INTERACTIVE WRESTLING RADIO INTERVIEW - Malia Hosaka

Show: 3 Count Wrestling
Guest: Malia Hosaka
Date: 3/31/06
Your Hosts: Brian Luquette & Chris Furguson

She's one of wrestling's most respected indy diva's. She's seen and done it all and even offered a reasonably famous

quote to WWE developmental about not being as vain. And, she's got a lot to say! She's Malia Hosaka and if you aren't already a fan of hers, listen to the interview and I think you might just become one.

 

 


MALIA HOSAKA

 

The first question is: What possessed Malia to join the world of professional wrestling? "My dad was a huge fan of

professional wrestling. I thought it was the stupidest thing in the world, and I watched a match between Bugsy McGraw

and The Missing Link, back in the old Florida Championship Wrestling days, and told my dad 'Anybody can do this' and he, more or less, dared me to give it a try. Once I got trained and I found out I could get paid to travel and see the world, I fell in love with wrestling and stayed with it for 19 years, now."

Malia no longer thinks just anybody can do it!

James brings up Hogan having his leg broken by Hiro Matsuda, and Malia says she's was lucky that no veteran tried to rough her over and that she worked with some of the best women at the time, putting over Leilani Kai, Judy Martin and Debbie Combs.

Malia feels it's harder being a woman in wrestling because women, especially in the WWE, aren't marketable as atheletes.

If TNA called Malia, she'd be interested in working there (She had a dark match when they were in Nashville), but she hasn't called there. Same with WWE, but Malia's happy where she is, working the indies and helping young women who need to be trained.

Killer Kowalski trained Malia, at Misty Blue's Training Camp.

After Chris fumbles through the next question, we get to Malia's first match, a tag match in Holyoake, Massachusetts with Misty Blue against Mad Dog Debbie and Linda Dallas. Malia even adds that she was called "Malia Ho" and was dressed in a gymnastics gimmick (a la Mary Lou Retton). "It was all very cheesy!"

Chris mentions WEW, where they have many uses of the word "Ho." Malia has heard of them, adding "See, with promotions like that, and Vince not promoting the girls properly, I think it's very hard for the girls out there who are athletic and pretty to get recognition and to get respect."

Malia's not personally offended by groups like WEW, but adds "If you can't wrestle, get your T&A out of the ring!"

The name of "David McLane" is brought up. Malia has heard of him, and was supposed to have been brought in for WOW. However, Hosaka claims that David was into the "models trained to look like wrestlers" idea. She then goes into the idea that it's easier to take someone trained to wrestle, hire a consultant, and make her a model then it would be to teach a model how to take a bump.

After Malia mentions the indy women's wrestling federation she recently joined called SHIMMER, the next question is "Do you think a woman's wrestling promotion could be successful in the US?" Malia says she does, then goes into the problems with the LPWA, specifically the cliques and the rookies who disrespected the veterans.

The conversation segues into how wrestling has been geared towards adults instead of families, where Malia adds that she sees both sides of the equation. She understands Vince's point that "if you don't want to watch, change the channel," but she also accepts her responsibility, as someone in the public eye, to be a role model. She makes an example out of intergender matches as examples of telling young boys that it's okay to beat up a young girl.

James brings the conversation back with a discussion of model turned successful wrestler Trish Stratus. "I have a lot of respect for Trish. Trish has come a long way."

Malia then goes into how the WWE is doing a lot of choreographed matches, both the men and the women, and how interacting with the fans is more than just doing the moves.

The next topic is the former "Macala Mercedes," who is now Jillian Hall in the WWE, and how she went from being a capable wrestler to more of a supermodel. Malia understands how some women have to do what they have to do to get a break, but she's the one who has to look in the mirror and live with what she has or hasn't done.

Would Malia take a WWE contract, $100,000 and a strong push with the titie if she got a boob job? "A hundred grand, if I can say how big, probably!" Malia later clarifies that she'd get one for herself. She adds "Its all push-up padding. It's called a WonderBra. I take it off, you wonder what happened!"

The next topic is the WWE's use of lesbian angles for incoming women. Malia's comment is "If you want me in a lesbian angle, Angelina Jolie better be on the other side of it!"

LPWA was miserable, according to Malia, thanks to all the cliques. Leilani Kai and Judy Martin helped Malia, who was green at the time, but the rest of girls were "catty, jealous vindictive creatures."

The conversation segues into Malia's WCW days, where Malia saw plenty of egos running the show backstage. She mentions how the promoters literally ran backstage from locker room to locker room to see who wanted to do what!

Brian then chimes in with the question of how women in WCW would "Go down to get up." Malia saw none of it, but she's heard of it, adding that it's not just WCW, but she's heard it about the girls in the WWE as well.

After a discussion about a possible book (where Malia says "I have enough heat in the business, I don't need that to help that out!"), we go into her WWE days. There was a rumor that Malia was to have been Essa Rios' valet (which eventually went to Lita). It was true and her name was to have been "Aphrodisia." However, the week after she signed the deal and bought outfits for the gimmick, Vince Russo quit, followed a week later by Terry Taylor. Malia was out of the picture a week after that.

Did she have to pay for the outfits? "Yeah."

The next question is from Chris, who gives the statement "If the creative team doesn't have anything for a wrestler, you need a new creative team." Does Malia agree with that? "I don't know if the creative team doesn't have anything for a wrestler, you need a new creative team. I think, sometimes, that the creative team needs to stop selling an orange as an apple." She later mentions Madusa, who wanted to be a face, but naturally comes across as a heel.

They bring back a topic brought up earlier in the interview, which is Madusa calling Misty Blue a "porn star." Malia confirms that Misty did one!

Malia has never held the All-Japan Women's title, despite what some websites say.

Hosaka prefers working with Americans, as opposed to Japanese women, mainly because of the language barrier, plus the psychology is more emphasized in the American style. The Japanese women also stiffer in the ring. "I had a little 3-foot nothing kick me in the face every night while I was in Japan!"

There is a quote she made (posted on her profile at ObsessedWithWrestling.com), where she says "I am not T&A, I am a wrestler, and while I can be just as shallow in looks and every bit as marketable as the girls of the WWE; however, I choose not to be." Malia doesn't know what brought on that quote, however!

The next topic is Harley Race's WLW promotion. After putting over how demanding Harley is, Malia puts over the promotion as "good wrestling," "clean wrestling," and "what wrestling is supposed to be about."

Malia's wrestling style is "more of a no-nonsense style. I used to be a high-flyer, but now I'm more on the mat now, doing techinical stuff, which I enjoy. I still do a little bit of high-flying and I've gone on, because I've been training and working out, I'm more comfortable with power moves. But, basically my style is no-nonsense. I go to the ring to do a job and I don't care what it takes to get that job done, I do it."

Does Malia prefer being a face or heel? "I'm a heel at heart! Actually, I don't have a preference." This leads to a discussion about Samoa Joe in TNA.

What kind of diet and exercise does Malia do? "McDonald's 5 times a week," she joked before clarifying that she got on a scale in January and saw she was "godly overweight." So she got back to the gym, doing high protein, low carb dieting. It also gets boring for her as she says "I felt like I was going to turn into a chicken when I first started the diet!"

The show gets cut off before a discussion about Molly Holly.