Natalie Hernandez
Thank you for tuning into Late Night with Natalie, I’m your host Natalie Hernandez and tonight I’ll have the special guest of Shane Rockford, my wonderful boss, thank you for being here tonight Shane, how are you doing?

Shane Rockford
I’m pretty good, everything is going the way I want it and I’m on all time high as Divas Unleashed has reached the peak in its success.

Natalie Hernandez
I’m glad to be part of that success and to have my own show with it too, but it’s great to have you here to kick of the New Year’s celebrations as it does enter the year of 2004, and Shane I have to ask, what are you expecting to see in 2004? Any secrets you can reveal?

Shane Rockford
Well as you know, the internet fans will be handily at their keyboard with their fingers alert ready to the spoil the storylines, I’m sure we’ve got a lot of new divas joining the roster or being called up and I hope soon for the possibility of introducing a new championship if the roster continues to grow, we should have many new explosive storylines and be more wrestling focused. I think overall, we’ll be hitting a new image as we’ve been recognized; it can be a chance to calm down and settle on seeing the divas shine.

Natalie Hernandez
Interesting, I’ll be looking forward to seeing that. On the subject of new divas, is there the possibility of any previous divas returning or being called up from developmental territory, such names as Taylor, Lorisa Stiletto, Dominatrix?

Shane Rockford
I have been in contact with all three of those divas but it looks unlikely for them to ever return. I would hate to say ‘never’ as that just padlocks the situation, Taylor left because of differences and has since checked into a rehab center, the thing with Dominatrix and Lorisa was that we could not find anything for them creatively and wasn’t able to offer them anything so their attitude towards their work declined. I regularly visit ECW and a few of the wrestlers have caught my eye, we could very well see them on the roster once again.

Natalie Hernandez
At Xiak Xande we saw you prove your ways of wisdom to resolve the Jackman situation, but are you fully confident with the illustrious line of pay per views and Exile’s that made up 2003?

Shane Rockford
Oh absolutely, each event had its own great lead up and that was thanks to the production of Exile that the pay per views were such a success. I think that because of the diversity in not only in the name titles, but the genre and matches of the show, I am very pleased at how the past nine months have been, and I wouldn’t change anything.

Natalie Hernandez
Now if you had to pin-point one or two moments from the whole history of Exile, which would be your most memorable and why?

Shane Rockford
I would have to the say that the first thing that springs to mind would be Lightning’s custard incident, because it was so un-expected and something that no one had ever really seen before, plus we saw the full roster covered in yellow goo. My second moment would be, let me think, oh I know, the 13th Street brawl with Crystal and Star because what you saw was actually people’s shops and real street objects getting destroyed by the two angry divas in New York City.

Natalie Hernandez
Ah yes, two very memorable moments. One I remember is that of you found in a compromising situation with Tequila at Demonology, have you two become an item out of that stint?

Shane Rockford
I think it’s safe to say now that we have become an item, I think working with each other so much has made me fall for her, it’s truly great to have her by your side when you’re running a wrestling company because she is a wrestler and has experienced this business and knows certain aspects which I rather wouldn’t, it’s like an insider view but if truth be told first-class girl and we spent New Years together and I got to smooch her at midnight. It’s fun being me.

Natalie Hernandez
You seem to have re-found love but previously you were engaged to manageress Kristin Wallace, who was once in a co-owning position but is there a special story behind your break-up?

Shane Rockford
A lot of people don’t know that actually pre-Demonology going on air me and Kristin did actually get into a huge fight and called off the wedding then, that is why we needed someone quickly to end the relationship on screen and Tequila just happened to be in the right place at the right time. But I had to work a storyline with Kristin which did eventually led on for quite a while, I wouldn’t change that though because I think it made me a stronger person and also introduced me to Tequila.

Natalie Hernandez
Now as we go from Kristin to some of the other divas, more evidently to the main divas of DU, such people as Mya, Star, Kaci, Crystal for example, what are your views on them and how does each women sparkle?

Shane Rockford
That is a pretty good question, Natalie, a tough one. I think Mya is such a unique character that a first time wrestling fan tuning into Exile would be intrigued by. She’s just got this mysteriously scary presence and it’s astonishing how long she’s held the Unleashed Championship for, she’s also a great in ring talent too which most male wrestlers would kill for.

Star I would also say is a very good wrestler too, she has the ability to draw the audience to herself and now that she’s come back from her absence with a brand new image and has finally ditched the squeaky clean perception and turned that into the vindictive bad bitch image, she’s definitely got the brawn to back up her morals and principles too.

I think Crystal has improved vastly in her in ring skills, which you can see if you watch old tapes that she is a much better wrestler now and people are only just beginning to notice this main event player, but she’s a great comedy draw too and once again she’s got the superstar look of that rock chick rebel that many of our viewers can associate with at one point in their lives. I think she stands for independence too which is why a lot of people like her.

Kaci knows how to handle things, I think her fame was almost genetic but she certainly is a strong woman who’s got the ability to reinvent herself, and she knows how to handle the media which gives the needed publicity when she wants it. I suppose I would say she’s almost like the Queen of England, she can do anything she wants by the snap of her fingers, and she’s a female empowerment.

Natalie Hernandez
Great perspectives there, as it is only early days in January, who do you see becoming bright stars in Divas Unleashed for the 2004, by the end of the year will have high recognition?

Shane Rockford
Oh, I say there are a number of divas who could very well rise to the that level, namely Bianca, she’s been on a successful roll ever since she arrived with such a great debut, and she’s also backed up that she has genuine talent, but I also see the Bod Squad on the rise up to tag team success and also singles success. They’ve got the publicity, if they utilize that they’ll be on the cover of every magazine possible.

I think Nyssa looks promising, she’ll be getting her own television show soon which should expose her more, plus she’s relatively new, she could go places if she manages to capture the fans. Yuku Shiro too, she’s not been here that long but already she’s becoming a fast figure, we could see her on the rise up to stardom soon, she just needs to shake off her family’s shadow and be more independent.

Natalie Hernandez
It’ll be interesting to see which of those actually become true, you never know, you could have an eye for the prediction world. I have to ask, are the rumours of a three-way battle with 3WL and LIWA true?

Shane Rockford
I won’t comment for the purpose of that we have been in contact with both companies, it could happen soon, it could never happen, I think it’s pretty much up in the air and depending on what the superstars themselves want, but I won’t answer because I generally do not know.

Natalie Hernandez
Okay, we’ve seen you as a presidential role and now we’re seeing the “cooler” side to Shane Rockford, what would say would be your most stressful moment of 2003?

Shane Rockford
I think for sure it would have to be the battle between myself and the company against our television broadcasters. Scott Garland Media Group has caused many fantastic broadcasts to be rescheduled and it caused for a drop in ratings and income, I did not want to breech the contract but in the end I had to. We also had a verbal agreement with the Mirage Athletic Network too, but for 2004, I have signed a golden handcuffs deal with Rockstar Entertainments, a company ran by wrestling guru Joe Rock.

Natalie Hernandez
There seems to be a lot of speculation about Blair Spikes and negotiations within Divas Unleashed, does he have any so called ‘power’ off-screen?

Shane Rockford
Yes, he has the actual position of Primary Executive and I’m afraid I’m going to have to crush the rumors, Blair was given the chance to shine as an on-screen character bt he was said to be “past it” which personally I think is un-true, but right now he’ll be on-screen to gain some slow introduction to the fans rather than throwing it down their throats, which is what I think happened the first time.

Natalie Hernandez
Before we go, who do you name as your number one influence on your career, if any, and why?

Shane Rockford
I would have to say that my career has mainly been influenced by John F. Kennedy and Abraham Lincoln. I would say that they’re position of power and the they influenced such changes inspired me to create my own wrestling corporation, those are two people I would actually like to see on Celebrity Boxing to be honest. .

Natalie Hernandez
Shane, do you have any last words in the closing moments of this interview?

Shane Rockford
I just want to thank the fans for making Divas Unleashed what it is today and as well as the divas, entering 2004 it should be our best year yet and we owe it all to everyone who just tuned in on Friday nights to give us a try and I will always be a person who listens to the fans, you know what they say, be nice to people on the way up as you’ll meet them again on the way down.

Natalie Hernandez
Thank you so much for this interview Shane in what has been an awesome show, thank you for tuning in and thanks to my guest, the Divas Unleashed President, Shane Rockford! Next week I’ll be joined by Tara Lee and we’ll be joining her in a special location to bring you an exclusive. I’m Natalie Hernandez and I thank you for joining us. Goodnight!

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