Mandy Rose On Paige Criticizing Her On "Tough Enough," Playing A Characer On The Show
It didn't take long for Mandy Rose to earn a spot on the WWE main roster despite her relative inexperience in professional wrestling. The newcomer to the women's division was recently a guest on Chasing Glory with Lilian Garcia discussed her main roster experience so far.
After a brief stint in NXT, Rose debuted on RAW in November alongside fellow Tough Enough alum Sonya Deville and former Divas Champion Paige to form the stable Absolution. Paige was a judge on Tough Enough and she was very vocal about her distaste for Rose at the time, but their relationship has improved. Rose said she's enjoying working with Paige.
"It's been great. So far, I can't complain," Rose said. "Being brought in with Absolution and our mentor, Paige, I think it's really cool, and really full circle since she was our judge on Tough Enough, and she hated me. She was rough with me, but I get it."
Rose previously had no in-ring experience when she was a competitor on Tough Enough. People labeled her as someone who is simply seeking fame instead of someone who loves wrestling. Rose said she is working hard to prove those misconceptions about her are wrong.
"For me, it was one of those things where I get it where people can be rough with me because I didn't come from a professional wrestling background or anything like that, and the way I am perceived sometimes as someone who is just a model and is in here for the fame, and I get that, but I don't think people get that it isn't the case," she said. "Everything I have achieved in my life I worked very hard for; I didn't just wake up and say this was handed to me, so it kind of bothered me because I was very sensitive to that, but then I thought, you know what, it'll be more rewarding for me in the end when I prove to everyone that I can be the person that I want to be. Besides that, it was fun, but I think it's awesome that it was full circle, and with her debut back from surgery and the fact that Sonya and I were with her [during Tough Enough] it's crazy."
Rose said she had to prove to Paige that she wasn't just a model or a "Diva," which is what Paige criticized her for while she was on Tough Enough. Rose said she didn't take offense to the things Paige would say about her because she knows she lacks experience. She also believes her and Paige are fundamentally different people, which is why they butted heads initially.
"It was more of the fact that she would judge me that I didn't know how to wrestle, which I didn't know how to wrestle at that time because I came from a fitness background; I didn't have any pro-wrestling experience. That was the biggest thing, and I think that I am very different than Paige," Rose said. "Paige brought a lot to the women's division, as the 'anti-Diva' which is great, but I kind of come off as the Diva, which I want to change that, I'm not just a Diva of course, we're called superstars, and maybe that was what it had to do with. We are very different, but Paige didn't get to know me personally; she just knew me from the show, and I wasn't the nicest on the show, which I get. I was playing a character, especially towards the end when I played the b***h."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Chasing Glory with Lilian Garcia with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Source: Chasing Glory with Lilian Garcia
Peter Bahi contributed to this article.