Credit:  Victoria Lee of www.WRESTLINGWEEKLY.com  

After airing Rhino’s TNA Press Conference last week, Wrestling Weekly
welcomed live guests Cheerleader Melissa and Kevin Kelly to the show on
8/15! Since we couldn’t reach Kevin until later in the night, Melissa was
our first guest, and she had plenty to discuss with Doc and Les.

As Melissa fans may already know, Melissa is a second-generation wrestler,
being brought into the wrestling world early by her father, WWF's Doug
Anderson. But Melissa is also former WWF referee Billy Anderson’s niece.
Wrestling is all in the family for Melissa.

Speaking of Melissa’s wrestling family, she said that her father’s health is
“doing fine”, and noted that he recently got married and moved to Oregon.

Melissa discussed Japanese wrestler Mariko Yoshida, who she wrestled in a
Cauliflower Alley elimination match in 2004. Mariko was the main trainer in
Tokyo, where Melissa lived and trained for four months. Even after 18 years
in the industry, Mariko still loves learning.

Melissa often hangs with Mariko when in Japan. Not only is she a great gal,
but she understands English enough to help Melissa through the language
barrier when she’s working in Japan. Melissa can speak a little Japanese,
though. She knew how to order a beer in Japanese - per request of a member
of the Wrestling Weekly chat room - but she didn’t know how to order one for
Doc.

Melissa was asked if she has experienced any sexism or sexual harassment in
her career. She has come up against some of this, and we all know it’s out
there. In Melissa’s opinion, wrestling is definitely a male-dominated sport.
In the places Melissa frequents, gender equality is the norm, so it can be a
culture shock when she works a place that treats women differently. Melissa
feels that sexism in wrestling is wrong, and that women need to pay their
dues just like men do. It took Melissa a few years, though, to make her name
and be able to put her foot down about the issue.

Melissa praised Jazz’s work, saying that she has “great aggression,” and
that her intensity just when entering the ring is enough to scare ya.

Melissa also discussed Daizee Haze, saying, “don’t let her size fool you.”
Daizee is tough, and has one painful dropkick off the top turnbuckle.

From the chat room, Melissa was asked which WWE Diva she would “most like to
kick in the head.” Melissa said Mickie James could use a good swift kick in
the noggin.

Melissa said that her favorite worker in WWE is Finlay, and that she would
like to be the “female version” of him.

Doc asked Melissa where the “Cheerleader” part of her name came from, since
he never really seen her play a cheerleader. One of her first wrestling giga
was as a valet for the Canadian tag team The Ballard Brothers. The Ballard
Brothers’ gimmick was an imitation of the movie “Slap Shot” (which Doc noted
was also the inspiration for The Dudley Boyz’ gimmick). While there are no
cheerleaders in hockey , the Ballards wanted a “cheerleader” valet, and
Melissa happened to be in the right place at the right time. Melissa noted
that she and the Ballard Brothers were initially based out of southern
California, but moved north for All-Pro Wrestling, an organization Melissa
praised highly.

Finally, Melissa said that, while she does like TNA, she would rather work
for WWE. TNA may be setting a little bit of ground work for a women’s
division, but they are nowhere near establishing one. Melissa doesn’t want
to go to WWE if they’re going to give her some stupid gimmick, though. She
plans to keep working and improving on the indy scene until she builds
enough of a name that WWE will want to use her as she is.

Melissa also discussed SHIMMER, MsChif, her next return to Japan, and more
about Mariko Yoshida. Melissa also noted that her birthday was this August
17th. A big fat “happy birthday” to you, Melissa! Doc, the nice guy that he
is, mentioned later in the show that Wrestling Weekly’s Publicist/Senior
News Editor/”To the Mat” Columnist, Victoria Lee, also has a birthday in her
family this week. August 20th is the birthday of her mother, known to
readers as “D’Ma.” Another “happy birthday” to D’Ma!

Check out www.wrestlingweekly.com to hear the show in it's entirety.

Our final guest of the evening was Kevin Kelly, who reminisced with Les
about the days when wrestling was wrestling, and you didn’t have to read a
script to build a feud. This was the way Les taught Kevin, and the way Kevin
is going to run his upcoming training session with Bob Evans in Rhode
Island. Kevin feels that, if he doesn’t pass on the knowledge taught to him
by Les and his other peers, Hopefully, this form of wrestling will one day
reign supreme once again.

Kevin talked about one of his favorite experiences in wrestling, which
happened very recently. Kevin and Charlie Haas had the opportunity to sit at
a table with Les Thatcher, Dr. Tom Prichard, Terry Taylor, Jerry Lynn, Jim
Cornette, and “Cowboy” Bill Watts as they discussed wrestling. Kevin and
Charlie were just in awe of the knowledge and experience surrounding the
table. Kevin said that the love these men had for wrestling was still there,
and noted that the love of the business is something that is missing from
WWE these days.

Kevin laughed as he told Doc and Les about friends of his who talk about
wrestling “not being like the good old days” of - get this! - ‘97 and ‘98!

People talk about Superstar Billy Graham being a great interview, but Kevin
said that Blackjack Mulligan (and this time, I KNOW he said “Mulligan”!) is
“amazing” and that he could “command the audience” like no other. He got
this special glint in his eye when he did an interview that Kevin loved.
Kevin said, “you [could] tell that he’s been in a lot of fights.” He spoke
with such passion that you would believe every word he said.

Kevin said that he hopes - being an unrelenting optimist - that WWE won’t
script Ric Flair and Mick Foley for their match at Summerslam this Sunday,
August 20th. Les said that, even though one guy is in his 50's and the other
is in his 40's with the body of a 90-year old, they could steal the show if
they aren’t scripted because they’re just that good. Kevin pointed out that
the Ric Flair v. Terry Funk match that has been used as a point of reference
in this storyline wasn’t scripted, and wouldn’t have been as good if it was.
Kevin agreed, and noted that the reason WCW stopped doing Legends matches
was because the older wrestlers were actually outshining the younger guys
WCW was trying to push.

It was a shame when we had to say goodbye to Kevin, but Doc and Les promised
Kevin another interview next month. Stay tuned for the second book in this
wrestling encyclopedia!