Ava Lawless breaks down the inspirations behind her persona as “The Hellion.”
With an affinity for 1980s thrash and hair metal, Ava Lawless has molded her wrestling persona into “The Hellion.” In the ring gear department, Lawless’ signature black gear is typically complemented with a rotating combination of chains, studs, and flames.
Speaking with WrestleZone’s Ella Jay, Lawless further discussed the inspiration behind her character presentation. More specifically she shared how it relates to her ring gear. In addition to her love of heavy metal music, Lawless hopes to pay homage to her love of horror films as well.
“I think maybe for the flames, maybe it’s like Bam Bam Bigelow,” Lawless said. “I would say when it comes to my gear, I’m definitely inspired by the 80s video vixens. They [wore] always like black leather with tassels and studs. Then in the future, I really want to do like a ‘Hellraiser’ [horror film] inspired outfit. I want to get to a point where I could just keep making outfits that are based on other things I love and have people be like, ‘I wonder what that’s from,’ and have them guess about it.”
“So, I think that’s a whole element of creativity that I have yet to really deep dive into. But people who love like niche things like B-horror films and stuff like that, I want them to like look at my gear and be like, ‘Wait, is that inspired by –‘. So, I do have a lot of fun with my gear and my jackets and stuff, that’s for sure.”
Origins Of ‘The Hellion’
Diving deeper into “Hellion” nickname, Ava Lawless revealed it was inspired by a song from the heavy metal band W.A.S.P.
“Basically, I love this band called W.A.S.P. They have a song called ‘The Hellion.‘ With the flames with my outfits and my hair, and it kind of all comes together. I was listening to the band and I had it in the back of my mind because I knew I needed a moniker. I needed something that fit me,” Lawless said.
“I’m not going to go out and say I’m like the ‘best in the world’ or anything. I needed something that was very unique to Ava. I have not heard anyone been called that, it really suits my gimmick. It also lends a hand to the 80s hair-metal thrash-metal thing. ‘I think this is the one for me.’ And ever since I’ve used it, I’m like, ‘This is the one for me. This is perfect and I’m never changing it.’ Then even when I debuted on [AEW] Rampage, the little snippet at the bottom said, ‘The Calgary native is nicknamed Hellion.’ And I was like, ‘That’s right, I am.’ So, it just felt kind of perfect.”
