Quick Highlights
Body
Building Jan Tana Classic 1996 winner
Placed
9th in IFBB Ms. Olympia contest in 1996
1997
IFBB Ms. International – 6th
1997
IFBB Ms. Olympia – 11th
1999
IFBB Ms. International – 13th
2
Seasons on Extreme Dodgeball
Trained:
Killer Kowaski, Ultimate Pro Wrestling, Ohio Valley Wrestling
Debut:
2002
WWE
Developmental 2005-2006
Appearance
on WWE backlash 2005 in a Master Lock Challenge
Worked
for Ohio Valley Wrestling, Ultimate Pro Wrestling, Deep South Wrestling, World
Xtreme Wrestling, & First State Championship Wrestling, Women Extreme Wrestling,
Women Superstar Uncensored, !Bang!,
---#41
in Pro Wrestling Illustrated top 50 Women of Wrestling in 2010
JM:
Were you ever a fan of Pro wrestling growing up, if yes, who were some of your
favorites?
MC:
Yes definitely was a fan...I watched women's matches on TV when I was growing
up, honestly didn’t study hard enough to know their names but I am sure Madusa
Micelli and Wendi Richter were 2 of the girls I admired. Then I really got into
the Hulk Hogan/Miss Elizabeth/Randy Savage love triangle during the early/mid
90s,...being a girl, you know, gotta love that love story and the knight on the
white horse! Absolutely loved it, and of course Hulk's image was amazing, tan,
muscular, blonde hair. And admirable and ethical as well. His image also fed
into my love for bodybuilding. I am a professional bodybuilder as well as a
professional bodybuilder. I did pro bodybuilding first and was ranked 9th in
the world at one time, did the Olympia twice (which is the Wrestlemania of
Women's pro bodybuilding). Ive also been very successful as a fitness model -
been featured in all the fitness mags, in calendars, swimsuit videos,
centerfolds, posters, and covers and training articles of Muscle&Fitness,
Flex Magazine, Ironman, Muscular Development, MuscleMag (which also launched
the career of Trish Stratus and Torrie Wilson) among others. Books as well,
sociology oddly enough lol and fitness books.
JM:
You started off in the world of Bodybuilding, what are some of your highlights
during your run in competition?
MC:
Yes I won my professional debut, the Jan Tana and then later that year got 9th
place in the Ms Olympia contest, which is the biggest contest in all of women's
pro bodybuilding. I also was lucky to be a high ranking competitor but also
used extensively as a model as well. It’s often hard to combine the two worlds.
9th in the world was my highest rank! Very proud of that. One year I also was
5th runner up in the Ms International Contest, which is a part of the Arnold
Schwarzenegger weekend.
JM:
You were trained by Killer Kowalski wrestling school, what was the training
like?
MC:
The training changed a bit, as the original trainer moved on to start another
school called Chaotic, and the training was very strenuous and regimented when
Mike Hollow was training us. Walter would watch and contribute his knowledge and
funny stories - what a beautiful man he was! He liked girls with muscle, and
the first day I went past the school he had me pop a bicep pose for him, he
loved it! Training after Mike left was still fairly good, just more laid back.
Really depends on what you respond best to.
JM:
You also were trained by UPW, is this where WWE discovered you and offer you a
deal?
MC:
I trained at UPW for a short while, and Rick Bassman did have some great
connections at the time into the WWE. Dr Tom came out to the school and saw me
there. In 1999 was when I first met VIPs from the WWE. At the time the WWE was
thinking of starting up a women's show, and so I went to a try out at UPW then.
This was unfortunately right after the Ms International contest and I was in
the middle of photo shoots, so I didn't have the chance to follow up the way I
should have. After I joined with UPW a year later after I had my mind made up
on wrestling was when Rick Bassman told me I had made an impact.
JM:
What was the experience like to be the only woman to challenge Chris Master in
his Master lock challenge and on a WWE Pay per view?
MC:
It was an exciting experience! It’s always good to be a woman with spunk, the
crowd gets into the occasional spat between a woman and a man wrestler.
JM:
Name Association Game? (One or two words that come to mind)
Beth
Phoenix- STRONG!
Melina-
hair, fierce
Mickey
James- spunky
Jillian
Hall- lips and boobs!
Daffney-
scrrrreaaaaammmm
Natlya-
prodigy
Angelina
Love- catlike
Trixxie
Lynn- Badass Beauty (we formed a tag team for a brief while)
Tammy
Lynn Synch- Hall of Famer!
Chris
Master- poppn pecs!
Evil
Zebra- dorko! lol j/k, cool guy
Malia
Hosaka- underrated
Tom
Brandi- GO USA!
JM:
Whatever happened with your relationship with the WWE?
MC:
Nothing really "happened" per se; just my look is a specialized look,
and trends change within the business. Sometimes they don’t mind a muscular
girl look, but the powers that be can be very up and down about how lean they
want you to be. Very changeable business, so you just learn to go with the
flow.
JM:
Will we see you in the WWE or perhaps the TNA in the future?
MC:
Definitely
JM:
Any interesting road/locker room stories you can share?
MC:
Nothing I can repeat! LOL. The best one is a funny story bout Tommy Dreamer
during show day at OVW giving Chad Gaspar sex education advice. Chad had been
signed and as part of the regulations, the WWE gives the athlete a complete
physical. Well apparently Beast (what we all called him at OVW) asked for
additional STD screening! Which of course got back to the Office, and Tommy
worked in the Office! So in front of everyone Tommy brought this up, and
advised Chad to invest in condoms...double bag it if he must! lol That’s the
best one, though if I sat and thought about it I could think of a ton more
JM:
What have you been up to lately?
MC:
"Whew! What haven’t I been up to? LOL. Right now I do a lot of different
things, modelling, acting, and wrestling of course!
I
did a film called Ultimate Death Match 2: Someone Will Die about a year and a
half ago that is available on Amazon and at various Walmarts and Kmarts and
other stores. It also stars me, Al Snow, Kevin Nash, Raven, The Sandman, Shane
Douglas, UFC legend Dan Severn, Brutus Beefcake, Jimmy Valiant, Kid Kash,
Johnny Swinger, Lodi and many more pro wrestlers, and also actors Chuck
Williams, Michael Fox, Shawn Cain (who wrote and directed the film series UDM),
and actor/pro wrestler/talent coordinator Josh "The Krazed One"
Turner who I met back in my OVW days. Really great film with a great message
which is explained in the film by aged wrestler Jimmy Valiant. Of course there
is lots of brutal action too, as you can tell by the title of the film. The
idea is to take young and hungry fighters/wrestlers who haven't got their break
yet, or wrestlers who have had their heyday, aren't on TV anymore and are a bit
past their prime, but are looking get a shot at glory again by wrestling through
a series of rounds till only 2 are left. The final 2 wrestle to the death: the
winner gets 10 million dollars, the loser ends up 6 feet under. I play the bad
girl girlfriend of Jake Reed (Shawn Cain) who is the man behind the underground
operation. Its a great film and was a lot of fun.
I
also did a cameo in an independent film called "A Story about Ian"
which is going to hit all the film festivals. Dawn Marie also has a cameo in
the film. Both our clips are very funny. The film is about an aspiring photographer
who feels trapped by the daily grind he feels he has to lower himself to pay
the bills, while really he's like to have the freedom to be the next Andy
Warhol. I think a lot of us feel this way, feel like we aren't able to reach
our potential because of obstacles in the way. So its a very inspiring film as
well. It will be ready in the next few months.
Today
(Wed Mar 30) I'm modeling for a Russian beer label and the end of the week of
course is Wrestlemania! So I have a lot going on this weekend, including
working Kevin Nash's WM party in Atlanta on Friday Night.
And
besides wrestling around the US and Canada, I've also been to Puerto Rico the
past few months for Carlos Colon and WWC. I had such a great time in PR! Its
beautiful there, and the champion Black Rose is a very athletic girl, so it was
one of my most physical matches ever! Wonderful fans as well. I have so many
people from PR contact me now on facebook, asking me when I will be back. I
hope so because I really enjoyed it! Really had a great time working for Carlos
Colon, and its so funny because his wife is Canadian and has the last name
Coates! When I trained at OVW, Carlito was there at the same time, and one day
we went for breakfast with a few other people after one of our typical grueling
8 am workouts courtesy of Rip Rogers, and he pulled out his driver's license or
birth certificate, can't remember which, and he showed me his last name was
really Colon Coates! LOL. Kevin Thorn was one of the people sitting there with
us and he commented to Carly "Well, looks like you could do the
CoatesWrack too" LOL! The CoatesWrack (which is also my nickname since my
OVW days, I love it when I bump into Mickey James and she calls out
CoatesWrack!!!!, and Carly still calls me CoatesWrack) was my original
finisher, the Torture Rack. I named it the CoatesWrack because at the time
Trish Stratus was the top girl in the WWE and her moves were named after her
last name, like the Stratusphere and Stratusfaction. I thought they were so
funny that I came up with "The CoatesHanger" submission and the
"CoatesWrack" lol . Of course that led to people at OVW coming up
with all kinds of other funny moves with the word "Coat" or
"Coates" in it. OVW was great back in 2003 to 2005 when I trained
there. I really miss those days.
And
my most recent and most at-the-end-of-the-earth tour I just did from Feb 23 to
March 6th, I was wrestling in the 3rd World Asian Country Nepal! And what an
experience that was! Absolutely AMAZING! 20 000 fans for our show in Kathmandu,
and then 10 000 for the show in Pokhara. I feel truly honored that I was one of
8 wrestlers invited on this tour, and it really was a beautiful trip. Big Vito
was there (last year he was the cause of HUGE riots in Nepal that made world
wide news), The Great Cheyenne and The Great Malachi from Chicago, Faith
Lehaine from England, Fugo from Japan, Dan Beaumont and Hartley Jacko Jackson
from Australia, and of course Nepal native, war hero, and Johnny Rodz graduate
The Himalayan Tiger were my fellow workers on this trip. With my blond hair and
tanned skin I ended up being very popular with the fans, and I can say I have
never felt more like Hulk Hogan! It was such an experience running out to my
music Motley Cru's Hell on High Heels, and hearing 20 000 people cheer! Wow, I
was laughing at myself getting such a reaction. I'm usually a heel, so to have
that many people cheer was really a pleasant shock! All of us got huge pops
from the Himalayhan crowd, and it really was one of the time of my life I will
also think of with a smile. We met Nepalian dignitaries, military, and had a
parades in our honor where we were driven up and down the streets of Pokhara.
We were treated like HUGE superstars!
But
let me tell you, it wasn't ALL easy...life in a 3rd World Country is rough, not
at all like what we are used to living in the United States. The first few days
I was very hungry, it took some time to get used to the food. I have my
suspicions that what they call chicken in Nepal is really pigeon (!), and my
first hotel I stayed in in Kathmandu, didn't have hot water! The shower is an
open shower: basically the bathroom has a sink on one side, a toilet on the
other, and a shower head stuck in the middle of the wall between the 2! So
everything gets soaked, including your toilet paper! The beds were quite hard,
and there was no vacuum cleaning of the rugs! Pokhara is a resort city, so
there things were a lot more like what we are accustomed to. Ahhhh! A hot
shower! :). The worst part of course was the over 25 hours of flight travel,
distributed among 5 different flights!!! Plus the day I left I managed to step
on glass and gash my foot quite deep...it took over 20 min to stop bleeding,
but I had no time to get to the doctor so I did my best to fish for glass in my
foot and took off to the airport. There were mechanical problems with the plane
in Atlanta, so I ended up missing the connection in JFK, and arriving in
Kathmandu a day later than everyone else! And just in time for the show! LOL.
Hungry, tired, body sore from sleeping in the Dehli India airport the night
before on a 10 hour layover! Great conditions to do a show, but at this point
in my career I'm pretty used to doing matches under less than idea conditions
so I got that old adrenaline rush going, and went out there and did what I do
best! ENTERTAIN!!
P.S.
a month later I finally got the piece of glass out of my foot!
JM:
Any advice for fan who want to follow their dreams?
MC:
Believe in yourself, and stay true to yourself.
JM:
Closing thoughts?
MC:
Thanks for having me! Please support women wrestling, we girls work HARD! My
website is www.melissacoates.com
, I have 2 facebook pages, I have a yahoo fanclub, and a twitter page at
melissalcoates. You can join these by going to the front page of www.melissacoates.com.
I post my appearances and shows. And will have dates in CA, IN, PA, MD, NV,
Toronto, KY, IL, OH all coming up in the next few months! As well I'll be
working at Kevin Nash's Wrestlemania party in Atlanta on Fri April 1st. Hope to
see you there! All info is posted on my fb, website and twitter pages! Thank
you!
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