Shelley Martinez on Her Backstage Heat With Batista in 2007

– While speaking to Wrestling Shoot Interviews, former WWE Superstar Shelley Martinez, aka Ariel, spoke on an issue she had behind-the-scenes with Batista in 2007. This led to her having backstage heat with Batista, which Ariel believes eventually led to her getting fired by John Laurinaitis. Below are some highlights and a clip of Martinez sharing the story:

Shelley Martinez on what started her issue with Batisa: “He was dating Melina at the time, and I got to know him and felt he was my friend. I liked him a lot, and they were just kind of having relationship problems and because he didn’t he come out so good in the relationship problems and she was my friend, of course, I was there for her. She was venting to me one day after a show, and then I opened the door. He was like listening in on us. And I was like, “Ugh.” So that didn’t help his situation of how I viewed him.”

Martinez on what things were like with Batista after that incident: “So, I was real short with him after that because that’s my homegirl, like, ‘Ugh. Gross.’ And so then, he started getting like annoyed like, ‘Oh! You and Melina have the same mind!’ ‘Like, no, dude. You were a dick to my girlfriend. Not cool. I’m gonna have her back.’ And so, next thing I know, I get called into Johnny Ace’s office, and there’s old Batista. And I’m thinking, ‘What the hell’s going on right now?’ Because to me, it wasn’t even that big of a deal. I wasn’t causing trouble. I was just short with him and maybe not as nice to him anymore. And so Johnny Ace is like, ‘I can’t have two talents not getting along, blah blah blah. Can you tell me what’s going on?’ So I looked at Dave, ‘Can you tell me what’s going on? Like what is the problem?’ And then he’s like, ‘It’s like you and Melina have the same mind!’ And he just on this whole thing. And he wasn’t making sense of what the problem was. And so he stormed out, and I looked at Johnny Ace, and like a little b****, I started crying, ‘I thought he was my friend!’ He [John Laurinaitis] was like, ‘Look. Just go up to him, shake his hand, we don’t have to be best friends here.’ He seemed he felt bad for me. He saw that I was upset because you know, whatever. And I would go up to Batista to shake his hand like we were supposed to, and he wouldn’t shake my hand.”

On making up with Batista: “On 11-11-11, I went to a red carpet premiere for the movie Immortals, and he was there. I went up to him, and I was like, ‘Positive vibes to you,’ and we had this conversation. I go, ‘You probably think I’m crazy.’ He goes, ‘Oh you must not know my mom then.’ We had this conversation. We took a picture together.”

On her firing from WWE: “The way I look at it now, I used to think for a long time he was responsible for my firing, but then I remembered, dude, I told off Shawn Michaels. Dude, I told off Randy Orton. Like that was the last straw, and my reasoning behind telling all three of those guys off was all for me sticking up for myself. So, I figured that’s just not the place for me if I get punished for sticking up for myself.”

If using the above quotes, please credit Wrestling Shoot Interviews, with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.