Lana Sneak Peaks Total Divas, Talks Evolution, GLOW, & Reveals The Worst Bump She’s Ever Taken

Smackdown Superstar Lana recently sat down for an interview with Newsweek and touched on a myriad of wrestling related topics:

On her very first match at WrestleMania:

Oh my gosh, I was so nervous at Wrestlemania when I debuted. I never had a live match ever. I’d had practice matches, but a practice match in front of no one is very different from a real match. Nattie [Natalya] gave me this pep talk, saying ‘you can’t not be inspired. This is the highest stake thing you’re ever going to have, and you’re going to sink or swim. So you better go out there and prove everyone who doubted you wrong.’ All of a sudden, you’re like ‘I’m motivated!’ And once you walk out there you realize, ‘I’m born for this, there is nothing in the world like this.’

On the differences between Total Divas and professional wrestling:

It’s going to be a crazy, crazy season. You’re going to see Paige come back, her retirement and how she’s dealing with that. I would say the biggest difference is on a reality show, people judge you for you as a human being, versus you as a character. When I walk out of that curtain on Smackdown, I’m the Ravishing Russian Lana. I commit to my character. On a reality show, that is you. I’m not perfect, I make mistakes all the time. All I can do is to try my best to learn from my mistakes, take responsibility for them and do a better job tomorrow. As human beings we all want to be liked and we all want to be accepted. When people judge you for your mistakes or your shortcomings, it hurts a little bit more than ‘oh, that’s just my character.’

On next season of Total Divas:

You’ll have to tune in. There’s always wacky moments. You’re going to see Rusev, of course. He always brings his wonderful humor. You’ll see me deal with a time I wasn’t on TV in a while. It’s disappointing when you aren’t in a compelling story and aren’t going out every week and entertaining people. How do you deal with setbacks? How we deal with setbacks is the most important thing in life. Yes, what we do with success and breakthroughs in life is important, but what we do when we fall flat on our face in disappointment, that is going to define our future and that is going to define our success. I’m excited to share to the world how I overcome and deal with my setbacks. It’s vital to be resilient, because this is not a sprint, it’s a marathon.

On how she would like to be involved at Evolution:

I’ll take any opportunity! I’m so excited. I’m very, very grateful we have this opportunity of an all-women’s pay-per-view. It’s incredible to have this opportunity. I will get myself on that show if I have to knock doors down. I want to make history with all the other women and be on the first-ever women’s pay-per-view. It’s just incredible. Who’s to say what’s going to happen? We still have a couple months to it. I know 50 women are going to participate. I’m sure there will be women from NXT coming, we’ll have returning women. It’s very exciting. Whatever I do, I plan on winning. I plan on crushing, because Lana is the best, Lana number one.

On a potential Evolution Dream Match:

There are so many women on the current roster who are just incredible competitors, and I’d love to fight them. But then there are so many women from the past I would love to fight. I mean, who doesn’t want to get in the ring with Trish [Stratus] or Lita or Molly Holly? Trish was my inspiration for so long. But I’ve always been a huge fan of Stephanie McMahon. Growing up, I wanted to be in WWE because of watching characters like Stephanie McMahon and Paul Heyman. They just are such incredible storytellers, such incredible, compelling characters. When I look at Stephanie McMahon’s entire career, I’m always blown away at how she just moves your soul. Literally, my heart is moved by her. Either I hate her, or love her, or love to hate her. I probably won’t face off with her at Evolution, but just in general she is one of my dream opponents.

On the worst bump she’s ever taken:

When you’re out there doing things, your adrenaline is rushing so much. But getting kicked in the face is never fun. There have been a lot of different painful things, but when you’re kicked in the face or kneed in the face, it’s not the most pleasant thing. Zelina [Vega] used the codebreaker knee on me and I started bleeding. I thought I broke my nose or busted my teeth. Then she kneed me to the face again. It was definitely not by any means pleasant, and I’m really glad when I came backstage that I was alive still. It’s a contact sport, it’s very physical and intense. When you walk out there, you have to know anything can happen and to keep your hands up.

What her character would be like if she starred on GLOW:

I love Zoya the Destroyer so much. I’d love to be a tag team with her. That’s what I love about wrestling is you can create any character. The sky is the limit. Maybe I’d be a sorority girl? I could start my own faction of mean girls. We could be called the Mean Queens and I would be the leader. It would be very Valley Girl.

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