Nita Strauss Discusses How She Became a Fan of Wrestling, Women Blazing a Trail in the Industry, and Possibly Getting Into the Ring

– WrestlingInc.com and Scott Fishman recently interviewed musician and guitarist Nita Strauss, who is also a wrestling fan who has performed for WWE. Below are some highlights, courtesy of WrestlingInc.

Strauss on how she became a fan of wrestling: “I didn’t start watching wrestling until 2015. It was when I started dating my boyfriend Josh. One day in April came around he said, “Hey, I’m going to watch WrestleMania today.” From the outside looking in, I was thought wrestling was for kids. The last time I remember my friends talking about it was when we were kids. So, he showed me WrestleMania, and since we had the WWE Network, he started showing me The Monday Night War series. WrestleMania is not the best thing to start with if you have no context. Just a random WrestleMania where you have no idea who the wrestlers are or what the feuds. So, going back and watching The Monday Night War really got me hooked. Every bit of the business with WCW and WWF at the time. By the end of that series I was totally hooked.”

Nita Strauss on learning about Alice Cooper’s history with with WWE: “Not at all. Not until I started watching wrestling. Josh actually told me. He said, “You know Alice was actually in WrestleMania III?” I was like, “What? Really!” Now it’s cool because Alice and our tour manager Toby have some great stories about being there and what it was like that day.”

On when she talks to Alice Cooper about wrestling: “He doesn’t follow it these days. I think the last time he talked about wrestling was the day after WrestleMania III. The most we talked about it was when Mick Foley actually came to a show. He came to see us in New York. After were talking backstage, and I introduced him to Alice. Alice was his normal gracious self. When we went back to the tour bus, I thanked him for taking the time to be so gracious and say hi to my friend. Alice’s assistant was like, “Are you kidding? We should be thanking you. I can’t believe that was Mankind.” Alice’s eyes were so wide as he said, “Wait? That was Mankind! I know Mankind.” Mick was in his normal tie-dye shirt. His regular street attire, not how you would picture Mankind looking. He is so unassuming and charming and funny that Alice did not put two and two together at all.

Nita Strauss on the parallels between the music and wrestling industries with the women blazing new trails on the scene: “Definitely. There is a great interview on YouTube. If you haven’t seen it yet, you can look up “Nita Strauss and Becky Lynch Stay the Course.” It was supposed to be a quick 20-minute spot where we just interview each other. We talked for almost two hours. They put most of it up online. It talks about the parallels between the life of a touring female musician and the life of a touring female wrestler. The stuff we go through and the ups and downs. It’s incredible how many similarities there were between our two lives. Now as I watch the “Women’s Evolution” as a fan, it’s just incredible to see. Getting to play at the Evolution Pay-Per-View with Lzzy Hale. It was a really fun way for us to kind of pay tribute and give a salute to these incredible women who have taken the industry so far.”

Nita Strauss on possibly getting into the ring: “I thought about it, of course, but I make my living with my hands. So, it’s probably not the smartest thing to get into a contact sport. You never know though. I am pretty athletic.”