Barbie Blank, better known to wrestling fans as Kelly Kelly, is enjoying life after WWE.
She has a calendar and posters available on her website and she’s doing some public appearances like the one she did on Dec. 2 for Northeast Wrestling at Hudson Valley Marketplace. Blank agreed to do an interview on short notice, so thanks to her and also thanks to NEW for the access.
Phil Strum: Life after WWE, how’s it going for you so far?
Barbie Blank: It’s going good. I’m just relaxing at home. It’s nice to take a break and just be able to live a normal life and being able to do whatever I want to do.
PS: How many years straight were you going at it?
BB: Almost seven.
PS: That must have been taxing.
BB: It was, but I loved what I did. I had so much fun. I got to see the world. I made such great friends. I was very blessed.
PS: What have you got going on now. I know you’ve got the calendar coming up.
BB: Yeah, I’m just kind of doing my own stuff under my real name. My calendar and my posters. Just getting stuff out that I’ve wanted to do for a long time. Getting into modeling. There’s a lot of things coming, so we’ll see what happens.
PS: Getting into wrestling for you when you got into it. Obviously, you weren’t in it previously. You were in modeling. What kind of a transition was that and when did you really start feeling comfortable?
BB: I was going to school for broadcast journalism, so when I got the call from WWE, it was kind of out of the blue, but I thought it was a wonderful opportunity. I used to watch when I was younger. I embraced it with everything I had. I gave it 120 percent. I was just so blessed. I love being able to transition from modeling into wrestling.
PS: What was the first day of wrestling school like?
BB: It was hard. A lot of the guys, in particular, who had been working their whole lives to get where they were, looked at us like ‘why do these girls get that?’ ‘why did they get this opportunity?’ It’s hard, but I got used to it. I kind of took that with a grain of salt. I proved it in the ring and proved that I wasn’t there to be just another pretty face. I wanted to wrestle.
PS: And you showed a lot of improvement over your time there.
BB: Thank you.
PS: When did you feel really comfortable with what you were doing in the ring?
BB: I’d have to say it probably took a few years. You want to master your craft before you actually get in there. I was kind of just thrown out there. I was training on the road and I was doing everything I could. You’re always learning. I’d say it took a few years, but I still got nervous before my matches. I would be having a heart attack. That never went away.
PS: Anybody, as you were growing as a wrestler, who was helpful to you more than others?
BB: Tommy Dreamer was a really great influence. He always, even when I started, Day One, in ECW, he really took me under his wing and showed me the way. What not to do and what to do. He was a great help. When I first started wrestling in ECW, he really helped us out on our matches. He was great.
PS: Any desire to get back in the ring now?
BB: You never know. Right now, I’m kind of healing my neck that was kind of a problem for a while. Just resting up and you never know.
PS: And doing stuff like this (autograph signings).
BB: Yeah. I love getting to meet the fans. Meeting all the little kids makes my job even more worth it. It was great to do this stuff and be able to reach out to them and say hi, and tell them I appreciate them.