Sportskeeda's own Phillipa Mariee talks about wrestling, journalism, favorite WWE Superstar, and booking Joseph Conners, Gabriel Kidd, etc. (Exclusive)

Writing for Sportskeeda, I've had the chance to get acquainted with some incredible individuals. One such individual, Phillipa Mariee, whose work you can read on Sportskeeda itself, has been a consistent writer for the site for the past 2 years. However, that's not all she has been doing, as she has also been part of the wrestling industry in the United Kingdom over the past six years as well.

In this article, I had the chance to talk to Phillipa regarding her early life, how she got into wrestling, the barriers she had to overcome, her favorite WWE Superstars, as well as her experience in booking some top United Kingdom Superstars.

Q. When did you first find interest in wrestling as a fan?

PM: "I remember babysitting for a friend back in the early 2000s and she couldn't afford Sky so the only DVDs that she had were of wrestling. Up until then, I was all about football but then I watched a few of her DVDs and I was hooked. The 2006 Royal Rumble was the first show I watched live. Since I had always been seen as an underdog, Rey Mysterio winning made me quite emotional and then that was it, I had to see where the storyline went after that."

Q. What prompted you to make the jump from being a fan to being an actual wrestler?

PM: "I trained as a boxer for a few years when I was younger because I always had some anger issues, but I hated the fact that I couldn't use my feet so when I started attending live shows in my local area and found out that there were places I could train, I thought it would be a great way to stay fit and to learn a new skill."

Q. During days where you have to be in training to wrestle, what’s your routine like?

PM: "We have been training on a Monday night for about three or four years now and it would always be quite a long day for me since I have journalism work to do ahead of Raw and then if I had time I would go the gym. Swimming for me was always the best way to warm up your muscles ahead of any training session. When we got to the unit or wherever we were training that night it would be lengthy drills to warm us up. We would then run sequences that we had learned and were expected to remember. When you advance in training, it gets much harder and matches are added so that you can learn to call on the fly and plan for when things go wrong, it's much more interesting than it sounds."

Q. I know early on in your life, you went through several health scares. Would you like to talk about them a bit?

PM: "I've got a weak immune system, which means that most of the time my body is unable to fight off things that normal people are easily able to overcome. I remember this started when I was about 14 when I was hospitalized with what they thought was Appendicitis, when in fact it was just a sickness bug, but I was unable to hydrate myself so I was in danger of dehydrating. Since then I have been in and out of hospital because I have a blood disorder called Anemia which causes me a few issues and around four years ago I was diagnosed with IBD, which isn't curable but it is treatable, so I will have it for the rest of my life but sometimes it's dormant, like right now, I feel like I'm fine until I have a flare-up.

Coming up: Phillipa discusses her experience of wrestling in a ring!

Q. What is the experience of wrestling in front of a crowd like?

PM: "Scary, especially if you're a heel. I remember I did a match last year where I turned heel in the middle of the match since my opponent Tom wanted us to do some face tech exchanges and then me to turn on him so that I could then hit some of my cooler moves. I didn't know how the crowd would react since Tom (Jack Knudsen) was the biggest face at our training school so I was quite worried. Sometimes you have a wrestling crowd where they will shout abuse at you and sometimes there is no atmosphere at all. The latter is the worst because you don't know if they are liking it or if they are hating it, you always want noise from the crowd but sadly, this can't be forced."

Q. I know you have also tried your hand at booking and promoting, both of which can be rather tasking. What was the experience like?

PM: "As a female, it was always quite hard for me since the place I booked didn't have any female talent when I first started so I was sat there trying to tell men twice my size what they were expected to do in the ring and it was obvious that some of them weren't happy about it. I loved it though, it was an eye-opening time for me, I got to see how the business worked from the inside and made some great friends during that time so I really enjoyed it. It was a lot of work to stretch out storylines over months and ensure that everything made sense, but I loved the creative part of the process and most of the time the guys I booked were happy to do what they were expected to."

Q. You met and talked to Gabriel Kidd before, and worked with him. What was the experience like?

PM: "I met Gabriel when he was still really young, he came to United Wrestling alongside a number of new recruits around the time that I started booking and it was obvious that he was someone who was destined for great things. Gabe went from being a new guy to the main storyline in a matter of months and then he joined WhatCulture and it was obvious that there was a buzz about him and rightly so, he's a talented guy and it's not a surprise that he has been recruited by NJPW."

Q. Being a writer for Sportskeeda, you see both sides of the wrestling community. Does that give you a different perspective?

PM: "Yeah, I love the journalism part of wrestling, but at the same time I love that the curtain has been drawn back for me and I was able to see that The Wizard of OZ was a normal person. I can watch Raw and SmackDown and pick up on things that other fans don't usually see. So the heel always making the hot tag first and there being actual separation between stars following a rope break. The structure of a match when it comes to the shine, the cut-off, the heat, the hope spot/s, near falls and then the finish and seeing how this is interpreted by other companies."

Coming up: Phillipa discusses NXT UK and its impact on the British wrestling scene!

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Q. What has your experience been, writing for Sportskeeda?

PM: "I have so much freedom, I have written for a lot of places who have a style guide that they won't change for anyone, Sportskeeda allows the writers to pitch the news and features that they want to write and then has a group where we can all talk too. I have made so many friends that I love being able to bounce ideas off and talk about news with, it's like its own little community and I think it's great."

Q. Congratulations on your baby! So, after giving birth, you were back in the ring within two weeks? Would you like to elaborate on that?

PM: "Yeah, so I was out of the ring from December last year when I found out I was pregnant and then after having my son last month I decided that I had sat around enough and I really wanted back in the ring. Of course, when you're pregnant you are not allowed near the ring because one bad bump could be fatal for the baby so I was sidelined for around eight months and it was horrible, I felt like I was gaining weight and losing flexibility, so as soon as my back was back to normal I was back in the ring. Obviously, it helped that my boyfriend, Callum is also a wrestler at the same school as me so he was there for me to train with and to push me so that I could return sooner. Right now I'm back in the gym and I'm getting myself back into shape and my boyfriend wants us to get back into boxing training and my son is only a month old tomorrow."

Q. Who was your favorite wrestler when you first started watching, and who is it now?

PM: "Rey Mysterio. He was the ultimate underdog, I remember when I was in school I learned Spanish so that I could write a letter to him, then he never replied. Seth Rollins is easily my favorite wrestler now, I chose him out of The Shield because my sister decided she liked Dean Ambrose and I can't tell you how many arguments I've won because Seth Rollins has done so much better in WWE."

Q. Would you like to talk about your experience booking Joe Conners?

PM: "Yeah he was one of the stars who was already in the main event picture when I started booking, he was the Champion on and off as well. I get along with most guys and I don't want to bury Joe because he's still doing a lot around the local scene and I know he helps to train up and coming talent in Nottingham still, but he and I just didn't get along. Some people clash and I think when two creative people go head to head often there are issues, I think Conners was passionate about the business and often wanted to push that forward, I'm glad he's been able to push himself so far in the business, since I saw how much hard work he put in to get there."

Q. What effect has NXT UK had on the United Kingdom wrestling scene?

PM: "I think it's got fresh eyes on the product, which is great but at the same time there are a lot of promotions that are suffering. Southside announced their closure earlier this week, PCW has gone downhill and many others are closing too. It's inspired a lot of people to start training but the fact that many of the current stars are locked in contracts that no longer allow then to perform in their home country for their local promotions has had a knock-on effect. With NXT UK and WhatCulture both signing up all the talent it has left us threadbare, which means that many wrestlers have been able to step into the vacant slots, but it's affecting revenue for companies since WWE is taking the best talent and not allowing other companies to use them. Hopefully, this will change in the future."

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