Nitro Sexy Eye Candy (Wrestling World - February 2001)
by Mike Greenblatt

   The sexiest thing about WCW's Monday Nitro is, those obscenely
under-utilized Nitro Girls. Man, I could just visualize in my mind's eye
what must be going on during those commercials. Why doesn't the WCW see fit
to televize them more often? It stands to reason that if you've got something
good, you should go with it. C'mon WCW, let's see more of the Nitro Girls!
Recently, we spoke with Nitro Girls Chaquita and Syren.

Wrestling World: What exactly are your responsibilities during Nitro?

Chiquita: We open up the show with a lO-minute routine called "Get Naked."

WW: Do you get naked?

C: Well, we mostly wear like little pants, these chaps, that we rip off, and
we have baby t-shirts that we also rip off and throw to the fans. The pants
we keep. We also have all sorts of nice shiny bra and panties. We're there to
warm up the crowd and to keep the energy level going throughout the show.
We're eye candy.

WW: Do you like doing that?

C: I love it. I've been performing and dancing for 15 years. The crowds are
so into our outfits, they like what we're doing and I like our interaction
with the crowd.

Syren: I love it, too. I've never really wanted to do anything other than
dance. I've never taken a strong interest in acting or singing, just dance.
I would be open to anything only if it's going to open doors for me and give
me more exposure. All the Nitro Girls have studied different styles. I've
studied ballet, jazz, acrobatics and hiphop, which is mostly the style we
use.

WW: What was it like that very first time you stepped into a wrestling ring
to dance?

S: I was definitely nervous because from a technical viewpoint, you're
dancing on something that's bouncing, so you could actually lose your balance
and fall down at any moment. Also I was nervous if the crowd would like me or
not.

WW: Do you ever get to interact with any of the wrestlers within storylines?

C: Yeah. We had a house show yesterday in Albuquerque, New Mexico where we
actuallv did a skit with 3 Count and Tank Abbott. We were in the middle of
performing one of our opening numbers, and 3 Count came out and interrupted
us! Everybody hates Three Count. We were so upset at being interrupted, the
crowd was booing and Tank Abbott, who's our biggest fan, ran out, threw 3
Count out, and started to dance with us!

S: A couple times I did a piece with with Billy Kidman. They had him in a
"Viagra On A Pole" match. The loser had to eat a bottle of Viagra. He was
the loser so he ate the Viagra and after the match they had the Nitro Girls
flirting with him and askIng him if he couid take all of us back to our
hotel! Another time, when they first introduced Reno, they wrote me into the
storyline as his girlfriend. We had to argue with him asking me "Where were
you the other night!" It was after the whole Billy Kidman Viagra thing. I
liked doing it, more than I thought I would. I had never really acted up
until that point so I was kinda nervous. I felt at the time, to be totally
truthful, that I was being thrown into it, and I didn't know how well I
would be able to do it. I didn't want to suck at it, y'know? [laughing] So,
it was just a little nerve-wracking.

WW: What's that noise in the backaround?

C: Oh, that's just The Cat. He's always trying to disrupt my interviews.
[to The Cat] Shut up and read your Modern Bride magazine. I don't why he
loves Modern Bride magazine so much. Reads the damn thing every month!
[laughing] He's a freak. He's actually one of my favorites. Really nice such
a sweetheart. When I first started here last December everyone was really
nice to me. I had watched the show prior to auditioning and I thought
everybody was going to be mean but they're not. You can ask them anything,
any question, and they're there. It's so good.

WW: How does Nitro Girl Spice treat you? Is Spice nice!

C: Oh yeah, really nice. Actually, when I was watching Nitro, she was my
favorite dancer, such blonde hair, so very animated.

WW: Do any of the wrestlers or fans try to come on to you after the show?

C: The fans really don't try and get with you, they mostly just want
autographs and pictures, so that's cool, 'cause you never get too big to
say thank vou. I know without them, I wouldn't have a job. After every show
we let fans take pictures with us. As far as the wrestlers, no, they're cool.
I'm getting married in November anyway and they keep asking me everything and
tney're really excited for me. They're cool about that, too.

S: No, not really. They're all very friendly, though. I mean. most of the
wrestlers, you wouldn't think so, but a lot of them are married and they all
have children. Everybody's friendly, everybody's nice, and we're all around
each other all the time. There's communication, but I wouldn't say any
hitting on.

C: I've had no problems, no. The only problem I have is Cat, 'cause he's
more like a brother type, just worrisome, and that's it. Everyone else is
really really cool.

WW: How much rehearsing does all this take?

S: Usually, a typical day is either getting up super-early or leaving late
that nigh before a show and flying to the city where we're going to be
perfroming checking into the hotel, getting some rest, and then going to the
venue. We usually have to get to the actual venue maybe five hours before
the show starts. We rehearse, view the pre-tapes and run to the catering! We
have catering at all the shows, so that's a big thing, everybody's always
like "How's catering today? Is catering good?" That's how we remember cities,
too, "Oh yeah, Denver, we like Denver, they had good catering," y'know?
[laughing] Then after we rehearse we go to hair and makeup and get worked on
there and get into our costumes and by that time the show's usually ready to
start.

C: We fly in Sunday, rehearse four hours get to the arena Monday, rehearse
another hour and a half. Tuesday we also rehearse about an hour-and-a-half.
Sometimes routines are pre-taped and we get video overnighted to us so we
can learn the moves.

S: The one dance job where we really rehearsed alot was when Chiquita and I
danced for the Philadelphia 76ers [basketball team]. I did that for two
years. We would have really grueling intense rehearsals, at least three times
a week, and each rehearsal would last for three hours non-stop, hardly any
breaks. The rehearsals we have here aren't as bad. The difference, though, is
traveling. Travel takes its toll on your body. It wears you out.

WW: Does all the WCW business craziness scare you? Are you afraid of losing
your job?

C: No, not really. The fans always like us. We always get good crowd
response. Our Internet response is also very good, as are all of the WCW
surveys. I feel secure. Of course, though just as with any regular 9 to 5
job, you just never know. Hey, as long as I get my travel itinerary on
Wednsday, I know I'm still-sood with the glrls.

S: Me neither. I know it's kinda crazy now, but before I got this job, I had
finished school a few months earlier, moved out to Los Angeles from Philly,
was just waitressing, not knowing what was going to happen, and trying to
pursue dance. Nothing seemed to be coming through and I thought, "I really
want to travel, maybe I'll become a flight attendent," and don't you know it,
I ended up getting this gig, and it's great, now I have the best of both
worlds, 'cause I'm dancing all the time now and I'm traveling all the time,
so it worked out!

WW: What about the future?

S: I would love to stay with WCW for at least two or three more years. I
think I will start to take some acting classes, because dancers have a
relative!y short lifespan only because it's so physical and it's so taxing
on your body. I was also thinking of becoming a Hollywood talent agent.

WW: Do you have any aspirations to do any wrestling yourself?

S: Not me.

C: At first I did, but all the girls told me how difficult it is. Of course,
they have an awesome teacher in Madusa [a former champion] but they_all
compIain about how-hard it is. Madusa's really nice too. She wants you to be
good. She wants you to be the best. Some of the things those girls do, though
I don't know if I could pull that off. Right now I love being a dancer. I
love entertaining.

WW: Taking a bump is a little different than dancing.

C: Oh, taking a bump is a lot different, let me tell you. I mean, because,
even when you jump on the turnbuckles, it's high up. It looks like it's not
that high but it is! Especially for someone who's afraid of heights. You got
somebody like Kevin Nash, a powerbomber, and vou know it's a long way down!
[laughs]

WW: Have you ever had any embarrassing situations in the ring?

C: Yes, I had two of them. My hair caught on fire! It was the Wednesday when
Vince [Russo] and Eric [Blschoff] came back. We had a huge meeting to go over
what was going to take place. They had these pyros. Well, I was standing
right by the ring where the pyro went off! The ashes came down and the sparks
got in my hair! Nitro Girl Baby patted my hair down and moved me away from
the sparks. The other embarrassing time was when I was dancing in the ring
and getting huge response, the fans whistling and screaming, really up on
their feet. I looked down and my boobs had fallen out! Luckily it wasn't on
the air, but still! I mean, one was in and one was out. So what are you going
to do? I just kept dancing. The show must ao on. [laughs!] Just tucked that
boob right on back in and kept on dancing!

WW: Are your breasts so big that they can't be contained or was it a
costuming thing?

C: Well, I am a 36D, so...

WW: I guess the fans got a nice eyeful.

C: They got a huge eyeful. Luckily I was facing the stage so mostly the
people in front of me saw it, not the people behind me or to my right or
left, so that was pretty good. Just the people I was facing.

WW: How long do you think it was out?

C: Um, I don't know. [laughs] It wasn't throughout the whole performance, it
couldn't have been that long. But just the fact of it! I was like, "Why's
everyone screaming? Why's everyone yelling?" and as I looked out, looked
down, and looked on the monitor, and I was like, "Okay," the monitor didn't
even have it on there, they just had me after I put it back in, so that was
pretty good.

S: My only embarrassment was about three weeks after I started. You know how
everybody has their own gimmick? Chiquita goes along with that whole Chaquita
banana thing, wears real flashy yellow and gold? Since I'm Syren, I do stuff
with the emergency services, like I have a nurse uniform, and I also have a
policewoman uniform. When I first started I used to come out sometimes
inbetween matches with the cop uniform on, and this pad of tickets, like
citations, with a marker, and I would stand up on the runway, and start
writing citations. Most eyes in the place are on me 'cause I'm the only
person out there and this one time I tripped, right in the middle of the
runway it was SO embarassing. But at least my hair never caught on fire.

WW: And your boobs never fell out.

S: Yeah, my boobs never fell out either. [laughing] Mine aren't quite as big
as Chiquita's so I don't have such a hard time keeping them in.