|
|
Sports
Bill Harris
Movie Entertainment
March 2010
Maryse did not wrestle with her decision. Brisk action was needed.
The story of how the fetching and ferocious Maryse first entered the world of WWE is a sneaky one. It came up during a recent conversation with her in Toronto, when it was casually mentioned that she grew up in New Brunswick.
“I grew up in Montreal,” Maryse corrected. “I lived two years in New Brunswick.”
Then her voice dropped a bit in volume.
“Uh, where did you read that I grew up in New Brunswick?” she asked. “Online?”
Actually, yes.
“Well, funny story about that,” said Maryse, a smile crossing her face.
“When I first tried out for the World Wrestling Entertainment Diva Search in 2006, most Canadians were allowed to enter, but people from Quebec were not.” Nothing prejudicial, just differing and more stringent rules for contests in Quebec.
“I have a lot of family in New Brunswick and I really wanted to enter,” Maryse recalled. “So I put down my grandmother’s address.”
Ah, the perfect crime. One small problem.
“The first thing that happened was, I got a call from WWE and they asked me to fax them a copy of my driver’s licence,” Maryse said. “Well, I couldn’t fax it, because I had a Quebec licence.”
Now comes the “brisk action” part.
“I drove from Montreal to New Brunswick that night,” she said. “In the morning I got a New Brunswick driver’s licence and I faxed a copy to WWE.”
Wow, that’s commitment. Did her trickery ever come back to haunt her?
“They found out a few months later and they were laughing about it,” Maryse said.
Phew. And quite frankly, WWE was the big winner in all this, because it would be a far less interesting place without Maryse.
In the end, Maryse didn’t win the 2006 Diva Search, but WWE saw potential in her as a fashionable and entertainingly arrogant persona and decided to offer her a role in the organization.
She made her ring debut in December of that year after some intense wrestling training, although when asked about the WWE’s supposed 50-50 split between athleticism and showmanship, she still says, “If you’re able to have 90 per cent showmanship, you’re in a good position.”
In March 2008, Maryse appeared on SmackDown for a swimsuit competition and that summer she made her television in-ring debut.
In December 2008, Maryse captured her first wrestling title, the WWE Divas Championship, by defeating Michelle McCool. Maryse held that title when she competed at Wrestle- Mania XXV and also when she joined the illustrious Raw brand, both in April 2009.
Maryse battled knee problems through much of 2009, but she seems poised to bounce back in 2010 – ideally at WrestleMania XXVI, which takes place March 28, and can be seen on Viewers Choice.
The quick rise of Maryse (surname Ouellet) has been notable particularly because she was such a latecomer to merely being aware that pro wrestling existed. As a young kid she didn’t know anything about it. But as she got older, peer pressure took hold.
“I started knowing more about wrestling when I was 16, 17, 18, just watching with my friends,” Maryse said. “They were big fans of WWE. So just being with them, I started to follow it a little bit.
“And it’s interesting, when you get into it, you really get into it.”
Who was the first individual wrestler to catch Maryse’s eye?
“The first time I saw Jeff Hardy, I was really impressed,” she said. “That guy is something. And then The Rock came. The Rock was such a character. It’s hard to flip channels when he’s in the ring.”
It’s tough to flip past Maryse as well.
Related Articles Smackdown Bunny! Our Blonde Bombshell
|
|
|
|