Candice Michelle: “My biggest highlight was when I was in my storyline with Beth Phoenix”
On the latest Chasing Glory, Candice Michelle spoke with Lilian Garcia and recalled her career highlight being her feud with Beth Phoenix. The two began feuding when Michelle was WWE Women’s Champion in the summer and fall of 2007. They feuded for a few PPVs until Michelle finally lost the title to Phoenix at No Mercy 2007.
Highlights from the discussion are below:
On working with Phoenix: “My biggest highlight was when I was in my storyline with Beth Phoenix. And there was a point where it was going so good. It was when I really grasped the philosophy of a wrestling match. Because when you come in from Hollywood, they don’t train you on anything … it’s like, ‘You figure everything out.’ There’s no like, protocol, there’s no going to TV beforehand, it’s like throwing you to the wolves. [laughs] … So obviously, I had no idea what the philosophy of a wrestling match is. And I actually remember when I was working a little bit with Trish Stratus. And I was like, ‘I can do that.’ She made it look so easy, but it was so easy because she put in so much work. I didn’t know that at the time, like, ‘I can do that too. This is easy!’ And I didn’t give her the respect she probably deserved at that time, because I thought I could do it too. And then you get in there and you’re like, ‘Whoa.’”
On Arn Anderson and Ricky Steamboat coming over to work with them as agents: “And then when you get the philosophy, that’s when the crowd gets it. And that was the moment when Arn Anderson and Ricky Steamboat saw what Beth Phoenix and I were creating. And they came to us, it was a house show overseas. And I remember them, you know, they’re the top agents. And they left some of the top matches to come work our match. And really explained, because they were heel and babyface, really explain that concept to us. And that’s when it clicked for me.”
On learning the psychology of the match: “It’s really for me as the babyface. Being the smaller one to a more Glamazon character, I had to be willing to sell everything she did to me. You know? And that’s what made me the underdog. It’s what made me want — people want to fight for me. And what I don’t think the wrestling fans totally grasp in words, they grasp in feeling and heart, is that we’re all the underdog at some point. And we all so desperately want the comeback. And so when I’m down so bad, because literally she could beat the crap out of me. And if I have any fight or flight left, they’re like ‘Hey, I can do that at my job, I can do that at my school.’ Maybe not the words come to their mind, but that feeling. So that’s why it has billions of people that watch. It’s not just the storyline, it’s the hope and the concept, and the philosophy that you can put in your life. And so that’s when it’s brilliant. When the audience feels that, you feel it. And to get to a point in the match were it wasn’t scripted. Where Beth and I were listening to what the audience wanted, you know? Like, how long is she going to hold me in that hold. When is that audience gonna get behind me. And that’s not a given. You don’t just walk out and they love you or hate you. You work for all of it, you know? And so that’s when it becomes really special.”
