Just a week after our critically acclaimed and attention grabbing interview with Matt Hardy, we are back and
out of control as usual with another interview that is sure to grab some attention.
She is a former WWE Women's Champion, a WWE Diva, and the host of WWE Experience. Her toughness in
and out of the ring and her natural beauty have made her a valuable asset to the WWE for the past 6 years.
And, she decided to sit down with James and Chuck for a near 2 hour interview. She's Lisa Moretti. But, you
know her as Ivory!
"IVORY" LISA MORETTI
-- Things kick off with a little Right to Censor music. Only a few seconds as it is a rather annoying theme song!
-- Ivory takes center stage and says she's ready to have some fun. I wonder if she knew we'd be having fun for so long? I hope she doesn't hate us for it!
-- Things get off to a roaring start as Ivory knows we are capable of better than our first question which is, quite simply, how did she get into wrestling? Ivory says she started in GLOW and went to POWW. But, she sort of fell into it and ended up doing it for a number of years in the 80's.
-- Ivory feels a lot of the girls in GLOW were not wrestlers. She goes on to mention that she herself wasn't really trained for wrestling when she was on GLOW. She learned as she was out there on TV.
-- Ivory considers Mondo Guerrero her mentor because if it wasn't for him, she never would have come back to wrestling on day 2 much less have lasted this long.
-- "Women need to run the show," says Ivory when asked about the possibility of an all-women wrestling organization in the United States. Ivory says she thinks if women wrote the stories, it would be more true to what women are like than if a man did.
-- We start discussing the Women's division in the WWE currently and Ivory basically says there isn't one at this point. But, she says she believes there will be a time that the women that have been released will return. Or, at least, she's hopeful.
-- We ask Ivory why these women were released, mentioning Gail Kim, Molly Holly, and Nidia as examples. Ivory has a simple response. "I'm just as perplexed as the rest of the world."
-- Ivory isn't impressed with the typical cookie cutter girl in wrestling. She says guys can get interested in all different kinds of girls. If they couldn't, every guy would ask the same girl to their Prom.
-- We get into a chat about Tough Enough and about how some smaller individuals showed up and were blown away by the size of JBL and others that came by. She explains that this is how it is, big men are in the WWE and if some aspire to be WWE performers, they should start eating more and hitting the gym now.
-- Chuck asks about the incident between Hardcore Holly and Matt Capotelli. Ivory says, "I think it was a great lesson for Matt." She goes on to say Holly always says to hit him as hard as he hits you as long as its in the right places. She understands why Matt and others may have been upset but she feels stiffness is a lesson that has to be learned and he learned it.
-- We then ask about Bobbi Billiard who wrote a rather detailed story about how Ivory told her the only way she (Bobbi) would make it to the top is if she (Bobbi) slept her way there. We ask Ivory if she has a response, "Not really because it doesn't warrant my time or energy." She also goes on to say, "If Bobbi was so good, why didn't we ever see her tape?"
-- Still on the above topic, Ivory talks about how it's easy to go on the Internet and trash certain things and certain people. She mentions that many who get involved in the Divas search and in the business through not physical means should go down to the local wrestling company and offer to help set up chairs, put up the ring, or if not take bumps personally, watch the guys train and learn.
-- James asks about negativity on the Internet. Ivory says everybody sites in their car or chats in the locker room about how things should be and what angles shouldn't have been dropped and such but she also says there are a lot of times she wants to write Vince and tell him this is why she loves working for the WWE. She gives an example of Christmas in Iraq and how great it was to go over there and see the troops. She says she supports our troops 100% and is humbled about complaining about anything in her life after seeing what these brave men and women are doing. I think I speak for Chuck and Erik when I say A-Men to that. Ivory adds, "It made me forget every flopped match and every time something crappy happened on our show... It made me so proud to work for the WWE during that."
-- Chuck and James press Ivory to return to the ring to help the women's division out. She tells us she is taking indy bookings at http://www.ivoryworld.com/main.html. She loves the indy scene because it is so family oriented. She even talks about being the last one out there and inviting the kids in the ring like the old school days. She says there is rarely anything she is embarrassed by on an indy show because it is so family oriented.
-- James quickly asks if she is embarrassed by anything on WWE TV. Ivory has a pretty simple response. "Yeah. I'm embarrassed by the Diva Search competition. We're not letting the girls show how great they are. Even though these are model girls from other kinds of entertainment, they're still smart, entertaining, neat people. I don't think the kind of contest we have them participate in on the air really gives our fans anything to vote for." Ivory feels they need to accentuate their characters better than what they did last year.
-- Ivory feels Christy Hemme is working her butt off for the company. She hasn't had a chance to sit down and talk with her much because she only sees her at the pay per views but before the show, which is when there is time to talk, Ivory's already working on Heat. But, from what she sees in Christy, she thinks she may have the fire to do great things in the WWE.
-- Ivory mentions she loved going to work during the Right to Censor gimmick because she showed up, got to wear a cool uniform, and be a part of the TV experience for 11 hours "and those 11 hours went by like that."
-- Ivory says Right to Censor ended because the writer that was there at the time left and the new writers didn't want to write for that gimmick. She goes on to say that's one of the times she was sitting in the cars complaining about wishing an angle wasn't dropped. But, she says, "it is what it is."
-- Ivory describes the ability to cut a great promo as a heel and now she was basically just told by Vince Russo to go out and "be a bitch." She feels things are a bit better now because they give detailed directions to the characters on what they should be. But, she feels she went out there and tried things differently and better than people expected her to do.
-- Ivory mentions she doesn't think anybody should be given too much time to cut promos especially if it takes up a high percentage of the show. Chuck and James laugh saying that's how the game is played. Ivory laughs at the play on words.
-- Ivory feels Right to Censor was in a way a played up version of herself as she does have "straight up conservative views" when it comes to Playboy and things of that nature.
-- Ivory feels Playboy is a brilliant male marketing scheme that doesn't help the ladies. Hey, lets make it sound REALLY glamorous to be in Playboy so we can fill our magazine with naked ladies every month!" Ivory feels once you are in playboy or porn, you're branded with that for the rest of your life and you lose some marketability.
-- Ivory respects Trish Stratus tremendously because everybody wants her in a skin magazine and Trish won't. Ivory also feels she has worked incredibly hard to become the fantastic performer Trish is now.
-- Ivory feels it's harder to get a good looking girl to wrestle well than to take a good worker and make them look good. That is why she doesn't like a lot of the Divas Search girls.
-- Oprah Winfrey is an example of the above. Ivory says if they can make Oprah look hot on her magazine covers, they can make anybody look hot. So, they should worry more about who can work and less about a beauty contest.
-- Ivory thinks the company is "swimming up stream" by hiring so many girls that can't wrestle and releasing a lot that can.
-- She doesn't think the Women's title should be defended in strip matches.
-- Ivory left wrestling after POWW and was a woman trying to pay her rent in Hollywood. She worked as an actress and worked for Revlon teaching classes. But, years later, the WWE called her looking for a girl who could wrestle and looked good in a dress.
-- Ivory played one of the Godfather's Ho's one night and they brought her back. She says that one night in Phoenix, Luna was there and she felt like she was "back home." But, she saw the changes in wrestling. For one, Sable was the big thing and she was walking around with her boobs hanging out, says Ivory. Ivory said she didn't want to be a Sable girl and wanted to get her boots and work. And, they actually did tell her that first week to "get her boots."
-- Ivory earned a degree from the University of Southern California in Communications But, she ended up doing a wrestling show. She says GLOW was like the Power Rangers of the mid 80's and they didn't make a dime. She says she was signing autographs for kids but she was a kid herself.
-- When it comes to Hollywood, Ivory wasn't a fan of the kissing up that is required by "bringing candy to a fat director for a job." She has always been the type, even in wrestling, to want the chance to perform and hopefully make money for herself and her employee.
-- Going back to her WWE working days, especially the early days, Ivory mentions she may wish she had a little more direction at the beginning so she could've channeled the energy better and really knocked everybody's socks off. Chuck and James mention that she obviously did something right to have lasted this long in the WWE.
-- Ivory then mentions that she was invited to a party thrown by USA as the WWE will be going back to USA soon. She jokes saying she is going to wear something very low cut to show her physical attributes well and try very hard to make the bosses at USA happy enough to bring Experience on because, as she puts it, "I want to keep my job!"
-- Somehow we end up talking about the UWF and Herb Abrams. "Herb Abrams died all drugged up in his office in one of his colorful suits," says Ivory. But, she shares fond memories of first meeting Cactus Jack and wrestling Candi Divine.
-- Ivory talks about her first hardcore match with Tori in another TII Exclusive. Ivory hit Tori with an object that broke and a piece ended up getting stuck in the inside of Tori's mouth. Terri Runnels actually got it out with a pair of pink tweezers and "performed surgery."
-- Ivory says it is tough for women to look physically impressive in a 20 foot ring as they look as small as they are. That is why she liked a lot of her hardcore matches because it hid the weakness of girls being so small.
-- Chuck and James then get into a self loathing mode as they discuss how short they are with James standing, with a solid posture, 5'8 as does Chuck. So, they obviously do relate with the height problem women face.
-- Ivory talks about the spring in the ropes and how some people just can't get that spring. She points at Jeff Hardy who, even while standing on the ropes, didn't even cause a dip in the rope for a spring. She then says Steve Austin is one of her favorites because he used the ring to his advantage as he springs off the ropes for momentum instead of running to the ropes, stopping, turning around, and then running back.
-- One of Ivory's current favorite performers is Christian which brings both Chuck and James to their feet as they are proud members of the Christian Coalition. Yes, it's Peepulation 3 in this interview. :) Ivory discusses how Christian is such a super cool nerd on TV. Chuck and James laugh saying that is why they like him so much, they are both goofy, super cool, nerdy guys like Christian. But, they love his work both on the mic and in the ring. Ivory agrees and says he's clearly at least an upper level talent in need of a push. She then agrees that Chuck and James are funny, super cool nerds. They take it as a compliment as she explains that they are the kind of guys that get the girls.
-- Ivory thinks the WWE divas that were released may be a blessing in disguise because they now have the opportunity to grow as individuals like Shawn Michaels did by starting a family in his down time. She says sometimes you need that opportunity to put things in perspective.
-- Speaking of Shawn Michaels, we get into a long chat about him and his grasp on psychology. We then go in detail discussing the Taboo Tuesday match he had last year with Triple H and how a guy who had to hold onto the ropes to walk was able to perform perhaps the match of the night.
-- Ivory says Triple H is another favorite because when he wrestles, he makes his opponents look like gold. She says after every Triple H match that he puts his heart into, she wants to hug him and tell him he's the absolute best in the game.
-- Ivory thinks John Cena is cute and gets a good reaction but thinks he should do what the Undertaker does and never rest or relax in there as a performer. She says the match where he won the title at Wrestlemania 21 should have been a blood bath and instead, it wasn't. James and Ivory discuss how even the announcers were somewhat surprised it ended the way it did. Ivory then says he shouldn't be having squash matches like he's had lately and he, perhaps, should practice a lot. James mentions that Triple H said much the same recently and Ivory says she agrees with him.
-- Ivory does not dislike Cena. She just hopes he doesn't get lazy.
-- Ivory does not believe in disrespecting any fan in the audience by calling them a mark. She says those fans paid their money and have the right to cheer, boo, and do the white WWE live experience, pun intended.
-- James says the only time he'll use the term mark in a negative way is when the smart fans disrespectful to the talent by chanting "You F'd Up." Ivory says she thinks it is important for something to look ugly every now and again. She mentions that in real fights, people don't always hit every punch or kick exactly right. So, why should ever wrestler be expected to?
-- Ivory was a big fan of the Kurt Angle against Chris Benoit mat wrestling matches.
-- Ivory went to the hospital once when Jacqueline kicked her in the head hard. She mentions that after 9 months of getting stiff powerbombed and DDT'd by Jacqueline, she stepped in there with Molly Holly and took a DDT and fell in love with wrestling again because Molly didn't actually hurt her.
-- Ivory doesn't believe in giving receipts because if she hurts someone back, it isn't going to make them work less stiff with someone else. It would just amuse the people in the back.
-- They then discuss Triple H against Shawn Michaels again from last year's Taboo Tuesday citing that as excellent selling and how some people have to sell like Triple H did in that match in order to pull the crowd in.
-- Ivory thinks women in wrestling should bring something to the table so the male fans can look at and think the girls are sexy, the young kids can watch what they do and wonder if their mother or teacher can do it, and the girls that funny, super cool nerds like Chuck and James (Ivory's words) bring to the events should look at these girls and respect them instead of thinking they're stupid.
-- Ivory loves WWE Experience with Todd Grisham. She thinks Todd will go on to be the next Jimmy Kimmel because he's that quick, funny, and talented.
-- "Chyna's a bitch," says Ivory. She mentions a fight they had over a magazine cover Ivory was on. The photographer gave her a leather top to wear and Chyna thought she was stealing her gimmick. Ivory finds it funny and mentions that she thinks she's a bitch with drug problems once again.
-- Ivory teases saying it would be a trip if all the old Divas marched out to the ring one night as a return of the women's division. "And, not to play f***ing dodgeball either."
-- Ivory says Vince and all the McMahon's have been incredible to her. Linda is actually Ivory's role model because of how classy she is and how she gets things done. As for Vince, she mentions being by him one day as he was in the make-up chair and saying to him what a strange business it is that the boys are standing in front of their boss swearing at will.
-- We then roll into word associations which is INCREDIBLE! Check it out, you'll be glad you did!
-- Ultimately, this is an RF Video quality interview. It runs damn near 2 hours and covers everything you could ever imagine an Ivory interview would cover. Just check out www.WrestlingEpicenter.com and download it for free. You'll be glad you did!
-- We wrap up with Got to Have Faith by Europe off their brand new record Start from the Dark, perhaps 2005's Rock Album of the Year for my money!
*****TII Live returns Tuesday night, June 14 with your FINAL opportunity to win the last remaining tickets to WWE RAW! We've got 8th Row tickets to RAW at the America West Arena in Phoenix, Arizona on June 20, 2005! Grab yours now!
We will also be joined by "Straight Shootin" Stevie Ray and even more with the lovely Ivory once again. Check out www.WrestlingEpicenter.com to listen live on Tuesday evening at 10 p.m. EST. You'll be glad you did!