What’s it like being a professional wrestler?
As part of Lunchtime Live’s new Ask Me Anything series, pro wrestler Katey Harvey came to the studio to answer listeners’ questions.
Growing up, Katey always adored wrestling and was mesmerised by the matches she saw on TV – but it was only when she started studying film that she began to wrestle herself.
She and a friend were tasked with making a documentary about something they loved and they picked wrestling.
In the end, the documentary never got made but both gave wrestling a go and decided to pursue it as a sport themselves.
“It’s storytelling, it’s sport, it’s characters, it’s larger than life and it’s escapism,” Katey said.
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One listener sent a voice note asking whether it is possible to wrestle and eat a vegan diet.
“There’s a lot of plant based wrestlers,” Katey said.
“This is where it gets very interesting [because it’s] where we straddle the line between entertainment and sports wrestling.
“I always say we perform like artists but we train like athletes; diet would be a massive, massive part of it.
“Hitting the gym would be a massive part of it, hitting your cardio, all the rest of it.
“It’s very important.”
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Another said the wrestling matches he watched growing up were very bloody and he wondered how much of that was choreographed.
“It’s about 50-50,” she said.
“There is a practice called blading where people would do it on purpose; it would be scripted into a match and storyline.
“Then, there would be the accidental blood where you just get a knock in the nose or something.
“Very good wrestlers can then incorporate that into their story as well.”
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Katey was also asked about the worst injury she had sustained in her career.
“This is not a common injury,” she said.
“The worst one I’ve picked us is, I actually broke both my elbows at the same time in a match.
“I came off the top rope and had a bad landing, smashed both my elbows.
“That’s one of the more serious injuries I’ve heard of.”
Initially, Katey feared it would be career ending but in the end, thanks to the support of medics and physios, she was training again after six months.
Ask Me Anything will be back next Friday on Lunchtime Live.
Main image: Katey Harvey. Picture by: Katey Harvey
