In an exclusive interview with PWPonderings, Steph De Lander (@stephdelander) , fka WWE’s Persia Pirotta, sat down with Scott Mitchell (@scott44mitchell) to discuss a majority of topics, including her time in WWE, opening up about her WWE release, her TNA run, her recent decision to bet on herself and leave TNA, and so much more. You can watch the interview in its entirety down below, or read some of the highlights below.
You spent some time in WWE under the NXT umbrella. We saw what you had to offer as Persia Pirotta. What was it like to train at the PC and learn under some of the all-time greats?
“It was very nerve-wracking. I was like 23 when I first started there, so I was very young, in a different country, like I just moved halfway across the world without my friends, family, and support system, and there was that overriding feeling of being watched. When you’re at wrestling training, with your friends at a normal school, you can mess around, try different stuff, and it doesn’t matter if you fail or step up. But when you’re training at the PC, you know that Shawn Michaels can walk past at any moment or Triple H can tune into the cameras and see what’s going on. So, there’s that extra level of pressure that even in practice, you want to make sure that you’re performing because you never know who’s watching. It was great to be able to learn from some of the people whom I learned from. But, it was also a stressful environment as well.”
Did you have any favorite moments from your time in WWE?
“I would say the Ladder match at Halloween Havoc was probably one of my favorite moments. It was Indi and I versus Iyo and Zoey Starks versus Toxic Attraction, Gigi & Jacy. It was a really cool moment. It was one of those things that you don’t really think about, but a lot of wrestlers go their entire careers without ever doing a Ladder match, especially on Halloween Havoc on NXT. So, that was a really cool bucket list moment that I wasn’t expecting. That was like my third match on TV. So, that was pretty cool. I’d say that’s probably my favorite moment from my time in NXT.”
What was it like to work with Indi Hartwell, someone you have a lot in common with in terms of background?
“Indi and I were best friends before I went to WWE, we’ve been best friends since back in Australia. So, getting to NXT around the same time was a full-circle moment. It was a stressful situation because it was that peak time in NXT where people were getting fired literally every single week. I look back on that because I wish that we had stopped and just enjoyed the moment a little bit more. But we were reacting to the situation that we were in, which was very stressful. It was awesome being there with Indi, but it sucked that we were there during that stressful period where it didn’t feel like you could just relax and have fun with it. This time around, getting to work with her at TNA, even though we weren’t on screen together, but being back on the road with her every week at TNA in a less hectic and stressful environment, was awesome as well. It’s always great fun when you get to work with your bestie.”
When you were released from WWE, what went through your head at first, and what was your mindset looking ahead?
“The thing that went through my head first was that I was going to lose my VISA in 29 days. I was going to get deported. That was the reality of it. I couldn’t even mourn losing my dream job. I had to be more concerned with getting a VISA and being able to stay in the States. Once I got all of that squared away, the reality hit of what situation I was back in. Naively, when I signed my first WWE contract, it was before there were mass releases, so maybe like 10 people used to get fired a year. Unless you were sitting in catering for months on end or did something really bad, you were probably fine, at least for a while. When I signed my contract, I naively thought I was signing the rest of my career away. I was going to be there for 10 years and ride off into the sunset, and I’m going to have WrestleManias and championships and be in the Royal Rumble, and be in WWE 2K and get a Mattel figure and all of those things. So, then, to be released at 25 years old and not achieve any of the stuff I thought I was going to achieve and that I wanted to, it was a big reality check of ‘Oh, this is not how I thought this was going to go, this isn’t what I signed up for.’ Being back on the indies, I was just like, I thought I was done with this sh*t. I thought I had done it. Then, to have to go and re-do it, I really had to change my mindset. I had to break for like six months because I was hating it. I thought to myself, if I don’t step away, I’m going to rage quit and like actually stop, or start having bad matches because I didn’t care. So, I had the six months off, and when I came back, I had to re-calibrate like, ‘okay, if I’m going to hit the indies, I have to hit the ground running, and I have to do every single thing, and I have to do it with a smile on my face’ because what I do now is going to be what sets up the rest of my career. I had to really have a hard talking too to myself, and go yep, it sucks, but we’re not going to do the woe is me story. We’re going to march forward and create a new path.”
Fast forward a little bit, and we saw you and Mance Warner as a part of the TNA Wrestling roster. What was it like to be a part of that?
“It was great. I loved my time at TNA, and I loved being able to write my own stuff, come up with my own ideas, and let my creativity fly. Being able to do that alongside my husband and be able to watch him get these awesome opportunities and have banger matches and get his first real opportunity on television was awesome to see. I felt very lucky to be a part of that. So, I had a great time until I didn’t. Until it ended. But, yeah, a majority of my time there was fun. I got to do a lot of cool stuff. I got to have a TV wedding, which was a cool bucket list moment for me. So, there were a lot of things that I was very grateful for in my time in TNA for sure.”
You recently decided to bet on yourself and get yourself back into the ring, although it may not be a part of the TNA roster anymore. What went into you making this decision, and how excited are you to get back in action?
“Well, I felt like the decision was taken out of my hands. There wasn’t even a decision to be made. I was told, ‘We’re not going to let you wrestle here,’ and I’m a wrestler. So, okay, I have to go somewhere else then. I didn’t want to leave TNA. I enjoyed working there. I was really excited for my return. I was pitching a whole bunch of different storylines, I was thinking of gear, entrances, and theme music. I was fully planning on a return to the ring at TNA. So, when I was told that they wouldn’t let me wrestle, I was like, ‘Well, I guess now we have to go somewhere else and bet on ourselves and be independent again.’ If I do everything I say I’m going to do, put my pedal to the medal, go balls to the wall, and work as hard as I can to prove to everyone that A, I’m completely healthy, and B, I can go in the ring, and you can put me on any TV show and it’s going to be great, if I show all of those things, I know I will land another big TV opportunity at some point. I’m not scared of the hard work, I’m not scared of not having a weekly paycheck, I’m not scared of the instability of it. I like the chaos. I like not knowing what’s happening weekly. I thrive off that chaotic lifestyle. So, none of that was scary; it was just like, okay, this is the next chapter, and this is what we have to do. Honestly, I’m very excited to be able to get back in the ring, shake the rust off, show that I can wrestle, and show that I’m more than just a manager. Because I spent way too long, I’m so thankful for everything my career has given me so far, but between managing for (Matt) Cardona and managing for Mance (Warner), I’m now in a season of my career where it’s about Steph, and it’s about me wrestling. I don’t even care where that is. I don’t care if it’s on the indies for the next year, and I just get the reps in, and I prove myself. The main thing is wherever I’m going, as long as I can wrestle, that’s all I care about.”
