Posted on 3/20/126 by Colin Vassallo
Candice Michelle sat down with Chris Van Vliet in Austin,
Texas to discuss her journey to WWE via the Diva Search and
becoming the first Diva Search contestant to win the Women’s
Championship, her match with Beth Phoenix that had a
terrifying ending, life after wrestling, what her current
role is in TNA, Melina having real heat with her, the story
behind her magic wand and more!
I had seen the word online that you were working with TNA.
“Yeah, Tommy Dreamer called me and he offered me a spot as
an agent.”
So did that just start this year?
“It did. It started in January, which was my first show, and
he was so funny. He’s like, come and shadow me the first
weekend, and the next weekend you’ll be an agent. All I can
think about is that it’s wrestling, you know, we’re gonna
see if you’re going to survive or not, and if you can do it
or not and throw them to the wolves. I was like, Okay, let’s
go.”
So is this just a backstage role, or are we going to see
Candice Michelle making an appearance on TV?
“I think that this initial call was my hope spot, and I
think it’s going to lead into my comeback.”
Are you open to wrestling another match?
“I was at WrestleCon, and I was doing an appearance, my
promoter had Dustin [Rhodes] on, and somebody said, ‘Go up
to him and tell him how you want to wrestle again.’ I’m just
listening to this voice, like, really? Maybe it’s because
I’m at WrestleCon, you know, you see all the wrestlers, you
kind of get the itch, you’re kind of in it a little bit. I
was going to the Hall of Fame that year to watch Michelle
[McCool] be inducted. I go over to him, I was like, ‘Hey, I
know you have a school in Texas, and I think I have the
itch.’ He’s like, what? I don’t know if she really does.
Then to come to December and get this call from Tommy
Dreamer, I was like, I just feel it coming. I don’t know
when it’s coming, but it’s coming.”
So this match with Beth Phoenix. What happens?
“Well, we were overseas, and we were putting together this
match, and this is when Arn Anderson and Ricky Steamboat
started to really train me. So you see how really towards
the end of my wrestling career is when I really felt like I
was getting the knowledge. It was the first time I
understood that there’s a philosophy to the match. I
literally had no idea. I was never taught it or anything.
There was something in me and Beth that resonated with Ricky
and Arn Anderson, and they really stepped up to the plate,
and they said, This is how you got to start working this.
The fans were really getting behind us, and overseas, we’re
having these great matches, and we had this move where it
was supposed to be, you know how you open your legs on the
top rope and fall in. I guess I’m not that flexible. I think
about it to this day. I just saw somebody on TNA do this
move, and I was like, yeah, that’s not for me. So I was
like, I’ll do my knees instead. That’s a little less
flexible. And overseas, I did it one time, and I came back,
and all the boys were worried because I landed on my neck. I
didn’t feel it. It didn’t phase me. I was not injured. I
wasn’t hurt, and so I didn’t really think much of it. But
we’re on like a 7 to 10 day tour over there, not much sleep.
We fly back to Nebraska. We’re going to kind of do this
match again, and my boot catches that rope, and I wasn’t
allocated that little extra space, and I landed on my head.”
Did you get knocked out?
“I was knocked out. I don’t remember it. The first thing I
remember is being on the stretcher, and Stephanie McMahon
was leaning over me, and they’re going into Gorilla, and she
goes, ‘Don’t worry, we’re flying your husband out.’ I was
like, they don’t fly your husband out [unless it’s serious].
So instantly, I was worried. I had a concussion and I broke
my collarbone. It came at a time where we weren’t really
educated with that kind of injury, and so being dragged to
the center of the ring after that happened, if that was my
neck, it would have paralyzed me.”