Priscilla Kelly admits she did not expect the huge backlash to her tampon stunt but believes it won’t affect her chances of returning to the WWE.
The wrestler went viral after the shocking stunt during her match against Tuna at a Surburban Fight Pro Wrestling event in LA last month.
The footage of her and shoving it in her opponent’s mouth received vicious feedback from fans and a host of wrestling legends.
Kelly, 21, is a former reality TV star and is no stranger to trolls and attention.
But after she finally executed the idea after “months” of contemplating it and thinking it would just be “funny,” she has now spoken of her shock at the vicious response.
“I’m not new to the attention — I did a TV show when I was 14 (‘My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding’), and I received tons of attention and backlash from, and everything in between from that, so I’m kind of preconditioned to this kind of thing,” Kelly
“Obviously, this is on a bigger scale than that was, but still kind of the same context. It’s not even about, ‘Ooh, I want to shock the world.’ I literally just thought it would be funny, and I’ve had the idea for months now. I’ve just been waiting for the right opportunity to use it.
“When you do these types of shows, you don’t know going into it if there are going to be cameras. You don’t know if it’s going to be posted. You don’t know going into these shows like what to expect, because there are a lot of bar shows that I’ve done that never see the light of day. So I didn’t expect anything out of it, honestly.”
The star, nicknamed Hell’s Favorite Harlot, is now — which aims to provide safe sanitary protection for girls in Africa — by donating a portion of the proceeds raised from her merchandise sales.
WWE icons Road Dogg and Jim Cornette were among those who slammed her on social media — even though Road Dogg did apologize later for attacking her character.
“I mean, we get a lot of people saying a lot of things — good, bad, negative, or whatever. I expected to be called disgusting or gross. I wouldn’t have done it if it wouldn’t provoke that kind of emotion,” Kelly said. “But I never think it’s OK to attack someone personally, to attack their character, or to attack them as a human being. I think that’s never OK, no matter the situation.
“I think if you want to make a comment on your opinion about it being gross, or disgusting, that’s fine. But don’t attack me as a person when you don’t know who I am.”
Kelly competed in the WWE in the Mae Young Classic Tournament — but a lot of her critics have been telling her to forget about any future bookings due to her tampon antics.
But she is unconcerned, saying: “Honestly, no. I don’t think it blew any chance. I mean, if it did, there’s plenty of other opportunities in the world of professional wrestling for me. There’s plenty of other ways to make money in this business.
“Would I like to go to WWE? Yeah, I’d love to go to WWE. I’d like to go anywhere. I like making money. I like expanding my horizons. I like showing off my work on very large platforms. But at the same time, no, I don’t think it really could have harmed me because I think there’s a lot worse things that have happened. Not only on TV, but I think there are a lot worse things that have happened privately in wrestlers’ lives. These things are very public, and I think what I did, it’s simply a stunt at the end of the day. There’s no cruelty behind my actions, and I think that is the most important aspect.”