Exclusive: Mandy Rose talks about nearly injuring Asuka at WWE live event (2024)

Mandy Rose has a date with Asuka this Sunday at WWE Fastlane with the SmackDown Women's championship on the line.

Rose, 27, comes from a bodybuilding and modelling background and was only a contestant on Tough Enough back in 2015.

Since then, she has risen through NXT, debuted alongside the now legendary Paige and her best friend Sonya Deville and now, she is one of the top stars in the women's division on SmackDown.

talkSPORT had the chance to speak to Rose during a conference call ahead of Fastlane and God's Greatest Creation discussed Paige's influence on her career, the injury scare with Asuka on Monday and who has helped her improve in the ring.

On Paige's recent success and influence on her career:

"Paige had a ton of influence on my career and it just comes like full circle with Paige because we started on Tough Enough together and, of course, I didn't know her as a person very well, I only got to see how she reacted to what I was doing and the reality show, but I got to know her more when I was on Total Divas right away.

"She really was a big supporter and a good friend in the sense that she always looked out for me - she messed around with me a lot, of course, we always joke around because she loves messing around with me - but she was always out for my best interests. She'd always tell me certain things like 'Don't do that. Do this,' just little tricks of the trade because she's been around for so long.

"And then it all came full circle when I made it up to Monday Night Raw, I got to debut with her and my best friend Sonya [Deville]. So she's been a huge influence on my career and I couldn't be more happy for her with everything going on and her movie Fighting with my Family. It's amazing and I'm super happy for her - she deserves it.

On being one of the most improved wrestlers for the past 12 months and who has helped her

"Everyone kind of has a great camaraderie backstage - I'm sure you guys know that - and everyone helps everyone. Backstage you have producers, you have writers and you have talent and there's a lot of people who look out for each other. I'd say since I've been on SmackDown, Charlotte [Flair] has been a really awesome friend, but also [has] given me a lot of good insight. She's an amazing performer so I take a lot of advice from her.

"I think, just in general, getting people's feedback from when you finish a match or finish a promo and kind of just hearing what people have to say about it, but taking everything with a grain a salt as well. Sometimes you can get a lot of opinions and they can overwhelm you and you can over-analyse yourself - it can get a little crazy.

"So I tend to take everything in and obviously get the feedback that I want, but take it and make it into my own and make sure it's something I agree on and support as well. I'm very grateful for the success I've had over the past year but there's always room for improvement and you learn something good every day in this business."

On the injury scare with Asuka and performing in front of her family in New York

"I was in my hometown last night, it was really great to be home. I had about 30 people - friends and family - there that were all front row. I had all my nieces and nephews and it was really amazing to have them all there. Of course, not everything always goes according to plan and accidents happen. So, unfortunately, there was a little accident and we took the proper precautions and thankfully, Asuka is fine and she's doing OK. You know, stuff happens. You can't dwell on it, you just gotta move on.

But really what made my night the most was that my nephews all got to get in the ring and do the dance break with Carmella and R-Truth. And just seeing their faces light up.., they do that dance move all the time! So I had to tell them to pull them up and do that."

You can hear the full interview on the next episode of The Pro Wrestling Show, talkSPORT's wrestling podcast.