The Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling (GLOW) have certainly carved their names in the history books.
From the Netflix series of GLOW, to the Women of Wrestling, these ladies have made their mark and continue to influence professional wrestling today. GLOW original Roxy Astor recently spoke with Wrestling Headlines about the legacy that the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling have left on the industry decades later.
“Not knowing who we were inspiring. That’s number one. But 35 years later it’s like everywhere we go somebody says, “You know what? You changed my life back then. Like, I felt like I knew you!” And I mean, that is such an honor and a compliment. When you hear that from a fan that watched us back then and now we’re you know, 35 years later, and we’re still talking about GLOW. I didn’t even think this would ever happen back then. I was just back in GLOW having a good time now. You know, female empowerment, actually all empowerment.”
Astor starred in seasons three and four of GLOW, from 1988-1990. Fast forward a few decades, the creator of GLOW David McLane has created another new series, Women of Wrestling. Astor shared her thoughts on David McLane and the promotion of WOW itself.
“Okay, well first off I have to say with WOW I am so proud of Dave McLane. I mean, he has never given up the dream of WOW. When everybody thought it was gone, David McLane would bounce back up and there’s WOW. And then we had the pandemic. So I went to the 2019 show and they had the purple…Remember those? I brought with my dear friend Matilda Han, who had recently passed away. David McLane always acknowledged the GLOW girls. He acknowledged Matilda, because they were…I did not know David McLane. I did not work with him. It was Johnny Caparella. So it was Matilda who was close with David McLane, and the first season girls. David McLane didn’t really know me, he knew Matilda. So I would bring Matilda to the show and the other girls would come to the WOW shows. But we’ve always supported David McLane,” Astor admitted.
“Anytime there was a red carpet, anything I went to his show recently. And now some of the girls from WOW are following me. Even the costumer which I thought was kind of cool. Because I love the costumes on WOW. And it’s just so neat to see and sitting in the chair. You know that 2019, you look at it, I’m like, I feel like I’m watching GLOW like, GLOW on steroids. And these girls are amazing. And they have these characters is cheerleader with a coach and and some of the girls back from 2019 and there was a lot of new characters, but just to see Dave McClain get up there with that mic and talk how he did back in GLOW. It was like, it’s like he never even changed. I mean, it’s still the David McLane. So that was great. And Jeanie Buss is doing a great job. And AJ Lee bringing her on board, what is smart move.”
In addition, Astor launched AfterGLOW: The 80s Musical Experience stage show in 2018 to much success. The musical takes real life stories from five of the original GLOW girls. Astor further spoke on the creation of the AfterGLOW show.
“I thought, “You know what? Let me do a play.” Let me bring the original GLOW girls on. Just because I’m always going going, What can I do? How can I get people, you know, the fans to connect with the GLOW girls? so I thought, You know what, I’ll do a play. I’ll bring five glow girls on. Okay, keep in mind, none of us really except for one are actresses. So, we had to write a script. We had to memorize lines we had to do…I’ve never done theater. I’ve done a wrestling. We were in front of a camera, but theater is so different. Go the left, go the right, do this. So Christopher Carver was our director”
“I know we were in good hands with Christopher as he directed Psycho the musical and over 40 plays and I talked to him about coming on board. I don’t know how to talk these people into things. But he was like, “Yes, I want to do something.” He was a GLOW fan. It just, we brought another writer in and Christopher Carver and it was just an idea I had that came out and we were on stage and it was just like a practice run. Like a Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at the 1111 Theatre in Los Angeles. We ended up getting nominated for Best Ensemble of the decade, getting nominated for Best Director. And I got nominated for Best costumes. And Dan got nominated, who did the choreography, for the wrestling.”
AfterGLOW earned eight nominations alongside the likes of the classical musical Hamilton. In the end, the show won Best Ensemble of the Decade and Director of a Musical of the Decade. Roxy Astor expressed her thoughts on winning those awards alongside some stiff competition.
“This show received awards behind Hamilton. Now the awards are from Broadway world and they are of the decade. Broadway world of the decade, for Best Ensemble. To me that was like… that got my heart because Matilda was in her bed at the time. And I would bring her like these little fake trophies and put them next to her. I go, “Look you got your award.” it was a dream of hers. And that was actually the last project that she did. And before she died, a friend of mine, Robert, when we had another award coming up for most anticipated play. Robert told her that we won. So we won that one. We won three awards, and she passed away the next day. So all this that’s going on now with the book, with the podcast…everything is like I’m dedicating to Matilda the Hun and the rest of the girls”
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