Photo Courtesy of Starr’s Facebook page.

By Brandis Outlaw

Paloma Starr isn’t afraid of anyone and is a badass; No matter if they are bigger than me, faster than me, or even better than me, I will step up to them in the ring. Male or female! I’m an intellectual smart ass who is happy go lucky and just happy to be here in the squared circle.”

Grace, elegance, Diva, kickass, glamorous, and fearless are just a few describing adjectives to describe a majority of the young women who are in the business of professional wrestling but only a few women stand out from them to become a beacon of light in the pro wrestling world, a role model, daring, going against the grain, along with the beginning adjectives added; For those great and small to become in professional wrestling. Paloma Starr is that woman.

Only having a small window of time to get to know her and become acquainted with her; Starr, a quickly rising young woman of the wrestling world is not your typical women’s wrestler. Her unique training with professional wrestler and former ECW Superstar Taz, in New York, to her outstanding background on how she got started, her bright themed gear, and positive outlook on her young career propels her for more great opportunities and wrestling hall of fame.

The raw passion Paloma feels for pro wrestling began like most men, women, and fans of the business; as child watching it on television.

“I grew up in Juarez Mexico and Lucha Libre was part of my life since I can remember. I would go to Lucha shows with my grandmother and we would watch it on TV. I specifically remember going to a grocery store and my favorite luchador, Tinieblas, was there taking pictures and signing autographs! I was so excited to have my picture taken with him and his sidekick Aluche and the feeling that I got when I stood next to him was awesome. I remember thinking wow this is pretty cool! It would be awesome if I could do that. But I didn’t give it much thought because I had this weird perception in my mind that you couldn’t train to be a wrestler that you just WERE a wrestler. ”

Following her training, she met and trained with former ECW Superstar Taz becoming the first female trained at his Dojo, Starr says that she felt incredibly lucky to have the opportunity.

“I was in shock!” She says, I saw that Taz was going to start a finishing school and he was only accepting a very limited amount of people who were already trained and just needed to get fined tuned to go to the next level. I applied and didn’t think much of it, next thing I know I’m getting a call from the strength conditioning coach telling me that I was accepted and that he was going to put me thru to talk to Taz. I was at work at the time; I had to sneak off to the back room because I was flipping out so bad. When Taz came on the line I was just silent I didn’t know what to say. I thanked him for accepting me since he said out of 200 people only 6 were picked for the traveling class and not only was I one of them but I was the first female to train at his dojo ever!

Fans are always itching to know if their hero or heroine is the same out of the ring as they are in the ring, what are they like on a daily biases, laid back and easy going, or completely opposite? Starr says Taz was all the same.

“Taz is as intense as he comes off to be on TV. He is so passionate about wrestling and knowledgeable. There were times where he would get so worked up about something that I thought he was going to start suplexing us thru walls. But his motto is “intensity”. As soon as you walked into the dojo there was a banner in black and orange letters with INTENSITY printed on it. He would always point and the sign and say that it makes all the difference in the world…and it does! He would always mention that he’s never trained a female before but he didn’t treat me any different than the guys. He pushed and motivated me and showed me that I was good. ”

“Since confidence is something I’ve always struggled with in the ring. I am forever thankful that I had that opportunity; it has made me ten times better as a wrestler. ”

Paloma Starr vs. Lucy Mendez at Dynamo Pro Wrestling.

Starr is all about the fairness and equality when it comes to the ring woman or man big or small she’ll take ’em on, which sets her apart from some of the competition in today’s squared circle. In the glory days of Chyna and Beth Phoenix who entered the Royal Rumble with Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Great Khali, CM Punk, and other great main eventers in their respected time. These women showed class but were not above anything or anyone to step toe to toe with a superstar; she is no different.

“I was the only female in my wrestling training class, as I’m sure many females in wrestling were. I’ve been beating up and getting beat up since the beginning of my career. I don’t want any special treatment because I am a woman. I want to be treated equal and be seen as equal. I am a feminist so I believe in equality within the sexes. I believe as a woman if you want to wrestle a man you should be able to! I bust my ass just as hard as the guys do and my gender shouldn’t determine who I get to wrestle. I know some fans don’t understand inter gender matches but they are not for everyone, kind of like hardcore matches, etc. aren’t for everyone either. But with wrestling there’s always a niche that everyone will enjoy. ”

The absolute pure unregimented fire and devotion lives through Starr, yet there are some matches she’s not fond of participating in if she can help it.

“Battle royals have too many people involved,” She says. “It could get dangerous and most of them time nothing gets accomplished by them;” Although, the more extreme, is right up her alley.

Paloma Starr vs Lucy Mendez at SICW.

“While I prefer straight up pure wrestling matches, I did have a lot of fun doing a street match once. There were so many weapons I could be creative using them! At the beginning of my career all I did was hardcore matches. Light tubes, barbed wire, mouse traps, Tai Pei matches, chairs, anything and everything I’ve done. I can’t say I miss doing those kinds of matches but I also won’t say I will never do it again. ”

Aside from crippling her opponents with the Black Dahlia (Inverted double under hook facebuster) Starr loves to read and is an avid gamer and is open for any challenges when it comes to Madden.

Photo Courtesy of Starr’s Facebook page.

“Last book I read was The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan. Like I said, I’m a feminist so I love to read feminist books, especially older ones. I totally recommend reading Geek Love by Katherine Dunn and The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall. Both are really weird and absurd but they are great reads and hard to put down. Also Thr3e by Ted Dekker is a good book too. Madden is my favorite video game, I’m still pretty sure I can beat anyone at it. Other ones I’m playing at “MLB The Show” and “Jurassic Park Lego”. I play some first person shooter games but I’m not very good at them, and I don’t like playing games I’m not good at.” She laughs.

Back in early July many fans and pro wrestlers, including took to YouTube posting short video promos for World Wrestling Entertainment‘s renewed television show, Tough Enough. It’s a wonderful opportunity to show a popular named wrestling business their abilities and talents and reason why they should have a spot in the WWE. Yet, while in other promotions and traveling herself across the country, Starr believes that she’s just here to wrestle and entertain and that pro wrestling is more than getting signed to the WWE.

“Honestly it’s not just WWE for me. It’s making the most out of it. Whether it is WWE or not; I don’t see myself as “failure” if I don’t get signed, I honestly would prefer going to Japan and doing a few long term tours over there! But my view of “making it” is being able to wrestle full time and make a living off of it. But what would make me stand out is that I can offer so much more and bring a lot to the table. I am a professional and act accordingly, I have a college degree in Public Relations and advertising so I can bring in that aspect. I’ve have experience being a news producer, I speak Spanish; I am eloquent with social media. So basically I can do a lot more than just wrestle. ”

I always like to consider the inspired fans the ones who want to begin their career in professional wrestling with minimal to zero help in whether big or small towns with no sort of connection to the professionals I asked Starr what advice she can give to those beginners or an individual that wants to start following their dreams.

“It’s hard!” She starts, “I wish wrestling would’ve come easier to me but it didn’t at all. It would take me so much longer to learn something new compared to everyone else. But I would say just stick with it. Even when it seems like it can’t get any worse or harder. If you really love it and it is your passion it will all work out. Also wear knee pads and take care of your body because you will feel old fast.

“I use to lack a lot of confidence in my work and be in my head a lot but now I just try to focus on having fun. I try to do the sign of the cross before I walk thru the curtain and I’m gone. There is 100% truth to the statement that if you don’t believe in doing what you’re doing no one else will; How is anyone else going to believe it or buy it? Sometimes you have to be your own biggest cheerleader and biggest supporter. Nothing gets accomplished if you don’t believe it first.