Interview With Chelsea Green

Written by Gary Cassidy • Published 6th March 2023
Chelsea Green

The release of Chelsea Green from her WWE contract was perhaps one of the most shocking of the many talents departing the company this year. While the Canadian’s NXT run was met with many calls for a main roster switch, Green’s SmackDown debut ended in tragedy as injury struck. After rehabilitating her broken wrist, though, Green didn’t re-emerge on WWE television before being let go by the company.

Following her WWE release, Chelsea Green has been counting down the days until she returns to the ring and passing that time by creating her own podcast and having conversations with Playboy regarding shooting for them, among other things. Speaking with Inside The Ropes‘ Lead Writer Gary Cassidy, Chelsea Green opened up about her Playboy aspirations, what we can expect from her going forward, her admiration for Mickie James and Kelly Kelly, and much more!

We’re going to speak about an “array” of topics, of course. Big pop from anyone who’s checked out the latest episode of Green With Envy – which we will definitely get into! I’ve also learned not to say “fired” in case your dad is listening, so you were released from your WWE contract a couple of months ago, so we’re very much approaching the end of your 90 days! I know you’re not going to give me any major scoops on where you’re going so I’m not going to ask – but I do know you’re keeping busy! You’ve created a podcast, you’re in talks with Playboy, I presume also wrestling companies. Have I covered everything there or is there anything else?

Thank you so much for having me. Yeah. Isn’t it crazy? We’re in the 30s of days until my 90-day non-compete is up.

It’s funny you ask, I actually have a bathing suit on right now that is PBR, Pabst Blue Ribbon, the beer, because we are filming some stuff right now. So I just took a little break from shooting to come chat with you. So it’s been so crazy busy and I’m really surprised!

I wouldn’t be surprised if it gets a little busier in just over 30 days!

Right?! It has been crazy busy and I’m getting ready for the craziness that is whatever I do after this month!

Definitely! I do thank you for your time because time clearly is money and I don’t want to keep you away from your shoot for too long. I know you’ve been super-busy with interviews too, so we’ll try not to cover old ground – but one place we should start. I know you’ve gone by a lot of names – Chelsea Green, Laurel Van Ness, almost Victorious too I believe! After this 30 days, will it be Chelsea Green we’re getting when you step into a wrestling ring?

I think it’s… You know, it’s going to be Chelsea Green, but I think the character that you see is going to be an evolution and a combination of all of them. I’m going to work towards combining them.

That might answer my next question too, but I know you’ve previously been The Hot Mess, who was a completely over the top character! Chelsea Green in WWE seemed a little more of the you we see on social media. Do you prefer being yourself or portraying that completely different character?

I definitely prefer to be a character. I think, like, normal is boring – in everything! Normal is so boring. So I want to be a character, but I think we have to move slowly and gradually get into that instead of forcing the audience to love the new Hot Mess. You know what I mean?

Like, I don’t want to force anybody into that and I don’t want to take everybody back to three years ago when I was that Hot Mess. Like, we have to move on. We have to find a new Hot Mess and a way to get into it, and a way to do it that works for the time now. So that’s, I think, going to be a fun thing that I’ll be playing with in whatever company I end up at. We’re just going to kind of play with, like, what does that look like?

So I only have a couple of questions about the past before we start looking to the future. One thing I want to ask about – this is going back a bit but I was a huge fan of VXT. I got to ask Deonna Purrazzo about that almost exactly a year ago and she said she felt you guys were essentially too good when they brought you to RAW for enhancement matches that it trapped you in a bit of a box. Do you feel the same, and how much of a missed opportunity was VXT for you? Was that ever going to come to fruition in WWE?

If I had have pitched VXT now, I wouldn’t have had my whole heart behind it because I realised that maybe one percent of the things that you pitch are used. But at the time, I truly thought, like, “Oh, this is it!” Like once we sat down and we discussed what VXT looked like, what we sounded like, what we performed like, all that and we were all really on the same page, I was like, “This is money.” Like, “This is going to be the female Shield.”

When it didn’t happen, I was just like, “How? How could it have not happened? This is… This is such money for them.” But now, of course, I’m not as naive. I’m more privy to the way that this business works and I wouldn’t I wouldn’t be as surprised anymore because that’s just how it is. It’s the right place, the right time, the right person that you pitch it to.

So, pulling right up to date, I know you’ve mentioned in other interviews a lot of pitches, I know one that started to play out online was with Mickie James! Now that definitely seems like a missed opportunity now, but at least one that could be picked up down the line… It seemed perfect in terms of neither of you were involved in anything else, it could have been a passing of the torch type situation, it had a lot of legs. How close was that in terms of translating to television, and what are your thoughts on Mickie James?

I mean, she’s an absolute legend, like inside and outside of the ring, and not just with wrestling, but her personality. She’s so friggin’ cool. When we found out we were going to do that, her and I were… Oh, my gosh, we were so excited. Trish knew about it.

I just think, like, “Oh, talk about missed opportunity.” That is like the meeting of all the worlds – an older wrestler, a newer wrestler, IMPACT, WWE. Like, it would have been so perfect for the fans and such a treat that you would have been so shocked by. So it’s so upsetting.

I know that, with her being released as well, there’s still a possibility and a future for that storyline. We just have to figure out where, and if that’s something that she still wants.

Obviously you’re doing your podcast, you’ve been really open about wanting to work with Playboy, so I want to ask a bit about that as it’s something that was the norm for wrestlers growing up, then obviously faded out as WWE became PG.

I’m a man, so far be it from me to delve into the argument about exploitation or empowerment as it’s not my place – but I want to ask a bit about that. Firstly, I want to ask about growing up. I know you said you were a huge fan of Playboy before becoming a wrestler, but were there any women you looked up to in particular that you saw kicking ass in the ring, but who were exploring the modelling side of things with Playboy?

Definitely, Kelly Kelly! I just am SUCH a Kelly Kelly fan!

I love her – and she’s done stuff with Maxim and things like that. But truly, I just feel like I belong in the Divas era anyway. I don’t know that I would have been great because they were so hot – where it’s like a different kind of beauty now. Like they were just so sexy but I just feel like all of those women I get along with now so well and I just would have fit in perfectly there, you know?

Obviously with WWE being PG, it’s pretty obvious to see why it’s not really a thing anymore before you even talk about the Women’s Revolution and whether there would have been any impact there – although we do still see a lot of photoshoots, just not for Playboy! I know you mentioned that you were so interested in Playboy, even attending a casting call, then it ground to a halt when you started wrestling. How conscious was that decision? Is that an edge you feel is missing in wrestling now, and something you’d like to see explored more?

I mean, definitely! And then, on the other hand, I also understood that those rules come from, like, way above! They come from like the network. If the network doesn’t want people that aren’t PG or PG 13, then you’re not going to get that.

But I do think that that’s what makes people different. Like, we don’t want to see all wrestlers the same. And I think that there’s a couple of wrestlers that play into their sexuality and they’re confident with their sexiness and stuff, but for a while there, all the sexiness was kind of gone!

We do see glimpses of it in, of course, Carmella and now Eva Marie and stuff like that and Franky in NXT. But I’ve just always been that girl. I’ve always loved being sexy and I’m okay with showing my body to an extent, so I just want people to, whatever they love, like they should be able to kind of lean into that 110 percent.

One of the big tropes of interviews is that wrestlers are always asked their dream match, so let’s go a little different. Playboy’s no stranger to themed photoshoots. I want you to fantasy book your Playboy photoshoot! If they give you the book, what theme are you choosing?

I would do, like, a Christina Aguilera – Dirrty style photoshoot. In one of the scenes, there’s, like, a wrestling or a boxing ring. I actually think it only has three ropes so it is a wrestling ring. Stuff like that. Like, grungy and gritty. Yeah, I’d like that Christina Aguilera style!

We’ll get back to a couple of Chelsea Green questions, but I have to ask you about one of the biggest things that’s taken the wrestling world by storm. Not the WWE releases, but Matt Cardona showing up in GCW to confront Nick Gage. Now, I know a lot of people have close eyes on Renee Young’s Twitter when Jon Moxley – a man many thought Matt was initially – is involved in the more violent stuff. What were your thoughts on the angle, and of Matt facing Nick Gage overall?

I mean, I loved it! I was REALLY excited for it. And I’m mostly excited because I do feel like he was put in a box in the WWE, and maybe it was him that wanted to be in that box, maybe it was him that never pushed to get out of that box – but this is his chance to show the world SO much more.

He’s been wrestling for so long – since he was 18, he’s now 36. I mean, he really he’s a wrestling since he was, like, three years old. But I just feel like this puts a little bit more validity behind his name and I love that for him. I think he deserves that.

I don’t really want to go and watch it. I don’t really want to witness it. I already had to see the massive cut that he has on its arm that should require stitches. So I’m a little bit nervous for it, of course, just being his fiancee, but I am more excited for it.

One other question relating to yourself and Matt I want to ask. I’ve heard you guys are thinking of starting a podcast together. We’ve never actually seen you in the ring… Is that conscious, and would you rather be paired with Matt or face off against Matt in a match?

Oh, OK, so normally I would say facing, but one time I got in the ring with him and wrestled him and he’s really, really stiff – so I think that he would kill me. So I think instead I’m actually going to go with alongside him.

I do think that our relationship is healthy because we don’t include wrestling too much in it. We support each other, but we go our separate ways. So that’s also something that, if we do explore that, it’s going to be truly you guys will be seeing it in real time for the first time like we are. So it’ll be interesting.

I know you mentioned the releases in your podcast and that there has been another round! Obviously a lot of those have been women, which sucks from one standpoint – but it also means there are so many women who are free agents and ready to show the world what they can do. We spoke about VXT. I want Chelsea Green to form a faction right now, purely of free agents. You can only have three. Who are we going for?

Definitely Vanessa Borne. I wouldn’t mind both or one of the IIconics…

One of? Controversial!

I know. That’s why I can’t choose. So I would like both, but then I also think Santana – she just has such a history with the indies and is so great.

I would have like a giant girl band – like Spice Girls – with the IIconics, Vanessa, me and Santana.

I know you mentioned being really close to two of the recent releases in particular. You’ve obviously experienced life outside of WWE before, I know Ruby has a fair bit too, and Santana as well. Have you reached out to Santana Garrett or Ruby Riott at all?

I actually I didn’t reach out to Ruby Riott, I have to do that. But I wanted to let her kind of relax. Like, I really got bombarded with messages.

Santana called me that day, so I didn’t check on her after she called me that day and told me she was released. I didn’t check on her for, like, a week. I like to just give people a little bit of time and then when it matters, when they’re starting to think about their future, then I’m like, “OK, this is the way I can help you,” or, “If you need help.” And it’s the same thing that I did with Vanessa Borne as well.

Final question, I know you’re not going to name a promotion, so I’ll keep it general – what can we expect from free agent Chelsea Green next month?

Definitely a lot of surprises! I think you’re going to see me pop up in places that you didn’t actually even think I was going to pop up at or imagine I’d pop up. Also expect less wrestling and more branching out and trying new things.

Thanks to Chelsea Green for taking the time to chat. You can follow Chelsea Green on Twitter here, on Instagram here, and check out Chelsea Green’s official merchandise here. You can also listen to Chelsea’s Green With Envy podcast here. You can also read more of our longform interviews here.