Mandy Rose reflects on her past in Absolution and her future with Toxic Attraction.
Mandy Rose debuted on WWE’s main roster from NXT as part of a trio known as Absolution. Nearly four years later, as the veteran, she has returned to lead a new trio known as Toxic Attraction. Consisting of Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jane, the trio currently holds all the gold on NXT 2.0 and it appears their reign is just getting started.
In an exclusive interview with Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp, Mandy Rose explains how she found out that she would be leading this new group and says it is motivating for her to be in a position to help new stars find their confidence.
"I didn't really know them too well, obviously, when I went to NXT. I knew they were different from me in the sense of character and all that. I knew they were just starting to get on TV. I liked the idea that they were different and I thought it was cool because we showed some clips of me and Franky Monet and I think people thought I was going to join the Robert Stone brand, which was kind of the obvious, and I think it was cool that we didn't go with the obvious and that we kind of swerved them and showed that I was going to take these two women under my wing, yet they were very different from me but everyone thought they were going to make the girls more like Mandy, but it was a swerve in the sense that in the process of me helping them, I was the one that became more edgier and they helped me in the process and it was a collaboration. I always say that no matter how experienced you are or how good you are at something, there is always learning and you do learn while you are with women who might e in a different stage. I didn't come from a wrestling background, but I was always on stage and I had confidence and stage presence and I was able to help the girls in being more confident, whether it was in the ring or walking out and doing a promo. It's very motivating for me."
Of course, Mandy was once in the position of her two proteges. When she joined the main roster back in late 2017, she was underneath Paige as a member of Absolution. Even though the group was short-lived because of Paige’s injury, Mandy Rose now uses those days as inspiration and sees comparisons between the two groups as a great compliment.
"The comparison with Absolution and Paige keeps coming up because it was only three and a half, four years ago when Absolution was born and we debuted on Monday Night Raw. A few years later, I'm doing that and I'm the leader and being Paige. I never thought that...I thought maybe in the future it could happen, but not so soon. It's really cool and Paige taught us so much and I'm reflecting on the things that she taught us when we were kind of in that stage. NXT is amazing but it is hard with that pressure and you have a lot of people in your ear and how they see you and what to do and what not to do. At the end of the day, you're only going to learn when you just go out there and try it and be who you want to be because we all went through that. I went through it myself. I tried to do things that some of the coaches or someone might have told me that would work for me and it was an epic fail and it didn't work for me. I think that's the cool process and why live TV and getting the reps are so important because you learn as you. I am enjoying helping the women in that process because it can be really stressful."
Of course, when Absolution first debuted, they were followed the very next night on SmackDown with the debut of The Riott Squad. Mandy now looks back on the comparison between those two groups
"All six of us were stuck in a room, Absolution debuted first, as usual, you're not told anything and 'we have to really keep it from everyone so it doesn't get out.' We were stuck in a room and nobody knew who the group was and who was debuting first. We were really close with the girls in Riott Squad and all really good friends. We were all freaking out in that room and we were like, 'What are we gonna do?' We kept coming up with scenarios all day and it would be really funny if there was a camera in that room because we had all these crazy scenarios of what's going to happen. Obviously, we debuted first and they debuted the following week, but it was awesome."
Fightful has live coverage of WWE NXT 2.0 every Tuesday beginning at 8 p.m. eastern time. You can catch NXT on the USA Network
