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Baby Doll Interview

Posted: Jan 9th 2007 By: CMBurnham

Carolina Independent Wrestling was proud to be able to interview "The Perfect 10" Baby Doll at CWA Pro Wrestling's New Year's Extravaganza in Orangeburg, SC on January 6, 2007.

CIW: How has women?s role in wrestling changed since you?ve been in the business?

BD: Unfortunately, it?s gotten a lot sadder. The girls are really being taken advantage of, I think, because they?re trying to get more camera time, rather than more wrestling time. I think that it?s sad that the girls don?t know the difference between a fireman?s carry and a back drop. It?s sad because with my, and I?ve got a very unique history, with my business, both my parents were wrestlers; I grew up in the business. My dad had a wrestling show Saturday afternoon at two o?clock then we had the matches every Wednesday night and I grew up setting up chairs and setting up rings and learning the business, now the girls just go into it just to get the TV time, so it?s a lot different.

CIW: Who were the wrestlers who brought out the best and worst in you?

BD: The best and worst?I?d have to go with Dory and Terry Funk would probably be the best. Ted DiBiase, any of the Hart boys. Kerry and Kevin Von Erich were a big influence on me. Gino Hernandez, I had a huge crush on; he was the reason why I got into the business. Bad influences would have probably been Jake and Sam. They would have been the bad influences, but otherwise it?s been pretty good.

CIW: What are your thoughts on the state of wrestling today?

BD: Everybody kind of dogs on it, but when you look at how much some guy?s are making; look at how many stars there are; look at when you go into the toy stores and anywhere wrestling is everywhere and you couldn?t really ask for that to be any better than what it is. I mean, Vince took it to a completely different level. We never would have pictured that back in the mid-80?s that wrestling would be where it?s at now. And a lot of us are kind of, I think we?re afraid of it, because it?s kind of passed us by, but you?ve got to jump right on it and go.

CIW: What was your favorite promotion to work for?

BD: Would have to have been Jim Crockett. In fact, I?m going to be moving back in May. I just missed the Carolinas so much that I have to come back. So it would have to be Jim Crockett. They?re the ones that really set it apart from anybody else; I was like the only girl working. The first year that I worked for them I had 15 days off the whole year. That was all I had for the whole year. We hit the ground running and we went.

CIW: At times, the fans have been less than kind to you. How does that make you feel, personally?

BD: It?s fine. I like being the heel better than I do the babyface, because it?s more in my character. It?s very hard to be a babyface; it?s very hard to be nice all the time. While with the heel, it?s just kind of easy to just say things and then walk away.

CIW: What is your favorite memory of your career?

BD: The best one that I?ve had was when I helped Flair win the World title up there in Charlotte. I went out to the ring with Dusty and everything was fine, and then in the match I was supposed to put Flair?s foot on the rope. Well, when 25,000 people gasp at the same time, you just have that moment of like, ?Oh, my God, they?re gonna kill me! They?re gonna kill me! What am I gonna do?? That was like the best because it was like the whole Coliseum just went blank. And if you hear it on the tape, you can hear it just go silent, and that?s very scary when you know that you?re the reason why. And if you look at the interviews afterwards, Flair does the ?Diamonds are forever, and so is Baby Doll!? and they do the Four Horsemen, and that was like the whole birth of the Four Horsemen was that afternoon.

CIW: If you could travel back in time and change one thing in your wrestling career, would you, and if so, what would it be?

BD: If I could still have my baby girls, I wouldn?t have married Sam. I would have seen where my career would have gone. Because, I married Sam and they shipped me off to Kansas City and then it just, kind of, ended. I would have liked to have seen what it would have been like three years after that if I would have stayed single and stuff like what they wanted me to. But I would still had to have my girls. I have to have my girls.

CIW: Was there a moment when you decided that you wanted to be in the wrestling business or do you feel like, with your parents, that it was always destined to be that way?

BD: Oh, my parents hated it. My parents didn?t want me to be in it at all. Well, my dad because he knew the business and he knew the guys. My mom because she had wrestled for about 7 to 10 years and she hated the business when she got out of it. She would never even talk to me or anything. I loved the business. Whenever I was in junior high, I remember writing papers on how to draw a wrestling crowd and how to promote wrestling and the whole deal and I?ve loved it. Whenever cable TV came out, it was like in neighborhoods; it wasn?t like the whole town got cable it was like in grids. Every month I would call. ?This is my address, do I have cable TV yet?? Because I wanted to watch Georgia Championship Wrestling at 5 o?clock on Saturday afternoon, I had to. So, I was lucky because I was born into it. I mean, I think I would have loved it no matter what, but?.I got the good spot (laughs).

CIW: You?ve worked all kinds of venues of various sizes. Which do you prefer; large or small?

BD: Larger is easier. The smaller the crowd, the harder it is to work and the more I like to work it, because it is hard. It?s hard to get them going and when you do, they just go nuts. It has its pluses and minuses. Big ones are easier, but you can get hurt. Small ones are fun.

CIW: And out of all of those venues, which town or city was your favorite?

BD: I would have to say one of my favorites would have had to been Atlanta. The Omni; I liked the Omni because we had lots of dressing rooms and you could go there and just hang out and I had an office and it was nice. I like the Omni, I liked Columbia and I liked Greensboro. Those were like the three. Columbia because it had the stage and we could go out either side and it was just set up really nice. And then Greensboro because it was always really good.

CIW: What do you want your legacy in pro wrestling to be?

BD: She was one of the first and she was one of the best.

CIW: What makes Baby Doll unique?

BD: That I?ve held up my standards. I haven?t gone out there; haven?t had to show everything; haven?t had to do the T & A thing. I?ve always had a really good storyline. It depending more on my wrestling knowledge and my skill rather than my being a girl. I was almost more being a guy than I was a girl. And it was a different perspective of it. If ever I had heat or if ever I worked with a guy; he didn?t have more than what I did. We always had equal. Like when Tully and I worked, I didn?t throw the fire, I gave the fire to Tully and he threw it. Or like with a roll of quarters or something, I didn?t hit Magnum with it, I gave it to Tully then Tully did. We all?.it worked out pretty cool.

CIW: Ok, we're going to do word association:

CIW: NWA
BD: Old School

CIW: Jim Crockett
BD: A fair promoter

CIW: Wrestling
BD: Love it

CIW: Four Horsemen
BD: Legacy

CIW: Rock ?n? Roll Express
BD: Nothing but trouble (laughs)

CIW: Magnum TA
BD: Gorgeous; never did him (laughs)

CIW: Jim Cornette
BD: Oh?.brutal. All I can say is brutal.

CIW: Dusty Rhodes
BD: Um, I was gonna say backstabber?.backstabber.

CIW: Sam Houston
BD: My heart goes out to him.

CIW: Baby Doll
BD: Always a Perfect 10!!