Interview: Talking veganism, mixed tag matches, and Valentine's Day with Allie and Braxton Sutter of Impact Wrestling

Just prior to the new set of Impact Wrestling tapings airing on POP, Braxton Sutter and his wife Allie took part in a teleconference with the national media.

Prior to opening up the call to questions from the media, the host of the teleconference, Ross Forman, would ask Braxton and Allie a few questions. They would start by talking about their coffee preferences as Allie had just come from Starbucks. She prefers just regular coffee, and same goes for Braxton, he just likes black coffee with a shot of espresso sometimes.

They would then discuss what's going on currently with their careers in Impact Wrestling. Braxton mentions that he was a little bit of a break, but says it was good so he can do some other stuff, help heal injuries, and get in better shape. He stated that he did some great stuff from the last set of tapings.

As for Allie, she is so excited for everything that was filmed a couple of weeks ago and her fans will be really happy and excited. (To find out why to check this SPOILER for details.) She's been very busy with Impact and the indies.

Ross then asked Braxton and Allie what they are doing for Valentine's Day (since it is less than two weeks away). Braxton was asked first to answer and Allie cut in and said, "yeah what DO you have planned for me on Valentine's Day?"

Braxton said it will be the most boring answer ever, but they're homebodies, and they'll just stay home. Allie suggested that he should make a vegan pizza for his wife, but he admits it would be terrible if he made it. Allie says the way to her heart is coffee and food.

I was able to ask Braxton and Allie four total questions throughout the teleconference. My first question dealt with mixed tag teams and how they are increasingly popular with the WWE Mixed Match Challenge and the rise of teams like Joey Ryan and Candice LeRae. I asked Braxton and Allie if they would like to see Impact Wrestling have more mixed tag matches where they can team up.

Allie would respond with the following:

"Oh yeah, absolutely. I refer back to the indies, BS and I were a team on the indies. Not so much wrestling as I usually managed him, be we did have the opportunity to have some mixed intergender matches. I would LOVE to share a ring with BS in Impact. I think that would be so much fun and we have a good, natural chemistry. I think it would be fun to explore that dynamic more in Impact.

Braxton would respond with the following:

"Intergender wrestling definitely has something special to offer. With it growing, there is definitely a market for it now with so much attention on it. As long as it's done right, it's awesome. It's super cool to watch."

Ross would then ask if there was someone other than each other who they would like to team with. Allie would like to tag with Austin Aries since they have a vegan connection. Braxton jokingly asked Ross if he was trying to ruin Valentine's Day and will leave that question open-ended to stay out of the doghouse.

My next question was Valentine's Day related to the holiday being just around the corner. I asked Braxton and Allie if they have ever done anything extravagant for the holiday. Allie stated:

"Oh my god. I feel like this is going to make us sound like the worst and most boring couple on the planet. One of our favorite things to do is watch horror movies, it is the one genre of film that we both agree on. Usually anytime we have a chance to be home together, which not all that often, we're both traveling a lot. Whether it's Valentine's Day or not, we usually watch horror movies, eat vegan pizza, and usually finish it off with dairy-free Ben & Jerry's for me, and he gets regular Ben & Jerry's and that is the PERFECT night for us."

I asked them what their favorite horror movie was of all-time, and they couldn't narrow it down, but love to watch some lesser-known hidden gems on Netflix. Allie said that they love to watch a lot of 80's horror movies as well, but are fans of every genre of horror.

With the third question, I asked Allie about being a vegan. Earlier in the teleconference, she stated that she became a vegetarian at age 14, and a vegan in 2014. I asked her if there were any difficulties when it came to her training as a pro wrestling from being a vegan. She would respond with:

"Truthfully, not really. It was tough at first, not so much the training, but the traveling and getting used to what my options were and what I could eat. There is milk and eggs in so many things that you wouldn't think of. The actual training, I was pretty lucky to find a coach, his name is Mark Williams. I've worked with him for the last year and a half and I remember it was after one of the loops and I was feeling really run down and tired. I was sore and didn't know what direction to go in terms of fitness."

She would reach out to Mark and they started training. He would increase her carb and protein intake. He'd push her through workouts that she never imagined she could get through. They now work on kickboxing, and he changed her life in terms of fitness and goals. Allie also added:

"It was a transition for me being a vegan and being an athlete, and all of those things combined. Mark got me to eat more, that was the problem for me, I just wasn't eating enough. Once I did that, I noticed a huge change in my body. It wasn't so much the vegan part, it was more how to fuel my body for the activities I was putting it through."

Braxton would give his non-vegan perspective on Allie's training as well with the following:

"We live in amazing times right now. Even for traveling as far as healthy eating, things have gotten so much better. I'm not vegan, but it's cool for her to see more vegan options now. Even for us, to see more Chipotle's at airports instead of McDonald's. Eating healthy on the road is way easier now than it was 10 years ago and you can see it growing and growing and growing, so it's really cool."

Allie would next talk about her transition to becoming a vegan in 2014:

"Honestly, I haven't looked back and I haven't felt better. A lot of people will say that once they go vegan, their skin, hair, nails, and body just feels so much better. I do stress that it is really important to research the foods you should be eating, learn how to cook them, learn how to get comfortable eating and cooking with tofu because it makes the transition so much easier once you actually know what you're doing and how to navigate it."

The final question I posed to Braxton and Allie was regarding Impact Wrestling transitioning to the four-sided ring once again. I asked what the differences were from working a six-sided ring as opposed to the four-sided ring, and if there is anything they like better or not as much with the four-sided ring.

Allie stated that she always preferred the four-sided ring, and thinks a lot of the roster does. There was a point where working the six-sided ring was normal, but the four-sided ring is more comfortable to work in, especially when climbing to the top rope.

It's more awkward because your feet have to be further apart on the six-sided ring on the top rope. One of the first times that Allie went to the top, she almost fell off doing a high cross body. She compared it to a cartoon character trying to balance themselves before wiping out.

Braxton would add:

"I think everybody is happy that the four-sided ring is back. I don't want to completely crap on the six-sided ring. It's not bad. You can get in a six-sided ring and you can pick it up pretty quick. The four-sided ring, I feel like that is what pro wrestling is supposed to be in, and it is just so much more comfortable.

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