Missa Kate has adopted Maria Kanellis and Mike Bennett as her wrestling parents.
Missa Kate is always looking to grow and evolve. Luckily, she has some knowledgeable cohorts to help guide her along the way. During a recent interview with WrestleZone’s Ella Jay, the NWA Women’s Tag Team Champion named some of the individuals who’ve empowered her, personally and professionally.
“Growing up in general, people that I looked up to, like celebrities or whatever you want to call it, Lucille Ball is one. They’re all redheads, ironically, but Lucille Ball’s one of them. Lita is another one, so kind of like looking up to them how they conduct themselves, their careers. As far as inside of wrestling now that I’m a part of it, [I look up to] Maria Kanellis, another redhead.”
“I told her and Mike [Bennett] I adopted them as my wrestling parents. They don’t really have a choice, but they’re some people that I go to for advice and they’re very honest. And it’s nice to know that they have my best intentions [in mind]. They don’t have anything to get out of me. So, I truly know they’re trying to help, and that’s who they are as people. They just kind of want everybody to succeed. And that’s something that I believe in. So, it’s amazing meeting people that are like, ‘Hey, we could all grow together.'”
Speaking further on her relationship with Maria Kanellis and Mike Bennett, Missa Kate shared an important lesson that they taught her. “Overall, the most important thing is, you’re going to have people that are going to have their vision of you, but always stay true to you,” Kate said. “So, you’re always going to have people [say], ‘Oh, I don’t like how you did that. Oh, I don’t like how this looks. Oh, I don’t like that,’ just constantly and trying to change you and stuff like that.”
“Like they say, change could be good. And it’s like if this isn’t going to hurt you, and this is not something that you don’t believe in, not against your morals, then worst case, try it out. If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. Or if it’s something that you’re really like, ‘No, this is something that’s me. I’m not changing that,’ don’t be scared to say that, too. So that’s something [I learned], be true to yourself, and just knowing that people like them and people that really support you and understand you and all that fun stuff have your back. So, yeah, just be true to yourself.”
On the business side of professional wrestling, Missa Kate has absorbed valuable wisdom from Robert Anthony — also known as Cyon in the National Wrestling Alliance. “He’s the one that got my foot in the door at NWA,” Kate said. “So, he’s somebody else who is very brutally honest with me, which I love, and I need that. He helps a lot with the business side of this [too], which I was completely ignorant of because I was just like, ‘Yeah, I love wrestling. I could bring some athletics out.'”
“But people don’t realize — I remember hearing in podcasts like, ‘Oh, wrestling is only 10% of it.’ Like, what are you talking about? I’m like, ‘How can the wrestling be only 10% of it? And I was like, ‘Crap.’ Once I got in, it was so true. You need to be your own agent, you need to be your own manager. You need to be your own personal trainer, your own marketing.”
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