Back in October I had the opportunity to go to Orlando for the Syfy Press Tour. At this
press event Syfy arranged for panels of all of its popular shows, including wrestling. We were fortunate enough to two very charismatic and genuinely nice people from the WWE; Alicia Fox and Wade Barrett.
Alicia Fox is not just the most beautiful woman in the room she is funny, witty and down to Earth. A diva in name only, she was extremely personable and sweet with a great sense of humor. I would say that I could have spoken with her for hours but over the course of 2 days I was fortunate to do so.
Wade Barrett who was the winner of the first season of WWE NXT was also a surprise. One thing that surprised me about him was on our way to dinner; Wade was recognized by a young fan. The kid asked for a photo and Wade told the group to go on ahead while he went back and took photos with the kid and his family. The persona shows on WWE is just a part of him. Highly intelligent and very fan oriented he is also massive. Standing next to him I felt short.
The panel was introduced by Mark Stern the President of Original Programing at Syfy. As you can tell from the introduction things weren’t moving like clockwork.
MARK STERN: All right. This is one — this is the panel I’m
sitting out, but I do want to at least introduce — because from
one outrageous and creative reality family to another — how do
you like that transition — I’m very, very pleased to introduce
the “WWE Friday Night Smackdown” panel. It is the ultimate in
imagination-based entertainment, and it’s going to be run by the
honorary diva and my V.P. of development, Erika Kennair, and I’m
going to leave it to her. So, with that introduction, please
welcome Erika.
(Applause.)
It was at this point that no one came into the room. Mark then decided to make a joke about it.
The Family Von Trapp.
(Laughter.)
(To someone in the back of the room) You told me we were ready, Dana.
DANA: We are. Sorry.
MARK STERN: So how are you guys doing? (To the audience)
QUESTION: Got any sound effects for us? (Stern had an app on his phone that played various sound effects which he used throughout the morning panels)
MARK STERN: How was your day? Oh, all right. Yeah, let’s do
some sound effects while we are waiting because —
QUESTION: And heads won’t roll because of this one.
MARK STERN: Heads will roll. I wish. If only. Oh, and
honorary diva and my V.P. of development, Erika Kennair.
(Applause.)
(Telephone app plays sound of clapping sounds.)
(Laughter.)
MARK STERN: Don’t worry about that. All right. Take it away,
Erika. Let me clean this off for you. (Stern moves his stuff off of the podium)
ERIKA KENNAIR: I think the app went off again.
MARK STERN: Sorry.
ERIKA KENNAIR: Mark just likes applause. So it has been a year
since “WWE Friday Night Smackdown” came to Syfy, and it has been
quite a successful one. The show is averaging over 3.1 million
total viewers, and on October 14th, a fun fact, they will be
airing their 634th episode, which will oust “Gunsmoke” as the
second-longest-running weekly episodic series in U.S. history.
(Applause.)
Thanks. Now to help me talk about “Smackdown,” I have the pride
of Manchester, England, Wade Barrett, who came — rose up the
ranks very quickly from “NXT” over to “Smackdown.”
WADE BARRETT: Hello.
(Applause.)
ERIKA KENNAIR: And the lovely Alicia Fox, who is not only a
great diva, but started her career as a wedding planner.
(Applause.)
So, guys, you have the costumes. You’ve got the moves. You do
amazing things in the ring and outside of the rings for charities
like Make a Wish. You are basically real-life superheroes. So
my question for you is if you could have an actual superpower,
what would it be?
WADE BARRETT: Do you want to go first?
ALICIA FOX: Sure. I think my superpower would have to be
teleporting. I would love to teleport from different sales
racks, from Macy’s to Dillard’s, faster.
ERIKA KENNAIR: I like that.
(Applause.)
ALICIA FOX: I’m a shoe hoarder, like I said. So I would
definitely have to teleport.
WADE BARRETT: Me, personally, I think my favorite superhero
growing up was a guy called “Bananaman.” I don’t think you
actually had him here in the States, but the premise of the show
was a kid who ate a banana and suddenly turned into Bananaman.
He could fly around the world and solve crimes. So I would love
to be able to eat bananas and be able to fly.
ERIKA KENNAIR: It sounds like a great promo for potassium. So
Alicia —
ALICIA FOX: Yes.
ERIKA KENNAIR: — wedding planner to diva. Can you take us
through that journey?
ALICIA FOX: Well, “Smackdown,” you know, is like a show, you
know. So that was my character. That was how I entered the
“Smackdown” brand. And then I shed that and turned into the
“Fox,” Alicia Fox, and now I’m in the ring, strong competitions.
ERIKA KENNAIR: And did the marriage last?
ALICIA FOX: Oh, you know, every marriage has its ups and downs.
I’m sure they’ll be fine.
ERIKA KENNAIR: And the downfall was you.
ALICIA FOX: Okay. Fine. Okay. Yeah. I was the reason the
wedding didn’t work out, but, you know, I really take pride in my
job. So — I mean, I think I did a pretty good job anyway.
WADE BARRETT: She was smooching with the groom.
ALICIA FOX: That’s not true. That’s really not how it went
down, but kind of, yes.
ERIKA KENNAIR: There’s actually televised footage of it. So,
yeah, I think that is how it went.
ALICIA FOX: Okay. I’m sorry. Yes, I’m guilty, but I’m the
victim.
ERIKA KENNAIR: Wade, you had a really quick rise to stardom from
“NXT” to “Smackdown.” You have some major events and
championships under your belt. So the question is how did it go
so fast?
WADE BARRETT: It’s been a pretty crazy couple of years for me.
I debuted with “WWE,” as you mentioned, off of “NXT” less than
two years ago. Since then, I’ve won the “NXT” show, which was a
show designed to introduce new WWE superstars to the world. So I
won that show. I went on to headline several Pay-Per-Views
against guys like John Cena and Randy Orton, who are two of our
biggest stars in “WWE.” And, currently, I’ve had a great time on
“Smackdown” and Syfy and loving every second of it. So it’s been
a very fast rise to fame for me, and hopefully, it’s going to
continue a lot longer.
ERIKA KENNAIR: And now I will turn it over to you guys. Any
questions?
QUESTION: What advice do you give to kids that want to join the
wrestling world? Do you want them to start at a young age or
wait until they are older?
WADE BARRETT: I think the key thing we always tell kids who
watch “WWE” is that what we do is a very dangerous things. We
shouldn’t be imitated by kids at home. We say, “Don’t try this
at home.” When you are watching us on TV, I know a lot of things
that we do probably don’t look like they hurt, but we are all
highly trained. I’ve been performing now for over eight years,
and I know Alicia has been going for four to five years. So
we’ve been doing this a long time. We’ve had the best training
in the world. And when it comes to the kind of moves and stunts
that we do, we are almost like professional stuntmen in a sense
because the things we do are very dangerous. So we say to kids,
“Definitely do not get involved. Let’s all don’t try it with
your friends or anything like that because it is so dangerous.”
But the key thing — you know, as a kid, I always wanted to be a
WWE superstar. I grew up wanting to be one. The key thing is
really to make sure you stay healthy. Get involved in as many
sports as you can. I used to play a lot of soccer and a lot of
rugby when I was growing up. Stay on a healthy diet. Keep
yourself in shape. And more importantly than anything else, I
would say get yourself a very good education because that will
set you up in whatever walk of life you end up having success in.
The amount of people who want to be WWE superstars is very high.
The amount of people who can actually make it is very low. So
you always need that backup plan. I say getting yourself a good
education is the best backup line you can ever have.
QUESTION: Amazing. Thank you so much.
QUESTION: Over here. I’m going to be honest here. I used to
love the WWE. I watched it for 18 years, and I kind of stopped
watching it a couple years ago. And I really want to get back
into it, but it’s so intimidating because there are so many
different story lines I need to follow. What are the key story
lines that are going on right now?
WADE BARRETT: I think —
QUESTION: And why is everyone leaving Triple H?
WADE BARRETT: Okay. Well, that really is the key story line
we’ve got going on at the moment. I think that’s the biggest one
is one where we’ve got Triple H, who has been a huge superstar in
the WWE for the last 15 years or so. He’s been a multitime world
champion. He’s basically in the story line anyway. He’s the COO
of the company, and he’s been kind of controlling the ship for
the last few months. But, unfortunately, under his reign, things
have gone downhill. There’s a lot of fighting. There’s a lot of
chaos and control issues going on. And the WWE superstars are
kind of banning together at the moment and looking to oust him.
So that’s the key story line that we’ve got going on. There’s
also picketing going on and people breaking the picket lines and
things like that. So that’s our biggest story line at the
moment. But you are right. I mean, WWE always has several story
lines going on at any one time, and I always suggest the easiest
way to get into it is to watch maybe two or three episodes, and
by that time, you will be hooked. It’s really is that simple to
pick it up.
QUESTION: And then I had one follow-up question, which was, how
has the wrestling style changed in the last few years? because
there was a real period where it was, like, ground-based, and
then, with WCW, it became more aerial-based. Where is it at now?
WADE BARRETT: I think we are always trying to reinvent something
with WWE. We are always trying to give the viewer something new.
And really, I think, the key for us is that we try to offer as
many different things as possible. So, on an average show, you
might see wall max (ph), this technical style of wrestling. You
might see wall max as a high flying style. One might see wall
max as a brawl and so on and so forth because we find that all of
our fans tend to like something different. So our shows are
always like a variety show in a sense that we try and give each
of our — each of our sections of fans what they are looking for.
So you are really going to see a lot of variance on the show, and
you’ll find that our fans do respond well to that kind of
approach.
QUESTION: Hi. You guys on the network have some really amazing
shows. Would you want to guest star on any of the Syfy Network
shows? And if so, which one?
WADE BARRETT: I’ll let Alicia answer this one. I’ve talked your
ears off already, I think.
ALICIA FOX: I think it would be fun to play, like, the sibling
of Leen from “Warehouse 13.” She seems pretty spicy, and I think
I would be a good accent to her piece. So I’d love to do that.
WADE BARRETT: I personally have been quite impressed with the
“Alphas” show. I think the kind of real-life superhero really
identifies in a sense with what we do with WWE on “Smackdown.” I
kind of like the believability factor of it, the science behind
what they are doing with their superpowers and stuff like that.
So that’s probably something I’d be — I’d love to do.
QUESTION: Over the last couple of years, the WWE has changed
networks a couple of times. How has it been on the Syfy Network
from both a WWE perspective and from just a talent perspective
versus your previous networks?
WADE BARRETT: I think being on the Syfy Network has definitely
opened us up to a lot more fans. Obviously, as a company, we are
looking to grow as much as we can. We are always looking to
bring in new viewers and exploit new areas, really, and markets
for us. And I think it’s been great partnering with Syfy because
they’ve allowed us to introduce a lot more viewers and the kind
of cross-promotion we’ve been doing with some of their shows. I
know one of our superstars, Edge, has been on some of the Syfy
shows in the past. We are finding that we get a lot more
viewers, and a lot of new viewers are getting introduced to the
show just from being with Syfy.
In terms of from a talent perspective, how it has changed, I
don’t think it’s really changed too much for us in terms of us
being on Syfy. I think that their job has stayed quite similar.
It’s just like I say. The key benefit for us is just opening up
new cross-sections of fans.
QUESTION: Okay. Thanks.
QUESTION: You mentioned getting — being active and having a
good diet before. What would you consider to be a good diet? Do
you follow a special diet, or do you just do everything in
moderation?
WADE BARRETT: It very much depends on what your goals are. In
WWE, one of the big goals is to make sure you look big and
strong. It’s a very aesthetic industry. You’ve got to look big
and muscular and lean for the most part. There are a few
exceptions to that. There’s always the oddity kind of build that
we have in WWE occasionally. But, for the key part for us, we
are looking to have a sort of high-protein diet because your
muscles grow when you eat a lot of protein. We’ve got to be very
careful with the amount of fats we eat, the amount of sugars that
we eat, the kinds of carbs that we eat, and that sort of thing.
For someone like myself, I’m naturally a very skinny, very lean
build. So I need to make sure I get a lot of calories. There
are other people in the company who have bigger builds, and
actually, they have to be a lot more careful with their diets to
make sure they are going lower calorie and that sort of thing.
But when it comes to kids — we are speaking specifically about
kids having good diets. So I would definitely speak to a doctor
of nutrition about that. I couldn’t really give child-specific
advice. I just know, in general, you want to make sure you get a
lot of fruits, a lot of vegetables, a lot of lean meats like fish
and chicken and that sort of thing, a lot of fiber. I’d try to
stay way from the sugars and the candies and the fats and the
burgers and that sort of thing as much as you can.
QUESTION: Good afternoon. I just have a quick question. What
is your dream match? And this goes to both of you. Whose ass do
you want to kick?
(Laughter.)
WADE BARRETT: Do you want to go first?
ALICIA FOX: Yeah. I think I would like to meet Vivica A. Fox in
the ring because we share the same name and I think her 15
minutes of fame is coming to an end. So it’s time for a new Fox
to step on the plate. So I would love to see Vivica A. Fox in
the ring.
WADE BARRETT: Personally, I would like to have a match with
The Undertaker of “WrestleMania.” I think he really is the gold
standard in terms of WWE. He’s been around for so long. Since I
was a little kid, I was watching him. I never believed when I
was watching him back in the early ’90s that one day I would be
sharing an arena or sharing a locker room with him. So he really
is the guy that I think everybody at the moment is wanting to
face. I think his career is probably winding down now. I’m not
sure how much longer, how many more years he’s going to perform
for. So time is probably running out in terms of the amount of
time I’ve got to step in the ring with him. So certainly before
he does retire, when he does retire, eventually, I’d love to have
a match with him.
QUESTION: Thank you very much.
WADE BARRETT: No problem.
QUESTION: Alicia, I know you are really into fashion. Do you
collaborate on your costumes on the show?
ALICIA FOX: Oh, yes. I — I really take pride in my costumes.
I really get a lot of inspiration from, like, the European
fashion magazines. I’ll take a little bit from Roberto Cavalli
or, like, here and there, mix it up, design my own things. So I
love fashion because it’s, like, a good expression of
personality, and everyone can see, “Oh, okay. You must have been
feeling super spicy today because you are wearing red,” or
whatever color. So I love fashion, and I love bringing it into
the ring, too, and the same with all of the other girls. They
all take pride in, like, looking good, who has the most
rhinestones, which fabric is lighter to roll around in, what
won’t fall off, you know. Like, Idoa Zadoom (ph), they have
these new shoulder pads that have spikes. So it’s really cool
because it also gives, like, our female viewers, like, a way to
relate, too, you know, other than just, like, our physical action
in the ring. I think — I mean, what girl doesn’t like clothes,
right? You guys love clothes. I know you do. But — so that’s
the best part to me.
QUESTION: My question is for Alicia mostly, but you could both
answer. What was the initial attraction that you had to
wrestling as a female? I mean, there’s been females for a long
time involved in wrestling, but what was the initial thing that
made you say “I have to be a wrestler”?
ALICIA FOX: Well, actually, growing up, I was always a tomboy,
like never wore dresses, never did anything. I played a lot of
sports. And so, when this opportunity came, I kind of thought it
was, like, the perfect combination of, like, womanhood, strong,
independent, role models in style. So it was just — that’s
what — and adventure. That’s what attracted me to this job, so
yeah, so far so good.
WADE BARRETT: It’s probably a similar story with me, too. I
discovered WWE when I was nine or ten years old, living in
England. And I remember watching it for the first time. And
being a kid from the north of England, I’d never seen physiques
or human beings look like the WWE superstars with their tans and
their muscles and their long hair and everything. They just
looked like the coolest thing I’d ever seen. And, really, for
probably five or six years, until I was maybe 15 or 16, I never
actually associated what I was watching on TV with them being
real people. It was only when I got to be 16 or 17 years old. I
read a couple of autobiographies, and it really, really outlined
to me how much these were just real people. They were just
normal people. And up until that point, I kind of saw them as
superheroes. I didn’t associate them with having a normal life
or going to the shop or doing normal things that you or I might
do. And it was really at that point that I decided, wow, if this
is just normal people who have just been through school and
college and have the same problems growing up that I’ve had,
there’s no reason why I couldn’t do it. And that was the moment,
the spark, really, that made me think, wow, I really want to give
this a go with trying to become a WWE superstar.
ERIKA KENNAIR: Okay. One more question.
QUESTION: In your opinion, then, looking back on all of that,
who has been the biggest WWE wrestling star of all time? Who has
been the one that has stood out that everybody knows and
everybody remembers?
WADE BARRETT: Do you want to go first?
ALICIA FOX: You go first.
WADE BARRETT: Okay. If we are talking about the biggest star of
all time, in my opinion, I would say it’s “The Rock,” who is
obviously going to be involved with WWE in the upcoming months.
He’s going to be involved in our “Survivor Series,” Pay-Per-View.
He’s also going to be involved in “WrestleMania 28.” He’s taking
on John Cena. He’s a guy who was a huge star in the mid to late
’90s. He went on. He’s had a great career in Hollywood, and
he’s still coming back and being involved with us. Now he’s a
household name. People around the world know who he is. People
who don’t even watch WWE know who “The Rock” is. So, in my
opinion, he’s the biggest star of all time to have come from the
WWE.
ALICIA FOX: I would say — I would have to say Beth Phoenix.
She’s kind of like a current WWE diva that’s — I think she’s
getting her name out there pretty fast. But not so much as
inside the ring, but outside the ring, she’s a great role model
to us divas. And we really look up to her, and she really,
like — like, when I first started, I had to wrestling experience
whatsoever. She came and picked me up from the airport. She
kind of gave me, like, the down low for this is this. Don’t date
the boys. Don’t do this. Don’t do that, you know. And so she’s
really been an inspiration for me. And I know there’s a lot of
fellow divas that feel the same way. So I would have to say
Beth Phoenix.
ERIKA KENNAIR: Well, thank you, guys, very much.
WADE BARRETT: No problem. Thank you very much for your time.
ERIKA KENNAIR: They will be over here.
ALICIA FOX: Thank you.
(Applause.)
