Like Brock Lesnar, WCPW returns victorious from Orlando. What some companies have taken years to achieve, What Culture has earned in a remarkably short timeframe. Whilst details of US leg of WCPW's World Cup are still to come, the company will run its Mexico (details here) and German (details here) tournaments very soon. Of course a great deal of WCPW's success is down to the excellent talent the promotion showcases so regularly. Viper is one of the most impressive and promising talents on the What Culture roster. Fans might be familiar with her from Impact Wrestling's British Boot Camp or ICW but she has also toured the world, with Stardom in Japan and many other companies in Europe. WCPW were kind enough to introduce us to Viper at their last London show and we spoke to her about working with them, her forthcoming World of Sport debut and he best rib story. Read on and keep posted for more news about WCPW.
How is it working with WCPW..?
I really, really like it. A couple of my friends had worked for them for a wee while before and I'd obviously been hearing good things. For me, anywhere that helps British wrestling is top class in my book. I had got a wee message from them when I was in Japan, I think and straight away I was like "yep! Sign me up!" It was fairly easy.
We read that you were trained by Damo (now Killian Dain) and Mikey Whiplash - is that right? Do you have any good training stories? Did they put you through your paces?
The way I was brought up in the training school by Damo was great, his way of training girls was the exact same way as he trained boys, possibly because there was only myself and one other girl, Nikki Cross at the time but to him we were one of the boys so we would train with the boys, we would take the same bumps as them and be hit just as hard as them, in fact there was a rule that if any of the male trainees were "too soft" with us or "didn't want to hit a girl" he would tell us to leather them twice as hard back as it was disrespectful to us. Some would maybe see it as a tough love approach but I wouldn't have wanted it any other way really. Damo didn't train us to be "female wrestlers" he trained us to be wrestlers and for that I'm very grateful although I'm sure I probably did a lot of complaining about it at the time!
Stardom in Japan, a WWE tryout, WCPW, World of Sport. What are your reflections on the past year and how its been for you?
It's been crazy. It sounds daft but I'll be sitting on a train to Switzerland or somewhere and thinking to myself "this is my life?!", "this is really weird!". In one sense its terrifying because I've just entrusted a complete stranger to pick me up in a country I don't know and take me to somewhere new. You second guess it but to be honest I've just had really amazing experiences. Its stuff that I would never have thought to do in my life. I don't think if I wasn't a wrestler I would have thought to go and visit Paris, see what its like or other places in Europe. Its opened my eyes a lot.
Given the history of WoS what does being on the show mean to you?
For me it is an honour to be on the WOS show, to be part of the generation that's going to bring back British wrestling to national television is mind blowing. We really are making history, it's such an exciting prospect and I can't wait until we're all old and people have great memories of us and reminisce like the way people talk about Big Daddy and Giant Haystacks now - at least I hope they'll remember us so fondly!
What does it mean to you to be the only female talent announced for WoS? Who would you like to see brought on to face you?
In my opinion British wrestling has some of the best women's wrestlers in the world right now so to be seen as a figurehead of the WOS's women's division and a representative of the British women's wrestling scene is quite a statement to make and one I'm very ready to defend. To be at the forefront of the division is a big responsibility as it means not only preserving the legacy of women that paved the way like Klondyke Kate but also leading the way for a new generation of girls and showing the world that it's also the women in the scene that have helped put British wrestling back on the map. It's a responsibility I'm confident I can take on. I think you can look at any corner of the U.K now and find great female talent particularly women who have featured in WCPW. Kay Lee Ray, Nixon Newel, Lana Austin would all be great additions and most importantly great representatives of the British wrestling women's scene.
How was the tryout, if you're allowed to talk about it?
Oh God, aye, that opened my eyes a lot as well doing those squats and burpees.
Will we see you in WWE, is that where you want to go?
I really want to go there. I think every wrestler should have aspirations to be there because you want to be the best you can be and that's where the best are. Id definitely like to go there one day but Im having a really good time just now doing what I'm doing so there's plenty of time yet.
How would you explain Viper to people that haven't previously encountered her?
It depends where you get me really. In some places I'm just a horrible b***ch! Maniacal and just someone who does horrible things that make you gasp. If you catch the other side of me, Im just a bit of a goofball to be honest. Then something might happen in the ring that annoys me and its back to ferocious!! A bit of a split personality I guess. Lure them in then punish them.
You auditioned as part of Impact's British Boot Camp. Did you enjoy it?
I really loved it to be honest, it was a really good experience. It really reflected me really well and gave me quite a good boost because it made me available for more people to see and as soon as Id done it I was getting messages from different places that Id heard of but they'd started saying they liked the look of me and wanted to bring me down. So it opened a lot of doors for me.
Do you have a good rib story?
Me and a couple of the girls have this game we play called "the dart game". It's hard to explain but we shout someone's name and pff [blows an imaginary dart]. If you don't cover your neck, you get hit by a blowdart and have to go down on the floor until someone removes it. Myself, Kay Lee Ray and Nixon Newell were in the USA for Shimmer. We'd been playing the game for a couple of days and it was quite intense. Everyone was on edge as we'd been doing it in ridiculous places. Then it had gone quiet and had gone out of our minds. We hadn't met Dave Prazak, the Shimmer promoter yet but as we came up to him, Kay Lee called us over and said "Viper, pfff". I was like "nooooo....". Im such a stickler for seeing those things through and I was in front of someone I'd never met before but had to lie on the floor....I was really happy when he looked at me and said "are you guys playing the dart game again?!"...
Well she may be up for a laugh but Viper is a serious talent in the ring. Make sure to see her on her appearances across the UK, follow her on Twitter and browse her merch. She'll be on World of Sport (remaining tickets for their May 25 & 26th events here) whilst WCPW will next be in Newcastle on 29 April with Rey Mysterio (tickets here) and Coventry on 30th for the Mexico Tournament of the Pro Wrestling World Cup (tickets here). The German leg takes place July 2 (details here).
Above: Viper smiles with Royal Ramblings before going to break someone in two...