Natalya, Bronson Reed, Austin Theory, and Nikki Cross name the weirdest places they have wrestled.
Wrestlers often have to wrestle in strange places as they chase their dreams of carving out successful careers. WWE Superstars are no exception; in interviews with Fightful's Joel Pearl, Natalya, Austin Theory, Nikki Cross, and Bronson Reed shared their unforgettable experiences wrestling at unusual places.
Former WWE SmackDown Women's Champion Natalya recalled how she wrestled Summer Rae on the side of a highway in Alabama. She stated that it was for an episode of Total Divas, and she ripped out Rae's weave.
"I wrestled Summer Rae on the side of a highway in Pisgah, Alabama, believe it or not. It was for a Total Divas episode and I ripped out her weave," Natalya said.
Austin Theory stated that plenty of places came to mind, but the time he had to wrestle at a biker rally in Georgia. He stated that drunk bikers were there, and he didn't think they liked wrestling. Theory stated that he felt like he shouldn't have been there, and one could tell how "bad" the guys were. He then advised everyone against wrestling at a biker rally.
"Man, so the weirdest place I’d say, gosh there’s a lot, one that comes to mind though. There was a biker rally in Georgia. This biker rally was a bunch of bikers. They’re drunk. I don’t think they liked wrestling. There’s a ring set up. It’s almost like they had their own land, their own area. I didn’t feel like I should have been there. But we had the match and it was just pretty cringey. You could just feel how bad these guys were. So, yeah, probably that place. Don’t wrestle at a biker rally," Theory said.
Nikki Cross described how she wrestled in the middle of a field at a charity gala in Scotland. She also noted that she competed in a car park. Cross recalled how there weren't any barriers for the crowd, so the fans were practically in the ring. She stated that those were the weirdest places, but looking back on it, she loved it.
"A charity gala. It was in the middle of a field in Glasgow, Scotland. I also wrestled in a car park outside of a hospital. Yeah, those are the two. Car park outside of a hospital in 2008 and also in 2008—we actually did it for a few years in a row—we wrestled at the Bishopton Gala in Glasgow. We’d be in the middle of a field, under a tent. There would be no barriers. The fans would be almost in the ring. Those are the two weirdest places and you know what? I love it. It is so weird, I love it," Cross said.
As for WWE Raw star Bronson Reed, he named a few weird places he wrestled when he was coming up through the Australian wrestling scene. He recalled how he wrestled in a roller-skating rink, where the backstage area had the skates. Reed also pointed to an old house in Queensland that had been gutted out.
"I’ve wrestled in some very weird places. There’s a few that come to mind in Australia. I used to wrestle in a little roller-skating rink. So the backstage was actually with all the roller skates. You’d sit down and it’d be a tiny little roller skating room. Sit down, get changed and then go out there and wrestle. So that’s probably one of them. I did wrestle in someone’s old house once. It could be that one. So in Queensland, it was pretty much an industrial area. Nothing around. There’s this old house that’s been gutted out into a room probably this size, so not that big, and there’s a ring in the middle. I wrestled there in front of maybe
20 people," Reed said.
Reed also noted that he also wrestled in churches a lot in Australia.
Natalya previously stated that working with Cora Jade was her favorite part of 2022. Check out her comments here.
Masha
Goddamn, I don’t think I can beat a prison yard. There’s been several. I’ve wrestled at a nursing home in Japan. That was quite interesting as the median age there was above 100 in the audience. I also wrestled in a cornfield twice. Specifically the one time where the farm animals outnumbered the fans in attendance because the fans in attendance were only one family and Uncle Bob was cooking fucking burgers over here while me and Rhino were changing in their motorcycle garage. Real wild stuff. Definitely gotta say those are probably two of the weirdest places I’ve ever wrestled.
