November 23, 2010
Gary Mehaffy
An interview with Tiffany
How are you feeling after your release on Friday?
You know, I’m really sad. I really, really love wrestling and I love WWE. And I love being able to work with my husband, so I think sad really sums it up. I’m sure something good is going to come out of this, so I’m staying positive, but I’m certainly going to miss wrestling for WWE.
Had you seen it coming at all or was it a shock to you?
You know, I had no idea. I got the suspension and I so didn’t know. I knew it could go one way or the other and unfortunately it went in the way that I did not want it to go.
You mentioned loving working for WWE. Were you a fan before you signed for them?
Yeah, that’s why I decided to go out for them. I had a friend who was really big into wrestling and he was “You’ve got to come with me to some of the shows” and so he took me to a Pay Per View and he took me to another show, and I went “Oh my gosh!” I remember seeing a Candice Michelle and Beth Phoenix match and I was like “Oh my gosh! I totally want to do that!” That kind of started my whole love of everything and I just started researching and watching matches. Then I found out about the Dive Search and I was like, that’s the perfect way to get in. So I was a new fan but I was definitely a fan.
Whenever you did sign after the Diva Search you spent some time in Florida, in FCW. How did you find your time down there?
Oh my gosh, it was amazing! Steve Keirn and Dr. Tom (Pritchard) run it down there and they are just……they are legends in their own right. They give their entire life to developing new talent and not only was it fun, it was a lot of hard work. I learned so much there from Dr. Tom, Steve Keirn, Dusty Rhodes, Billy Kidman…..they were the ones that were always there every step of the way through my training, and even when I was on the road I was still at FCW training.
There was quite a lot of new talent in FCW at that time. Who were you closest with when you were there?
Definitely the Bellas. They are the most fun people in the entire world. I definitely hung out with them. I worked a lot with Nattie, Natalya Neidhart. She was always willing to get into the ring and roll around with me and kick my butt. Let me tell you, that girl can kick butt! (laughs) I’ll have my butt kicked by Natalya any day and be happy, because she is just one of the best women’s wrestlers in the entire world. So them, and then Angela Fong who wrestled as Savannah. Her and I started on the same day so we also were friends and we still continue to talk to this day.
I’m assuming Florida is where you met Drew? I see you were thanking the Bella twins for setting you up with him.
(laughs) Yeah, it was funny because we had known each other for a while before that and I was all of a sudden like…….there was one day, I couldn’t even remember his name to save my life. Months went by, and I heard he had a little bit of a crush on me but I was like oh, whatever, and then just one day I remember we were at a show in Florida, and we were in this little, tiny trailer, and he popped in and I was like “Oh my gosh, he’s so cute!” and I remember sitting there with Nikki Bella and she was like “Oh my gosh, you guys totally would make such a cute couple.” That night her and Brie were like you have to call, and so they ended up initiating, and giving me the confidence, to call him. But he had a crush on me, so he thought it was a prank, that it was one of the girls pranking him. So it took about 3 or 4 weeks before he realised it was actually me that wanted to call him. It was pretty cute.
You were still in Florida as you were saying, but you had the chance to go up to the main roster on ECW as Teddy Long’s assistant. How did you feel about that, after only being six months into your career in WWE?
It was actually only…….I got there in February and I got called up in June, so it was really only about 5 months. It was really scary, I was like “Oh my gosh, I am totally not prepared for this!” But thank goodness FCW is there and they really teach you everything about really what you need to know, they really prepare you. And as soon as I got up there I had Teddy by my side the entire time, and he was a mentor to me. I am forever in debt for the knowledge and the guidance that he gave me, because I think without Teddy and Dusty Rhodes constantly drilling promos and stuff into us I don’t know if I would have survived. I like to think I would have, but they definitely helped.
You were part of the 25 Diva Battle Royal at WrestleMania 25. Part of that was almost just a backdrop for a Kid Rock if memory serves me correctly, but how did it feel to be competing at WM after just about 1 year in the business?
Oh my gosh, it was so amazing! I just remember when I went out there I looked up, and I looked up, and I looked up and I’m like “Oh my gosh, the people don’t end!” (laughs) There were so many people! Honestly, you feel like you are walking on clouds to walk down to the ring. It’s the most unbelievable feeling. I remember I was thrown out of the ring by Beth (Phoenix) and I was like, I don’t even care how much this hurts, this is WrestleMania, I’ll do anything! (laughs) That’s every wrestler’s dream, to have a WrestleMania match, so I was so fortunate that I was a year in and I got to have that WrestleMania match.
Two days after that you were made permanent General Manager of ECW. Were you happy to make the move out of the ring or would you preferred to have stayed wrestling?
You know, I really kinda wish I could have done both! I loved both roles so much. I loved the opportunity to speak. I loved that, it was a challenge all in itself, but, certainly, wrestling is what I came here to do. That’s where my true passion lies. That’s what I live for, so if I had to make the choice of being General Manager or being a wrestler, definitely I would choose wrestling all the way. But I really, really loved doing promos and things like that. If I could have done it all and wrestled as a GM that would be pretty much perfect!
You were moved to SmackDown shortly after ECW was folded. Were you ever made any promises in relation to the Women’s Championship or was it just more of a ‘wait and see’?
We don’t really know anything. I was kinda like, here I am. I had such a home on ECW. Tommy (Dreamer) was there for the majority of it, I had such a home there. It’s always like when you move brands, it’s just different even though it’s really not, it is. So I was definitely really sad, but it was a new beginning, it was time for me to wrestle and I was excited about that. I definitely was praying for championships and title shots. I did get one – I didn’t win, but at least I did get a chance to have a title shot.
On television you definitely came across, during your time with Kelly Kelly, as really enjoying that time.
Oh my gosh yes! Kelly is a blast. Her and the Bellas, they are just the most fun loving girls that you could ever meet. Always with Kelly, we had fun together, and we clicked as friends. I’m really sad that there’s no more Blondetourage. (laughs) I remember we came up with that when we were sitting in Canada in a little restaurant. Kelly came up with it and we just couldn’t stop saying it after that. So it was definitely fun for her to be my little partner in crime for a couple of months.
You’re still young; what does the future hold for you, in or out of wrestling?
You know, I have no idea! I have a couple of things in development, in different stages of development and I’ve gotten a lot of offers for things. Certainly, I am to going to stop wrestling, that’s a definite. There are a few other non wrestling things, but I wanna wrestle. I wanna wrestle all over the world, I'm taking bookings for all over the world, through mike@esterman.com, he’s taking bookings for me right now. My main goal is to not stop growing as a wrestler. I would love to be in the top ten female wrestlers in the world, or the top five. That would be the ultimate goal for me.
Do you hope to return to WWE in the future or are you not worried where you wrestle?
You know, I don’t know, because I don’t know what the future holds! If that is something that would come about, then I’m not closed off to anything. WWE is an amazing company and if at any point they would like to have me back, I would love to go back to them. My husband’s there too, that makes me miss it that much more. If I’m not wrestling for WWE I’ll be wrestling some place!
When you mention Drew – I once saw him on an independent show over in Ireland, along with Sheamus, and it is interesting to see that they are both now high up on the WWE roster.
I know, and they’re doing so well. They’re really good friends. It’s so nice to see them both doing so well. They’re such humble people and I’m just really proud of them, I’m proud of both of them. I believe in Drew. I believe he’s going to be a top guy over there, and he’s just gonna……He’s gonna take over the world! He’s so talented.
Do you have anything you would like to say to your fans?
Definitely I wanna thank them sincerely from the bottom of my heart. My fans have been there since the Diva Search and supported me the entire way. I can’t thank them enough for caring and just being behind me and cheering me on and believing in me, because there are days that get tough. No matter what, you have those fans that are there for you. I’m gonna do everything I can not to let them down, and I’m not gonna stop wrestling and I’m not gonna stop getting myself out there. Like I said, I’m taking bookings all over the world. My website’s actually up live, it’s www.tarynterrell.com and so people can get in contact with me there, social networking, twitter and all that (on the site). It’s where they can for bookings and stuff. I love meeting my fans and I love receiving all the tweets from them. They’re amazing and they always make me smile, so thank you, thank you, thank you!