[MEDIA] Miami Herald 8.4.08 More than just looks
Evad Seltzer
More than just looks
Mon, Aug. 04, 2008
BY JIM VARSALLONE
jvars...@MiamiHerald.com
If two heads are better than one, what about two beautiful heads?
Angelina Love and Velvet Sky got the look, no doubt, but they offer so
much more -- combining athleticism, wrestling skill, smarts and
creativity for a very successful tandem in TNA.
Collectively known as The Beautiful People, Love and Sky help lead a
very talented women's division, the TNA Knockouts, proving quality
women's wrestling matches can draw fans and ratings at a sound level.
''The women's division in TNA definitely sets us apart from any other
form of women's wrestling because we offer something called variety,''
Sky said. ``None of us looks exactly the same. There's blonde hair,
dark hair, red hair, no hair.
``It sets us apart because we all look different. We all dress
different. We all wrestle different, and we don't offer fluff-n-nutter
that you see elsewhere. We're hard hitting.
``What else?''
Love: ``Basically, when TNA started the women's division, I don't
think anybody expected it to become what it has. It's become one of
the biggest parts of not only the show but the company.
``Every girl has something different to offer. We all have wrestling
experience. We all wrestle differently, different styles. We're not
models who don't know anything or don't know how to do anything. We
all have experience and backgrounds in wrestling, and we really take
women's wrestling to a different level.''
The Beautiful People took it to a new level, working well together in
the ring, on promos and during interviews. They improve, and the TNA
women's division is improving, attracting more fans.
''I think it's starting to gain respect, again,'' Love said.
Sky: ``Because of us.''
Love: 'There's some aspects where it's like, `This sucks,' because
it's all models, and this is brutal, brutal, brutal, but then you can
watch us and be like, 'Oh my God. Those girls actually know how to
wrestle.' It's crazy.''
How can the TNA Knockouts division better itself?
''Just keep working hard and keep doing what we're doing,'' Sky said.
``As long as we keep doing what we're doing and improving and
training,''
Love: ``As long as the girls don't give up and everybody tries their
hardest and just progresses and learns and works as hard as possible,
it can only get better.''
Sky laughed, ``As long as everybody stays off the runway.''
Can you rid the profession of egos?
Love: ``That's impossible.''
Sky: ``There are egos in wrestling. You just have to keep them in
check.''
Love: ``Egos do not go away, but you have to learn when to bite your
tongue. We all work for one company, and we all put on a show. There
has to be boundaries. You have to be smart. You have to have a good
business sense. You have to know when to say something and when to
shut up.''
Sky: ``Yeah.''
Ratings have been very good for women's matches in TNA. Thus, TNA
iMPACT! (9 p.m. EST Thursdays, Spike TV) recently featured The
Beautiful People against TNA women's champ Taylor Wilde and Gail Kim
in the main event.
Love: ``You would never see that, the women be the main event, but the
ratings speak for themselves.
``The guys in TNA work their butts off. There's no doubt about it, but
in the history of wrestling, nobody has ever looked at the women,''
Sky: ``Just because it's such a male dominated business.''
Love: 'Nobody has ever looked at the women as actual `competition' for
the men. It's just always been like, 'Oh, the girls' match.'''
Sky: ``Until now. The ratings speak for themselves.''
Love: ``The people really, really, really want to see the girls now
because we're entertaining, and we know what we're doing, and we're
all different. There's no turning back what we've done here.''
Sky: ``We've definitely made history here, and we'll continue to make
history here.''
Can women's wrestling compare to the men?
Love: ``It already has.''
Sky: 'It already has. Before the Knockouts division, I would say,
`No,' because look what the prime focus of the competition of women's
wrestling was. It was bra and panties matches. It was lingerie.
Swimming pools, Jell-O matches, pillow fights. That will not compare
to any form of men's wrestling.
``Now with the Knockouts, we're getting the highest-rated segments on
the show. We wrestle, and people want to see us. They're demanding to
see us. They're actually tuning in to see us.''
Born in New Britain, Conn., Sky, 27, was trained by former ECW star
Jason The Sexiest Man Alive. She debuted in 2003 working the indies.
Sky (Jamie Szantyr) also competed as Talia Madison, Miss Talia, Talia
Doll and Talia. She wrestled for Women's Extreme Wrestling. She
appeared on WWE television for a couple of segments in 2005 and 2006.
She tried out for the WWE Diva Search contest in 2007 but did not make
the final eight.
''I met Terry Taylor [TNA's director of talent relations] at a
wrestling convention in August 2007 in Charlotte,'' Sky said. ``He got
my contact information and told me they were going to be starting a
women's division, and they were interested in possibly bringing me in.
We kept in touch via e-mail and on the phone.''
Sky joined TNA in late 2007 during the company's formation of the
women's division. She debuted at TNA's Bound for Glory pay-per-view
during the Knockout Gauntlet Battle Royal for the new TNA Knockout
women's title.
''Bound for Glory came along [October 2007], and they liked us,'' she
said. ``I guess we impressed them enough to sign us all.''
Sky teamed with Love in December at TNA's Turning Point pay-per-view,
the turning point for women's wrestling. Known as Velvet Love
Entertainment, they later turned bad, becoming The Beautiful People.
''This was our idea as far as the tag team goes,'' Sky said, ``and we
pitched the idea to the company.''
Love: ``We wanted to do something different, too, because you don't
ever see like two girls that are together all the time. It's always
something that's put together for a month or two or a couple of weeks,
and then it breaks off into nothing, but we've been doing this
together since November constantly.
``So we wanted to do something that is different, and it's also given
the company a lot of ideas of different things to do with us.''
Sky: ``And the other girls, too. We're really happy.''
A Toronto native, Love, 26, was trained by Rob Fuego in Toronto. He
also trained TNA Knockouts Traci Brooks, Gail Kim and Taylor Wilde.
Love debuted in 2000 in Canada as a valet for TNA stars Chris Sabin
and Eric Young.
Love (Lauren Williams) also competed as Canadian Angel and Angel
Williams. She was signed by WWE under a developmental contract in late
2004 and assigned to Deep South Wrestling, the feeder group to WWE in
Georgia under the direction of the Masked Assassin Jody Hamilton.
After WWE severed ties with Deep South, she briefly went to Ohio
Valley Wrestling, WWE's other feeder group in Louisville, before being
released.
Love worked a short stint in 2004 for TNA and joined the company full-
time in late 2007. Prior, she wrestled for AAA in Mexico.
''I started working for TNA in 2004 when they were doing their shows
in Nashville,'' Love said. ``I only worked a couple of shows with
them, and then I had a tryout with the competition, WWE. I was with
them from January 2005 until May 2007.
``I went back home for a couple of months after I stopped working for
WWE, and then I got a phone call from [TNA agent] Scott D'Amore and
Terry Taylor. They were telling me about Bound for Glory, and they
wanted to bring in more girl wrestlers and start up this Knockout
division.''
The Beautiful People are superficial prima donna divas who loathe and
insult anyone they consider physically unattractive. The pair place
brown paper bags over their opponents' heads and harass backstage
interviewers. They play their roles very well.
''We came up with this whole thing of doing something together,'' Love
said, ``kind of doing like a Paris Hilton, Nicole Ritchie thing.''
Sky: ``But better.''
Love: ``Like the pretty girl, mean girl, fashiony stuff.''
Sky: ``The high school cheerleader.''
Both: ``Mean girl, get out of our face.''
There was some history between Love and Sky prior to their beautiful
formation.
Love: ``We met each other a couple of times, previously.''
Sky: ``Then right before we both signed with TNA, we did that indie
show in Canada where we wrestled each other.''
Love: ``Yeah, in Winnipeg, Manitoba.''
Sky: ``Actually, before we were a tag team in TNA, we had a three-way
match in TNA with me versus Angelina versus ODB. We kind of got our
hands on each other.''
The Beautiful People are the uncrowned TNA Knockouts tag team champs.
TNA does not have tag team belts for women, yet.
Sky: ``We would love that.
Love: ``We hear that almost everyday from fans who send us messages.
They're like, `There should be women's tag team titles. You two should
be the champs.'''
Sky: 'They say, `You should be the first.' We're the only actual
established tag team in the history of women's tag teams in TNA. It
would only be right, if the titles came to us first, The Beautiful
People.''
Love: ``Holler.''
Sky: ``Holler.''
Goals for The Beautiful People
Love: ``Just keep doing what we're doing.''
Sky: ``Keep doing what we're doing, get better, working hard.''
Love: ``See what level we can take this to. Just get bigger and
bigger. We'll never stop reaching for the top.''
Sky: ``Keep doing this as along as our bodies allow us to do it.''
• A wrestling fan since she was 7, Love competed in volleyball,
softball and track & field (a lot of running) in high school. She was
also a figure skater.
She said: ``For some reason, wrestling was what took over my world.''
• A longtime fan of wrestling, Sky competed in softball, cheerleading,
track and cross country in high school.
''After high school, I still wanted to stay involved athletically,''
she said. ``There was a wrestling school in my hometown. I didn't have
to travel far to want to fulfill my dream of being a wrestler. I
joined the school, and here I am.''
• Justin Credible, Mercedes Martinez, Velvet Sky and the Brass City
Waterbury, Connecticut.
• Alternative metal rocker Marilyn Manson wrote and sang The Beautiful
People which WWE SmackDown! used as its theme music from 2001-03.
• Contemporary Christian pop rock trio Chasen has a new hit song Crazy
Beautiful. Visit youtube.com/watch?v=mEsiqejmrfA.
• TNA is 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 14 at the Germain Arena in Estero,
Fla.
Appearing will be TNA champ Samoa Joe, Booker T, Christian Cage,
Robert Roode, TNA tag team champs The Latin American Xchange,
Jacqueline, James Storm, TNA X-Division champ Petey Williams, Kaz, Jay
Lethal, The Rock N Rave Infection, Awesome Kong, Roxxi, Sonjay Dutt,
Shark Boy and more.
Tickets are on sale at the Germain Arena Box Office, TicketMaster
locations, TicketMaster online or call 239-334-3309.
• TNA star A.J. Styles, one of the best pro wrestlers going today,
will help Rock the Universe on Saturday, Sept. 5 and Sunday, Sept. 6
at Universal Studios Orlando.
Styles will appear both days to give his amazing testimony during the
annual Christian rock music extravaganza.
If there's a seductive quality to being a young superstar -- the
flashing lights, the soldout arenas and the worldwide television
audience -- none of it has tempted Styles. Hear how he's remained
grounded in a business that is anything but.
Head, formerly of the popular metal group Korn, will also give his
testimony on Sept. 6. In February 2005, more than 10,000 people
watched as the heavy metal guitarist and founding member of Korn gave
his life to Christ. He will discuss how he found God, quit the band,
kicked drugs and lived to tell his story.
The event will feature top Christian music artists including
Switchfoot, Reliant K, Jars of Clay, Newsboys, Grits, Skillet, Third
Day, Stellar Kart, Jeremy Camp, New Method, Group 1 Crew, Leeland,
This Beautiful Republic and Special D.
Join thousands for a pulse-pounding weekend of soul-stirring music and
action-packed rides, geared toward teens, kids and young adults at the
No. 1 movie and TV based theme park in the world. The weekend
concludes with an inspirational Sunday worship service.