WSVN-TV Entertainment Reporter Chris Van Vliet interviewed former WWE star Celeste Bonin, f.k.a. Kaitlyn, earlier this week as she prepares for her in-ring return at Coastal Championship Wrestling on February 10th in Coral Springs, FL. During the interview, she discussed whether or not she will be at the Royal Rumble, the terms she left WWE on, her take on the woman’s revolution, if she still keeps in touch with AJ Lee and more. You can check out the full interview in the video above, they sent us these highlights:
Why she’s returning to wrestling:
“I retired pretty much 4 years ago and I didn’t really have any intention of going back or making any kind of come back or even wrestling for any other promotion like TNA. I was just super focused on my business and wrestling was kind of just in my past. Then when I got in the ring I was just super rusty which was a little embarrassing but I missed it so much. I had such a tumultuous year in 2017, I went through a divorce and a bunch of changes in my company and moving warehouses and moving where I lived. I kind of fell out of a routine and I wasn’t working out and my life was kind of upside down but when I started wrestling again I kind of felt more purpose and structure and passionate about life in general again.”
Why she can’t wrestle under the name “Kaitlyn”:
“Kaitlyn is dead. We had her funeral. It’s a name that WWE owns and it’s a character that they own. They built it and they put money into it. I don’t own it.”
Will she be in the woman’s Royal Rumble match?
“I haven’t got a call or anything. As far I know I’m not going to be there. But they’ve been known to call you 2 days before and that’s what happened to me when I debuted on NXT. They called me on a Friday and told me I was going to debut on a Tuesday. So anything is possible in the world of professional wrestling.”
Her thoughts on the women’s revolution in WWE:
“It’s really cool to look at the woman’s division now, I’m not envious that I’m not part of it right now because I have so much other sh*t going on with my business and the other projects I’m working on, but it makes me really proud that it’s gotten to the point where it’s at right now. The girls are getting longer matches and cool stories and characters and I’m super proud of it. Last time Smackdown Live was in Miami, I went to see a few friends backstage and I was hanging out in the locker room and it was so cool in there and it’s not always like that. There’s different eras I guess and when I was there, there was some tension and a**holes and whatever. But it’s such a cool, chill vibe in the locker room now and it made me really proud of what they have going on right now.”
How exactly she left WWE in 2014:
“I left on really good terms. I just felt like it was my time to walk away and I was getting married and starting a business. There’s peaks and valleys in pro wrestling and I was not at a peak and I thought maybe this is a sign that I should step back and work on other things. So there was this mutual understanding, hey I’m going to ask for my release and they were like ‘well if this is what you want, sleep on it and in the morning if that’s your decision’. Everyone hugged me and it was cool and it was no big deal. They’re not going to make you stay if you don’t want to stay. We saw eye to eye and I never try to burn any bridges.”
Does she still keep in touch with AJ Lee?
“Ya, we’re still really close. I’ve taken a couple of trips out there to see her in Chicago. We talk about working on projects together all the time. Maybe one day our screenplay or something, who knows?”
