Former TNA Knockouts Champion Explains PG Ending Her WWE Gimmick, Vince Russo & Tommy Dreamer, TNA Departure

Via Chris Featherstone:

Former WWE star and TNA Knockouts Champion Katie Lea was the latest guest on the Pancakes and Powerslams Show. Katie broke into the wrestling scene after having a love for performing arts and desire to become a wrestler after growing up a fan. She credits Tommy Dreamer and Vince Russo for major moments in her wrestling career, and gave an interesting explanation of her TNA departure. Here are some highlights.

On who gave her an opportunity to compete for WWE:
“I’d actually gone to a tryout. [WWE] had these open tryouts at the time. So I’d gone to that, and I didn’t hear anything. Then I met Tommy Dreamer on an independent show, and he told me if you came back over , give me a call and I’ll get you booked and a tryout. And [eventually] he hired me”

On why her “Katie Lea Burchill” gimmick ended”
“They wanted to do the incest thing, but they wanted to treat it with respect and make it a good storyline rather than just throw it out there because I was going to get some slack anyway, which in the end, unfortunately they had to pull it because of the PG.”

On who came up with her angle as Winter in TNA with Angelina Love:
“That was Vince Russo’s idea entirely. I did have a couple of meetings where I sat down and threw some ideas around. He was always very open and receptive. He would take what he liked and write the storyline. Essentially, that was Russo’s idea, and that was his storyline. I’ll always be grateful for that.”

On her TNA departure:
“I was told nothing. I was not even told one thing. My contract was up, and they just stopped flying me in, and that was the end to that.”

Katie Lea also talks wrestling in the UK, Al Snow, her ladder match with Beth Phoenix, and more. Full interview here: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/pancakesandpowerslams/2016/08/31/pancakes-and-powerslams-episode-231