Carmella Explains her Character Change, Push to Have a Bodyguard

Carmella was the latest guest on Ryan Satin’s Out of Character podcast to discuss a wide range of topics, including how she shifted her character away from the Princess of Staten Island version, and how she originally pitched to have a bodyguard prior to being paired with her sommelier Reginald. Highlights from the interview are below.

Shifting her character away from the Princess of Staten Island:

“When I was sitting at home, there was no rhyme or reason. It was just, ‘we don’t have anything for you right now. Stay at home until we have a good story.’ Cool. They said my character needed a ‘fresh coat of paint’ and at first I’m like, ‘I love my character and don’t want to change.’ Then I thought it was a good thing to change and show some growth. If I was going to have a new character, I wanted something that would resonate and something I would feel. I made vignettes at home, hired people, created them, and sent them to WWE. They were like, ‘this is great, we love it, this is what we’re going to do.’ I thought keeping the Princess of Staten Island and, for the lack of a better term, make her the Queen. I know I’m not the Queen, Charlotte is the Queen, don’t get me wrong. Just (making Carmella) grown up a little and embracing that. That’s what we did. The videos I made were a lot different than the vignettes that ended up being out there but things always end up getting changed. That’s fine. You just take it and do with it what you will and make the most of it. I just knew I wanted to return and make a statement. That’s what I did. I had an idea for a new entrance and I wanted to be different. I loved my old entrance song so at first, it felt weird to not be excited and moonwalking, but I wanted to do something different so I ripped off an old Madonna video. I was doing the same character for seven years but it’s still part of me and part of Carmella, you just have to grow up a little sometimes.”

On the vignettes that played hyping her return:

“It was probably two months. It took a while for them to look at the video. I sent it to them and some of the right people saw it but were like, ‘we can’t get it until Vince signs off on it.’ Finally, I was like, ‘I’m just gonna send it to Vince. I’m not waiting anymore, I want to get back to work.’ He ended up liking it and obviously, he made tweaks and changes.”

How she originally pitched for a bodyguard and instead got a sommelier in Reginald:

“I wanted to have a bodyguard and they were like, ‘we’ll get there, and then one day I show up and I have a sommelier. I’m like, ‘what is happening? I didn’t pitch for a sommelier, but let’s do it.’ We thought it was a one-time thing and he ended up sticking around and now he’s on Raw.”