Renee Michelle Talks Wrestling Tessa Blanchard While Being Very Sick, Names Her Favorite Opponents

Renee Michelle spoke in an exclusive interview with to Wrestling Inc. President Raj Giri. She talked about husband Drake Maverick, her time in the Mae Young Classic, and keeping in shape during the pandemic.

On the subject of the latter, Michelle has done a lot to ensure this pandemic doesn't create any ring rust. She has still been training in the ring, exercising, and more to keep herself ready for when things do go back to more normalcy. All things considered, Renee is very optimistic about

"I was still able to maintain, like, a solid schedule you know minus independent wrestling. But everything else...luckily I was able to maintain everything like I usually do." Renee explained about her current routine. "I'm still able to attend Crossfit, which is great. I'm still able to attend FlatBacks, you know which is awesome. It still keeps me in-ring ready so just in case when things do open up again, instead of like having that ring rust, I'll be ready for everyone."

Michelle took to wrestling very early on upon jumping into it and has had a wealth of different matches in her career. She spoke on her time in Japan, her travels in the United States, and more which lead to the topic of her opponents during those times. Her list of favorites is equally international.

"I remember I tag-teamed and wrestled with Mickie James, so she's a sweetheart. Umm, Melina! I wrestled against her in MCW and in Barbados," Renee began, referencing Face2FaceWrestling's Bruggadown Barbados event from back in March. "Gosh, I wrestled a bunch of different girls but those are the top I can remember. Oh, and Takumi Iroha [protege of Chigusa Nagayo]!"

Besides her favorite aspects of her time in the ring, she also reflected on some of her harder moments. There was one particular match she remembers where she paralleled Michael Jordan's flu game but in the wrestling world. Renee was heading into wrestle with a high fever just before a match with Tessa Blanchard in her early days. This event with Big Time Wrestling is what she remembers as her hardest.

"I was actually very sick, I was running a fever of 104 [degrees Fahrenheit]," Renee recalled. "Basically, the fever didn't hit me out of nowhere. The fever actually started hitting me like 15 minutes before I had to go out. So it came out of nowhere. Like I thought I was fine and then the fever started coming out of nowhere. I was wrestling in the ring and I'll never forget I thought I was going to pass out. But I ended up doing a moonsault.

"I think I was wrestling against Tessa Blanchard, during the time we were both very young. And I don't even know how I even survived that match, because I was in pain! I was in pain, I was in pain definitely running a fever and not feeling the best but I pulled it off!... She's a phenomenal wrestler."

Touching back on her current fitness routine, she also mentioned two trainers who have been integral: Tyler Breeze and Shawn Spears, who co-own Flatbacks Wrestling School. They are the ones keeping her focused on the in-ring side of her fitness during the pandemic.

"So there's Crossfit, then on top of that there's also," Michelle started. "I do attend over at Flatbacks, which is owned by Tyler Breeze and Shawn Spears. So they are my trainers right now. I've been with them for about a year or so. But they're the best, they're good hearts."

When it comes to returning to the ring, she is very apprehensive about returning unless it was with a company that was doing full COVID-19 testing rather than temperature checks. She also explains that her older family members are her key concern, and their safety comes first in her decision making. When it came to if Renee would take an indy booking, it was an emphatic no. But she is still focused on her eventual return to her career when the time comes.

"No, because I am very conscious of catching everything, anything. Like, I have family that are on the older side. It would be unfair for me...like the coronavirus or something. Yeah, granted I'm young or strong enough I may overcome it. Who knows, I may not I have a weakened immune system but I'm not trying to catch anything. If I was to give it to my mother, my grandmother, my grandfather, you know my father. I put them at risk." She cautioned. "It would be very selfish of me. I would not mind wrestling if other people were taking the COVID test, but the temperature check does not suffice for me.

"But I'm taking this whole time as a way to revamp myself, to rebuild myself, to get my body right how the way I would want to. To get in-ring ready, to maybe have a whole new completely different look."

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.