The Following Article appeared in the Tuesday June 21, 2011 edition of the Indianapolis Star.
Not Just Hot Air- Briese looks to Blow Away Expectations in Homecoming
by Reba Clarkson
When Femme Fatale Wrestling opened just one year ago, there were many skeptics who questioned the feasibility of an all women’s wrestling company being promoted on a global level. Female wrestlers, while often very respected inside the industry itself, have often been considered as little more than a sideshow act by the general public- an interesting novelty at its best, and degrading T&A riddled debauchery at its worst.
FFW, however, has blown those perceptions- and most of its critics, clear out of the water, becoming not just the largest women’s wrestling company in the world by a very definite margin, but now stands at being the cusp of being the class of the wrestling industry as a whole- to the shock (and likely dismay) of so many of the male-dominated wrestling companies that litter the landscape these days. What’s most stunning about the rise of FFW, however, is that the ‘breakthrough’ business model that has seen the company rise to the top would seem hardly revolutionary at first glance- the company focuses on the athleticism of the women competing, not merely their looks. As a result, FFW’s three shows- Velocity, Breaking Point, and the rookie-orientated Future Shock, have managed to become three of the most progressive, entertaining, cutting-edge programs available on television today.
So its no surprise that when it was announced that Femme Fatale Wrestling would be coming to Conseco Fieldhouse this Thursday, the response was enormous- and immediate. The entire event- nearly 19,000 tickets, was sold out in a matter of minutes, and the atmosphere downtown has been crackling with the electricity more akin to the Big Ten Men’s Basketball tournament than a lazy late-June scorcher. More known for its roots in basketball, football, and motorsports history, it’s not often that Indy plays host to a major wrestling show, and fans across the city are excited.
However, there may be no one more excited than one Pike Township resident, who will be definitely attending Thursday Nights Velocity. That’s because Wendy Briese will be competing in the main event of the evening.
“And yes, that is my real name,” proclaims the thirty-year old with a laugh, although she did legally change her surname to Thompson following her marriage to former pro-wrestler and current ARCA Stock Car racer Terrence Thompson.
While Wendy is well aware of the inherent wordplay in her name, she claims she’s not affected by any taunts or jokes that having such a name would no doubt bring- especially in the world of professional wrestling, where insults have been known to fly more frequently than missile dropkicks. “I used to be bothered by it, but you get used to it. It’s who I am, and I’m proud of it. I actually get more irritated when people ask me if I’m related to Drew.” she finishes, referring to former Purdue quarterback and current New Orleans Saints star Drew Brees. “The spelling’s not even the same, but I get that a lot.”
Although she’s been in Femme Fatale Wrestling for less than three months, Wendy has already begun to make a name for herself, with her flame-colored hair, her optimistic attitude, and her strong advocacy of fair play and sportsmanship. Wendy was one of the first chosen for the Chase For the Crown, a six-woman tournament with the winner to receive a match for the Evolution Championship- FFW’s second highest ranked title belt. Thursday’s match will be the second round of the competition.
“It’s actually a weird match,” Briese confesses. “For starters, the three of us have actually been tag team partners the last couple times we’ve been in the ring, and we’ve worked together pretty well. Now we’re opponents, and even though we knew that was the case from the get-go, it still feels odd. And there really won’t be a winner in the match- the match ends when one of us gets eliminated, and the two remaining girls will advance to face off in the finals. I can honestly say I’ve never been in anything like this before.”
That won’t be the only first for Briese on Thursday night. In her five-year career, which spanned from 2001-2005, and was revitalized again last year, Wendy has never competed in Indianapolis.
“It feels weird that I’ve been doing this for so long, and this is the first time I’ve wrestled here,” Wendy admits. “Most of my early career, I was involved in regional companies in New England, Canada, and Louisiana. And I’ve been to Chicago to the North, Louisville to the south, Cincinnati to the east, and St. Louis to the west. But never have I wrestled in Indianapolis. I don’t think I could have picked a much better time.”
Briese was actually born in New York City, the daughter of Augustus and Gayle Briese, who emigrated from Northern Ireland a couple years prior, both to further their stage acting careers, and to evade growing accusations that Agustus was involved with Irish terrorism. The young Wendy was often touted as a promising young actress herself, and was given intensive acting lessons from the moment she could walk.
“I didn’t really hate them,” Wendy reflects, “But they were demanding. You had to be perfect, in everything, or you had to do it again. The problem with that, is when you’re tired and frustrated, you make more mistakes.”
Wendy attended a boarding school for young actors with promising talent, although the school was closed when she was thirteen in the wake of a sex scandal involving several instructors and some of the older students. “Thank God I wasn’t involved in any of it,” Wendy remembers, “but it was an absolute mess. That was really the point where I started to wonder if I really wanted to live the life my parent’s had.”
“I just wasn’t happy. There isn’t another city in the world like New York, and that’s both good and bad. There’s so much to do there, and so many interesting people. But its not a city if you like peace and quiet. And it really wasn’t that nice of a place- this was before Guiliani began cleaning the city up in the late nineties. My parent’s were very social- they loved to go to parties and events like that. I really didn’t enjoy all that.”
With her father’s ties to radical Irish Nationalist organizations again gaining some attention, and their Broadway careers winding down, the Briese family was actually thinking of moving elsewhere. That elsewhere ended up being Indy.
“To be honest, I have no idea why it was here,” Wendy admits, “Although now I’m certainly glad it was.”
Wendy enrolled in Pike High School, where she graduated in 1999. Wendy admits she wasn’t the most outgoing student- her only social activities were the schools drama clubs.
“And I drove people NUTS.” Briese laughs. “The mentality I was supposed to have at my acting school stuck with me, so everything had to be absolutely perfect. And the drama club, it was mostly kids who just wanted to have fun creating something. I hate to say it, but I was *THAT* person. You know, the one who thought everything had to be done her way. I took a while for me to learn to have to let things go sometimes.”
After graduating from Pike, Wendy continued onto Butler university, which she attended for two years pursuing a degree in theater. After finishing her sophmore year, she intended to transfer to Boston College to be with her boyfriend, who moved to Massachusetts in late summer 2001.
“I had to be there for Terrence- it was really a low point in his life. He had just been banned by CISCA [The now-defunct Central Indiana Stock Car Alliance] for erratic driving, and he was undertaking a new career. Honestly I thought professional wrestling was the dumbest thing he could do, but I went along with it.”
She soon would more than go along with it- Wendy elected to not enroll in Boston College and became Terrence’s (who called himself the Twister) valet. Not long after, she surprised everyone when she joined the company herself- as a wrestler.
“I don’t know what got into me,” Briese confesses with another laugh. “Terrence had been injured, and I was upset about it. So the owner of the company tells me to pick a replacement for him in this six-man tag match. It was teaming with the tag champs, so I figured they could do most of the work, and I thought it would be kind of symbolic if I avenged my boyfriend. It seemed like a good idea at the time.”
But Wendy’s partners never showed, and Wendy found herself alone- untrained, and facing three men on her own. “And they were HUGE. Like Pollaski’s size- except, you know, talented. I tried running away, but that didn’t really work. I don’t remember the next four minutes really well, except I’m sure I didn’t enjoy it.”
Luckily, Wendy would become properly trained, and it wasn’t long before she was able to hold her own in the ring. Her and Terrence formed a tag team, called the WhirlyBirdz (Wendy still proudly boasts she thought of the ‘z’ to ‘make them look cool’), and within eight months, they had captured their first world tag team championship.
“We kind of got lucky,” Wendy admits. “It was a battle royal, and we actually got thrown over the top rope. But my leg got caught in the ropes, and I never hit the ground. Everyone else eliminated each other, and suddenly, we’re the tag champs.” It was an unceremonious start to what would evolve into a Hall of Fame calibur tag team run, but Wendy remembers the night more for what happened after the match. “We’re standing there with the tag titles, and I have no idea what just happened. Then suddenly, Terrence has the microphone, is down on one knee, and proposing to me. I must have accepted, but I sure don’t remember it, because my head was just reeling.”
Unfortunately, Wendy’s exploits and engagement had drawn the attention of her father, who was less than amused that his daughter had forsaken an acting career for one in professional wrestling. What followed was a months long battle between Augustus and Terrence, with Wendy caught in the middle. “It was a downward slide really, and it ultimately led to the low point of my life,” Wendy says. “So much dirty laundry got aired, most notably the fact that my father had been having an affair for about twenty years.”
The turmoil ultimately ended in tragedy. Upon learning of the affair, Gayle Briese, Wendy’s mother, had planned to file for divorce. But Thanksgiving 2002 turned out to be the worst week of Wendy’s life.
“We were at a huge multi-company pay per view in Reno,” Wendy says, trying hard to keep her voice straight. “Terry and I had just defended the tag titles, and we got a call. Mother had been involved in an accident on 465.”
Gayle Briese had been struck by a semi-truck, presumably while standing on the shoulder of Interstate 465 due to car problems. She was thrown thirty feet from the impact, and suffered fractures on 85% of the bones in her body. She never woke up, and died two days later. It was later revealed that Augustus had shoved her into the path of the semi, a sin for which Wendy says he’ll never been given for.
“He can rot for all I care,” the normally amiable woman says bitterly. “First in Indiana State Pen, then in hell. Between this and what he did in Ireland, he’s wrecked too many lives.”
The trial for Gayle’s murder was a local media circus- one which Wendy notoriously avoided, only appearing at the trial to give testimony against her father. She saw the guilty verdict via satellite while preparing for a show in Ontario. “I can’t say I’m proud that I skipped the trial,” Wendy claims. “I just felt it was what I had to do. There was just too much spotlights, too many people trying to turn it into Indy’s version of OJ. I felt that if I was around it any more than I had to be, it’d kill me.”
Wendy’s done her best to move on from the tragedy. “It’s tough. I still think about it, and its sad that my daughter will never know her grandmother. But at the same time, I know she never would have wanted me to be miserable because of her. The best I can do for her is to live my life the best I can. I know she’s in a better place, watching me. And I know she’s proud of me. It’s a process, and one that will likely last my entire life. But I’ve done my best to move on.”
Wendy wrestled for three more years, retiring, along with her husband, in late 2005, getting married soon after. Settling in Indianapolis with their soon-to-be born daughter Theresa, Terrence returned to auto racing, and Wendy returned to her original passion- the theater.
“At first, I got some decent roles at a local playhouse, but then I was approached about being the director for the MCTT [the then-named Marion County Community Theater]. I really enjoyed it. I met a lot of great people there, mostly young adults who just wanted to act. I was a lot more agreeable than I was at Pike, but I was tough on them. I never expected perfection, but I certainly wasn’t satisfied with anything less than maximum effort. It led to some frustrating days, but I think we ended up doing some things that everyone involved was proud to be a part of.”
Briese resigned her position last year, citing ‘irreconcilable differences with a major donor’ as the reason for her removal. She then unexpectedly returned to wrestling alongside her husband. “[Longtime manager Daniel] Pollaski approached us about it, and I was reluctant at first, but eventually agreed. There’s really nothing like professional wrestling. Just the challenge, the feeling of walking through that curtain. You can’t get that anywhere else.”
Nowadays, Terrence is back in auto racing (Wendy jokes that they’ll reform the WhirlyBirdz next year once her husband changes his mind again), and Wendy feels she has fit in well with her new company. “Most of my career, I’ve been in regional promotions that featured intergender competition. Suddenly I’m in one of the largest wrestling companies in the world- and it’s all female. It’s been a mixed blessing- on one hand, I’m having about as much fun as I’ve ever had competing and travelling. On the other hand, most of my other companies, there were maybe one or two other females there, if any. So I kinda got to skate to recognition as ‘the girl who can beat the guys’. Here, well, we’re all girls, and I think most of us would whip any male we’re put against. But I don’t just automatically stand out here- I have to work harder to get noticed. It’s a new challenge.”
It’s a challenge Wendy hopes she’s succeeded at to some extent- at least enough to gain a solid hometown crowd backing come Thursday night. “Some people don’t care if they’re loved or hated- some even like being booed,” Wendy explains. “I’m not one of them. I love the fans, and I love it when they cheer me and get behind me. I like to think it gives me an inner-strength knowing that there’s people out there hoping I win.”
So now that she’s finally gotten a match in Indianapolis, does Wendy feel her career is complete? “It’s another piece in the puzzle- a big piece, really. But no. As long as I’m wrestling, I want to feel like there’s something else out there for me to accomplish. After all, if there’s no goals for me to shoot for, why would I risk my body to do this? But that’s a long way away- I’ve got plenty of things to shoot for in FFW, and I’ve got at least five good years left in me. That’s a long time in this business.”
But for now, Wendy is content to get out there, and enjoy the moment. “I’d love to say I’m going to go out and give my absolute best Thursday night for my city, but I try to do that every time I compete, no matter where I am. But I’m hoping that once its done, and the fans see me out there, Indianapolis will be proud to call me one of their own.”
Wendy doesn’t likely need to worry about fan support- she’s gotten it elsewhere, she’ll likely get it here. But its something that you can tell is important to her. “I know its cheesy, but that song, ‘Back Home Again In Indiana?’ I hum it every time we cross the Wabash or the Ohio and enter back into the state. No matter where I go, I’m proud to say I’m from Indianapolis, and I’m proud to call myself a Hoosier.”
“But its certainly going to feel good to be home.”
Not Just Hot Air- Briese looks to Blow Away Expectations in Homecoming
by Reba Clarkson
When Femme Fatale Wrestling opened just one year ago, there were many skeptics who questioned the feasibility of an all women’s wrestling company being promoted on a global level. Female wrestlers, while often very respected inside the industry itself, have often been considered as little more than a sideshow act by the general public- an interesting novelty at its best, and degrading T&A riddled debauchery at its worst.
FFW, however, has blown those perceptions- and most of its critics, clear out of the water, becoming not just the largest women’s wrestling company in the world by a very definite margin, but now stands at being the cusp of being the class of the wrestling industry as a whole- to the shock (and likely dismay) of so many of the male-dominated wrestling companies that litter the landscape these days. What’s most stunning about the rise of FFW, however, is that the ‘breakthrough’ business model that has seen the company rise to the top would seem hardly revolutionary at first glance- the company focuses on the athleticism of the women competing, not merely their looks. As a result, FFW’s three shows- Velocity, Breaking Point, and the rookie-orientated Future Shock, have managed to become three of the most progressive, entertaining, cutting-edge programs available on television today.
So its no surprise that when it was announced that Femme Fatale Wrestling would be coming to Conseco Fieldhouse this Thursday, the response was enormous- and immediate. The entire event- nearly 19,000 tickets, was sold out in a matter of minutes, and the atmosphere downtown has been crackling with the electricity more akin to the Big Ten Men’s Basketball tournament than a lazy late-June scorcher. More known for its roots in basketball, football, and motorsports history, it’s not often that Indy plays host to a major wrestling show, and fans across the city are excited.
However, there may be no one more excited than one Pike Township resident, who will be definitely attending Thursday Nights Velocity. That’s because Wendy Briese will be competing in the main event of the evening.
“And yes, that is my real name,” proclaims the thirty-year old with a laugh, although she did legally change her surname to Thompson following her marriage to former pro-wrestler and current ARCA Stock Car racer Terrence Thompson.
While Wendy is well aware of the inherent wordplay in her name, she claims she’s not affected by any taunts or jokes that having such a name would no doubt bring- especially in the world of professional wrestling, where insults have been known to fly more frequently than missile dropkicks. “I used to be bothered by it, but you get used to it. It’s who I am, and I’m proud of it. I actually get more irritated when people ask me if I’m related to Drew.” she finishes, referring to former Purdue quarterback and current New Orleans Saints star Drew Brees. “The spelling’s not even the same, but I get that a lot.”
Although she’s been in Femme Fatale Wrestling for less than three months, Wendy has already begun to make a name for herself, with her flame-colored hair, her optimistic attitude, and her strong advocacy of fair play and sportsmanship. Wendy was one of the first chosen for the Chase For the Crown, a six-woman tournament with the winner to receive a match for the Evolution Championship- FFW’s second highest ranked title belt. Thursday’s match will be the second round of the competition.
“It’s actually a weird match,” Briese confesses. “For starters, the three of us have actually been tag team partners the last couple times we’ve been in the ring, and we’ve worked together pretty well. Now we’re opponents, and even though we knew that was the case from the get-go, it still feels odd. And there really won’t be a winner in the match- the match ends when one of us gets eliminated, and the two remaining girls will advance to face off in the finals. I can honestly say I’ve never been in anything like this before.”
That won’t be the only first for Briese on Thursday night. In her five-year career, which spanned from 2001-2005, and was revitalized again last year, Wendy has never competed in Indianapolis.
“It feels weird that I’ve been doing this for so long, and this is the first time I’ve wrestled here,” Wendy admits. “Most of my early career, I was involved in regional companies in New England, Canada, and Louisiana. And I’ve been to Chicago to the North, Louisville to the south, Cincinnati to the east, and St. Louis to the west. But never have I wrestled in Indianapolis. I don’t think I could have picked a much better time.”
Briese was actually born in New York City, the daughter of Augustus and Gayle Briese, who emigrated from Northern Ireland a couple years prior, both to further their stage acting careers, and to evade growing accusations that Agustus was involved with Irish terrorism. The young Wendy was often touted as a promising young actress herself, and was given intensive acting lessons from the moment she could walk.
“I didn’t really hate them,” Wendy reflects, “But they were demanding. You had to be perfect, in everything, or you had to do it again. The problem with that, is when you’re tired and frustrated, you make more mistakes.”
Wendy attended a boarding school for young actors with promising talent, although the school was closed when she was thirteen in the wake of a sex scandal involving several instructors and some of the older students. “Thank God I wasn’t involved in any of it,” Wendy remembers, “but it was an absolute mess. That was really the point where I started to wonder if I really wanted to live the life my parent’s had.”
“I just wasn’t happy. There isn’t another city in the world like New York, and that’s both good and bad. There’s so much to do there, and so many interesting people. But its not a city if you like peace and quiet. And it really wasn’t that nice of a place- this was before Guiliani began cleaning the city up in the late nineties. My parent’s were very social- they loved to go to parties and events like that. I really didn’t enjoy all that.”
With her father’s ties to radical Irish Nationalist organizations again gaining some attention, and their Broadway careers winding down, the Briese family was actually thinking of moving elsewhere. That elsewhere ended up being Indy.
“To be honest, I have no idea why it was here,” Wendy admits, “Although now I’m certainly glad it was.”
Wendy enrolled in Pike High School, where she graduated in 1999. Wendy admits she wasn’t the most outgoing student- her only social activities were the schools drama clubs.
“And I drove people NUTS.” Briese laughs. “The mentality I was supposed to have at my acting school stuck with me, so everything had to be absolutely perfect. And the drama club, it was mostly kids who just wanted to have fun creating something. I hate to say it, but I was *THAT* person. You know, the one who thought everything had to be done her way. I took a while for me to learn to have to let things go sometimes.”
After graduating from Pike, Wendy continued onto Butler university, which she attended for two years pursuing a degree in theater. After finishing her sophmore year, she intended to transfer to Boston College to be with her boyfriend, who moved to Massachusetts in late summer 2001.
“I had to be there for Terrence- it was really a low point in his life. He had just been banned by CISCA [The now-defunct Central Indiana Stock Car Alliance] for erratic driving, and he was undertaking a new career. Honestly I thought professional wrestling was the dumbest thing he could do, but I went along with it.”
She soon would more than go along with it- Wendy elected to not enroll in Boston College and became Terrence’s (who called himself the Twister) valet. Not long after, she surprised everyone when she joined the company herself- as a wrestler.
“I don’t know what got into me,” Briese confesses with another laugh. “Terrence had been injured, and I was upset about it. So the owner of the company tells me to pick a replacement for him in this six-man tag match. It was teaming with the tag champs, so I figured they could do most of the work, and I thought it would be kind of symbolic if I avenged my boyfriend. It seemed like a good idea at the time.”
But Wendy’s partners never showed, and Wendy found herself alone- untrained, and facing three men on her own. “And they were HUGE. Like Pollaski’s size- except, you know, talented. I tried running away, but that didn’t really work. I don’t remember the next four minutes really well, except I’m sure I didn’t enjoy it.”
Luckily, Wendy would become properly trained, and it wasn’t long before she was able to hold her own in the ring. Her and Terrence formed a tag team, called the WhirlyBirdz (Wendy still proudly boasts she thought of the ‘z’ to ‘make them look cool’), and within eight months, they had captured their first world tag team championship.
“We kind of got lucky,” Wendy admits. “It was a battle royal, and we actually got thrown over the top rope. But my leg got caught in the ropes, and I never hit the ground. Everyone else eliminated each other, and suddenly, we’re the tag champs.” It was an unceremonious start to what would evolve into a Hall of Fame calibur tag team run, but Wendy remembers the night more for what happened after the match. “We’re standing there with the tag titles, and I have no idea what just happened. Then suddenly, Terrence has the microphone, is down on one knee, and proposing to me. I must have accepted, but I sure don’t remember it, because my head was just reeling.”
Unfortunately, Wendy’s exploits and engagement had drawn the attention of her father, who was less than amused that his daughter had forsaken an acting career for one in professional wrestling. What followed was a months long battle between Augustus and Terrence, with Wendy caught in the middle. “It was a downward slide really, and it ultimately led to the low point of my life,” Wendy says. “So much dirty laundry got aired, most notably the fact that my father had been having an affair for about twenty years.”
The turmoil ultimately ended in tragedy. Upon learning of the affair, Gayle Briese, Wendy’s mother, had planned to file for divorce. But Thanksgiving 2002 turned out to be the worst week of Wendy’s life.
“We were at a huge multi-company pay per view in Reno,” Wendy says, trying hard to keep her voice straight. “Terry and I had just defended the tag titles, and we got a call. Mother had been involved in an accident on 465.”
Gayle Briese had been struck by a semi-truck, presumably while standing on the shoulder of Interstate 465 due to car problems. She was thrown thirty feet from the impact, and suffered fractures on 85% of the bones in her body. She never woke up, and died two days later. It was later revealed that Augustus had shoved her into the path of the semi, a sin for which Wendy says he’ll never been given for.
“He can rot for all I care,” the normally amiable woman says bitterly. “First in Indiana State Pen, then in hell. Between this and what he did in Ireland, he’s wrecked too many lives.”
The trial for Gayle’s murder was a local media circus- one which Wendy notoriously avoided, only appearing at the trial to give testimony against her father. She saw the guilty verdict via satellite while preparing for a show in Ontario. “I can’t say I’m proud that I skipped the trial,” Wendy claims. “I just felt it was what I had to do. There was just too much spotlights, too many people trying to turn it into Indy’s version of OJ. I felt that if I was around it any more than I had to be, it’d kill me.”
Wendy’s done her best to move on from the tragedy. “It’s tough. I still think about it, and its sad that my daughter will never know her grandmother. But at the same time, I know she never would have wanted me to be miserable because of her. The best I can do for her is to live my life the best I can. I know she’s in a better place, watching me. And I know she’s proud of me. It’s a process, and one that will likely last my entire life. But I’ve done my best to move on.”
Wendy wrestled for three more years, retiring, along with her husband, in late 2005, getting married soon after. Settling in Indianapolis with their soon-to-be born daughter Theresa, Terrence returned to auto racing, and Wendy returned to her original passion- the theater.
“At first, I got some decent roles at a local playhouse, but then I was approached about being the director for the MCTT [the then-named Marion County Community Theater]. I really enjoyed it. I met a lot of great people there, mostly young adults who just wanted to act. I was a lot more agreeable than I was at Pike, but I was tough on them. I never expected perfection, but I certainly wasn’t satisfied with anything less than maximum effort. It led to some frustrating days, but I think we ended up doing some things that everyone involved was proud to be a part of.”
Briese resigned her position last year, citing ‘irreconcilable differences with a major donor’ as the reason for her removal. She then unexpectedly returned to wrestling alongside her husband. “[Longtime manager Daniel] Pollaski approached us about it, and I was reluctant at first, but eventually agreed. There’s really nothing like professional wrestling. Just the challenge, the feeling of walking through that curtain. You can’t get that anywhere else.”
Nowadays, Terrence is back in auto racing (Wendy jokes that they’ll reform the WhirlyBirdz next year once her husband changes his mind again), and Wendy feels she has fit in well with her new company. “Most of my career, I’ve been in regional promotions that featured intergender competition. Suddenly I’m in one of the largest wrestling companies in the world- and it’s all female. It’s been a mixed blessing- on one hand, I’m having about as much fun as I’ve ever had competing and travelling. On the other hand, most of my other companies, there were maybe one or two other females there, if any. So I kinda got to skate to recognition as ‘the girl who can beat the guys’. Here, well, we’re all girls, and I think most of us would whip any male we’re put against. But I don’t just automatically stand out here- I have to work harder to get noticed. It’s a new challenge.”
It’s a challenge Wendy hopes she’s succeeded at to some extent- at least enough to gain a solid hometown crowd backing come Thursday night. “Some people don’t care if they’re loved or hated- some even like being booed,” Wendy explains. “I’m not one of them. I love the fans, and I love it when they cheer me and get behind me. I like to think it gives me an inner-strength knowing that there’s people out there hoping I win.”
So now that she’s finally gotten a match in Indianapolis, does Wendy feel her career is complete? “It’s another piece in the puzzle- a big piece, really. But no. As long as I’m wrestling, I want to feel like there’s something else out there for me to accomplish. After all, if there’s no goals for me to shoot for, why would I risk my body to do this? But that’s a long way away- I’ve got plenty of things to shoot for in FFW, and I’ve got at least five good years left in me. That’s a long time in this business.”
But for now, Wendy is content to get out there, and enjoy the moment. “I’d love to say I’m going to go out and give my absolute best Thursday night for my city, but I try to do that every time I compete, no matter where I am. But I’m hoping that once its done, and the fans see me out there, Indianapolis will be proud to call me one of their own.”
Wendy doesn’t likely need to worry about fan support- she’s gotten it elsewhere, she’ll likely get it here. But its something that you can tell is important to her. “I know its cheesy, but that song, ‘Back Home Again In Indiana?’ I hum it every time we cross the Wabash or the Ohio and enter back into the state. No matter where I go, I’m proud to say I’m from Indianapolis, and I’m proud to call myself a Hoosier.”
“But its certainly going to feel good to be home.”
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