Ivelisse On Her WWE Tryout, Contract Issues With Lucha Underground
Ivelisse, a former Lucha Underground Trios Champion, spoke with Women's Wrestling Weekly this week about working with WWE in the past, as well as what the future has in store for her.
Ivelisse was one of 40 athletes at the WWE tryout earlier this year. Ivelisse spoke about the experience, noting that it was similar to her time on the fifth season of Tough Enough.
"It was awesome! It brought me a little back to Tough Enough because, boy, they wanna definitely push you to your limit and it was great experience too in the sense," Ivelisse said. "It's all about teamwork, too; It is not just in ring stuff. I really liked and enjoyed how they focused on wanting to see people have a good attitude as a team player with other people. That was really cool to experience and particularly the group we had was a very, very elite stacked particular group.... The whole competition thing was there for sure but not to the point that where you would feel uncomfortable or anything like that. We were all very supportive of each other throughout the experience."
As previously noted, Ivelisse was outspoken over Twitter earlier this year when claiming that Lucha Underground was holding her hostage with her contract. Ivelisse says that she's surprised that things escalated the way they had because LU was initially a place of communication and trust between the talent and higher-ups.
"For quite some time now, I'd been wanting to cut my Lucha Underground thing short – for about two in a half years. I've been telling them for a while that I've been unhappy and I've been wanting to cut it short," Ivelisse explained. "But throughout that whole thing, I broke my ankle which didn't help matters?. After coming back those two times, I tried to give it my all with whatever I had left for Lucha Underground. And once that was over, Season 4 was coming to an end and the airing of it. I went ahead and contacted them in hopes that there was some interest? So then they came about where they changed their mind and once they said they would let me go, that's when the whole fiasco happened and it got so much more complicated.
"It still blows my mind; I never in my life thought I would have imagined that I'd be in a situation like that," Ivelisse continued. "Nonetheless, the Lucha Underground started out so promising because we started it straight off with great energy. Everyone was communicative and trusting and everything, and it's really unfortunate that it just happened that way. Regardless, it's finally resolved and I jumped on it right away. I feel like to come back home, that's how it feels for me when I stepped in the performance center hoping I could stay home."
Ivelisse now looks ahead toward the future and whatever potential jobs may result from her WWE tryout. She explained that she's making sure not to overwhelm herself with bookings while preparing mentally, physically, and in every way possible for the future jobs she wants.
"I feel like with the WWE tryout it's definitely moving in the right direction and the direction that I wanted, which makes me really happy," Ivelisse said. "Especially after this year, these three years that have really tested my soul, I feel like I have no words on how happy I feel, on how this year is starting off. What's next right now, honestly, I'm not really trying to book myself like crazy and get all crazy. I really want to take this time to really organize myself for at least this next month. To really organize myself for whatever good amount of work that will come from the tryout, whether it be WWE or whatever that might be. I want to be 100% ready mentally, physically, in every way shape or form. I want to be able to take on this year as the best version of myself that I possibly can be, in every aspect."
Ivelisse mentioned how the creative aspect of matches, where you try to tell the best story possible with the two characters presented, is something she loves. She hopes to one day be able to tell an in-ring story with WWE's Asuka, Kairi Sane, and other growing stars on the independent circuit.
"Like I said, I usually love wrestling whoever is in front of me. Every match is like another puzzle for me and I love, love the creative process of figuring out how two characters can unravel within a squared circle. Lately, most of the people that I want to work have been taken to WWE already," Ivelisse said. "Now that I feel like that WWE is expanding, you know, within the UK and things like that, it's leaving a lot of space for a lot of new talent that I haven't really been able to get a feel for. I've only really been able to get a feel for it in the indie's – some new faces in SHINE and Ladies Night Out. Now I'm seeing new faces? I still would want to wrestle Asuka, we would have an insane match. We would mirror each other a lot. [I would also like to face] Kairi Sane, and in the indies, I've seen a few girls with a lot of potential."