Chris Stout

WWE Diva Eve Torres Interview

WWE diva Eve Torres knows the thing or two about devastating combos. Trained in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, the former Clippers Spirit dancer turned wrestling sensation has carved out quite a career for herself. In addition to being a three-time WWE Diva’s champion, Torres has also appeared in multiple TV shows (Deal or No Deal, Stars Earn Stripes, Attack of the Show) and ad spots. Her latest partnership is with the pretzel-filled snack food COMBOS and she’s participating in a web series called The COMBOS Files. In the series, Torres and other celebs try out different combo experiments suggested by fans. The series airs on www.facebook.com/COMBOS.
We had a chance to interview Torres, and we discussed her wrestling career, whether LA will ever become a Clippers town, the best and worst thing she’s tasted on The COMBOS Files and a whole lot more. Here’s the interview:

CS: So tell me about this web video series you’re doing with COMBOS.

ET: Yeah so COMBOS – it’s called The COMBOS Files and me and Sam Punk are a part of it this year. It’s an interactive web series that COMBOS produced where we – myself, Sam Punk, and some other celebrities – meet up with celebrity chef Graham Elliot and we test out some of the COMBOS flavors that fans have suggested and submitted through on the Facebook page. Some of them are really good and others are really not good (laughs), but we had the pleasure of trying them. So these videos basically show us taste testing them. Sam Punk and I also got to create our own COMBOS flavors and Graham Elliot got to make them come to life in an amazing way and it was a lot of fun. The videos are all on the COMBOS Facebook page. Check out me and Sam Punk battle it out in the hot wasabi challenge.

CS: Oh, so let me ask you this. I guess we’ll start here. What’s the worst fan-created combo that you had to try?

ET: I had one that was like squid and cheddar.

CS: Ooh, that doesn’t sound good.

ET: Yeah. It was like – it literally had little squids on top of it. I was like… let’s just say, it was hard to eat (Laughs).

CS: (Laughs) All right. So on the flip side, what was the best fan creation?

ET: Probably the best one was, well… the best one was the one I created of course.

CS: Obviously (laughs).

ET: Peanut butter.

CS: Peanut butter and what?

ET: It was banana and peanut butter.

CS: Okay, that’s always good.

ET: Yeah. So I’m like nothing’s wrong with that. So I’ve got to say that was my favorite. But second place might have been pumpkin pie, which you can also see me try out on one of the videos on the COMBOS Facebook page. And you can also see what I would look like as the Statue of Liberty in that video.

CS: Okay. We’ll check that out. So I know that you danced for the Los Angeles Clippers Spirit from 2006 to 2007, do you think LA can ever become a Clipper town?

ET: LA is a bandwagon town, that’s what they are (Laughs).

CS: Yeah, it’s true.

ET: If the Clippers are doing really well then guess what? They’re a Clippers town.

CS: Yeah. Good point.

ET: But unfortunately I think it’s always going to be a Lakers nation here. Which, you know, I don’t mind being the minority. I don’t mind being the ones that stay by the Clippers even when they’re not doing so well.

CS: Yeah, which has historically been true. I understand. So how does dancing or cheering at a sporting event compare to the rush of actually participating in wrestling and the intensity of the ring?

ET: Well I mean it’s a good warm up, I’ll say that, it’s a good warm up; like performing in front of thousands of people at a basketball game. But the difference is in dancing you’re one of many girls out there and the spotlight isn’t necessarily on you per se.

CS: Right.

ET: So coming to the WWE, once that spotlight is on you, and you’re in front of the same amount of people or more, you know – 70,000 people maybe at Wrestle Mania – it changes a little bit. All of a sudden the stakes are a little bit higher and it’s a much different experience. But I have to say, it’s so much more fun. So much more fun. I mean don’t get me wrong, I love to dance. I still love dancing, but it’s just a different kind of rush. And especially when you get to the competitive part of it and the competition in-ring, there is absolutely no rush in the world that I’ve ever had like completing for a high stakes match. And some of the matches that I’ve had, you know, against the Beth Phoenix or at Madison Square Garden or at these historically places and matches that I will remember for the rest of my life. It’s an incredible feeling.

CS: So what inspired you to try out for the WWE Diva Search in 2007 in the first place?

ET: Well you know it was one of those things that I just looked at and I was like “I think I can do that.”

CS: “I can do that” (Laughs).

ET: I think that’s me, I think I can do that. I’m competitive, I like to perform. I just felt like it encompassed all the things that I enjoy doing and am passionate about. The performance aspect, traveling around the world. And, like I said, the competitive and athletic aspect of it. I knew I had that, being a gymnast growing up, and a dancer, and someone who has practiced martial arts as well so, what can I say? Here I am five years later and I realized I was right.

CS: (Laughs). So have you ever had a serious injury in the ring while you’re competing?

ET: No but, I’ve been really lucky, knock on wood. I’ve never really had anything I couldn’t work through. So I’ve had a pretty semi-broken nose. I don’t know, that’s probably not the doctor’s term for it (laughs), but I’ve pretty much had my nose smashed on television and that was not good. So I’ve had quite a few black eyes in my time, and I hyper-extended my arm actually a couple weeks ago, which I’m still kind of recovering from. But considering how many matches I’ve had and how much time we are in the ring, that’s pretty good.

CS: And how long do you see yourself continuing to wrestle?

ET: You know, I don’t know. It’s like, I’m still having fun doing it so, you know. Someday, it may no longer fun, then I think that’s what it would tell you, but it’s also hard on a woman’s body for sure. But I still enjoy doing it and there’s still more, I think, to accomplish. But yeah, I think it’s just something that your heart will tell you whenever the time is right and you think it’s come to that moment. But I think it’s important to just feel like you’ve accomplished everything that you set out to accomplish in the WWE. So yeah, whenever that happens.

CS: So back in September you became the first three-time WWE Diva’s Champion, and you won in Boston which is your birthplace, and it was just a couple days after your engagement as well. Was that an exciting stretch of time for you and your family and did you really enjoy that?

ET: Oh god, it was absolutely an incredible couple months to be honest. Because I had just won the Stars Earn Stripes show and that was a great thing. And then I got engaged and in that one week I got a lot of bling added to my repertoire.

CS: (Laughs).

ET: Both the engagement ring and the title, it was nice. But yeah, it really was a great, great time. And actually Boston was where I won my last championship in the Fatal Four-way.

CS: Oh nice.

ET: Yeah.
CS: How much does the actual Brazilian jiu-jitsu and kickboxing skills come into play when you’re in the ring? Because it’s a little bit different. I mean it’s not the same as, say, an MMA fight or something like that. Do you see a lot of parallels? Do you see there being a distinction?

ET: Well it’s very different. But it helps a lot. I mean it helps me just kind of know. It helps me with my confidence in the ring for sure. Just kind of knowing how my body works, knowing how other people’s bodies work, and it actually helps more than you’d think, just having that athleticism and the confidence that I get from jiu-jitsu helps a lot. Even if the actual moves or holds or whatever aren’t actually transferred over, I have to say it’s helped me in-ring a lot.

CS: Do you have to just have a mental switch to know that you’re not going to try to break someone’s arm or something real quick?

ET: Yes. you do. (Laughs)

CS: (Laughs).

ET: Yes. And that’s why I love what I do. It is different. It’s not MMA, it’s entertainment and it’s a lot of fun and it takes some creativity and you’re telling a story and I want to do that in the best way possible, whether it’s using jiu-jitsu techniques or not.