Renee Michelle On WWE Rehiring Drake Maverick After Release, RAW Wedding Segment Taking One Take
Former Mae Young Classic competitor Renee Michelle joined Wrestling Inc.'s Raj Giri on The Wrestling Inc. Daily podcast where she talked about her wrestling career as well as her husband WWE NXT Superstar Drake Maverick. Maverick was released back in April along with many other talents, but his release was used in storyline for the Crusierweight Championship tournament where he was rehired at the end of the tournament. Michelle was asked if Maverick was actually fired.
"Yes, he was really fired," Michelle revealed. "It was unfortunate. It was out of nowhere, and it was solely due to the whole pandemic, but in a way, is that OK? Either that you get fired and don't say anything at all and disappear into the night or make something out of it. And my husband, he's never been the type of person to not do anything. He's like, 'you know what, I'm going to make the best out of it, and if any other companies are interested in me, great. If not, at least I give it my all,' and we were like, 'alright, well, if things don't go well here in America, we could always go to England.' And I don't mind even moving to England. I love England."
Michelle also commented on the emotional video Maverick made after his release. She talked about how important wrestling is to Maverick and how it is a huge part of his life.
"I'm adaptable to wherever I may go, but while everyone was still getting released, he had already finished by then. Did his promo. Did his speaking out and everything else with that, and he posted it up there while there are still many other people still being released. And for me, I think its timing. Timing is everything. It's like why be silent and not say anything during the whole time when you can say something right then and there, and it's kind of like during the whole wave of it.
"So all that emotion that he has said and everything, they were very true. He loves wrestling. He trained his whole life in it. He even had like a second job and did wrestling in the very beginning of his career. That man, he eats, breathes and watches everything wrestling. Even when we're asleep at night, he still has wrestling on. He's a wrestling encyclopedia."
Michelle has also made appearances for WWE in backstage segments with Maverick where he was simultaneously seeking her approval and capturing the 24/7 Championship. Michelle discussed how she felt being on TV with her husband and revealed that they were legally married before they had their wedding ceremony.
"It was hilarious," Michelle remarked. "Where do I even begin? It was funny because it's like a lot of people don't know that my husband and I, we had been married. We just haven't done the actual wedding because we have family from overseas and trying to gather everyone around, it takes a lot. It's a lot of planning. We decided to get married in 2017, September 2017, through the court to get that out the way, the paperwork and all that other stuff.
"The next year, it took like a whole year, and I was planning the wedding by myself. And it took like the whole year of planning it, the details and everything, organization, all that. So that should give everyone, wherever they may be coming from, a whole year to plan to come to America or different states or whatever the case may be."
Michelle said that she and Maverick did eventually have a real wedding ceremony with their friends and family, but WWE did film a segment where R-Truth captured the 24/7 Title from Maverick at his wedding. Michelle revealed that the segment was filmed in one take, and she had no idea where R-Truth would be coming from.
"Unbeknownst to me, my dear husband, I knew that he asked two days prior to the wedding that, 'hey, WWE, they'd like to film this.' I'm like, OK, it'd probably be something like Sarah Logan and her husband, something like that," Michelle explained. "No, I did not get the full details, until he told me two hours prior to the wedding, and that's when they started doing that 24/7 charade. So yeah, two hours prior to the wedding and if anything, I have like a very elderly, southern Grandma. She's very southern, so I'm like, OK, can we just film this portion first, and then you guys can get the way you guys please.
"We could do the actual ceremony first, and then be able to do whatever we need to do which was actually one take. I did not know where Truth was sitting at. I seriously did not know where he was sitting at. Like I thought that it was going to happen during the reception or whatever, but unbeknownst to me, ended up doing the ceremony. But I had no idea he was sitting where he was sitting at. So that's just how it unfolds."
Earlier in the interview, Michelle talked about how she was not a wrestling fan growing up. Naturally, seeing your soon-to-be son-in-law get rolled up and lose his title belt at their daughter's wedding would need to be explained. Michelle said everything worked out as the night went on, but Michelle's dress and veil did not come out unscathed in that segment.
"It was kind of like very boring to them because my family grew up like strictly government, military type of family. So it's a completely different world," Michelle pointed out. "A lot of them, we had to clue them up on at the ceremony, but then the rest who did not understand or whatever were like, 'OK, we'll just take them down till cocktail hour pushing on so that grandma doesn't have a heart attack.
"We did a one take, and that was just great. That was just great for us, and of course, yeah, my veil got ripped in the process unbeknownst to me. My bridesmaid did not want to tell me. I would have flipped if they told me right then and there, and I'm still waiting for Truth and my husband to fix my dress and my veil because I have a black footprint on the back of my dress, and I have a ripped veil. And it's still sitting in the closet as we speak."
Michelle admitted that she thought that would be it in regards to her WWE involvement. However, she said she kept getting called back whenever they needed her, and she talked about how natural it was to just give stares or eye rolls to her husband since that's what she still does now.
"I thought that was it," Michelle admitted. "I'm like, 'OK, that'll be it,' and I continue on with my life, but unbeknownst to me, I got a phone call. They kept bringing me back and bringing me back and more shenanigans and bringing me back, and it's like all the looks and everything are real looks that I give my husband. Facial expressions, eye rolls, I still give that to my husband as of today. I had no idea how long it was gonna last. It was pretty much like, 'OK, we need Renee now.'"
Michelle said that she did meet Vince McMahon a few times and that she never had any issues with him. She commented on McMahon's intimidating aura that can be sometimes intriguing.
"Yes, a few times," Michelle revealed. "He's been very professional. He's been very nice. I never had an issue with him. Vince is Vince. He's very intimidating. There's something about his aura that I think a lot of people are intimidated by, but yet that aura is very attracting for me because it's like I want to get to know this person. What's going on in his mind. What's his story and everything else. Granted, I'm still learning, but yet there's something about Vince that's like he has a lot of ideas and for him to be able to run a company for that long is intriguing."
Renee's full interview aired as part of a recent episode of our podcast, The Wrestling Inc. Daily. Subscribe to get the latest episodes as soon as it's released Monday – Friday afternoon by clicking here.