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

Phillipa in action (middle)

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."

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

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