The WCW Nitro Girls made their mark on Monday nights on TNT, but you might not know they also had a brief career as a pop music group.
Former Nitro Girl Chae Marsh recently spoke with WrestleZone about her time with the wrestling troupe, as well as their run as the female pop group called Diversity 5. Formed towards the end of WCW, five of the Nitro Girls — Chae, Teri Byrne (Fyre), Melissa Bellin (Spice), Sharmell Sullivan (Storm) and Vanessa Sanchez (Tygress) joined the group and released a single in 2001.
Chae talked to WrestleZone about how the idea came to fruition, as well as the appeal of the group and why it didn’t ultimately work out.
“So being in Atlanta, which is like the hub of the music industry, towards the end [of WCW] we were approached and that was the time the Spice Girls were slowing down a little bit and there were so many boy bands like NSync and Backstreet Boys, so it was a natural thing to do. We already had the look and we had some following and really, legit some of the girls could really sing, not me, but they could sing really well.
“So, it was a natural thing to do and it was such an abrupt stop of what happened because last we really heard was Eric was trying to buy the company and he had these big, huge plans for all of us and one time we were in one of the cities [on tour for WCW] and Eric said he had big plans for the Nitro Girls too. So, that’s kind of what we knew last, and to have it happen the way it did, it was a big, abrupt ending. It’s like going 1000 miles-per-hour then coming to a complete stop.”
Chae said things stalled from there, but spoke about why the group caught on in the first place. She highlighted the fact that the Nitro Girls were an unexpected sight on WCW TV, but the unique dynamic also caught fans’ attention.
“I think the group caught on because it was so out of left field, it was so unexpected. It’s kind of one of those things where if someone had a big group discussion about it, like a town hall about if you go to football games, you see girls dancing, well what about wrestlers? I can pretty much bet, people would say ‘no way.’ Because people aren’t used to that and they’d say that a female presence in wrestling is either as a valet or as a wrestler, and it’s kind of one of those things that they wouldn’t be thinking with the right view. So, when it was just thrown at them completely unexpected, I think it actually fit.
“It’s like trying something new, so instead of asking like ‘do you want this?’ You’re like eating something and say no, I don’t want it, I don’t like the texture or whatever but someone sticks something else in your mouth and you’re like ‘hmmm, I actually like that, it’s pretty good.’ So, I think that has a lot to do with it and how can you go wrong with an arena full of men and a group of girls, right? Especially since our first dance was a cheer dance and I think also what’s nice is, is the individuality, we weren’t cookie cutter. We weren’t just one girl was the same as the other, it was also the diversity that caught people’s attention.”
Check out our full interview with Chae Marsh at the top of this page; you can also read her comments about her favorite WCW memories and how Diamond Dallas Page gave her advice that helped her new business here.
Learn more about Ring Along, her Utility Patented Bag Organizer system, at this link. The Kickstarter campaign for the Ring Along system is running now through September 25, and you can follow Chae on Instagram for more updates at @ringalong and @chae_marsh.
Two of Diversity 5’s singles can be heard below:
