The Women’s Evolution continues to be one of the most talked-about subjects in professional wrestling today. Whatever your opinion on the subject may be, it’s certainly one that inspires debate regardless of the circumstances it’s brought up under.

Recently, Femmes Fatales Champion Alexia Nicole joined me to discuss her feelings on the origins of the Women’s Evolution and the origins of her nickname among other topics.

How the Women’s Evolution started on the independent scene:

“When I started training, part of the reason I started training was because I’d watch TV and the Diva’s matches would be five-minute pillow fight matches. I didn’t like that, personally, and then when I started training I realized wow, there’s these really great female wrestlers working everywhere. It was kind of fun to see because as I started wrestling more, you saw Shimmer becoming a bigger deal, Rise started, Shine started. All of these women’s promotions started and became huge in Japan. The Knockouts in Impact, you just saw them getting better and better. Literally everywhere started having great women’s matches and really showcasing them. I honestly feel that WWE was the last place to really do it, and when they did it, they just came out – on NXT, they were using the women, but I remember one night on RAW Stephanie McMahon came out saying ‘this is the Women’s Evolution!’ And I’m like, if you just say it, it doesn’t mean anything. Show me it, don’t just tell me it’s happening.

I want to see it. I don’t want to be forced into thinking this is going to happen.”

“I was excited for them to be brought up because I was a fan of all three of them, but to just flat-out tell me ‘we’re starting an evolution now,’ don’t tell me. I don’t want teams going after each other. I just want good matches!”

The origins of the nickname “The Bubblegum Princess”

“It was at a Smash show. I chew gum when I’m nervous, or, I used to at least. Now, it’s just I do it because I have to. I just chewed it out of habit so that I wouldn’t grind my teeth. I was at a Smash show, I was backstage, I was supposed to cut a promo. I was chewing bubblegum at that time, so I just used it in the promo because I was really bad at promos at that time.

It went over really well, I used it in my match right after that. I saw the pictures after, (and) people thought it was the coolest thing for some reason. So, I was like ‘okay, I can roll with this. This works,’ and it’s just really evolved over time into something that I’m actually really comfortable with doing.

”

Differences between working adult crowds versus kid-friendly shows:

“It’s so funny – there will be times where I’ll wrestle a really ‘adult’ show on one day, and then go to a super kid-friendly show the next day and I’ll really have to think about ‘oh god, should I wear this gear? Should I not wear this gear?’ If I’m a heel, I really have to tell myself to not swear, and I always still let one out by accident.”

“I don’t think there’s one I prefer; I just like when fans are really into the show. There’s definitely a couple of promotions that I’ve worked for that are great promotions, the locker room’s fantastic, you can have these great matches, but the fans just do not care no matter what. I hate it so much, because why would you spend your money to come to a show to not make noise?”

“I love working different types of shows, but the one thing I hate doing is working a show where nobody cares. Whether it’s because they’re not wrestling fans or they don’t get it – and that also comes with, again, adjusting your style. If they’re not wrestling fans, don’t do crazy shit. If you see they’re not biting for the hokey stuff, or they’re not biting for the crazy shit, change it up. But, there’s definitely been shows that I’ve been on where all of those things have been tried and nobody cares.”

Please credit Spencer Love/Love Wrestling with any transcriptions used.

Alicia Atout is one of, if not the premier interviewers in the professional wrestling scene today. Since founding AMBY in 2013, Atout has become a household name in both pro wrestling and music for her in-depth interviews and conversational approach to interviewing. It’s not only earned her the opportunity to interview some of wrestling’s top stars but work in a backstage capacity with Impact! Wrestling, AEW, and, currently, Major League Wrestling.

Recently, Atout joined me to discuss how she’s passing the time through the COVID-19 pandemic, binge-watching Tiger King, who inspires her, and more.

On her upcoming interviews:

“So, there have been a lot. Today (March 25), I recently, like an hour ago spoke to Session Moth Martina, I have TJP, Melina, and Kylie Rae coming on today, so that’s going to be a really stacked and fun day. Yesterday was super busy; recently I had Chelsea Green on, Francine, Danhausen, Mayra Dias Gomez, like, it was really busy. And the thing is, trying to line all these up, I don’t know why, but I had like a home run yesterday! Everybody was just like ‘this is the time I’m free, this is the time,’ and it was just flawless. I also had Chris Bey on, Killer Kelly, I did some music – I had the Black Dahlia Murder on, so like it’s just been a lot.

But, it’s kept my mind off all the craziness, so there’s that.”

Keeping busy during the COVID-19 pandemic:

“So, I’ve been playing a lot of Galaga, I’ve got two handheld games, so I’ve been playing that a ton. The last three, four days has just been research and interviews, I haven’t really done much else. Around 7:30 I’ll clock out from the interviewing, I’ll chill with my family, we’ll watch some television together.

“I binge-watched Tiger King, which is some crazy s**t! It’s the most bizarre show I’ve ever seen! It’s got to do with big cats, zoos, animal rights, polygamy, murder. It is weird, but it is really intriguing. I’ve watched the whole season, I think it was seven episodes, an hour-long each, in a day and a half.

”

Who inspires her outside of wrestling:

“A lot of that comes down to my family because if it weren’t for them pushing me and seeing a passion and kind of igniting it and keeping me on the go, I don’t know where I would be. They’ve helped me a lot, especially when I first started with the music stuff, so definitely my parents. My sister right now, she’s a nurse so seeing, especially lately with the Coronavirus going on, seeing her clock into work every single day, being one of those health professionals out there right now really helping people, that’s been super inspiring to me. It kind of makes me think if she can go in every day and see the sadness and hurt and pain and push through and still help people, not let that get to her, whatever I’m dealing with, (I) can push through too.”

Please credit Spencer Love/Love Wrestling with any transcriptions used.

Alicia Atout is one of, if not the premier interviewers in the professional wrestling scene today. Since founding AMBY in 2013, Atout has become a household name in both pro wrestling and music for her in-depth interviews and conversational approach to interviewing. It’s not only earned her the opportunity to interview some of wrestling’s top stars but work in a backstage capacity with Impact! Wrestling, AEW, and, currently, Major League Wrestling.

Recently, Atout joined me to discuss her interview prep, as well as her personal favourite interviewers. She also chatted with us about developing her acting skills as a backstage interviewer.

Researching her interviewees:

“Before interviews, I always try to research just to know what’s going on with people. Like, I’m sure you know this, (but) just so you’re on top of what they’ve been up to, if there’s anything you really should cover, anything they want to promote, too.

So, I do a decent amount of research, probably about like an hour, hour and a half per guest, so I always try to sneak that in the day before so it’s fresh in my mind as well.”

“You can know someone inside and out, but at the same time when you’re doing five interviews in one day, it’s so easy to mix up who’s been where, you know what I mean, like the little things like who likes Doritos over Cheetos or whatever it might be. There’s a decent amount of prep that goes into it, and at the same time, if it’s a guest that I’ve had on for like three times, like Chelsea Green, we follow each other, we keep up with what each other has been up to, so with her, it’s like ‘okay, I want to talk about blank, blank and blank, here are bullet points, let’s just go into it and have a conversation.’ So, it differs on the guest, it differs on how many times I’ve spoken to them and my relationship with them, but I try to go in with some kind of baseline to guide everything through.”

Developing her acting skills as a backstage interviewer:

“Now that I get to actually act off of stuff and have more fun with it and really play off of all the guys I’m in the locker room with, it’s a blast. As far as kind of training for it, I think it’s just one of those things I’ve adapted really naturally and luckily I just didn’t suck at, (because) when I was first told ‘yeah, there’s going to be more acting,’ or ‘you have to react to this a certain way, you have to get angry, or sad,’ I’m like ‘oh, gosh, I don’t know how to do this.’ Literally, the word that ran through my mind was ‘ahh, shit.’ Luckily, it just kind of came naturally and when it comes to that locker room, I feel very comfortable with everybody, so I also don’t feel like if you do mess up, or if they mess up, no one’s judging each other in that sense, which is really nice to have.”

“It was very organic as far as the acting goes. Luckily I was able to pick it up pretty easily, and I don’t really get anyone really saying anything negative about that aspect of my job, which makes me so happy because probably in the three years I’ve been doing wrestling stuff, what I was definitely most nervous for.”

Which interviewers she enjoys watching:

“It’s interesting, because when I first started there weren’t a lot of people I watched, simply because I wanted to craft my own style. Because I end up doing all the research, I find when I watch other people interview, I don’t really discover too many things that are new about a person. So, I don’t know.”

“The only real people that I’ll tune in to – and I’ve seen (Chris) Van Vliet’s stuff for research, and we interviewed each other and it was so much fun to do, but I’ll watch Renee Young’s stuff once in a while; having reruns on TV and that kind of stuff, because I think her approach is very similar to (mine) where it’s just you sit down, you shoot the breeze with someone and that’s that. Otherwise, it’d just be old Mean Gene promos whenever those come on, because they’re just so fun and so full of attitude and frustration, and I just think that he’s the best.

“

“Those are a couple, but it’s weird – as an interviewer, I don’t go down that interview rabbit hole. I think it’s maybe because I’m so consumed with it myself, I just don’t care as much to listen to other people do it. I don’t mean that as a dig whatsoever, there’s so many people who are good at it, (but) for me it’s like, ‘okay, I’ve heard so many people answer these questions, I’ve already heard them answer these questions, I’m just going to step away,’ and that’s when I’ll try to get in my TV time or something like that.”

Please credit Spencer Love/Love Wrestling with any transcriptions used.

Few broadcasters in professional wrestling today can measure up to Alicia Atout. The AMBY founder and current MLW broadcaster is one of the most well-known backstage personalities in the industry today, with both her backstage and shoot interviews widely praised throughout the pro wrestling scene.

Recently, Atout joined me to discuss her recent time in Mexico as part of Major League Wrestling’s latest set of tapings. She also discussed her dream match featuring MLW-only stars.

MLW’s recent tapings in Tijuana:

“Yeah, it was my first time ever working a show down there! It was crazy. It was amazing because that’s something that I’ve always wanted to do. I’ve always wanted to go somewhere else for wrestling. I’ve been in the States a ton, and the reason I was in both the Netherlands and Finland was because of music, so I’ve never really traveled internationally because of wrestling.

So, when this opportunity came about and we brought like a really small crew as far as film and even talent in the locker room, and they wanted me to be down there, I was like ‘oh my gosh! Yes! Of course!’”

“It was surreal. Just like crossing over the border, you finally get to the Arena, and it’s massive because it was an MLW and (AAA) collab, so that in itself – like, you see the iconic tunnel you hear about in that place that’s been around for years, and you just see all these things in person. There’s 5,000 people, sold-out, and it’s crazy. You could just, like, feel the energy.

”

“I didn’t do in-ring promos, but I did tons of stuff backstage. I think we filmed like – we did tons in San Diego the day before, I think I had like eighteen promos in a day, but the next time I think we shot four or five. It was cool because those ones involved Konnan, who owns AAA and is also with MLW. It’s just crazy, seeing how you’re working with these legends and people who have been in wrestling for so long and you’re in a foreign country.”

“The best part, though, was that they had tacos upstairs, like authentic tacos and they were so good like I went up there twice throughout the day, and man, they were awesome.”

What surprised her about Mexico:

“Just the magnitude of the show we were filming. It was huge. I wasn’t expecting it to be that big, I wasn’t expecting the fans to be so different. I mean, in North America, fans are loud and they cheer, but it’s completely different in Mexico. It felt like the place was erupting 24/7. It was such a cool thing to experience, and it was loud! I stood right by the side of the stage and it was deafening how loud they were. That was super cool. Just seeing the production and how many people were on board to make everything happen, it was a really well-run, tight ship. It was right in the back of my mind, thinking like ‘oh, you’re in Mexico for wrestling finally?’ It was very surreal.”

“Being in the back with all the dudes, they were all excited, it was a crazy crowd, and in the back of your mind all of this virus is going on! It was a lot to take in and a lot to think about, but a lot also to really be happy and grateful for.”

Her MLW dream match:

“I think it would be cool to mix things up and have someone like Lawlor, like Tom Lawlor team up with Jacob Fatu, because I think Lawlor’s such a technician in the ring, and Fatu is shockingly amazing at the high-flying moves. I think them teaming together would be so bizarre, but they both have a great sense of humour, so I could imagine those promos being out-of-this-world. Those two, as hard as they are in the ring, they’re goofballs. I think seeing those two team up against maybe…like, (Alex) Hammerstone and Davey Boy (Smith Jr), because they’re both really huge, I think that’d be really cool. That’d be really neat to see, and I know that hasn’t happened, so that’d be really cool.

”

Please credit Spencer Love/Love Wrestling with any transcriptions used.