'Sunny' Speaks Out - HOF Induction, Secrets, Candido, More

Tammy Sytch recently spoke about her WWE Hall of Fame induction, her legal issues and much more. Here are the highlights…

On Being Approached by WWE for the Hall of Fame: "When I got the phone call I had no idea what was going on. I was packing for a vacation in Mexico. It was a Monday night at 9:30 and Johnny Ace called; I thought it was really odd that Johnny would call me during the show. About 15 minutes into the call, he asked me to turn on Raw; at the time, they were announcing Shawn's induction into the Hall of Fame. He then told me that he was talking to Vince and they wanted me to be the second inductee. I cried for about 3 minutes. It was January 10, 2011 that I was told I was going to be inducted."

On keeping it a secret: "They made me wait 2 months and told me I wasn't allowed to tell anybody. I can't keep secrets as it is. Everything that company does is a test, and I think they did it on purpose. I was the second person that they told, and I was the second to last to be announced."

On being ahead of her time, and being part of the product before there was all of the modern vehicles for females to make money: "Timing is everything. When I got there, there was no platform for girls at all: It was Miss Elizabeth standing there silent, or Sherri Martel and Alundra Blaze wrestling. I had to show the company that you can put all of this responsibility on a girl. Back in 1996 I was the first person other than Hulk Hogan that was doing mainstream interviews as a wrestler. Before me, Hogan was the only person that made it to Hollywood gossip and news shows. Would I have loved to do more? Sure, but we didn't have the platform at that time."

On coming in with Chris Candido: "I was hired first. They hired me as Tamara Murphy doing the Live Event News. Between WWE and Smokey Mountain I had a 7 day a week job. Five months into it they pulled Chris and I into a meeting and they offered him a job, and turned my broadcasting contract into a regular talent contract and the rest is history. It was easy for us to start together on the road; we were both 21, and being together and starting out that young, it made it so much easier. Chris had so much passion for the business. He started wrestling at 9 years old; that's passion."

On who broke her into the wrestling business: "Believe it or not, my first paying job in the wrestling business was for Bill Apter at Pro Wrestling Illustrated. I was 17 years old and just out of high school, and I was going with Chris to his shows and taking pictures and videos of his matches for his own use. I don't know how, but Bill Apter got hold of my pictures one day and he loved the way I shot. I would use my own money to travel to the shows and develop my pictures, and Bill would pay me $10 a shot. But at least I got the credit for it and it got me started (in the business). Bill loved all of us eager young photographers."

On being arrested for fighting a man: "Tell me you love me, put a ring on my finger, and then go and cheat on me and I'm going to kick your ass. (It's unfair) to call me psycho, any woman would have done that. 20 days after you get engaged and you find out he's been cheating the whole time? Any woman would have done that. Guys are pigs, I could go on and on an on."

On DDP Yoga: "All he did in WCW back in 2001 was ramble about yoga. Back when I was in WCW, the whole locker room used to make fun of him. Before the shows he would be out at ringside with his yoga mat doing his yoga every single night. The boys used to make fun of him and rip him to shreds, and now he's turned it into an empire; it's funny."

On what is missing from today's crop of Divas: "With the exception of Nattie Neidhart, heart and passion for the business is missing. Nattie is in the business because she loves the business, not because she's using it as a stepping stone for something else. The others, look what happens when their contract expires: They look for work in TV. In the Divas search, they didn't even know who Kamala was. Passion and heart is missing, even from a lot of the guys. (There are very few guys with passion) Chris (Candido) had passion, CM Punk has passion, and Daniel Bryan has it too.

How does she know that Natalya is the only one with passion? Clearly she has never listened to one of AJ's promos. Naomi and Cameron have both stated that they are there because they are passionate about wrestling. Neither of them were fans growing up but they got hooked on it recently and then decided to give it a go with WWE. Layla has been with the company for seven years - if she wasn't passionate about the business then she wouldn't still be here. And Tamina has a wrestling father too, has Sunny forgotten about her as well?

I think it’s a generalization. Every female performer WWE has put effort in, who they invested a lot of time in, has just abruptly left the WWE and has never done anything wrestling related since. Michelle McCool, Maryse, Kelly Kelly, Eve Torres have all been girls who received a year+ push, become their poster girls, did more than just wrestle, but also in segments other WWE projects (NXT, Interviews, major roles), have just abruptly left the business within 2 years of their major push or right in the middle of it. So I could see her generalization of it, that the one girl you saw every week, featured every week, just disappear, Layla, Alicia, Tamina would all disappear, get their 2 month push and then disappear, reappear etc, no big deal, but the girls WWE put their loyalties into, their complete investment and time and dedication just come and then goes and does no wrestling ever. None of those four women I mentioned before, none did anything wrestling related since.

same could be said about trish

KTV-Time wrote:

I think it’s a generalization. Every female performer WWE has put effort in, who they invested a lot of time in, has just abruptly left the WWE and has never done anything wrestling related since. Michelle McCool, Maryse, Kelly Kelly, Eve Torres have all been girls who received a  year+ push, become their poster girls, did more than just wrestle, but also in segments other WWE projects (NXT, Interviews, major roles), have just abruptly left the business within 2 years of their major push or right in the middle of it. So I could see her generalization of it, that the one girl you saw every week, featured every week, just disappear, Layla, Alicia, Tamina would all disappear, get their 2 month push and then disappear, reappear etc, no big deal, but the girls WWE put their loyalties into, their complete investment and time and dedication just come and then goes and does no wrestling ever. None of those four women I mentioned before, none did anything wrestling related since.

Those Girls You Mention RETIRED after WWE so of course they wasn't gonna wrestle.Also Those Girls Weren't even Wrestlers when they signed To WWE in the first place.Those Girls Moved On From There WWE careers each are now doing something that they wanna do.Maryse is the Miz future wife so she will be playing the wife role also she has her own jewelry line,Kelly Kelly still makes wrestling appearances she just Doesn't wrestle,McCool is a mom and with Taker and Eve Has Her Own Women's Self Defense Program(I think that what's she does now).I honestly don't believe that any of the current divas now will continue after there WWE Run is over and have every right if they don't wanna wrestle anymore it's not like these girls have TNA schedules.

TeamCruz wrote:

KTV-Time wrote:

I think it’s a generalization. Every female performer WWE has put effort in, who they invested a lot of time in, has just abruptly left the WWE and has never done anything wrestling related since. Michelle McCool, Maryse, Kelly Kelly, Eve Torres have all been girls who received a  year+ push, become their poster girls, did more than just wrestle, but also in segments other WWE projects (NXT, Interviews, major roles), have just abruptly left the business within 2 years of their major push or right in the middle of it. So I could see her generalization of it, that the one girl you saw every week, featured every week, just disappear, Layla, Alicia, Tamina would all disappear, get their 2 month push and then disappear, reappear etc, no big deal, but the girls WWE put their loyalties into, their complete investment and time and dedication just come and then goes and does no wrestling ever. None of those four women I mentioned before, none did anything wrestling related since.

Those Girls You Mention RETIRED after WWE so of course they wasn't gonna wrestle.Also Those Girls Weren't even Wrestlers when they signed To WWE in the first place.Those Girls Moved On From There WWE careers each are now doing something that they wanna do.Maryse is the Miz future wife so she will be playing the wife role also she has her own jewelry line,Kelly Kelly still makes wrestling appearances she just Doesn't wrestle,McCool is a mom and with Taker and Eve Has Her Own Women's Self Defense Program(I think that what's she does now).I honestly don't believe that any of the current divas now will continue after there WWE Run is over and have every right if they don't wanna wrestle anymore it's not like these girls have TNA schedules.

yes they retired after not even spending a decade in the business, they now use their WWE name to whatever they do. Former WWE Women's Champion..... Former Diva Champion opens....  without even giving a decade of their life to the business they hang up their boots and further their career in other ventures and never look back at the wrestling career that made them. It's how it is, I could see her point of view because that's how it comes of as. Can't help it, it's like working for a big company just to get it on your resume, when you approaching other companies, they see that name on your resume, despite the fact someone has 15 years working in that field because you worked 4 years in the biggest financial company in the world so to speak, you get the job, despite getting that one big job out of luck.

Their business ventures would have about 90% less success now if it wasn't for their WWE fame, it just looks like they used WWE as an alternative path for their original plan.

It might be true, but I could see where she's coming from.