melina: melina wants it all & who could blame her?

Melina wants it all - and who could blame her?

She could get by on looks alone, but there’s also that competitive desire inside her that propels a need to get physical. It’s a good thing Melina (who has dropped her last name Perez) has found her way to World Wrestling Entertainment where all of her obvious, and even hidden, attributes can best be utilized.

“I see myself being able to do everything,” said Melina, who will be on hand when the WWE Smackdown! cameras roll Tuesday night at Rexall Place.

Everything, in the case of Melina and the WWE, means just that. Currently, her role is that of manager/valet to the Smackdown! tag-team champions MNM (that’s Joey Matthews and Johnny Nitro with Melina being the extra M), but there’s much more potential to her character.

An accomplished in-ring performer, Melina could wind up getting more physically involved, perhaps in mixed tag-team or even solo action. And then there’s the whole Diva thing — just looking good and posing in white-hot outfits, bikinis or lingerie.

The five-foot-four Latina beauty can definitely hold her own in that arena as well.
“I think I can be the whole package,” said the 26-year-old native of Los Angeles . “I can do the photo shoots, wrestle, speak on the mike and be a manager. I enjoy being able to do everything and I don’t think people want to see someone who’s just good at one thing.”

Melina, who is dating her on-screen cohort Nitro (John Hennigan) in real life, certainly has the experience and smouldering exotic looks to be a top-flight Diva. She previously won a Miss California beauty contest and modelled athletic wear for Nike, yet there are bigger challenges Melina wishes to face.

“I want to be known as someone who can do more than just walk a runway. I want to be someone who contributes in any way I can,” said Melina, calling in from Louisville , Kentucky , where she trained in the WWE’s developmental program, Ohio Valley Wrestling.

“I want to be able to do more than just be a pretty face. I can do the Diva stuff and I think there’s probably some interest in seeing me do that but I want to show people something new. I can do both and kind of tease to the fact of doing either one and making them want it more.”

For now, though, Melina relishes her role as the brains and beauty behind the MNM brawn. In a little over a year since first signing on with the WWE, Melina has gone from prospect to a prime-time spot on Smackdown! with championship gold around the waists of her sidekicks. No jitters, no nerves. Just hit the stage and run with it.

“I don’t know if this sounds awful to say or not but I’m just excited and there’s no intimidation,” said Melina, who got her first taste of life in the WWE during a brief stint on the third season of the reality show Tough Enough.

“I just feel this is where we belong. We’re confident because we know each other and we know what each of us is going to do. I was with Nitro at first and then Joey came in and we just clicked with him. I’d love for us to be together as long as possible.

“There aren’t many groups (storyline cliques) right now and as a viewer I can identify with having a best friend and a family and not fighting for something all alone.”
But let’s not forget this is wrestling.

At some point, a group breaks up as one turns on another. Allegiances are broken and friendships, at least temporarily, are lost. Just what happens with Melina is anyone’s guess. She could keep on managing.

She could trade in the skirts and fur coats for boots and tights. The future is full of possibilities.

“I got into wrestling for wrestling. I didn’t know anything about being a manager,” said Melina. “The male managers, I could see their purpose, but the female managers, I thought they were just there for their looks.

I can see now what a manager can contribute and I can do so much as a manager.

“I’d love to keep managing and really improve my craft. I do think I can prove myself physically as well, but I’d like to be a manager as long as I can.”