Maria is featured in a new interview with Eric Gargiulo on PhillyBurbs.com. In it, she mentions that Playboy tried to get her to pose for the magazine from the time that she was 19 until now when she finally agreed to it. She also talked about not winning the Diva Search competition, her favorite moments in WWE so far, Ric Flair, and more. Below are the highlights:
On what it’s like working WrestleMania: I’ve been with WWE for 3 1/2 years. I’ve been to WrestleMania, this will be my fourth year and this year is the first year that I’m actually in a match. I don’t think it has sank in completely yet. I’ve been working on different wrestling moves and stuff that I can do in the ring because I definitely want to be up to my game and up to par when I’m out there doing it. It really hasn’t sunk in yet. I remember last year crying at the end of WrestleMania when I was watching all of the highlights, so I’m sure that it will be very emotional and very, very cool.
Whether or not it was discouraging not winning the Diva Search competition: Well, I’m glad now that I didn’t make it all of the way to the end. Because I have always been a fighter, I fight for what I believe in. It doesn’t matter that I placed five. I still showed my feistiness, my aggressiveness you know flipping the bird at Carmella and getting out of there. I called every single week. I wanted to be a part of the WWE, I was addicted. I was addicted to the energy from the live crowd. I was addicted to our amazing fans so it wasn’t discouraging at all. If anything, it was motivating.
On turning Playboy down: I was asked to do Playboy from the time that I was 19. I just wasn’t ready. I didn’t feel like it was my time. I just didn’t feel like it was there yet. When I became a woman and started to feel comfortable, and felt like it was everything that I wanted it to be, that’s when I did it. So yeah, I had turned it down a few times. I got the advice from my family, my friends, and the people that are closest to me and decided that this year was the year to do it.
