Lana Interview: Origins of Russian Gimmick and Being Paired With Rusev

Lana was recently interviewed by Complex and talked about the origins of her Russian gimmick as well as being paired with Rusev, among other things. Here are a few highlights:

I noticed, just speaking to you right now, that you don’t have a Russian accent. Where did you learn to do such a good one?
Well, I grew up in Russia. I grew up in Latvia, to be exact. But most Americans don’t know where Latvia is. They think it’s Lafayette, and so they’re like, “Oh, I can drive over to Louisiana.” I’m like, “Um, no. We’re talking about across the ocean.” Really far. But Latvia was part of the former Soviet Union, so 50 percent of the country is Russian. I grew up over there. I lived there for 13 years, I went to Russian school.

What led you to the WWE?
Honestly I was in L.A. going from audition to audition, being an actor and a dancer, and I got a WWE audition. The Diva Search audition. They had this huge worldwide Diva search that went for like six months. That’s where Eva Marie came from and Jojo.

Where did the Ravishing Russian character (a.k.a. Rusev’s manager) come from? Did WWE come to you and pitch that idea? Or was it them hearing your accent? What do you think it was?
Well, there was a lot of different factors. My first day in developmental, Dusty Rhodes was in charge of creative. I would come up with literally about 15 different ideas because I’m an actor, I’m a storyteller. I have a creative mind. So I come in and start speaking Russian on my first promo ever. This is my first week in NXT. Eva Marie was put on the show, Jojo was put on the show, and then me and Alexa were sent to developmental, which I’m thankful for because I learned so much from Dusty Rhodes and Triple H. I started speaking Russian, switched over to English, and then Dusty Rhodes was like, “Baby, I want you to work with Rusenov.” And I was like, “Who’s Rusenov? Who’s that?” And then I figured he was the Bulgarian. We just started doing different promos, especially comedy promos. But I would come in every single day and would have meetings with Dusty, pitching different characters like nine-page character scripts and elaborate storyboards, everything. Using different people, putting on scenes. When Adam Rose shot all of his vignettes, he made me his first AD/PA because he was just like, “Your mind is so creative.” But Triple H was the person. They were already in talks about bringing Rusev up. Triple H had seen a lot of our stuff, but it was more comedy stuff that we were doing, and he was like, “I want you to try to do something serious.” Triple H told me to watch Rocky IV. He told me to try different hair things. So I showed him, I was in Pitch Perfect. And I was trying all these different things, and he told me to try an accent. I showed him a picture of me in Pitch Perfect as a Barden Bella where we were all buttoned up with our hair in a bun. And he said, “That’s the look.” And so that’s where I started creating the suits and the buns. At first, he said I should just do Russian, and then I started playing around with a Russian accent because I had never really done much of that in English. But then in two weeks, like that, I was put on NXT TV. Three months later, we debuted at the Rumble.

So you do have that itch to be in the ring, competing?
Oh yeah. Of course. Absolutely. I love my job, and I love that I can work with Rusev. He’s my husband, and I’m happy I can support him. He’s so an extension of me, and I’m so thankful. But yeah, I will go after that championship when the time is right. And I will become champion when the time is right. But those things don’t happen overnight. When I step in that ring, I will be great. Just like when I’m on the mic, I know I can turn that whole crowd, that’s how I’m gonna be in the ring. I’m training, and I got to NXT so I get my fix, but I’m the slow and the steady. This is a marathon, not a sprint.