Natalia Markova explained the awesome experience of wrestling on stage with Smashing Pumpkins.
The Russian star recently signed a new deal with the NWA, keeping her with the company for multiple years. That deal has afforded her more opportunities, including touring with Billy Corgan‘s band, Smashing Pumpkins. She wrestled Bryan Idol on stage during their recent tour, in one of the most unique wrestling venues of all time.
Bill Pritchard of Wrestlezone spoke with Natalia Markova about what it was like to tour with Smashing Pumpkins. She said it was awesome, and explained how the idea for the match came about during a dinner with Billy Corgan. Markova and Bryan Idol made a cameo in the Smashing Pumpkins “Beguiled” music video, and later brought it to the live stage.
“We are having fun doing that every time,” Markova explained. “So, one day we were sitting with Billy in Tampa and actually having dinner. And he was like, ‘Do you wanna go on stage tonight with me?’ We’re like, ‘Sure, let’s do that. We’ll never say no to that.’ It just popped out of nowhere and we thought it would be so fun just to kind of reference the video.”
Markova said she and Idol fight over who is cooler, and she goes over after hitting a cutter. It’s a huge tour to be part of, and she is very happy with how it’s been received.
“Every time I hit the Cutter, there’s a huge pop. It feels like the biggest show in the planet. And again, it’s a cool thing to see that people who don’t know wrestling,” Markova explained. “They actually get really excited and they pop and they react, and they follow the little story we tell. And Billy loves it too. He’s having fun watching us doing that song. He reacts, if you watch his face [he reacts along with the story playing out.]”
Natalia Markova on fans following her work after watching her perform at the concerts
Natalia Markova revealed that many people became fans of her wrestling work after the concerts. She also learned that many had never seen wrestling before.
“Oh yeah. All the time. A lot. A lot of people. Sometimes we do NWA shows on [the Pumpkins’ tour]. Not [traditional wrestling] shows. But we have a ring there and the arena, and we wrestle. We did the whole Australian tour like that,” Markova said. “So, after those, a lot of people come to me and they were like, ‘You know what? I never watched wrestling. I never seen wrestling live before. And I love it. It’s actually so fun. And I never knew I’d like it.’
“It’s a big thing for wrestling. I think we just open to big crowds, to people who would never care to watch. But they just see it and they realize they like it. I think it’s a big, big deal,” Markova added. “That’s the thing, I always say that Billy Corgan is the promoter who’s a huge star. He’s a rock star, popular all over the world. So has this pull, he has this special thing that he can show wrestling to a lot of people that will never see that otherwise,” Natalia Markova said.
Watch our full interview with Natalia Markova below:
