Russian accent and why it was faded out (40:13)
On her experience training before getting in the ring (45:15)
On the separation between her personal and professional life (52:24)
On if she feels the urge to put her life out more following Total Divas (53:50)
On what her favorite WWE match of all-time is, and her favorite match of her own (56:05)
On her experience working on the Pitch Perfect films (1:02:39)
On when Rusev Day was born (1:03:50)
On if she’s still training in the ring and wants to continue working in the ring (1:06:25)

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