Disclaimer: I do not own nor am I associated with the WWE and its superstars.
Maria's victory over Steven Richards had impacted her success in the WWE. She'd been trained by the best and that match showed exactly why she was the female version of the Great One, himself. She'd also been easily accepted by the fans as the newest member of The Crew. She'd been making appearances at autograph signings and gave interviews on talk shows. Tonight was big, though. Tonight, the entire Crew roster and a couple special guests were making appearances on Oprah, where a few secrets were going to be revealed.
"I am so excited! Today is a special WWE edition. We have The Rock here. And not only do we have The Rock, but every single member of The Crew is here as well." Oprah said. She waited for the applause to die down, then continued.
"So please help me in welcoming The Rock, Jeff Hardy, Randy Orton, Dave Batista, John Cena, Maria Kanellis, Trish Stratus and Kendall Cena!"
The crowd erupted into applause and screams as the WWE Superstars made thier way onto the stage. After saying hello to the fans and to Oprah, the wrestlers took thier seats, the men behind on stools and the three women in front sitting on a couch. When the crowd got quiet, Oprah smiled.
"Thank you all so much for being here today. First let me say, I am a huge fan, although I didn't start watching wrestling until about a year ago." Oprah said.
"Thank you for having us. We are really excited about being here, but I have to admit, your show gets us guys in more trouble than we thought possible." Rock said.
"What? What do you mean?" Oprah asked.
Trish laughed, rolling her eyes. "Okay, it's like this. All women know that you don't bother men when they are watching the superbowl. Well, our men learned the hardway, that you don't bother us women, when we're watching Oprah."
"Oh how nice. I love that." Oprah said.
"And from watching your show, we know how much you love getting presents, so...we've brought some stuff for you and for your dogs." Maria said. Oprah looked up as Braedyn came from the audience and handed her a box.
Oprah opened it and held the items out for everyone to see.
"There's some Crew hats, t-shirts and work out gear and a few of Rock's t-shirts and some WWE dog collars for the dogs. Also, so the audience didn't feel left out, we brought t-shirts for everyone." Trish said.
The audience cheered as the t-shirts were passed out and Oprah thanked the WWE superstars for the gifts.
"Okay, so now, how did you all get into wrestling?" she asked.
"Well, Dwayne and I kinda grew up in the business. We're third generation wrestlers, so for me, it was just something I fell in love with at an early age." Randy said.
Dwayne nodded. "I actually started out in football instead of wrestling. And then I didn't last in football, so I switched..and I've been blessed with loyal and loving fans."
"John and I were both training to be body builders. We were messing around one day, wrestling at the park...just for fun. And the owner for one of the wrestling school happened to be around. He trained us, and eventually we got signed with WWE." Dave said.
"Jeff, what about you? Your story is kinda different." Oprah asked.
"Yeah, well, I only got interest in the WWE because of all the stunts the superstars get to do. I didn't care about wrestling. I just wanted to jump off 25 foot ladders and do crazy stunts all day long. I just happened to be okay at wrestling, so I was signed, along with my brother and a few of our friends." Jeff said.
"So, you joined just to jump off stuff and almost break your neck? Doesn't that seem a bit strange to you?" Oprah asked chuckling.
Jeff grinned. "Naw..my brother and I owned a business where we were doing that anyway, so not much has changed in that sense. The WWE just pays better."
"Well, what about you girls?" Oprah asked, looking at the women.
"Well, I was a contestant in the Diva Search. I didn't win, but I got a call to come back and be an interviewer. I've just sort of progressed from there." Maria said.
"I was actually called by the WWE. I was a fitness model, and someone had seen me on television. I decided to give wrestling a try and once I tried it, I decided to stay with it." Trish said.
Oprah turned to John and Kendall.
"John, you have two daughters, Kendall being one of them, correct?" she asked.
"Yep, Kendall, who I'm sure everyone knows, and her sister Braedyn, who's over there." John said, motioning towards Braedyn and Lillian who were in the front row.
"Oh, she's a cutie." Oprah exclaimed smiling at the child, before turning her attention to John.
"Now, your guy's story is a little interesting. John, you didn't even know you had children. When you found out, what was your feeling?"
John hesitated. "I was upset at first, not that I had children, but that I hadn't been told before then. I missed out on ten years of Kendall's life, three years of Braedyn's. She was human, and she made mistakes, but she was an amazing person, someone I loved and she did a hell of a job taking care of my kids until the day she died. I can't be mad about that."
"Kendall, what was it like meeting your dad for the first time?" Oprah asked.
"I had decided before I met him that I wan't going to like him. And then, when I saw him with Braedyn, I realized that for Braedyn's sake, I was going to have to try and like him." Kendall said.
"It was rough though...it took awhile for us to get on the same page, but, in the end it worked out." John said.
"Now, how did you guys actually become known as The Crew and why do you change your name to The Rat Pack when Rock is with you?" Oprah asked.
Rocky laughed. "Actually, "Rat Pack" was a nickname given to us by one of the other Divas. It's never been used on camera. When we go out together, it's The Rock and The Crew."
"The name "The Crew" was actually something we hadn't planned on. It was something that Kendall called, Jeff, Trish and I during one of our matches, and the name just kinda stuck." John said.
"Rock, I heard that when you and Kendall met, there was a little bit of tension between the two of you." Oprah said.
Rock laughed. "The first time I meet Kendall, she's asking me to be a special guest referee for a match later that night. After I agree, I asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up. She told me she wanted to be a wrestler and of course me being The Rock, I told her that I'd be watching and if she impressed The Rock, then she'd impress the people."
Rock looked at Kendall. "She said, and I quote 'The people are not going to be impressed with Kendall Cena because she impresses The Rock. The Rock is going to be impressed with Kendall Cena because she impresses the people'. The Rock just didn't get talked to like that, especially by some ten year old snot nosed brat!"
Oprah laughed. "But, she did impress you, didn't she?"
Rock nodded. "She did. It was later that night, during the match she was having me referee. You have to understand, here's a girl who's ten years old, never stepped inside the ring before that night and had no training what so ever. And through out the entire match she's jumping into teh ring to argue with me, throwing herself off tables, tackling people to the ground and punching people in the face. Hell yeah she impressed The Rock. "
"Is that why you introduced her as The Rock's neice?" Oprah asked.
Kendall laughed. "No. I told him I didn't need him to get to the people. He only introduced me as the people's neice so he could take credit for the people liking me."
Oprah looked at Dwayne. "Is that true?"
"Absolutely." Dwayne laughed and shook his head. "Of course it's not true. Kendall held her own that night and impressed The Rock. My way of telling her that was to dub her the people's neice."
The crowd clapped at that, and when the audience grew quiet, Oprah addressed Jeff. "First congratulations on retaining the Intercontinental Championship. Who are you fighting next?"
Jeff waited for the applause to die down and spoke. "Thank you, Thank you. Well, Umaga and Ric Flair lost once again, so the next step would be to wait. Once one of the other superstars decides they want a shot at my belt, then we'll go from there."
"And you, Randy and Jeff, you two are tag team partners...what's that and who are you fighting?"
"Tag team partners are two wrestlers who fight on the same side against two other wrestlers. There's a tag team championship, which we are currently trying to take from DX." Randy said.
"And once we have those, we'll be going after the tag team champions on the other shows in order to become the undisputed tag team champions." Dave said with a laugh. The crowd cheered that idea on and Oprah smiled.
"Now, DX ..they are your rivals right? And Trish, you're fueding with thier female member?" she asked.
"Correct. DX is a group, like ourselves, who want to become the most powerful click in the WWE. The only thing standing in thier way is us. I am currently in the process of getting the championship belt back from Lita." Trish said.
"Maria as you all know is the newest member of The Crew. What you don't know is how she became a member of the crew. Why doesn't someone explain how it all started." Oprah said.
Everyone hesitated for a moment.
"We're all a really tight knit family off camera." John said motioning to the people on stage. "Us men are very over protective of our women. You hurt our women, we hurt you. Plain and simple. Maria was dating one of the ECW superstars. He decided to get physical with her, so we decided to get physical with him." John said.
"We attacked him during a show on purpose. In our line of business, its not uncommon to be suddenly jumped during a show. We knew that if we attacked during a show, they'd have to create a storyline which would allow us the oppertunity to kick his ass all over again." Dave said.
"Which is an interesting thing, because you didn't attack him all at once. You let him go on on one with each of you." Oprah asked.
"We wouldn't attack him all at once. We're better man than that." Jeff said.
"So what happened next?"
"He comes onto Raw, starts mouthing off about how he's going to get The Rock back and once he's done with Rock, he's coming after The Crew. So he brought some of his friends, we had a match and for the second time, he got his ass kicked. Then, he comes back the following week and wants a match with Maria." Rock said.
"And Maria, you fought him?" Oprah asked.
Maria nodded. "We had a pink slip match. If I lost, I'd leave the WWE and if he lost, he leaves the WWE. Suffice to say I sent him packing." Maria said with a smile as the crowd applauded.
"I have to ask. That was your first match. How were you able to defeat him?" Oprah asked.
"Rock's been training me in the ring since I was 16. I had a lot to prove, and I proved it." Maria said, smiling.
"Kendall, I heard you were a fighter. You liked to get into fights. True?" Oprah asked.
"No, of course not. It's not that I like fighting, it's just that I don't take crap from anyone, which usually ends up in me fighting. So it just makes me look like I like to fight, but I really don't. There's only been one person I've enjoyed fighting with and she's no longer employed by the company." Kendall said.
Oprah turned to the audience. "For those of you who don't know, Kendall has never actually wrestled in a match on tv, but she has wrestled in a match against a former WWE Diva. Let's take a look."
The clip starts. It's footage from Kendall's match against Jillian.
"So how come this wasn't shown on Raw?" Oprah asked.
Kendall smiled. "Well, from a legal standpoint, I can't fight during a WWE function. So this wasn't aired on t.v. and no tickets were sold. None of the workers or superstars were paid. It was just ike everyone came for a BBQ and a match."
"Well, how did this match come about?" Oprah asked.
"Kendall had actually fought with Jillian twice before. Jillian was disrespecting Kendall's mom on the anniversary of her death. Kendall took exception and kicked the diva's ass." John said proudly.
"Two weeks later, we're all in a meeting. Kendall is outside in the waiting room and Jillian walks in. This time, not only does she talk disrespectful of Kendall's mom, she also broke Kendall's locket in half. The locket was her mother's. Kendall once again took exception and kicked the woman's ass a second time." Trish said, clapping her hands on Kendall's behalf.
"You guys are exceptionally proud of that aren't you?" Oprah asked. The entire panel nodded.
"Kendall's been taught by her mother, father and all of us that you don't disrespect people like that. You especially don't disrespect the memory of someone who has passed and you certaintly don't disrespect the parents in front of the kid. Jillian got everything she deserved." Rock said.
"Well, I have to say that's an interesting way of doing things. So what happened with the match?" Oprah questioned.
Kendall smiled. "I won." The crowd cheered.
"Kendall is it true that you like to prank people? There was a long prank fued between you and Randy, how'd that get started and who else have you pranked?" Oprah asked.
"I prank everybody. No one's safe. But all of them are pranksters too. Uncle Dwayne covered my powedered donut in baking soda, so I sprayed soda all over him. We've gotten into food fights. With Uncle Randy, it all started because he kept calling me Kandi. He wouldn't stop so I posted a picture of him sleeping with a pink bunny all over the arena. He switched my entrance video to read my name as Kandi and it continued until he called a truce a few weeks later." Kendall said laughing.
"So are there a lot of nicknames?" Oprah asked.
John shook his head. "Just the kids. Braedyn we call Braed's and Kendall we call Keeks. Although, the girls and JEff have thier own nicknames for eachother."
"Yeah, that was one I never really understood. Kendall has a problem being called Kandi, but she's okay with Jeff naming her and Braedyn after a cereal. I just don't get it." Randy said.
Oprah turned to Jeff. "You nicknamed them after a cereal?"
Jeff nodded. "The first time I saw her, she was eating cornflakes, so I nicknamed her Cornflakes."
"And because Jeff's hair is always different colors, I nicknamed him Fruit Loops. Braedyn shortened it to just Fruity and so Jeff began to call her Pebbles."
"Jeff and Kendall...they have a strange way of communicating. It's like a whole other language. If anyone ever listens to them...and you understand what they say to eachother, please...let the rest of us know." John said
"It makes sense to us." Kendall said.
"It's not even our own language. Most of the terms we use we got from our nicknames. We're named after cereal, so we refer to things that have to do with cereal. For example, instead of saying you're crying, we say you're soggy. You get wet when you cry, and when cereal gets wet, it becomes soggy. It's just stuff like that." Jeff said.
Now, I know there's two couples in this group. Okay, where's Lillian? Lillian come up on stage." Oprah looks out into the crowd. Lillian stands, holding Braedyn, and walks onto the stage. After handing John his daughter she sits next to the other girls.
"Most of you know Lillian as the ring announcer on Monday night Raw. What you don't know is she's also, Dwayne's fiance. Let's see that ring girl." Oprah said examining the diamond on Lillian's hand. "How and when did this happen? When did you two meet? Give me details."
"Lillian and I met through the Vince McMahon actually. She was being introduced to a lot of the superstars backstage. Me, being the cocky SOB that I was, said hello and proceeded to proposition her for...a little sumthn sumthn..if you know what I mean." Rock said laughing.
Lillian smiled, giggling. When the crowd quieted down, she spoke. "I grabbed the first wrestler I saw, which happened to be Triple H, who The Rock was fueding with, and told Dwayne that he wasn't important enough for me to date. And walked off with Triple H."
"It didn't stop me from seeking her out though. I asked her out every week for an entire year and finally one day she said yes. I had our first date all planned out and romantic. She was walking to my house and on the way there, it starts raining. Then a car comes by and sprays mud all over her dress. So, we decided to stay in, ordered pizza, had a few beers and kicked back. We've been together ever since." Rock said.
"So how did he propose?" Oprah asked.
"He replanned what our first date was supposed to be. We went to dinner, did a couple turns around the dance floor and then he took me onto this boat for a moonlit cruise, where he proposed. It was beautiful." Lillian answered with a smile.
"Now, you two aren't the only ones who got engaged right?" Oprah asked.
Trish smiled. "John and I are engaged." she said holding out her hand.
"Tell me the details of how all it happened." Oprah said examining Trish's ring.
"Well, actually, Kendall and Jeff surprised us with our first date. They lit the deck with Christmas lights, there were fresh flowers everywhere and Jeff cooked us this amazing dinner. It was fantastic, very romantic. We've been together ever since." Trish said.
"How did you propose, John?" Oprah asked.
"Well, I'm not as romantic as The Rock, so I proposed after a match. I was hot and sweaty, tired, just had a match. I grabbed the mic, told Trish to come out to the ring and proposed to her in the middle of Raw." he said.
"Both stories, so very nice. You all let me know when the dates are set, okay?" Oprah waited for the four to nod then turned to the others. "What about all of you? Jeff ...single or taken?"
"Single." Jeff replied.
"Randy? what about you?"
"Single." Randy replied.
"Maria?"
"Single." she said.
"And Dave?" Oprah asked.
"Married, actually, last week, to Torrie Wilson. We were on our honeymoon when your show called and when I told her who it was, she started packing my clothes so I could come. She's like 'You just don't tell Oprah no.'" Dave said chuckling.
"Ohh is she here now?" Oprah asked.
Dave shook his head. "She's not, she's actually at an autograph signing right now."
"Well, tell her I said I'mflattered and congratulations on your marriage."
Dave smiled. "I will, thanks."
"What about you Kendall? Any boyfriends just yet?" Oprah asked.
Kendall didn't even have a chance to reply. The men did it for her. Echoes of "hell no" and "She better not" echoed through out the studio.
"What you don't want her to date?" Oprah asked.
"Dad says I can't date until he's dead." Kendall replied, causing the audience to burst into laughter.
"And once he's dead, she has to go through each and everyone of us." Rock said.
"Hey, don't count me in that." Jeff said holding up his hands. "I know Kendall, and she will be breaking that rule first chance she gets." he said.
"Jeff's gonna be the one that Kendall tells when she breaks that rule." John explained.
"I have to say, you come from all different types of backgrounds and places, and you guys function more as a family than most blood related relatives. It's very refreshing to see." Oprah said.
Rock smiled. "Blood doesn't make a family, love does. And we have massive amounts of love for eachother. That isn't ever going to change."
"Congratulations again, for everyone on thier engagements and titles. Raw can be seen on Monday nights at 9 pm. Thank you guys so much for coming. For everyone at home, thank you so much for watching. See you next time."