Show: Wrestling Epicenter
Guest(s): Malia Hosaka
Date: 01/24/20
Your Host: James Walsh

Our guest this week made a surprising return to televised wrestling at the end of WOW Women of Wrestling Superheroes’ most recent season heading up the faction called EXILE. This ring veteran, who still looks like a million bucks, has seen action in the UWF, LPWA, WCW, WWE, and TNA through her career and we caught up with her once upon a time before as well. But, here in 2020, we decided it was time to pick her brain once more for some more gems about our sport. And, as usual, she did not let us down giving incredibly interesting takes on various subjects including Tessa Blanchard winning the Impact World Title, Inter-Gender wrestling in general, and how much has or has not changed for women in pro wrestling over the years.

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MALIA HOSAKA:

On what brought her to WOW after all these years:
“What I said in my promo was really a shoot promo. I had contacted them… I had done some Friday Night Fight stuff for them… But, somebody had a problem with my attitude! (laughs) But, now, I have my Exodus and Genesis with me and we’re there to show the girls the old school way.”

On the origins of her Exile members Exodus and Genesis:
“They’re my trainees. They’re probably the first 2 trainees that I’ve had since… Probably about 1998 when Nora Greenwald (Molly Holly) and I had a falling out. That is when I walked away from the women as far as a training aspect goes for a long time.”

On rumors (and Wikipedia claims) she turned down WOW during tis first run:
“No, that’s false. That’s bogus! Bambi – My original tag team partner from LPWA – She had contacted me and talked to me about it. Some wires got crossed. I don’t know what happened. I did not know it was for WOW at that time. I just had a lot of stuff going on, like I said, with my falling out with Nora Greenwald and the WWE and being released. Just a lot of stuff going on at that time.”

On her falling out with Nora Greenwald (covered in our original interview years ago):
“That’s all over the Internet! (laughs) Everyone’s got their own version of it! (laughs)”

On women’s wrestlers getting more respect than ever now:
“Are they though? I think it is starting to come back around to where you actually ahve to know how to wrestle. You don’t need to be a worker though. You don’t need to know the art! You don’t need to understand the art. You just need to know how to do some flashy moves. That’s not just the women, though. But, that is one thing I do really like about WOW. David McLane is old school. He really does love old school wrestling. There is still a lot of… I don’t want to call it campy. A lot of backstage, get to know the girls of WOW, the girls of Exile stuff like backstage vignettes. But, he does still love story telling wrestling. But, yes, it is great that it is coming back to wrestling. But, it is still very stereotypical as to what girls they’re giving opportunities to.”

On the rise in inter-gender wrestling:
“I absolutely hate it. I think it promotes violence against women. I think it sends the wrong message. I do think women should be able to stand up for themselves. But, if you start to blur the lines for what kids already view as fake, you’re then showing them that it is OK to hit women because they can take it. You’re blurring the lines between what is and is not acceptable. I’m all for women’s rights and I’m all for equality. But, there is more than enough female talent out there so there is no need for a man to have to put his hands on a woman except in self defense to keep them from hurting themself. If a man can’t subdue a woman without causing them physical harm, then that’s one thing because there are men out there who could not subdue a woman without actually hitting her. But, when you start to talk about a woman taking body slams, forearms, suplexes, and all this kind of stuff within this arena where essentially everything is legal because we have to the count of 5, right? Well, then you’ve got a little boy and a little girl on the playground and, maybe both watch wrestling? The boy can then hit the girl and she should be able to take it because the girl took it on wrestling last night, right? I’m just totally against that. I mean, you don’t see that in MMA. You don’t see that in boxing. If it came to the point where you did see that there, you’d have clear rules and guidelines. They have weight classes. They have clear lines that if you step over that line, you’re disqualified. They have that now and they’re not doing inter-gender. You can’t go out and haul off and beat the crap out of someone in boxing without technique. You have to use technique because there is an art to boxing just like there is an art to wrestling. You don’t see a 450 pound man go out there against a 110 pound man. You don’t see that in MMA or boxing. We don’t have weight classes in wrestling.”

On Tessa Blanchard winning the Impact Wrestling World Title:
“Don’t get me wrong, I don’t care that it is Tessa Blanchard. I don’t care if it was Charlotte Flair! I don’t care if it was myself. I could not slam a 350 pound man. And, if a 350 pound man bodyslams me, I shouldn’t be getting up! Much less if he forearms me… Our moves do hurt! It is not like the moves don’t hurt. They do! So, I just think you’re completely blurring those lines. And, in your next breath, you’re going to have girls come out, and some have come out, and say they’re the victims of domestic abuse. I’m not condoning it. But, you get in a ring and wrestle men! And now you’re expecting your spouse or significant other to understand that that’s work but when things escalate to that point at home, violence is unacceptable? You have blurred that line and there is no coming back from it.”

On if she ever did inter-gender wrestling:
“No, that is one thing I did not do in my career… Well, I did do it a few times and that was because a girl did not show up and I had to get a pay day. But, when I did do them, I was put in the ring with a guy that was somewhat my size. When I had just started and I was 90 pounds soaking wet, Bob Roop did not put me on his card against a guy much bigger than me. He had me in the ring with a guy almost my size and we tried to make it as believable as possible. But, once he got his hands on me, I was done!”

On if women doing sexy photoshoots detracts from them as athletes:
“I don’t think so. I think you have to have a certain level of sex appeal. The great thing about sex appeal is what you find sexy, Joe Schmo over there won’t find sexy at all. Everybody has their own definition of what is sexy. Maybe you like Asian women, women with tats, ahletic women… Whatever it might be. It is a matter of when you do sexy things (photoshoots), doing them in a tasteful way so that when you do get in the ring and you want to be see as the athlete, you shoudln’t be portraying that same (sexy) image. But, if all you do is T&A and bra and panties matches and you want to be seen as an athlete, you won’t be taken seriously as an athlete. I won’t see you as a serious wrestler! That’s not wrestling. That’s just tits and ass! It has long since been my standing that if you can’t wrestle, keep your tits and ass out of the ring!”

On retiring in 2012:
“I did. I did announce my retirement. I had a medical diagnosis where the doctor had told me I needed to not take any more bumps ever again in my life. Brandy Wine, my tag team partner in SHINE, said, “You ride dirt bikes and you could go over the handlebars. I really don’t see the difference.” She was right. So, I got a second opinion. I ended up getting back in and taking some shows here and there. The great thing is I’m back in on my own terms. It is not on a full time basis but it is going to be fun.”

On if WOW will continue now that ANTHEM/Impact bought AXS TV:
“I have high hopes that they are going to continue. They have announced a tour for later this year. They have not announced any cities yet but they have announced a nation wide tour. You’re going to just have to wait and see as to how much of me you’ll see. I call them my minions but they’re my trainees. They and I have come to make a statement and we’re not going to leave until we make that statement loud and clear.”