Salina de la Renta On How Total Divas Got Her Into Wrestling, Not Being Into It Growing Up

– Speaking with Jeffrey Harris for the 411 Wrestling Interviews podcast, MLW’s Salina de la Renta discussed how Total Divas helped her get into wrestling. De la Renta revealed that she was not looking to get into wrestling and wasn’t even really familiar with it until she moved to Florida for film school, and an assignment brought Total Divas to her attention which hooked her.

Highlights from the discussion are below:

On learning about wrestling through Total Divas: “So my story with wrestling is a little bit different. I didn’t know wrestling until I was, 19 I would say. And I moved to Florida because I wanted to study film. And I hadn’t met wrestling at all. I remember watching some WWE stuff, and it was the Boogeyman eating worms. That was my first memory of wrestling. Then there’s really not anything else I remember; I remember knowing about John Cena, I knew about the Undertaker. But everybody else to me was non-existent. Then, when I moved to Florida, one of my assignments in college was to study reality TV, and I came across the show Total Divas. And that is how I came to know about wrestling.”

On getting hooked on the idea of wrestling after that: “And after watching the show, it just wouldn’t get out of my mind. I was like, ‘Man, I feel like a wrestler, I look like a wrestler. I am a wrestler!’ And I had no wrestling experience. I kept going back to the mirror and saying, ‘What if I had, like, really big guns? And what if I just shoved somebody against the wall?’ And I always had these thoughts, and I’m like, ‘This isn’t normal.’ Because I used to just daydream about being in movies. And when I met wrestling, I just couldn’t stop thinking about it. I told my mom, ‘Hey, do you think I look like a model’ — because that’s what I was doing at the time — ‘Or like a wrestler?’ And my mom’s like, ‘Eh, I mean you’ve been modelling, but I can see why you think that you look like a wrestler.’ And that was enough for me. I’m like, ‘All right, that’s it! I need to be a wrestler.'”

On her first steps into the business: “I went on the WWE website, and they have a tab that says ‘How to become a professional wrestler.’ And it said to start on the indies. And I looked for a school, I [found] Pro Wrestling 2.0. And that was it for me. I started wrestling, and I fell in love with it.”

In the full interview, Salina de la Renta talks about the growth of MLW, working behind the scenes in the company as an executive producer, the development of her on-screen character, how she got inspired to get into the business, MLW’s working relationship with Pro Wrestling NOAH, whether she’s looking to get in the ring and more.

And if you’re enjoying all of our recent interviews with names like Ken Shamrock, Brian Pillman Jr., Lana, Billy Gunn, and Eli Drake and want to support us getting more interviews with big names in wrestling, please leave us a 5 star review on Apple Podcasts, it only takes a few seconds to do and really helps us out!

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit the 411 Wrestling Interview Podcast on 411mania.com and please embed our podcast player or YouTube video.

Introduction (0:00)
On the inspiration for her on-screen persona in MLW (0:46)
On her where her promo style comes from (2:15)
On where she started her wrestling training and wanting to get into the business after seeing Total Divas (4:03)
On her experience in MLW thus far (6:36)
On progressing as an on-screen character to working as an executive producer for the company (7:47)
On MLW’s working relationship with Pro Wrestling NOAH and what NOAH talent she may want to work with (10:01)
On if she’s interested in getting into the ring for MLW and the status of her knee injury (11:15)
On working with Pentagon Jr. (12:15)
On professional wrestling as a form of performance art and utilizing her acting background in her character (13:03)
On the rise of women’s wrestling and the being grateful for the women’s revolution (16:54)
On MLW’s growth and Court Bauer’s vision for the company (18:24)
Where to find her (20:45)

You can subscribe and listen to the 411 Wrestling Interviews Podcast via the above player on Transistor, or on the following platforms:

* Apple Podcasts
* Spotify
* Stitcher
* Google Play