Chelsea Green recently appeared on a special live installment of the INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet podcast for an in-depth interview covering all things pro wrestling and WWE.
During the discussion, the WWE Superstar spoke about Zack Ryder’s recent surprise return, being a ‘glorified actress’ and how she is okay being ‘the butt of the joke’ because it pays well.
Featured below are some of the highlights from the interview where she touches on these topics with her thoughts.
On Zack Ryder’s recent return: “Okay, so I’ve never really worked with Zack Ryder. I mean, we were ships passing in the night for years at the beginning of our relationship, and then we only really came together in TNA and kind of on the Indies for two years. Then I was re-signed again. I kept yapping, running my mouth, telling everyone he was going to return as Matt Cardona, and I had to eat my words when he came back as Zack Ryder. But it was really cool, because I’ve never had a chance to just sit in the crowd and listen to everybody react to Zack Ryder. I’ve never really been there for the Woo Woo thing, except when I did it at Saturday Night’s Main Event, or when I did it at All In, then I felt a little bit of it. But it was really surreal. I knew that moment was going to come. I think we had been hoping for that moment to come every Rumble for the past five years. And it didn’t, obviously, there was no Rumble moment. So I just didn’t expect that this was going to be the moment.”
On preparing for the Zack Ryder return: “So the crazy thing is that with WWE, they can say something’s gonna happen, and until you are, I want to say at the show, but even at the show, things can change, because it’s live TV. So until I knew that LA Knight was walking to gorilla, I couldn’t get excited, because I have been on the receiving end of many of, ‘Oh, you’re gonna get this.’ ‘No, maybe next week.’ ‘Oh, you are gonna go out there and win.’ Oh, no, you broke your arm. You know what I mean? All those little moments. So it’s crazy how you just [can’t control it]. So no, I could not get excited. But I was a little excited when he was flying with me to New York. And the morning of the show, I had Good Day New York, and he came, and then as I’m walking out, TMZ was outside, and he panicked, because it’s like, oh my god, everything’s gonna be blown, and then he’ll never get the moment if TMZ sees him.”
On just being a part of the show regardless of winning or losing: “I think it goes back to when I played Laurel Van Ness. I quickly realized that character work was my forte. I was trying so hard to be a professional wrestler. Then when I became Laurel Van Ness I was like, oh my god, I’m doing way less work, and people like it way more. What have I been doing this whole time? From then, it kind of spiraled and I realized okay, if that’s what I bring to the table, then who cares if I win or lose? They’re not watching to see if I win or lose. They’re watching to see the ridiculous stuff that comes out of my mouth, the bumps that I take and stuff like that. Life has been so much better since I stopped trying to be a professional wrestler. It really is. It’s great.”
On what she considers herself now: “An actress, a glorified actress, a little bit of a stunt woman. And then, every now and then I do a roll up. It’s great. I love it.”
On why she is ok being the butt of the joke: “Because it gets me views and it gets me a new contract, and it gets me a raise, and it bought me my new house, and honestly, hopefully in the next year, it gets me numerous auditions. You know what I mean? Hopefully this parlays into something even bigger than we could have ever imagined, because I was able to tuck my tail between my legs and be the idiot.”
