WWE Chronicle Lana: What I Thought
This past weekend the WWE released their latest Chronicles episode this time featuring Lana focusing on her journey to Survivor Series and I decided to give the Network special a watch! The 30-minute documentary allowed fans to learn more about the growing babyface giving us an insight into her childhood and her WWE journey and I found myself genuinely interested and admiring the woman in front of us so much so that I wanted to come here and discuss the special episode, reviewing what we saw and giving my honest thoughts.
I absolutely loved how this episode of WWE Chronicles began.
Lana sat at home outside tweeting the news she will be featured in the latest
episode as her journey to Survivor Series is documented invited a special view
of her reaction that showcased her likable personality instantly. The anxiety
regarding the reaction from fans was evident and instantly made for a relatable
moment. It showed us all just how much the reaction from the WWE universe means
to her as she read both positive and negative tweets. Upon being asked what she
thought the reaction would be like from fans Lana proceeded to say she
predicted the reaction would be negative expecting the hate comments she
eventually readout, however, her drive to prove people wrong was evident and
made vocal as she looked into the camera and let us all know that she has been
proving people wrong her entire life.
We then saw the focus shift to Lana’s childhood where we quickly
learned that she had moved around a lot as a kid eventually settling in Latvia at
the age of five. Touching on the fact there was only one international line at
the time her family made the move she mentioned having to travel hours to call
her grandparents and gave us an insight into living in a country that was in a
completely different place to the United States. Now, we all know that Lana has
a background in dance but it was during this episode of WWE Chronicles that I
gained a lot of respect for her journey within that world but also, it was when
talking about the Dance industry that we got to see just how driven Lana is and
the person she has always been. Stating that in Russia you are asked at nine
years old what your career will be in life forever, and after choosing dance
she was thrown into a world she may not have been totally prepared for.
Speaking of the intensity and harsh world of dance Lana mentioned how tough the
industry and training was and after being told she was not flexible enough went
to extreme measures to prove people wrong and succeed. Adding weight to her
ankles and legs which would force them to stay in a split position she put her
body through hell to become the perfect ballerina in a showing of fight and determination
like no other, instantly putting fans in a state of admiration.
Moving onto heading over to the WWE footage was shown of Lana’s
try-out including an interview where you could visibly see how nervous yet determined
she was as she told her story and enjoyment of proving people wrong and the
element of surprise. We learned that she was originally not one of the five who
were signed but was called back a week later and given the news that she was
now in fact signed a contract. Proceeding to talk about her character
inspiration for the Ravishing Russian and her time managing Rusev Lana
explained that a great deal of inspiration came from an extremely strict dance
teacher she had over in Russia which I thought was pretty cool and a great
little personal fact we learned.
What struck me so much watching this episode was Lana’s genuine
love for the business. Seeing how emotional she got when talking about her
debut match at Wrestlemania and scenes like showing the camera he vision boards
from 2012 and the way she speaks with so much passion for the WWE is something
so special that it instantly makes you have a level of respect and admiration
for her.
Now, throughout her career Lana has taken so much inspiration
from the women around her but none quite like Natalya, her former tag team
partner. While they have had their on screen disagreements whether it be as
part of a Total Divas angle or a RAW feud their relationship is evidently
strong and the appreciation Lana has for the future Hall of Famer is so clear.
A section of the Chronicles episode focused on how much Natalya and Husband TJ
(Tyson Kidd) have helped Lana throughout her career from training with her
every week to general support that shows the kind of locker room leader Nattie.
The footage of Lana training with Nattie and Kidd was great to see and again
watching it I found myself really rooting for her and admiring her passion and
hard work.
During the episode there were several emotional moments that
allowed us to feel closer to the WWE superstar in front of us but also showed
just how real and relatable she is especially when talking about the effect of
the pandemic, no audience, being without her husband on the road and the
effects of the online hate/trolling. These moments during the episode were so important
and I’m so glad they were shown. The story that has been told for weeks
involving Lana is the fight to keep getting back up and this is something that
is going deeper than a WWE on screen storyline for this woman.
I’ll be honest, I wasn’t expecting much from this WWE
Chronicles episode. I’ve always liked Lana and been able to spot her potential
from the get go but being invited in as fans to see this other side of her was
very special and I enjoyed watching this episode. We saw a very real side to
her journey to Survivor Series but we also saw a woman who has incredible
determination and fight that has to be admired and I’m genuinely interested and
excited to see where things go for her.
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