Former WWE Diva, Angela Fong (known in WWE as Savannah) has opened up about her time and release in the company.
Other topics include her training in FCW, how she grew to love wrestling, working with the likes of Serena, working as a ring announcer, declining a TNA tryout and being mistaken for Gail Kim.
Interview can be streamed or downloaded here:
Excerpts:
On her release: “It was heartbreaking. [...] I didn’t expect it at all that’s why I think it was so surprising. Sometimes some of the people on the roster, you see it coming or you’re not happy, or something’s there that you kind of expect it. I had no idea… literally, no idea.”
“It was very sad. Three years doesn’t sound like a long time compared to some other people in the company who’ve been there for 10 years. But being a girl in your 20s, spending three years moving away from your hometown, immersing in a completely different world, it’s a lot, especially when you fall in love with it. That’s when it’s the hardest. Sometimes now I wish I didn’t like it as much as I do because it would’ve been a lot easier to be like ‘Alright, next thing’. And it wasn’t like that. I was really sad for a while and had no idea what to do with myself for a couple of months.”
On Jamie Keyes, who was her successor as ring announcer, becoming a wrestler on NXT3 instead of her: “That’s probably what made me so upset when I saw that, actually. She was with the company for like six months and she wasn’t even comfortable really wrestling. I had her first match, I remember [in] FCW and she wasn’t very comfortable. That’s what’s one of those things, it’s like, she liked ring announcing and she wasn’t as comfortable in the ring and they put her in the ring. That’s so random.”
“I think about that and I’m like, she [Jamie] quit. She didn’t want to do it anymore. She didn’t like it and she asked for her release. And then the other girl [Ashley Valence]… She also quit. It’s crazy. I’m like, why would you release the person that loves it and would do ring announcing or wrestling or whatever, and then hire these other girls and they quit?”
On declining a TNA tryout: “At the time, they had emailed me right when my 90 days was over and asked me to come for a tryout. I appreciated it because I had thought that’s what I wanted. A couple of months before that, I totally would have but by that time I started becoming passionate about other things in my life. I started getting modelling opportunities and I got to do a short film out in LA that was awesome. It was just all these other opportunities, I’m like ‘Wow, there’s all these other things I could do’. I like TNA and I watch it from time to time and a lot of people I know are in it. You never know, it could still happen, but at the time it just wasn’t right for me.”
On being mistaken for Gail Kim: “Oh my god. [It happened] a lot. At first it was just funny, then it was just ridiculous because we would be in the same room and people would think I was Gail. It was crazy because you’re like, ‘Okay, there could be more than one Asian person here’. We’re totally different. She was really cool. Her being older and more experienced than me, I travelled with her here and there. It’s funny because we would purposely walk besides each other at the airport to see what people would do. Like, to see who people thought was who.”
Other topics include her training in FCW, how she grew to love wrestling, working with the likes of Serena, working as a ring announcer, declining a TNA tryout and being mistaken for Gail Kim.
Interview can be streamed or downloaded here:
Excerpts:
On her release: “It was heartbreaking. [...] I didn’t expect it at all that’s why I think it was so surprising. Sometimes some of the people on the roster, you see it coming or you’re not happy, or something’s there that you kind of expect it. I had no idea… literally, no idea.”
“It was very sad. Three years doesn’t sound like a long time compared to some other people in the company who’ve been there for 10 years. But being a girl in your 20s, spending three years moving away from your hometown, immersing in a completely different world, it’s a lot, especially when you fall in love with it. That’s when it’s the hardest. Sometimes now I wish I didn’t like it as much as I do because it would’ve been a lot easier to be like ‘Alright, next thing’. And it wasn’t like that. I was really sad for a while and had no idea what to do with myself for a couple of months.”
On Jamie Keyes, who was her successor as ring announcer, becoming a wrestler on NXT3 instead of her: “That’s probably what made me so upset when I saw that, actually. She was with the company for like six months and she wasn’t even comfortable really wrestling. I had her first match, I remember [in] FCW and she wasn’t very comfortable. That’s what’s one of those things, it’s like, she liked ring announcing and she wasn’t as comfortable in the ring and they put her in the ring. That’s so random.”
“I think about that and I’m like, she [Jamie] quit. She didn’t want to do it anymore. She didn’t like it and she asked for her release. And then the other girl [Ashley Valence]… She also quit. It’s crazy. I’m like, why would you release the person that loves it and would do ring announcing or wrestling or whatever, and then hire these other girls and they quit?”
On declining a TNA tryout: “At the time, they had emailed me right when my 90 days was over and asked me to come for a tryout. I appreciated it because I had thought that’s what I wanted. A couple of months before that, I totally would have but by that time I started becoming passionate about other things in my life. I started getting modelling opportunities and I got to do a short film out in LA that was awesome. It was just all these other opportunities, I’m like ‘Wow, there’s all these other things I could do’. I like TNA and I watch it from time to time and a lot of people I know are in it. You never know, it could still happen, but at the time it just wasn’t right for me.”
On being mistaken for Gail Kim: “Oh my god. [It happened] a lot. At first it was just funny, then it was just ridiculous because we would be in the same room and people would think I was Gail. It was crazy because you’re like, ‘Okay, there could be more than one Asian person here’. We’re totally different. She was really cool. Her being older and more experienced than me, I travelled with her here and there. It’s funny because we would purposely walk besides each other at the airport to see what people would do. Like, to see who people thought was who.”