Being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in her hometown is ideal for Melina.
It was in the 2022 women’s Royal Rumble that Melina last competed for the WWE. She had a run with the company that lasted from 2004-2011 and throughout that stretch, she became a five-time Women’s Champion.
The topic of the WWE Hall of Fame came up as Melina was doing a virtual signing for The Asylum Wrestling Store. Melina is from Los Angeles, California which is where this year’s WrestleMania weekend is emanating from.
She expressed that if it the induction does not happen in her home-state then why would it happen anywhere else. She went on list accolades, accomplishments and the influence she’s had as reasoning why she could go in. Melina added that she would like to see Lisa Marie Varon, Jazz or Chyna (as a solo talent) be inducted. When it comes to who would induct Melina, she wants to know the options such as if a family or friend outside of wrestling could do it.
I feel like if it doesn’t happen now, why at all anywhere else? Unless we go back to L.A… It’s kind of these things where it’s like, okay, I wanna see a Lisa Marie (Varon), I wanna see Chyna get her spot as a singles person in there, like a singles spot in there without being attached to somebody else. I wanna see Jazz in there. There’s so many people in my mind that should come before me. To me, there’s an order and you gotta pay respects to the past and I respect them so at the same time, as I feel that way and there’s also a part of me that, if it’s not in L.A., then it’s this feeling that I’m never gonna be in the Hall of Fame unless I die type of deal. That’s like 30 years from now or something like that (she laughed). That’s the way I feel like because you know, it’s a shame it took so long to even acknowledge Chyna after she passed and these are the things with politics and everything and points being proven and people being popular in the moments and whatnot and I feel like I did do so much for wrestling in a sense of personality, character, entrances. People are doing my moves, men and women type of deal. I actually made history and opened doors for Hispanics and other ethnicities where people didn’t think that it would ever happen. I am glad that I got to put a little bit of what I did. It made history. Whether it gets acknowledged or not, I know it, I see it and maybe 20 years from now, if they make a movie about me in wrestling, it would be seen and acknowledged and I’ll never notice. I will do what I do, I will do what I love, I will do what I believe in whether I get acknowledgment or not. It doesn’t matter. This is from the heart, so I’m gonna keep doing my thing whether it’s acknowledged (or not). I don’t need it but, I just want people to know that if it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. I’m here to say I love you to each and every one of you guys and thank you for seeing what I contributed and it’s not even a pat on the back, it’s not for the pat on the back. If you guys love and appreciated the character, you know, got motivated, inspired or just entertained, I’m glad I got to do that for you guys and if it stays in your heart, I love you for that.
That’s a serious question about the Hall of Fame; who I want to induct me. I have an idea but at the same time, it’s like, I wanna know what my options are. Would family members be able to do it? Would friends outside of wrestling? Or does it have to be friends inside of wrestling?… You never know. A current person? I gotta weigh all the options. What they allow me to do… The moment, it depends on the moment of who they allow me to present.
Back in 2015, Melina appeared at the conclusion of Lucha Underground’s first season to assist John Hennigan at the first Ultima Lucha.
She opened up about that appearance and the conversation regarding why she was not brought back for the following season. Initially, she did not want to do the Ultima Lucha appearance but was convinced to. She shared that she quit her schooling for a psychology degree to focus on what she thought would be a regular role for her on the show.
A month after the appearance, she was told that she was no longer needed. Melina did have a conversation with Hennigan and told him that she felt something was off but he told her to trust him and Lucha Underground.
Everything is so weird so, this is the way it is for a lot of backstage rumors in wrestling where everybody says, hey, I was difficult and I had an attitude and everything where if you know my personality, I don’t have an attitude. I always do what I’m told, I do everything to the best of my ability, I don’t talk back, especially back then. Now, different (she laughed). But back then, I always played it safe and I always did what everybody told me to do and listened, never talked. I just loved what I did and it was a blessing, I was very grateful every day I was there so the backstage rumor thing, that’s what people say when — who knows where it originated from, who the source is, and then you have to consider the source and what their position was compared to mine of if they were jealous or if they were female or male and I turned down a… when people kind of try to flirt with you or whatever and you kind of have to turn them down because you’re taken. You never know their reaction. They hate me because what? I rejected them and it’s not a rejection, it’s a, ‘I’m taken’ so you never know where the source came from. But Lucha Underground, more politics because it’s wrestling. That’s what I assume because I never got a straight answer. But I stopped school, this is how you know how serious I was about Lucha Underground. I stopped my schooling for psychology. I was convinced. I didn’t wanna do that debut on Lucha Underground because I didn’t wanna make a promise I couldn’t keep. They convinced me, convinced me and they finally convinced me day of to do that spot (Lucha Underground debut). I lived nearby, I got my clothes, got ready, went in there. So, I agreed that I would start the next season. Quit my school so I could do this because they convinced me to do it and then, about a couple weeks or maybe a month, let’s just give them the courtesy of a month, but they told me they no longer wanted to use me. Because John (Hennigan) having a manager was ‘ridiculous, it was already played out and they already did it with M.N.M.’ so they are going to pass and I was like, ‘Oh my God, I knew it.’ I was so angry. I don’t know who it was, I love everybody, no hate. (If they were) to be straight shooters with me, I would be cool. But, I quit my school. So I wish I never did that because I would already have a psychology degree so that’s one of the regrets I would always have… Getting excited, buying things, you know? Getting ready for these plans that they told me and we went over and I knew it. I told John at the time because we were dating all that year, I told him, I said, ‘No, something’s wrong, something’s weird. I should have already signed a contract by now’ and he said, ‘No! Trust me, trust them, trust them’ and I was like, ‘I don’t like it when people say trust me,’ you know? You get that weird feeling.
It’s weird. I have no hate or anything. I just wish there was clarity and the easiest thing to do is to bury me… if they did that. I can’t remember that far back… To me, that kind of comment, it’s like, why go that route? Why not be honest? You don’t have to say that, ‘Oh, we just decided not to go with her.’ Just say, you know, storyline-wise, it didn’t fit. I’m not arguing it, I backed out. I didn’t bury them or anything, I had no hate so why say that? That’s so weird.
Melina and Hennigan were paired together in WWE alongside Joey Mercury as a part of ‘M.N.M’. She reflected on that trio and wishes they fought harder to ‘stay a family’. She added that Mercury was the brains behind the group and feels they could have done so much more if they stood their ground.
It’s funny, I have to go through pictures or something for things (memories) to pop out… And I think what was so beautiful about our group (M.N.M.) and the way we worked and how we interacted with each other is that we were all business. We all were on the same page, same brand, wanted the same thing. We enjoyed our career and our free time, brainstorming on things with each other and talking things over, singing in the car… Every time a song starts singing — or actually, the guys would. I’ve been quiet all the time and I’d be in the back listening and then I’d say a little something and then they’d go back and then we’d start talking about wrestling. A song would come on and then somebody thinks and it’s usually Joey (Mercury). Joey was the brains behind everything… and then we’ll start talking and I love that. I don’t regret not partying and doing all these crazy things. I love that we would go sightseeing. But, to me, it was there for the wrestling and it was fun to make magic happen, for us to be together and brainstorming and laughing at the same things because we were family. All of it was a great time and it’s difficult for the fact of like, you know, you’re under a lot of pressure and people who are bullies and wanna drive you out and doing whatever it takes… People don’t know how to handle that. You get personalities that wanna be accepted and then we start getting friction and for me, I wish we stayed a family and stood our ground the entire time because we would have been amazing. We already were but to stay strong together, we could have made it and done so much more.
The last time Melina was in action was in the fall of 2022 for the Maryland Championship Wrestling promotion.
If the quotes in this article are used, please credit The Asylum Wrestling Store with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.
