WrestleMania’s about to ‘feel the glow!’ Naomi will be in action at the WWE’s biggest night, and she tells HL that she sees this as a chance to take her career to the next level.
There’s a chance that the WWE Universe will get a double-shot of Naomi at WrestleMania. The two-night event, taking place on April 10 and 11, kicks off with a Tag Team Turmoil Match. Naomi will team with Lana as they take on Mandy Rose and Dana Brooke, Natalya and Tamina, and The Riott Squad (Ruby Riott and Liv Morgan.) The winning team faces Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler for the WWE Women’s Tag Team championship on Night 2. For Naomi, WrestleMania is more than a chance to win some championship gold. It’s a chance for her to elevate her “glow” and take her career in a new direction. “I would definitely like to really challenge myself and continue to grow as a character,” she tells HollywoodLife in an EXCLUSIVE interview, “and as a performer.”
“Hopefully, Lana and I can make history and become Tag Team Champions,” she tells HollywoodLife, adding that she’s also keeping an eye on her own personal development within the WWE. What does the future hold for Naomi? She thinks it’s time that she gets a bit evil. “At some point, later after [winning the tag team times], I would like to do a 360 with the ‘Glow’ and the character. I see a lot of people doubting me and saying that they don’t see me as someone who would drastically change and to go in a different direction and be a heel [term for the villain in pro-wrestling/sports entertainment].”
SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley, left, wrestles with Naomi at WWE Super ShowDown in the second women’s match ever to be held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (Shutterstock)
“So, I kind of want to prove that to myself,” she tells HollywoodLife. Naomi also added that there are “still all types of matches [that] I never had,” and there are titles that she still needs to win before she can call it a day. “I would love to hold the Raw Women’s Championship one day; I would love to have a stipulation match. I am still setting goals for myself. I still want to work on those things that I feel that I need to improve on. There are spots that I feel I have holes [in her career]. But I love that because it keeps me hungry and it keeps me focused, and it keeps me wanting to be better. And I think that is why I am still here.”
Naomi returned to the WWE at the 2021 Women’s Royal Rumble in January, after four months out due to a surgery to remove a “massive fibroid” causing her “severe anemia fatigue,” per the Wrestling Observer. Sadly, she was unsuccessful in winning the match. Ultimately, Bianca Belair would claim victory before using the guaranteed title shot to challenge Sasha Banks for the SmackDown Women’s Championship. Bianca recently named Naomi as a mentor and an inspiration (“She was representation for me, and she also embraced me,” she said in an interview with 104-5 The Zone’s JMart and Ramon, per Fightful), and Naomi returned the love.
Naomi attends a WWE SmackDown Live event in London, UK in 2017 (Shutterstock)
“Man, it really, really touches my heart,” Naomi told HL about the comments, “I had a soft spot for Bianca already. To know that I have had any inspiration on her is something very touching. It touches me because so much in my career, there have been so many ups and downs. I have had great success and great moments but, also I have had moments where I have doubted myself and questioned myself, and I am not sure if I am good enough or what I am doing here matters. So, when I hear that from somebody, that is incredible. It just gives me validation that I am doing something right.”
Sourse: hollywoodlife.com
