You got started in professional wrestling in 1995. How did you get your start?

It was a fluke accident kinda thing. I had just finished business school at the NYU business school. I had a great job as a director of an international real estate firm. I had some posters I was doing at the time, you know those cheesy bikini photos, and a gentleman came to my house and talked to me about wrestling. I was a huge fan of wrestling growing up, but ran away from it when I hit puberty. There was an independent show being run by Cousin Luke, but I was hesitant since I had a real job. So I started, and managed Tony Atlas against Jimmy Snuka. As corny as it sounds, but it is true, I remember walking through those curtains in this little high school gym and I remember everything just stopping and saying, "Oh my god, this is what I've got to do for the rest of my life." That was on a Friday night, and on Monday I quit my job.

How did you get your start in ECW?

In August of 1998, I got a phone call from Bubba [Ray Dudley] and there was a show in Philly. Tammy [Sytch] was coming off her WWE days as 'Sunny', and it was her official first appearance in ECW with Chris Candido against Lance Storm. Lance needed someone and I had a lot of local experience. So I went to ECW, it was supposed to be a one-shot deal, but the chemistry between Lance and I was incredible. I got a phone call the next week and they said that they would like for me to come back for more shots if I was interested. I said "Yeah, I would love to"!

How would you describe your time in ECW?

I loved my time in ECW, and not for the reasons that everyone else says they do. I'm not a follower or an ECW loyalist. I loved my time in ECW because I grew as a performer, and I grew as a person. I grew up in ECW, even though I was 27 at the time. I learned how to accept people for who and what they are, and not for what I expect them to be. I learned how to conduct myself in a certain manner in the industry. I learned how to deal with people who don't like you a lot and are out to get you. And I learned how to respect my opportunity. Every day I was able to go out and do what I love for a living was a gift, and it may not be there tomorrow. I also learned how to be loyal to those that are good to you, through good times and bad.

Towards the end of ECW, a lot of people were jumping ship to WCW or WWF. Why did you stay?

I gave my word in a contract to ECW, not Paul Heyman, that I was going to stay until my contract ended. And there are only two things I can control in this industry, that I'm only as good as my last performance so I better not have a bad performance, and I'm only as good as my word. I told Paul Heyman that I'm not leaving. I told him that I'm not leaving, not because I'm an ECW follower - I didn't drink the Kool Aid - but because I gave you my word and my word means everything to me. I said, I will stay with you as long as the company stays open, until the day my contract is over. And at that point, I can't promise you what I'm going to do. He shook my hand, he gave me a hug and said "I respect you for that". Paul and I were always close, we were close as friends, but at that point was when we became close in business.

After that, you trained with Mikey Whipwreck and Simon Diamond for a year before joining WWE in 2002. Tell us about your time with WWE.

I had a wonderful, wonderful time there. Who wouldn't? I had worked my entire career to get there, it's the NFL of wrestling.

During your time there, one thing fans remember most is your feud with Torrie Wilson and marrying her father, and he had a heart attack and died. Do you still get asked a lot about that storyline?

Oh my god, I swear, you'd think that was the only thing I've ever done in my career. Torrie and I have incredible chemistry. If you ever had two opposite people, and I'm not comparing us to Miss Elizabeth and Sherri Martel, but as opposite as Miss Elizabeth and Sherri Martel were, that's how opposite Torrie and I were. People like to watch me and Torrie work together, because we were so opposite! Nowadays, women don't have characters, but we had it. I'm very down to earth, while Torrie is the epitemy of good-girl, girl next door. I don't wear make-up in real life, I keep my hair in a ponytail. You could be the biggest Dawn Marie fan in the universe, and you would walk right past me and not even realize it was me. That's just how I am, the complete opposite of how I am on TV. I would go through airports and people would recognize me and say, "You're that lady that married the old man, you married Al Wilson!" They wouldn't remember my name, but they would remember his.

You and Torrie had the on-screen kiss during the angle, was that awkward at all?

[Laughs] Yeah, I've never kissed a girl in my whole life. So it was my first, and it was really strange. Especially since it's this person that I got to look at now for the next 275 days of the year. And, not only that, having a locker room full of horny men that just watched it. Stephanie was the one who directed the whole thing, I think that was the only reason why I was comfortable with it. She was a lot of help to me, and I give a lot of credit to Stephanie for how I grew as a heel and as a talent.

Did you and Stephanie maintain that relationship throughout your entire time in WWE?

Absolutely! I mean, I wouldn't just pick up the phone and call Steph, we weren't friends. But she was my go-to person. If I had a problem, she was the only person I felt like I could go to. I have to give her credit - and I'm not blowing smoke, I'm not looking for a job out there - but I have to give Vince credit because if I ever needed to speak to them about any issue, they would give me a good five-ten minutes to speak with them. And if it couldn't get resolved then, they would setup an appointment to settle it. I have to given them respect for that, because how many owners, CEOs, can you do that with? I would say the same with Stephanie, I mean I got more than five to ten minutes with her because she's not as busy as he is, but she was very attainable when it came to issues or creative issues.

You were released from the WWE in 2005, apparently after revealing that you were pregnant. Were you surprised by the release?

My pregnancy was planned, I was older and I wanted to be a mom. I didn't want to be like so many women in the industry prior to me that are so caught up in their careers, and they never want to take the time off, I knew I didn't want to be that. Family is really, really important to me and I really wanted to have my own family. When I did sit down and made my decision to have a baby at the height of my career, 'cause my clock was ticking and I was 34 at the time, I knew there was a possibility that it would happen because there was no one before me that had gone through it. But there was also a side of me that thought, "No, they're not going to do that." Did I think they were really going to work around it, whether use it in a storyline or give me time off until I get back . . . yeah, I did. I really thought they would, for lack of a better word, do the right thing. But I would be lying if I said I was surprised when I got the final call. At the same time, years later,I'm able to look back and say that it was probably for the best. My love for the industry is so deep, that I don't think I would have been able to leave on my own. It's kinda like that really hard decision was made for me. I don't agree with how it was done, and I pray to god that it won't happen to anyone else, but that led me into what I'm doing now, which is Wrestlers Rescue.

Tell us more about what Wrestlers Rescue, and what it's objective is.

In October of 2007, I started doing appearances again. And I saw guys who were my friends, and guys I grew up watching, and saw them so broken down and needing help that it made me sick. It made me sick to my stomach. There are so many guys that, when they're done wrestling, they wonder "what am I going to do now"? What do I put on my resume or job application, that I'm a professional wrestler? They're going to laugh at you, even if you had an education prior, because you've been removed from your education for so many years. I decided I wasn't going to be one of those people that sit back and complain, and that I would try and make a difference. So I put together Wrestlers Rescue, which was originally to take care of people with health care needs due to ailments due to wrestling. Then we looked at other issues, like money. So we put together a financial advisory unit, to help people with their finances. And we launched it in December of 2008, and it has grown so much.

Now I'm working with a company that teaches job skills and job placement for wrestlers once they are done with their careers. We haven't worked out all the kinks yet, but we are working on getting it done.

Wrestlers Rescue also has a cruise scheduled for next year, can you let us know more about that?

It's July 19th, 2010. We'll have a bunch of wrestlers for five days. If we sell a minimum of 500 tickets, they will give us a $50,000 donation to our foundation. Tickets will be on sale in a few weeks. It's more than just a fan cruise, if you're an independent worker or a wrestling student, there will be a four day, two hour intensive mini-dojo, taught by some of the best people in the industry. We'll be teaching ring psychology, health and fitness and much more.

People are asking why we're doing it in July when it's so far away. We were asked to do it in February, but I didn't want to exclude a certain fan base. I didn't want to exclude college students, I didn't want to exclude kids who are in school, we want families to go. Because the cruise isn't going to be all about wrestling. We're going to have pool parties, Q & As, the dojos, and more. It's going to be completely fan interactive, wrestlers are not going to come on and just sun bathe. It will be completely fan friendly. We also have a payment option for people who might have difficulty paying for the cruise, which is $150 down and then they make equal payments until the cruise and they can lock their room and rate in now. So it works out really nice for people that are on a tight budget and it gives them a year to make the payment.

Check out WrestlersRescue.org for more information for more information on upcoming events and the cruise.