Interview with Rena 'Sable' Mero - November 2000
Eric: What she has been up to?
Rena: Oh my gosh there is so much going on. How much time do you have? It’s fabulous. I can tell you that I just returned from Prague, I shot my first full length feature, it’s a two hour made for TV movie. It’s called “Ariana’s Quest,” and I play Queen Ariana. I was in Prakk for about four weeks and probably had one of the most exciting times in my life. We just returned from that. Marc actually went with me. We had just a fabulous time. This will air sometime in the spring of 2001. I am on the cover of Muscular Development, which is available now and I have my comic book that is out. It’s called “The Tenth Muse” and you can pick it up at all Tower Records or anywhere they sell comic books and it is about Emasana, who works in the courts and is a District Attorney during the day and fights crime at night. She is the tenth daughter of Zeus and her special skill is martial arts and I’m very excited about that because it has only been out about 20 days now and is number six in the country. Thank you to my fans. They are fabulous, they continue to support everything I do and without them I don’t have a career, so I just want to say thank you for being there.
Eric:Is your comic going to be a regular series?
Rena: Yes, it will be bimonthly to begin with and then it will be monthly..
Eric: Did you ever think that Chyna would wind up doing Playboy?
Rena: You know what, I don’t put anything past anyone because if you want something bad enough you go for it and she took the initiative and she contacted them and asked them if she could do it. She should be extremely proud of herself, I actually saw the photos and she l ooked beautiful and a lot of people tried to compare the two of us and there is absolutely no comparison. The people that she attracts, I will not attract. We are just two totally different women, and she has her own agenda, and she is doing her own thing, and she should be very proud, I’m proud of her. She definitely made a stand and being the first woman with her physical stature that has been in Playboy is quite an accomplishment.
Eric: Do you think Chyna’s statements on Trish about Trish being in the business only because of her look is hypocritical?
Rena: Well I think that’s exactly right (Chyna being hypocritical) and although I don’t personally know Trish, Chyna was hired for that particular reason (her look), so it could play either way. Whether it be muscles or t and a kind of thing. I think you can play Devil’s advocate and go either way with that kind of thing. I don’t like to judge other people’s statements and I don’t know why she would have made that statement, but in my opinion I don’t say anything about anybody, because I have my own life and I only make choice for myself. I understand that Trish is a pretty nice girl.
Eric: Do you have any plans to do Playboy again?
Rena: It’s very possible, Playboy and I have a very close relationship. They named me the “sex star of the new millennium,” so I’m sure that we’ll do something in the future. I have been asked to do a Playboy video, which I am not interested in doing. Whether I’m ever interested or not I don’t know, but at this time I’m definitely not, but possibly another layout and when Ariana’s Quest comes out that may be a perfect time to do that. They are the most professional, funnest, people I ever worked with and that was another exciting moment in my life.
On her first Playboy issue bringing pro wrestling more into the mainstream?
Rena: Well, I think it did. I know that I definitely broadened Playboy’s sales. I opened up a lot eyes of Playboy readers that weren’t necessarily wrestling fans. I think in some ways it absolutely did do that. It was a good relationship for both Playboy and wrestling. I think now that wrestling has come out to say “we are not sports, we are sports entertainment,” it can actually have an entertainment aspect to the product we deliver and there is a big difference between being true competitors and being amazing athletes and the people in the wrestling industry are amazing athletes. Marc was in the business for ten years, I was in the business for three. I went as far as I could possibly go in wrestling, you know once you become the women’s champion of the world there really is no place you could go but down. It was never my intention to be involved in wrestling. To be in it for three years is still shocking that I was in it for that long, and accomplished so much in such a little time. I just wanted to make progress, I wanted to move forward, I had so many other things in my life that I wanted to do and acting is my true love and if I ever wanted to pursue that I needed to move on. That was the path that I had originally intended traveling on and I kind of took a detour and now I’m back on track.
Eric: On the rumors of her interest in returning to the World Wrestling Federation?
Rena: You know what, I would not ever turn down the possibility of returning to the WWF. We actually did not ever speak, that could have just been a rumor. Whether or not they are interested or not I’m not sure, but I can honestly say that my main objective right now is definitely my acting career and you know I never say never. I don’t know where my life would take me again. If I was ever asked to return to the WWF I would definitely consider it. It was a fabulous time in my life, I mean it opened so many doors and gave me so much enjoyment, and gave me an opportunity to do what I enjoy doing which is acting. Whether you want to call it wrestling, sports entertainment, whatever, it’s still acting and that’s what I enjoy doing.
Eric: What do you attribute the success to the Sable character? Do you think the business is too over saturated with women currently?
Rena: I think it’s wonderful that women are having the opportunity to be involved in the wrestling business. Honestly, I’d like to think that I had a lot to do with that. I think that women have proven themselves over and over again in this business and it’s great that they are given the opportunity once again. Back in the days of the Fabulous Moolah, and Wendy Richter, they were the forerunners of this business, Luna even. They kind of disappeared for a while and I came in and it all picked up again and that’s actually when they brought the women’s championship back. It was a wonderful time and I’m glad it’s continuing. I don’t think it’s oversaturated, you could argue that either way. Is it oversaturated with the guys? I just think it’s wonderful that women are given the opportunity. I contribute my success to the Sable character to the fans. The fans, if they are not behind you, whether they like you or dislike you, if they don’t react to you in any way, you really don’t have a chance in this business. Luckily, they supported me, they really took to my character, and I think we all had a lot of fun with it. I hope that everyone that watches understands that this is entertainment and the people that we portray on television is not who we are in real life. We may have a lot of the same qualities or a lot of the same traits to our personality, but Sable was like my alter ego. She was the person that allowed Rena to do everything that Rena didn’t have the guts to do. I think it was just a hunger at the time for women to return to wrestling and the fans just ate it up and they continue to do so. I would like to think that if I was still in wrestling, that I would still be the number one female. I think everyone likes to think that. I think that my character broke ground that no other woman in this business has ever done before.
Eric: On working with Vince Russo in the WWF?
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Rena: Actually Vince Rusoo was a great guy and we had a wonderful relationship. He never insisted that I do anything. He always brought it to our attention and asked if we felt comfortable with it and then we would let him know one way or the other. There were a lot of times that we did disagree on things, but he had a job to do and his job was writer. He came up with the best storylines that would be fulfilling for the fans, then you go into negotiations and you discuss things and you compromise. Outside of the business I think he was a really nice guy and we had a great relationship, but then you have to look at the professional side of things, everyone has a job to do and everyone has to do that job. Unfortunately, some toes get stepped on and sometimes you have hard feelings between people, but it’s not anything personal. You know, I don’t have any hard feelings against Vince McMahon or anyone in the WWF in general. I thoroughly enjoyed it, it’s just very unfortunate that we couldn’t come to a more amicable split.
Eric: What are your thoughts on negative comments that Jim Cornette has made about you publicly?
Rena: (laughing) , I haven’t heard anything about him.I make the decisions that are right for me in my life and I live by my rules and if I upset or offend people by the choices that I make in life, I’m sorry. The only thing that I could hope is that they may not always agree with my choice, but I hope that they respect my opinion or my choice. Whether you agree or not, I just hope you respect it.
Eric: Why was Marc’s appearance in WCW only a one time deal?
Rena: I think when it happened, Vince Russo was very involved in the storylines at that time. I think that they both just kind of felt it out to see if either of them were interested in it. It’s a pretty good possibility that Marc could return at any time. We’ve been so busy doing all the other things that we have been doing in our life right now and ten years is a good chunk of your life and maybe it’s just better to move on.
Eric: What are your thoughts on negative comments that Mick Foley has made about you and Marc publicly?
Rena: It’s very unfortunate that when you part ways, that’s when all of the negativity comes about you. I could almost guarantee you that if I was still there, they wouldn’t be saying anything. They didn’t have anything negative to say. Now that I’m gone they’re going to bring up whatever. I know that he made one comment that I wasn’t very intelligent and how smart do you have to be to take your clothes off and get paid a million dollars for it. Well, how smart do you have be to get hit over the head with a chair? Not just once, not just twice, you know I have gone on to do other things and t hat is one thing that I wanted to prove is that I had so much to do in my life and so many goals and that wrestling is not the end all for me. It was a wonderful time in my life, it was a great stepping stone, but there is so much more I want to do and I think that sometimes you just get so settled in a place in your life and so comfortable that you never go out and explore the other opportunities. One of the reasons I left was not because I had this wonderful job waiting for me or a safety net, it’s cause I had to try to follow my dream, and become an actress. It’s very unfortunate that people, you know they always say that when you bad mouth other people it’s because of your own insecurities and if you don’t have anything nice to say about people don’t say anything at all. It’s just sour grapes. I don’t have anything to say about him negative, he has a wonderful wife and a wonderful family, I wish everybody the best. Everybody makes choices for themselves and this was a choice I had to make for me. Would you recommend the WWF stock as a buy? Rena: Actually I own lots of stocks and portfolios and that is not one of them. Not for any particular reason, I just have my favorites. I haven’t watched it close enough to see what it’s doing. Last time I checked it was down from the actual opening, the buy and the purchase price of it so.
Eric: When does your no-compete clause expire?
Rena: Actually, I think it was two or three years and I either have a year or two (laughs). One of the reasons that I agreed to that was that I didn’t want to have this to fall back on. I really wanted to go out there and be aggressive and make my own way. If I was wanting to go to a different company, I would have never left wrestling. I mean WWF is where it’s at. So, that was never an option that I wanted open for me. I really wanted to go out on my own and really try and make this acting thing work for me and it hasn’t been an easy transition. It has in some ways been an easy transition. Acting is a very difficult field to break into. Fortunately, I did have a lot of people that believed in me and gave me an opportunity. I have my first movie coming out. I have a lot of different opportunities to do different sitcoms and shows on television, but I don’t want to be stereotyped as the guest star and the guest star on that show, and they always want you to do the boxing or the wrestling and that kind of a thing, so I am really trying to be wise as to the choices that I make.
Eric: Do you miss the wrestling business?
Rena: There were certain things I miss about it. Performing in front of a live audience, the enthusiasm of the fans. That kind of a thing you do miss. .
Eric: What is your opinion on the WWF possibly purchasing WCW? Rena: As far as I know, the negotiations are completely off at this time. I don’t think it is a good idea, I mean I think it would be wonderful for Vince McMahon. I think that you need some competition. The players in the business, the wrestlers themselves, the talent. They need to know that there is two different teams and have some negotiating power. Like if one person owned all of the NFL teams, there would be no negotiating power or free agents, and no changing teams, and there would be no changing of federations, there would be no where for you to go and I don’t think it’s good to just have one monopoly on the entire business.
Eric: Are you interested in purchasing WCW?
Rena: (laughing) No, I am not. I am interested in furthering my acting career. I would like to just mention to everyone to check out my website at www.renamero.com and my comic book “The Tenth Muse,” there are two collector’s covers that are on the newsstands now, and my Muscular Development that is out now and I will definitely keep you posted as to when my movie comes out.