LadySports ::: Q&A: Mary Elizabeth Monroe

Mary Elizabeth Monroe

by Tom Randolph


Hails from: St. Louis, Missouri
Height:  5'8"
Weight:  171 lbs.
Eyes:  Hazel
Hair:  "Changes... buy my driver's license says it is brown."
DOB:  January 28th

LADYSPORTS: When did you start wrestling?
MARY ELIZABETH MONROE: I started training off and on in 2006. I could catch a weekend here and there to travel to Cincinnati and train while I was living in St. Louis. By 2007 I had moved to Cincinnati and I had my first match in the spring of '07.

LS: What or who was your biggest inspiration to become a wrestler?
MEM: I have always been passionate about performing and entertaining. I have also always been a very serious athlete. When I saw a wrestling show at Heartland Wrestling Association for the first time, I knew it was something that I wanted to do. It would allow me to do everything I love in some aspect. Once I decided that, a wrestler by the name of Benjamin Kimera helped me make it happen. He trained me while I lived in St. Louis and continued to help me learn and train after I started training at HWA.

LS: How has wrestling changed your life? What is so special about this sport to you?
MEM: Wrestling has allowed me to take charge of my life and do what I want to do and what is right for me no mater what anyone else may think. There is nothing more exciting than to have a crowd in the palm of your hand and to be able to control their emotions. The most fulfilling thing is that I am part of something that provides an escape for people from their everyday drudgeries. I provide something that makes children and adults feel great, and even encourages them to push harder in their own lives and pursue their own dreams.

LS: What other sports or hobbies do you have an interest in?
MEM: I played fastpitch softball up through high school and college, and I will always love the sports of softball and baseball. I was also a musical theatre and vocal performance major so dancing, acting, and singing also fall under my interests. I love to learn and create. So the possibilities are limitless.

LS: How would you describe yourself?
MEM: I try to be honest and genuine, so if you try to find an underlying meaning in something I say or do... there isn't one. If I say "Hi" to you... all I mean is "Hi". Nothing more, and nothing less. I like people and I am compassionate, sometimes to a fault. I am very determined and push myself to reach my potential. Sometimes it is overwhelming, but I keep trying.

LS: What are your favorite foods, music, clothes, cars, etc.?
MEM: I love a good rare steak. I am a fan of Italian, Mexican, Greek, Indian....
I love music... anything I can sing is good.
I have finally found jeans that fit me... Baby Phat and Apple Bottom in particular. The more I work out and train, the more I end up with big thighs and a big butt. And those brands are the only ones that fit right.

LS: What is your most marked characteristic?
MEM: I am very outgoing and extroverted. Some people don't like me because of that. They think I am being confrontational or mean sometimes. But really I am just aggressive and to the point. No malice intended. Most of the time.

LS: Who and what are your fans like?
MEM: I have a lot of fans who are young girls. I like being a role model for them. I think that too many girls think you can either be pretty or you can be an athlete. It doesn't have to be one or the other. I show these girls that they can be powerful and strong and it doesn't make them less beautiful. I want them to be confident and know that they can be beautiful, athletic, intelligent, creative... anything they want to be. Doing well in school or anything else they want to pursue doesn't make them any less feminine.

LS: Describe a typical day of wrestling training for you? What is most important and what are the things you train on most?
MEM: A typical day of training would involve stretching and warming up with squats, push-ups, sit ups... whatever my body needs. Then I like to spend time chain wrestling another wrestler. It is fun to try to out wrestle someone who is more experience than I am, because it challenges me and teaches me to think on my feet to find creative ways to get out of predicaments or reverse holds. I also spend time thinking about my opponents and how they wrestle. The more I know about who I will be facing, the more I can prepare myself with offense that I can use to get the best of them and protect myself from their strengths while exploiting their weaknesses. I work on my body with wrestling, cardio, and weights (which could include lifting another wrestler), and I work on my mind by thinking technique and strategy and then putting them into practice with a training partner.

LS: What are your best holds, pins, moves? What are you best known for doing?
MEM: I have very strong legs, so if I am able to get my opponent in a position where I can grapevine them with my legs, that is to my advantage. But don't tell anyone... I don't want my opponents to know my secret weapon! If I get my opponent in a position where they are laid out in the middle of the ring, I like to try to wear them down further with a rolling centon, followed by a back centon. I don't know if there is anything I am best known for doing regularly, but before I started wrestling I got everyone's attention as a manager by giving a male wrestler a "Van Terminator". That was a good day.

LS: What was the worst you have ever been hurt in training or a match?
MEM: I have been lucky to have no more than bruises, chipped teeth, and a few sprains and hyperextensions.

LS: Where have you wrestled? What titles have you held?
MEM: I have wrestled all over Ohio, several promotions in Indiana, and BCW in Wisconsin. I have held women's titles in a couple of promotions in Ohio and Indiana. Maybe one day I can get every title from every company and take over the world. Who knows?

LS: What comments or reactions do you get from others about being a wrestler?
MEM: Most of my close friends and family were surprised. But most people think it is awesome.

LS: What is your most memorable moment?
MEM: There are MANY. One that comes to mind is when I was managing at a show deep in Kentucky. The audience was separated from the ring with ropes connected by steel posts. One woman got so angry at me that she picked up one of the steel posts and swung it at my head like a baseball bat. The memorable part was that I dove out of the way and lived to tell the tale.

LS: In your opinion, what are your thoughts on women participating in the sport?
MEM: I think that women have a long way to go to prove themselves. Too many women have entered the business and decided that they didn't have to try hard and that makes us all look bad. But there are a lot of women who DO work hard and ARE very capable, and it is up to us to turn the tide and improve the reputation of women's wrestling.

LS: What would you do to make the sport better?
MEM: I would like to see wrestlers take more responsibility for preserving the sport's wonder and mystique. It is a beautiful and powerful thing that we have the opportunity to create. If we can all put aside some of our vanity and work together to put on the best show possible, and at the same time keep the business and production aspects more private from the majority of fans, then I think it would be easier for audiences to suspend reality and have a purely positive experience.

LS: What is your personal motto?
MEM: I love ME!

LS: What would make you most happy in life?
MEM: I would be happy if I could just spend time and interact with people I care about, while being able to think and create in order to affect and help others.

LS: What is your greatest regret?
MEM: I try not to regret anything. No matter what has happened in my life, everything brought me to where I am now.

LS: What would you do if you couldn't be in wrestling?
MEM: I would continue to work in entertainment. And it would probably involve singing.

LS: Any other comments or information you might want to add?
MEM: Take opportunities. You may never find the thing you love until you go out on a limb and try it.

myspace.com/MaryElizabeth4Life

pics courtesy of Ms Monroe


Mary Elizabeth Monroe

Mary Elizabeth Monroe

Mary Elizabeth Monroe

Mary Elizabeth Monroe

Mary Elizabeth Monroe

Mary Elizabeth Monroe