Post by Admin on Oct 4, 2022 17:57:48 GMT
TNA trailblazer SoCal Val on Impact, WWE and Progress
To many diehard wrestling fans, the glory days of Impact Wrestling was around 2006-2010 (when it was called TNA).
The roster was packed with top tier talent, from AJ Styles, Samoa Joe and Christopher Daniels, to Bobby Roode, James Storm and Awesome Kong. And there was one person who probably appeared on screen more than most, and you'd be forgiven for not realising it.
SoCal Val, 36, was the lead interviewer at the time, and was very much a trailblazer for women in the industry. She was not just used to shove a microphone in a wrestler's face and ask questions.
Val was, as Renee Paquette/Young once said, allowed to emote and was involved in many storylines. But skip forward to 2022, and the red-headed personable Texan is now a mainstay on the commentary team for Progress Wrestling.
So how did she end up becoming the voice of Britain's biggest independent wrestling company? Speaking exclusively to the Daily Star/Piledriver's Adam Cailler during the company's huge Cardiff show, she explained: "I've been here, living in the UK, for about six-and-a-half years.
"I met my husband in Milton Keynes - he owned a gastropub at the time - and I was doing a signing with Showmasters. I was brought to the pub by referee Steve Lynskey, and it was a very fancy pub, and I thought, 'what am I doing here? - I should have just gone to Subway'."
Long story short, she met her husband, fell in love, got married and now lives here – none of which has anything to do with joining Progress, but it's a nice love story! Anyway, on to Progress, she said: "I left Impact around 2013. It was easy to get wrestling bookings, but I really wanted to branch out into other areas like darts.
"I also love doing fashion and things like that - that's really where a lot of my passion lies - but the wrestling bookings kept coming and I thought you know, this is something where I have a following, and I love wrestling. I'm still a fan girl at heart, and wrestling is the one that brought me to the dance."
And wrestling brought her to the ill-fated, but might return at some point one day (but probably not), ITV reboot of World of Sport wrestling, where Val commentated alongside the legendary Jim Ross and long-forgotten Alex Shane. Although this ran for just one series, it made her fall back in love with wrestling.
The Progress management – now consisting of Tranmere bosses Lee McAteer and Martyn Best – spotted Val, got in contact and offered her a chance to get involved with commentating on their first ever all female show last year. And the rest, as they say, is history.
"The promoters were lovely," she said. "They were creatively really giving as far as what we could do and say, and they trusted us right off the bat.
"Then, at WrestleMania that year, I kept seeing all of the Progress guys, and we got to talking and they said they wanted to have me involved in the relaunch after the takeover.
"I had expertise from being in the business, you know, for at that point literally 20 years, which is crazy because I'm just 36, but I feel old saying that!"
Val is now the voice of Progress, alongside Olie Spring, but is also seen hosting sci-fi and wrestling conventions throughout the UK, too. But, as an ex-Impact star, did she ever have the chance to go to WWE?
Well, she actually did – and was on-screen more than a few times. She explained: "I went there maybe three or four times - I was at Rosebud a few times.
"I was talking to some people within the company and said that I wanted to be an announcer, a commentator, a presenter, interviewer and that side of things, but it just didn't really go anywhere. And then when I moved here, it was just like, 'well, I'm not moving away'."
Val and Adam had a longer chat in the bar of the Tramshed, Cardiff, so look out for part two soon...