Marti Bell Recounts Experiences With Racism in Wrestling, Talks Mae Young Classic

– Marti Belle spoke with Women’s Pro Wrestling Weekly for a new interview discussing her career goals, racism in the wrestling industry and more. Video and highlights are below:

On the new iteration of the Mae Young Classic: “I guess you are probably going to have to watch it on the Network. I cannot spoil anything. You will have to see the 32 women that are selected for this year’s Mae Young Classic.”

On what she’s been doing since the Mae Young Classic: “For the last year and a half I am based out in Kansas City, Missouri I was working mainly exclusive for a company called NWL [National Wrasslin League]. They give me permission to work for companies like SHIMMER Wrestling, and obviously when WWE came calling for the Mae Young Classic last year they were all about it and allowed me to go work for WWE doing the Mae Young Classic. It was such a crazy honor, honestly, if they wouldn’t have let me go I would have asked out of my contract anyways. It was great. The response has been amazing. I didn’t make it as far as I wanted to in the tournament but it was an amazing experience. I got to represent the Dominican Republic—not just in front of millions of people, but in a WWE ring, which was very important to me. I think anyone who saw how much that meant to me, it was just an insane experience. I have definitely been trying to keep working. Now that the company I was working for is no longer active I am back on the indie scene. Right after the company closed I was back in Shimmer the next day, so that was pretty awesome. Shimmer has always been good to me. It’s great to be able to go work at places I used to work at. I am working all over the midwest, which I never thought I would be doing being from New York. I never thought I would be wrestling in Iowa, but here I am. It is pretty awesome the doors that have been open and that I have been able to kick in because of it.”

On working with Lisa Marie Varon in World Class Pro Wrestling: “That company I have only worked for one time. World Class I was able to wrestle just one time when I faced Lisa Marie Varon [Victoria in WWE], which was amazing. It was the first time Lisa and I stepped into the ring against one another. It was the first time that I was able to talk to her. I met her in the Shimmer locker room one time when she was there, back when she had her restaurant in Chicago, IL. She had stopped by to say hello to all of the girls. I have always heard such nice things about her and then to finally be able to not only meet her, and get to talk to her and get advice from her, but also to have a match against her. It was a really fun, hard hitting match. I really enjoyed working for World Class Pro Wrestling and looking forward to seeing what is next with them.”

On encountering prejudice in the industry: “Thankfully, a lot of things have changed. Not only for people of color but women of color. I think we are starting to make our mark more and more, not only in this industry, but every industry. It is hard because if something has happened because of my race, or because of how I have looked it hasn’t been said to me. There might have been opportunities that I haven’t gotten because of that. I know that there is this one promotion that I have tried to work for in another country—I won’t mention who it is, but I have tried working for them in the past and I finally reached out to one of my friends and since I know they work for that company I asked him what the deal is because they haven’t reached back to me, and he said that they only bring in white girls with big boobs so I guess that is not happening. I don’t get offended by that, but if you are going to limit yourself to that it is what it is. Even with the hair comment, I get people who tell me that I should straighten my hair, but I tell them that I don’t want to. I have done it before, and I am not against doing it. I mean, I am not my hair; I am not my skin color, and I am not even my gender, I am who I am, so I don’t think I should gain or lose opportunities because of how I look, it should be what I bring to the table.”

On potentially working internationally: “I have been in talks with a few places in Mexico. Mexico has always been my dream ever since I was a little girl. Even before I was a wrestler, I always had dreams of living and working in Mexico. I think it just stems back to growing up and watching telenovelas. Colombia, Mexico, Venezuela, those are the hotbeds for telenovelas, so I think that has always stayed in the back of my mind. Now with wrestling, I think that it is the greatest opportunity for me. With NWL closing, I believe sky is the limit to where I can go and what I can do, so I have definitely been in talks with some people down in Mexico, so I hope that will come into play for the next several months. I haven’t spoken with anyone in Japan, nor have I reached out. I guess because my focus has always been Mexico. I would not be opposed to working in Japan, of course. I believe it would be a good challenge for me to grow as a performer, wrestler, everything so Japan is also something that is the idea for the near future.”

On how her heritage influences her persona in the ring: “It is interesting because when people ask me what my character is I just tell them that it is me. In the ring, no matter whether I am the good guy or the bad guy, I am always going to be super sassy, which has always been a part of my personality. My grandmother was always the sassiest person I had ever met in my life. She always had a comeback for something and always had something to say. I don’t think it is part of my culture, but also where I grew up in New York. I grew up with a lot of boys, and grew up playing a lot of sports, so I had to be tough and develop a thick skin, but I definitely believe it plays a little bit into who I am in the ring. I am so proud of being a New Yorker and being a Dominican, so I do think that all those things do kind of shine through—whether it is me cutting promos in Spanish, or my attitude, whatever it is. I have been told recently that I am the nicest New Yorker they’ve ever met. I thank them and tell them that my grandfather would be so proud. I am just be at the end of the day.”

On her goals in the industry: “I believe everyone’s goal is to not only make money in professional wrestling but make a living doing it. At the end of the day, we all want to say that we all live good, comfortable lives, and be able to start a family because of wrestling. I think that is really just my goal. I got so used to working full time as a wrestler, which was what I was doing when working for NWL, that is something that I want to get back to knowing that I don’t have to worry about having enough bookings. I want to be able to feel like if you are going to book me I am already booked, you would have to get in right now because I don’t know what would happen in a few months. That is my main goal—I want to be wrestling full time.”