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I've been fortunate to be a part of Sportskeeda Wrestling for a while, and one of the highlights of my time with the publication was when I got to interview the entire Impact Wrestling locker room, when they arrived in Mumbai for the India tapings. As talented as the roster was back then, Rosemary stood out from the pack!
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Having already interviewed her while in character in India, I was excited to speak to the woman who plays the Demon Assassin, captivating us both with her intriguing personality and incredible wrestling skills. Here are some highlights from our conversation.
So, I had read some reports online that you'd sustained a knee injury in the independents. How's everything with you?
Rosemary: Oh? (Laughs) Everything's fine.
So, when I interviewed you in India, I saw you transform into the Demon Assassin. You already had the getup on, but you got into the zone somehow and became a completely new person...
Rosemary: Do you wish to speak to her? (Laughs)
(Laughs) I could, but this should be a different kind of experience, so to speak...
Rosemary: (Laughs) We can keep her in the bottle for now. How about that?
(Laughs) Perfect. So, how do you channel this side of yours? This darker side of yours?
Rosemary: (Contemplates) A lot of concentration. A lot of discipline. I was a theatre student before I was a wrestler.I took six years of theatre in a University. It's a lot of getting to know who you are, and who Rosemary is and allowing her to channel through me.
Not so much thinking what she would think, just very organically allowing her to think and act as she would.
I was reading your Wikipedia and it says that you were PJ Tyler for a while, which was named after your love for Aerosmith. So did your previous name Courtney Rush come from a love for Rush?
Rosemary: No, and that seems like the obvious answer being that I'm Canadian. Rush was actually George St. Pierre's nickname in the UFC, which is where I took it from.
And did the Red Wedding (Rosemary's finisher) come from Game of Thrones?
Rosemary: Yes absolutely. It's meant to be very obvious. If you attend the Red Wedding, you're dead.
How about the name Rosemary? Did that come from 'Rosemary's Baby'?
Rosemary: When we were trying to name the Demon, several names came to mind and Rosemary was the one that stood out the most, so that's the name we went with.
Who were some of the supernatural characters in wrestling that appealed to you? Did you maybe enjoy Sting, because of the face paint? Was he an inspiration? Maybe The Undertaker and Kane growing up?
Rosemary: I never took Sting to be supernatural, so much as just a vigilante like Batman. But, definitely The Undertaker and Kane. I loved them both growing up. I just ate up their whole storyline...the whole brother coming back for revenge. I love them both so much.
Great Muta, Great Kabuki. Obviously where a draw a lot of the face paint and the Asian mist. Muta is just so cool. Like, there's nothing not cool about The Great Muta. He's so captivating. He's just so good. All the little things he does. Definitely very inspired by him.
What was your experience wrestling in India?
Rosemary: India was very different (laughs). Just getting used to getting off the plane, it was 100% the longest trip I've ever made, even considering going to Japan. Considering that Japan was a direct flight and India was a stopover in England. So it was longer travel. So, just getting oriented after that was a struggle. And it's so hot there. (Laughs)
So it was very much like it's a different world. So, getting used to that was difficult. But once we were performing, the show itself was amazing. The crowd...so much fun and so interactive. I got a great reaction from them, so it made it that much easier to perform in front of them.
So what makes the Rosemary character so over? Even if you compare yourself to the guys, you get the biggest reaction on every single show.
Rosemary: Thank you for that. There are a couple of reasons why and one of them has to do with the fact that Rosemary has never tried to hide the fact that she's different. She has encouraged herself and other people to embrace being different, including Crazzy Steve and Abyss when we did the story when I was transforming them.
I thought it was a very iconic moment in our group when I convinced him to take off the mask because people called him a monster, and to me, he was beautiful. I think it was an iconic moment in the group because it doesn't matter what other people think of you.
You have to love you, and you have to accept you for who you are. And then, you can achieve great things. And even though we're not on the side of good, and not necessarily on the side of evil...we're just on the side of Decay, it was a moment of like, embrace who you are!
And I think that moment spoke to a lot of people. Even my fans who're called The Hive, I've seen so many of them interact on social media to each other. Not even necessarily with me. They come together because of finding acceptance in my fan base and not all of them are socially popular or accepted in like cool circles or anything like that.
They know that it's okay to be different in among this group. Does that make sense?
It does. So, you're the role model for the outsider, the outlier of sorts...
Rosemary: I find that a lot of kids are drawn towards what I do just because I'm not trying to be something I'm not. I'm kind of a weirdo. I wasn't popular in school. I am okay with that. I want other people to be okay with what they are too. It's okay to be different. It's okay to be unconventional. Just go with it. Just do you!
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