Indi Hartwell recently appeared as a guest on the Battleground podcast for an in-depth interview covering all things pro wrestling and TNA.
The following are some of the highlights.
On what fans are finally seeing from her during this run in TNA Wrestling: “I think fans are finally getting to see me on my own, if that makes sense. They’re basically seeing me grow as a singles competitor and as an individual because a lot of my NXT run, I was in a group or in a tag team or in a marriage. I never really got the chance to show me as just me. I had a short stint in NXT as champion and as a singles competitor, but the TNA audience, they’re getting to see me grow and find my feet.”
On deciding to re-sign with TNA Wrestling because she has a goal of becoming TNA Knockouts World Champion: “That’s the whole reason why I’m there. That’s my main goal from the start. It’s been over a year since I’ve been at TNA. I haven’t achieved it. I’ve got the shelf ready to put the replica title back there. So yeah, I still haven’t achieved it, but it’s still the goal. That’s why I re-signed with TNA because I want to win the Knockouts World Title. I grew up watching TNA. I grew up watching the Knockouts. I remember at one point, watching it and being like, ‘I want to be a TNA Knockout.’ So, yeah, I’m still working towards that.”
On the reaction from fans to the Dexter Lumis haircut video and it going viral: “I kept some of them (Dexter’s dreads) as a memento. But honestly, I personally didn’t expect the reaction to be that good. The video got a lot of traction. We filmed it with this guy here in Orlando called Harry who’s an amazing photographer and videographer. Dexter, I should call him Sam, Sam and I were thinking, ’Should we film this ourselves or should we get someone to film it?’ I’m so glad we got Harry to film it because the way that he did it and edited it, it came off so cool. It’s like a perfect way to show Sam saying goodbye to that old character and going back to his roots. I think the video came out amazing. I’m so proud of it, so proud of him, and I’m just grateful that a lot of people loved it.”
On what made the InDex storyline with herself and Dexter Lumis so memorable for the fans: “I think it’s because in wrestling, there are a lot of things that wrestling fans can’t relate to. Like, wrestling fans can’t relate to having a match or winning a title. But they can relate to someone falling in love or chasing someone in pursuit of love. The story there was Indy was after Dexter, but her family, The Way, Candice, Johnny, were keeping her away from that. But it was just like showing perseverance and then showing that the perseverance pays off, you can get the guy. It was just fun. Tommy Dreamer always tells me that it was very endearing. I think people were drawn to it because I was very endearing as this lovesick, lovable girl going for this weird, creepy serial killer, stalker, I don’t even know what to call. For wrestling, it was still larger than life because it kind of is weird, like this young innocent girl going for this creepy guy. But like I said, it’s relatable. So I think fans just were drawn to it because it’s something that they can experience in their real life, rather than winning titles and wrestling at WrestleMania. That’s the thing that separates the wrestler from the wrestling fan. But this was able to bring them into it, if that makes sense.”
Watch the complete Indi Hartwell interview via the YouTube player embedded below.
