• Shantelle's Flickr Account
• Shantelle’s Amazon.Com Wish List
• Shantelle’s G.L.O.R.Y Wrestling Profile
• Shantelle’s Myspace
• Shantelle’s Official TNA Profile
• Shantelle’s Twitter Page

As promised, here is our interview we conducted with the Knockout herself! Shantelle discusses what it feels like to be the first Knockout to hold the Knockouts Single and Tag titles, what her most memorable moment and match in TNA thus far, a list of injuries, what WWE Diva she would like to face, and for the first time – she names her finisher! Check out the entire interview below:

01: We would love to see you back in Shimmer. Are there any plans on a return?
Yes! I’d like to participate in Shimmer again. I’m hoping for sooner rather than later.

02: What would you say your most memorable match in TNA has been thus far?
I would say my most memorable match would have been when I beat Awesome Kong in the $25,000 challenge and became the Knockout’s champ. It was surreal for so many different reasons, and I hold that moment as a turning point in my life and career. I also have the same pivotal feelings towards when Sarita and I became the first Knockout’s tag team champions. Making me the first Knockout in TNA history to have held both belts.

03: Your the first Knockout to have both Knockout and Tag title reigns. How does that feel to make history by being the first woman to accomplish this?
I feel blessed and reassured that perseverance does pay off in the long run. I typically choose the road less traveled, which is inspiring but much more challenging. Accomplishments like that make all my hard work and sacrifices well worth it, and all the more sweeter.

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During an interview with Booboo, TNA Knockout Madison Rayne mentioned Taylor. Read below!

Boo: What about your favorite female wrestler?

Madison: Trish Stratus. I loved her for so many reasons. She was beautiful, strong, and athletic and she was always a great role model for aspiring women wrestlers. She had a look that guys loved, and a personality that made women adore her as well. Her matches with Tara were some of my favorite ever to watch. The characteristics that made me love her are present in each member of our locker room. As much as I love to rip her hair out of her head in the ring, Taylor Wilde has the same presence about her that Trish always did. She’s strong, athletic, and… well.. she’s no Beautiful People, but she’s…. anyway… she’s good.

Congrats goes out to our girl Shantelle, whose interview was able to be named “Featured Article” in Canadian magazine, “Movie Entertainment”! Unfortunately, I don’t have the magazine, but I got the next best thing – a transcript of the interview! It’s a really great read, and I suggest everybody take some time out to read it!

Jim Slotek
September 2009
Movie Entertainment

Professional wrestling had a tighter hold on Taylor Wilde than she knew.

When, at 22, she became the youngest title holder in Total Non-Stop Action’s Knockouts Division, the compact, blond spark plug had already “retired” from a wrestling career that had started at age 18 and taken her to Mexico and South Africa. She says she was serious about her decision at 20 to quit World Wrestling Entertainment and concentrate on her psychology degree at York University.

“I was retired for good as far as I was concerned,” says the Toronto girl born Shantelle Malawski. “It was a lot of things, but I remember meeting a veteran who I won’t name, who was in my opinion completely burnt out. And I’ll never forget that moment of meeting a celebrity, and them going (in a gravelly voice), ‘Meh, nice to meet you, kid,’ and kind of disregarding me. I just didn’t want to become that person.”

But Wilde found wrestling wouldn’t leave her head. “It’s like the most abusive and passionate relationship I’ve ever been hooked on,” she says. And she found a way to reinvent herself when TNA offered $20,000 to anyone who could beat the then champion Awesome Kong. TNA audiences soon began seeing a blond “fan” identified only as “Taylor,” attending events and demanding to be let in the ring.

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Miami Herald has just added a new interview with Shantelle, where Shantelle discusses various topics ranging from where her signature salute to the crowd comes from, all the way to hinting towards a possible Knockout’s Tag Team championship in the future! Read below to read the interview as it is a great read!

Taylor Wilde exemplifies the TNA Knockout — solid wrestler, good look and unique.

This 5-4 blonde beauty not only brings her wrestling talent each and every match inside the six-sided structure but also her flare for fashion.

Wilde designs her outfits, and her salute to the crowd, as she appears on the rampway, ties into her fashion statements.

“I am Canadian, through and through,” she said. “Although I do have a lot of American friends and I did live in the states a while, the salute had nothing to do with America at first.”

Wilde explains.

“Really, how the salute started. I design all my clothes; I design all my wrestling gear,” she said. “The first outfit I designed was a pin-up sailor’s outfit. So I was looking for a sailor’s hat, and when I found one, I thought it would look really cute, if I saluted everybody. It kinda stuck.

“Now everyone does it with me. It was the first time I actually developed something gimmicky, and the crowd responded to it. It was very me, natural. It later became an ode to the troops overseas, but it is attributed to fashion.”

So much in wrestling is trial and error. Talent doesn’t know what will work or won’t until they initiate it before a live crowd. House shows, indies, TV tapings — anywhere, any place with an audience.

“It’s terrifying to try out things,” Wilde said. “To me, it’s got to feel natural to you. It’s funny that you have to do trial and error to what is natural to you. Whatever is the most natural is what the crowd plays to. How you hold yourself and what you do is what they get behind because they can see it’s true you. So the salute felt good. I thought, `I’m going to do it out there,’ and I was confident.”

Related Links:
Read Rest of Interview on MiamiHerald.Com