After leaving WWE in 2011, Melina would walk away from wrestling a year later before returning to the Independent scene in 2015. Melina would wrestle a handful of matches each year, working for companies such as BCW, MCW, NYWC/Outlaw Wrestling, and more.
Recently, Melina showed up on NWA Powerrr, aligning herself with Thunder Rosa & Marti Belle. Two members of the trio will battle Allysin Kay & Ashley Vox this Saturday at NWA Into The Fire. Ahead of the event, Melina spoke with Andrew Thompson of POST Wrestling about being apart of NWA.
"Okay, it was so freaking amazing," she said. "So I went the day before [I debuted on the show], because I wanted to see what NWA was all about. I needed to witness this, and I’m watching — I actually watched from behind everybody, and I saw the audience, I saw it from above the studio and then I also went backstage and saw it from the TV. I watched every episode, I see every person’s reaction and everything. The energy and the fans are so freaking amazing. I was really skeptical. I was thinking, ‘It’s small. Will people get really into it? Are they gonna be one of those crowds where it’s kinda like they just watch and they don’t cheer?’ No, they were so energetic. They loved everybody there, and I love to see… during my era, I loved seeing Ken Anderson. I love Colt Cabana and there was so many people where I was like, ‘God, I haven’t seen you guys in such a long time, like personally, and to see you and work with you, that just made my heart love wrestling all over again’, because you want to see these personalities. They’re not done. Just because they’re a little bit older and they’re not in the WWE, doesn’t mean that they’re done. No, they’ve only just begun.”
Melina has wrestled all over the world, including in front of 80,000 fans at WrestleMania 23. NWA offers a different setting, being held at GPB Studios in Atlanta, a studio venue that holds only hundreds of fans. However, the smaller site doesn't bother Melina.
“I actually do [prefer the intimate settings]. People were tripping out because they thought… I feel like sometimes when you’re in a large venue like that, like WWE style, you might as well just watch it at home sometimes because you end up watching the titantron or the big screens and everybody’s too small and you can’t really see anything, but at least you get the feeling of interacting with the fans who love what you love and love the characters that you love. When it comes to a place like NWA, you are right there with the wrestlers. You get to see everything, you get to hear everything. You get to interact with fans, they interact with you and it’s just amazing, and it’s not like an indie show either. It’s unique," she said.
Elsewhere in the interview, Melina discussed getting closure at WWE Raw Reunion and being able to say goodbye to the people she needed to say goodbye to.
Fightful will provide live coverage of NWA Into The Fire on Saturday, Dec. 14. You can check out the full lineup for the event by clicking here.
