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Kia Stevens Talks Netflix's GLOW Series, WWE Run, Dream Wrestling Opponents
June 20, 2017
Kia Stevens is known to many wrestling fans as Awesome Kong from her TNA days or Kharma from her WWE career, but she is taking on a whole new challenge as the character Tamme for her role in the new Netflix series, GLOW.
The Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling was a wrestling company in the 1980s and is being remade as a comedy series on Netflix. Stevens has taken on a starring role in the show, bringing her wrestling expertise to the set.
In a recent interview promoting the new GLOW series, premiering Friday, Stevens spoke to Ring Rust Radio about her acting role on the show, her previous run with WWE and her dream wrestling opponents.
(Warning: Trailer contains NSFW content.)
While most wrestling fans remember Stevens from her highly successful wrestling career, she originally got into the business to be an actress.
After finding success in companies around the world, she has now shifted her focus to the world of acting, where she is once again finding success on the set of GLOW.
"I absolutely want an acting career. I think I've done what I've done in wrestling," Stevens said. "I appreciate what I've done in wrestling, but telling the story that we've told in GLOW and having the experience I've had with the people I've had it with leaves me wanting more. Like I said before, this is what I wanted when I got into wrestling, this is what I got into wrestling to do."
The transition from the wrestling industry to acting can be difficult, but Stevens has handled it well thus far. Her character is believable and her role in GLOW is one of the highlights of the first season. For fans of wrestling, this is a can't-miss series.
As great as Stevens is in her role as Tamme, many wrestling fans will always have a sweet spot in their hearts for her wrestling ability. Her time in WWE was far too short, but she revealed her thoughts on how the run with the company would have gone if she had stuck around longer.
"I can only speculate, but I would think Kharma had a 99.9 percent chance of a title run and then my hope was to bring in a new girl and make a super face who is going to topple Kharma," Stevens said.
"That was my goal and that was something Triple H and I talked about bringing in a girl for a program and making her a super face and us all making money. We never talked about who that would've been, we didn't get that far. I left during my honeymoon with the company."
In addition to the WWE Universe missing out on Kharma's title run, fans also missed out on several marquee matchups that would have been instant classics.
When asked about her dream matchups, Stevens spoke about the two women she would like to square off against.
"Beth Phoenix and I never happened. The fans have seen Gail [Kim] and me, and I would always love to face Gail again to bookend our story," Stevens said. "The fans would really love to see Beth and I dance in the ring and that never happened. I feel like the fans were cheated out of that so I would love to do that for the fans and for myself."
Stevens' focus on her acting career is not what wrestling fans want to hear, as she was one of the most popular female performers in history, but she is now following her dream. Instead of dominating the ring, she can now dominate the television and movie industries.
There is no doubt that Stevens accomplished almost everything she set out to in the wrestling business, but her first dream was to be an actress.
With age on her side and a built-in fanbase, the 39-year-old should continue rising through the acting ranks and has all the potential in the world to be a mainstream star.
Regardless of what comes next for Stevens, her role in Netflix's GLOW appears to be the first step toward a successful acting career.
For more wrestling talk, listen to Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot topics or catch the latest episode in the player above (some language NSFW).