Dawn Marie Says She Initially Got Into Wrestling As A Favor To Someone

Ishaan SharmaMay 10, 2026, 9:09 pm

Dawn Marie says she got into wrestling after doing a favor for someone.

Marie was one of the most controversial female wrestlers of her time, largely due to an angle she did with Torrie Wilson and Torrie’s father. Following her WWE release in 2004, Marie has largely stayed away from the spotlight.

Speaking on Going Ringside recently, Dawn Marie was asked how she got her start in wrestling.

“Many years ago, I used to do some acting and modeling. I ran into somebody once. I was signing up some posters for them, for a modeling gig I had done. Remember those Spencer photos? I used to do those cheesy posters. So when I was signing up some for him, he had mentioned wrestling. I was like, ‘Oh, I’m a fan of wrestling blah, blah, blah’ which I really wasn’t for years, like only when I was younger. Then he took me serious. He called in a favor and got me booked on an indie show. I was like, ‘Jonathan, I can’t do that. I was only joking. I’m not really interested. I don’t know.’ He’s like, ‘Well, just do this one for me. I pulled in a favor.’ I was like, ‘Okay.’ So my first show was I managed Jimmy Snuka against Tony Atlas. The second I walked out of that curtain, I was done.”

Marie was asked if this was the moment that got her hooked on wrestling.

“Yep. You ever see on TV, when everything goes slow motion, and it’s like this dream sequence? That happens to me in real life. Okay, so I had just finished college, and I was working in New York. I was a director of an international real estate firm at the time. I just did this one gig just because and everything just stopped. I could tell you to this day, like 30 plus years later, how many rows were there, what it smelled like, everything. At that moment, I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is what I’m supposed to do for the rest of my life.‘ I just knew it. I called up my boss. I quit and never went back.”