On tour with Kelly Kelly, by Scott Casey - Brisbane Times - 17th May 2008
From high school cheerleader to aspiring journalist to saucy World Wrestling star, Kelly Kelly's career has followed a varied path - to say the least.
The star will join fellow wrestlers including Undertaker and Batista on a WWE tour across Australia in June.
Kelly found her way into wrestling via modelling while she in college studying to become a broadcast journalist, with hopes of becoming a TV anchor.
"I love [wrestling], I just love every day of it," she said.
"WWE contacted me through my modelling agency and they knew I had an athletic background so they sent me down to Atlanta, Georgia where they kicked my butt for a week straight and asked me if I wanted a job at the end of it."
At high school Kelly did gymnastics for 10 years until an injury forced her into cheerleading.
"I still get to use some of my moves so that's pretty good," she said.
Living the life of a professional wrestler working in one of the world's most high-profile pursuits is difficult, she said, with an almost constant training schedule and travel around the United States and overseas.
"Even on my off days now I'm still training, so I try to get into the ring and learn different stuff," she said.
"We consider ourselves a big family [inside wrestling], some people have their own little cliques and we try to get along a best we can."
When Kelly first began as a wrestler she was billed as a "self-proclaimed exhibitionist" and put on strip shows called "Kelly Kelly's Expose".
"My jealous boyfriend Mike Knox used to come out and try and wrap a towel around me but I would still do it and eventually we broke up and I formed Extreme Expose with Booke and Layla and we were a little group who danced every week," she said.
"That ended so now Layla and I are going at each other's throats every week.
"The first night I did it [expose] my nerves were through the roof and then every week after if kept getting easier, but I still get nervous out there now."
She might not dance much any more, but Kelly is looking forward to a long career in wrestling.
"I plan to be here as long as I can," she said.
The SmackDown/ECW hits Australian shores on June 13 and will be in Brisbane on June 17 at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre.
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