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Mike Johnson: So, you pop back in the ring as soon as you can, after you are released. Obviously, you have a passion for this, and you care about it. What's the most fun aspect of being in that ring or performing that you love that drives you back towards it and that you've missed since you had all this time sitting in carbonite like Han Solo?
Danielle Kamela: [Laughs] Right? I definitely miss the performing aspect. I miss coming up with ideas when it comes to my character that I can bring in ring or bring to promos and things like that. Then with my entering work, I have a lot of skills when it comes to gymnastics; and I never utilized those in ring as well. So, I'm excited to be able to potentially do some of those things in the ring. I just miss everything about it, I guess. There's not really one aspect that I miss more than the other. It's just a combination of all of it. So, I am just really excited to get back to work.
Mike Johnson: So, are you actively seeking bookings now? Are you starting to reach out to promoters? Is there a way that promoters can contact you right now? And I don't know if there's even an answer to this. What's the ring name going forward? Obviously, Vanessa Borne is going to be their intellectual property. You can probably find some cute creative way to play off of the name somehow. But do you want to be Danielle going forward? Have you thought about other creative concepts? I'm not asking you to reveal anything before you've got it properly protected, copyrighted, and trademarked. But do you have a vision for what you'd like to be and how you'd like to be seen going forward? Are you actively starting to take bookings?
Danielle Kamela: I've had a bunch of people reach out about bookings, and I haven't taken any as of yet. But I do have an email on my Twitter if anyone wants to message me about anything. As far as the name and my character, I have so many ideas. I guess it's just trying to figure out... I want to go back to the original Vanessa Borne idea I had. As far as the name, I'm not going to go by Danielle. My character has to be separate from me. So, I have no idea what my name is going to be. That's the one thing I haven't thought too much about; but as far as the character and what I want to put out there, I have a fairly good idea. So, it's just figuring out how I'm going to do that. Yeah, I guess, just figuring out how I'm going to do that.
Mike Johnson: You and Bianca Belair were announced as part of the same WWE Performance Center class. Obviously, she's done a tremendous job. What are your memories of her when you each started out? Because when I interviewed her, she had told me she had never even been inside a wrestling ring until the first time she walked into the Performance Center. So, obviously she's had quite a journey as well. Thoughts on her and being there and being part of those early days of her journey?
Danielle Kamela: Well, Bianca's probably my closest friends from the WWE. So, watching her grow and just having our friendship has been great. Yeah, she's been able to excel so much, and I'm definitely happy for her and proud of her. We went through a lot of times throughout the past few years of our career together, which were good memories. We struggle at times. So, I think she's one of the best. She has all of the skills you need to be a top-tier talent. So, I love watching her. Yeah. No, I love her. She's one of my close friends.
Mike Johnson: We talked a little bit about the potential of the trio, yourself and Chelsea Green and Santana Garrett. Was there ever any creative insight into what the plans were there, or was it just, "Hey, we have an idea, and we'll fill you in when we get closer," and then closer never came?
Danielle Kamela: We basically pitched all of the ideas for what we wanted the group to be about. Chelsea had her specific ideas. Santana had hers. I had mine. So, we were just trying to put those all together into different pitches we could give to potentially get our group on TV. Yeah, I want to say we were working on that for two to three weeks, maybe even four before they were like, "Okay, it's not going to happen anymore." Which I feel like a all female faction would have been really cool because they didn't have one at the time. I don't think they have one right now either.
Mike Johnson: They don't.
Danielle Kamela: So that's why I was like, it would have been fun to be able to do and bring to television; but that didn't work out. Now, all of us are free agents, so who knows. Maybe down the road you'll see the three of us together.
Mike Johnson: That's true. You never know. Everybody's probably free contractually at the moment. You had a chance to work with a lot of people in the company. You wrestled Kairi Sane. You wrestled Dakota Kai, Liv Morgan, Bailey. I know you mentioned that the Mae Young Classic experience was one of your favorite moments, but are there certain matches or moments or interactions that you take to heart and that you're very proud of in terms of things you got to do in the ring? Maybe it was at a live event and not on NXT television, but favorite moments or favorite people that you had a chance to interact with and work with in the ring?
Danielle Kamela: Everyone's different; and I've had so many different experiences, like you said, with working different people. But one of my favorite people that I've had the chance to work with was Kairi. I've worked a lot of matches with her at live events and a few on TV, and they were just always so much fun. She always wanted to bring fun into the match, which I appreciated about her. She had a lot of great ideas. So, I loved working with Kairi, and I loved all of her moves. I loved basing for her. So, I guess I would have to say Kairi was one of my favorite opponents, but all of the other women I've worked... It's always fun. It's always a good time. I guess Kairi just was one of my favorites.
Interview continues on Page 6!
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