Lana Discusses The Development of Her ‘Salty’ Character, Using Social Media To Get Heat

In an interview with Gerry Strauss for the 411 Wrestling Interviews Podcast, WWE star Lana talked about her “salty” hashtag, what it means, and where she got the inspiration for it from, as well as using social media to get heat.

“Well, I strongly believe in grabbing the brass ring from social media, from Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, all your social platforms where we basically have freedom of speech. In the United States of America and a lot of parts of the world, we have this great thing, we have this thing called freedom of speech and we’re able to voice our freedom of speech on social media. And when I turned, Rusev and I, became villains again, aka heels, or whatever we’re referring to it here on this podcast. I was aware of this for about two weeks, or at least a week beforehand, and going into the Royal Rumble, I knew what was going to be the whole outcome of the whole situation, and my whole idea was, was to be so broken that, so broken that I, when Becky Lynch took my opportunity when I got hurt, and still trying to push through, and making it very, very vulnerable, and making it very, if you watch the [WWE.com video] that I did, I broke down crying saying I’m tired of people taking opportunities away from me. And I think that’s very relatable, a lot of people can relate to that, getting so close to something and then it being taken away from them, or feeling like they’re not given the opportunities they should be given. And so, I wanted to show that vulnerability and the heartbreak, because then what happens in life, there’s different types of people, from heartbreak, sometimes people choose to do the right thing, and they’re going to choose to forgive, and be grateful, and do the right thing, or sometimes from heartbreak and disappointment, our heart becomes ice cold, and our heart, we become bitter, and we become salty, and we become angry at the world, and that is what I chose to do, that was my character’s development. It was like, OK, instead of forgiving, I became bitter, I became salty. Salty AF. Salty at everything. Salty that my life was hurt. Salty that Becky took my opportunity. I mean, I was going to win the whole entire Royal Rumble main event. Maybe I was planning on staying underneath the ring the whole entire time and then hitting Charlotte or whoever was last with a chair. I have a plan. I mean I have a frickin’ amazing plan. So yes, I’m salty. And imagine having a best friend like Naomi, and always have her back, and you’re teaming with her every week, and then I can’t compete because of my leg, of course I’m salty.”

Lana went into the challenges of developing a character and getting heat when you aren’t given a lot of TV time, and how she used social media to fill the gap.

“I sort of used that on Twitter and YouTube and these places because on Smackdown Live there’s, it’s only a two hour show and sometimes we’re not given mic time because there is a lot of talent, and you can only do so much on a two hour show, so I started expressing these things on Twitter and YouTube and social media, and I was getting a lot of heat from it,” she said. “People were getting really angry, and I just cracked up, because I’m like, you guys are just biting on my bait, so easy. God I love being a villain, it’s so much fun. Then, I made a salty video that, rumor has it that Ronda Rousey took my spot on Total Divas, of course I’m salty, I mean she’s not a reality star, she’s an MMA, WWE star. Of course WWE stars, we can be reality stars. So all of this was like, a version of Lana the Ravishing Russian character becoming very, very bitter and salty, and I was just using character development on my social media, I was like, ‘how can I get heat, I want to get booed,’ and it worked, and people were just biting on the bait. And it’s really, for my own entertainment, a lot of times, just being like, ‘Wow, this is so much fun.’ I love being a villain, it’s so much fun.”

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, her “salty” hashtag, if she likes being underestimated in the ring, on how hard it was to maintain her Russian accent, 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 (48:15)
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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