MLW's Salina De La Renta Talks WWE Being A Short-Term Goal, Total Divas Inspiring Her

Major League Wrestling star Salina de la Renta took some time out to appear on Instinct Culture by Denise Salcedo. During the discussion, Salina opens up about what inspired her to get into pro wrestling, and she also reveals that WWE is just a "short term goal" for her.

"Well I would say that every wrestler's dream is to at least be in WWE once. Even if they say no, that's a lie," Salina said. "How did you even hear of wrestling in the first place? You can't tell me you want to be a professional wrestler and you didn't want to be in WWE.

"I would say that's one of my short term goals, long term I definitely see myself finishing my doctorate's degree, I definitely want to do movies in Hollywood, I've always wanted to since I was a little girl, and now it feels like more real," she added. "As I see everything else come together, this taught me that dreams do come true. And all I really have to do is keep trying and just not give up."

Salina explained that the reality show Total Divas was a major inspiration in getting her interested in pro wrestling. Her athletic background and dabbling in performing arts have set her on a course for success in the industry.

"I decided I wanted to pursue pro wrestling because I felt it fit the most with my personality. I am very much into performing arts and anything that has to do with sports," Salina said. "When I was in school I remember trying out for soccer, volleyball, anything. I wasn't good, but I tried out...then I did singing, dancing, modeling, acting. I was trying to do it all until I found what I wanted to do for real.

"I moved to Florida to study film and I was going to college for screenwriting and taking all my classes and I came across the reality TV show, Total Divas, and I was like, 'Oh wow, wow, this is a different world.' I knew about wrestling by word of mouth and I had seen some stuff. It wasn't like I was completely clueless, but I didn't know that much," Salina continued. "And I got into the show and decided that I kinda looked like the Divas... And it was a new world for me but I wanted to try it out. I started researching wrestling schools near me and I decided to try it out. I took a bump and I decided, 'This is it, I am going to be doing this.'"

As with any new endeavor, there is a learning curve to adjust to. Salina says that becoming familiar with terms like heel, babyface, and lockup were just the tip of the iceberg in terms of wrestling knowledge she needed to learn. She also had to manage breaking her leg on multiple occasions.

"I will say that at first it wasn't really that hard, mainly I didn't know anything about wrestling. That was definitely a challenge, it was identifying what a heel was, what a babyface was, what a lockup was, I had to learn everything," Salina explained. "And it didn't come from me growing up and watching it. I had to study, figure it out, otherwise nobody was gonna take the time to explain it to me. But I would say I caught on to it very easy, and the hardest part for me was when a year into my career, I broke my leg."

"It was terrible. The first time it snapped I was kinda new in the business, barely making money from it, so it's not like I had a bunch of money stacked up ready for me to pay for surgery," Salina said. "And I decided to stay in wrestling no matter what, and I kept going back to my bookings, wrestling with a broken leg, and it snapped like 4 other times. The last time, my leg was crooked all the way to the side and I knew I needed surgery? I did consider everything, but when it comes to my health I thought even if I need a prosthetic leg, I will be a prosthetic leg celebrity, like I don't care, I will rock it and I'll make it extra dope."

Salina recounted a funny story where she showed up at MLW attempting to cover up the severity of a broken leg.

"Well I had a broken leg, so when I was coming in, I am thinking, 'Damn, I gotta talk and I can't let these people know that my leg is broken.' [MLW] knew I had some problem with my leg but they didn't know I couldn't walk," Salina said. "They thought I tore my ACL but I didn't go into detail, and they said 'Can you get a business suit?"... And I am sure they thought something sexy like a skirt or something and I show up with long pants covering my leg cause it's crooked and I had the cane and everything and the cane helped because it gave me like that gangster presence."

Salina noted that she was allowed to produce a MLW show with the blessing of Court Bauer. Looking back at the experience, she says that things didn't exactly come out the way she pictured, but the reception from the fans proved that she set up an entertaining show.

"That was an amazing experience, because like I said, I am very into performing arts and I moved here wanting to study film, to become a TV director, and I was always writing different ideas for shows and bringing it to Court without realizing that that's what a director does," Salina said. "At first he didn't say anything, and I was kinda offended...a few weeks after he's like 'Hey about that pitch, how about you producing an episode with MLW?' And I was like 'What? Like for real, me?'

"I could literally do whatever I wanted...My favorite was getting to see the whole show come together, it never comes out the way you picture it though? but it looked so much better? and seeing people react, I only do it for the crowd's reaction that's the reward for my performance and this time it wasn't just my performance, it was my show, and when everybody was shouting screaming, saying 'This was the best episode' the ratings were going crazy? it's a great feeling," Salina finished.