MLW Interviewer Alicia Atout On How She Got Into Wrestling, If She Will Ever Compete In The Ring

Alicia Atout has successfully transitioned from interviewing musicians and bands to your favorite personalities in pro wrestling. She is now signed with MLW and she talked about if broadcast journalism was always her career goal when she joined the Conversations with Love podcast.

"This was, funny enough, never a goal of mine," admitted Atout. "When I grew up, I wanted to either be the lead singer in a band or I wanted to be a teacher. So, I applied to a bunch of high schools – or high schools, universities – when I was in high school and I was accepted to a bunch. But it was also broadcast-y and news-based and I was like, 'oh, I want to write more about the stuff I love,' and so I decided to just start posting stuff online."

She says from there she started interviewing some of the top bands around and thought she had found her niche. Then her dad suggested she should consider other markets such as celebrities, athletes and sports entertainers and Atout took a chance with the latter.

"So, I did my first wrestling interview. I reached out and they told me yes, went down, knocked it out, I felt really positive. I was like, 'Ooh, I like this.' And then it just blossomed, and I started doing more and more wrestling than music really," said Atout.

She worked for Impact for a while and then was a backstage correspondent for AEW before landing her gig with MLW. Atout talked about what led to her joining MLW.

"It was really surreal for me when talks about a contract came my way because that's something I feel a lot of people in wrestling really, really strive for. It's a very big thing when someone's like, 'Hey, we want you to be exclusive to us? We want you all in. We want to put time into having you and really make you a face of our brand.' And so, when they approached me, I was like, 'Oh, this is cool.' Like, I watched the product. I'm friends with the locker room. It just felt right. I'd heard so many great things about Court, the owner, how he's always hustling and has such a passion for it. Even if you look at his Twitter feed, he's constantly on the move just trying to make new deals and better things for the brand," said Atout.

While Atout had worked for Impact and AEW in the past, she was never an employee of either of those promotions. That changed when she became a full-time employee with MLW.

"So, it just all felt like – it is so cheesy, but it felt like it was meant to be in a sense," revealed Atout. "So, I'm really glad that my first ever contract in professional wrestling was signed and it was with them!"

Atout has plenty of experience with interviews but in pro wrestling you also have to master the art of promos. She was asked to compare preparing for a scripted promo vs. an interview.

"Well, when I walk into MLW to do promos, I go in with an attitude of like, 'Alright, awesome. I'm filming with some friends; this is going to be fun. Let's see what happens.' By no means am I saying we go in having no idea what we're going to say. There's always notes because you have to keep the storyline going. Everyone knows that. But they'll give you the note and then you can kind of take it, run with it and improvise a little," stated Atout. "Whereas when it was just scripted with a couple of other spots that I have been, whether indies or majors, there have been some times where it's like, 'okay, literally please try to get this word for word and run with it.' I'm more nervous for those because I like the conversational tone, and I feel like that comes off more natural on camera."

One of Atout's concerns with a heavily-scripted promo is that she'll come off robotic on camera. She enjoys that MLW veers away from that and lets her add her own personality or flare into promos so they sound authentic and genuine.

"One of the things I've really respected about being at MLW is if I have input or if I think 'Oh I think the wording on this would be so good,' or if I have something to say, they don't think, 'Who's this chick telling us stuff?' They don't act that way. They'll take it into consideration and most of the time if it's better for the promo or better for whatever, they'll use it. That makes me feel like I made the right choice in signing with them because they respect my input and what not only I but what the rest of the locker room brings to the table as well," said Atout.

Every once in a while a wrestling broadcaster will transition from behind a microphone to between the ropes and Atout was asked about any aspirations of stepping into the ring.

"Never! I am a baby. I bruise so, so easily. The only time you will see Alicia Atout in the ring is if she has a microphone in her hand doing a promo," stated Atout.