TGF Interview: Amanda, The Bloodthirsty Vixen

The Bloodthirsty Vixen

It’s the 21st century and transgender people are showing up in all areas of life. There are TG models doing high fashion magazine layouts and walking the runways of the fashion capitals. You’ve got TG tennis players, TG golfers and TG rock and rollers. But so far there’s only one TG professional wrestler.

A couple of weeks ago Amanda, The Bloodthirsty Vixen appeared in one of Ronnie Rho’s The Week In Transgenderism columns. This week we were able to set up an interview and I spoke on the phone with the TG woman behind Amanda, The Bloodthirsty Vixen, 27 year old Mariah Moreno.

TGF: Hi Mariah. Let’s start at the beginning. When did you first realize you were transgendered?

Mariah: I first realized I was in the wrong body at the age of five. It happened in kindergarten when the teacher asked to divide the boys from the girls so that we could play a game. I went to the girl’s side and I was told to go to the boy’s side. That’s when I realized there was something wrong with me…it just started there, being uncomfortable in my own skin.

TGF: Were you picked on and bullied for being different while you were in school?

Mariah: Yes, yes I was. Picked on, bullied, got beat up. I was always being harassed. There was never a day when I went to school where I actually had a good day. Every day for me was a bad day.

TGF: Did your tormentors have a specific thing that set them off?

Mariah: I was picked on for the way I walked, the way I talked, for just hanging out with girls. It was horrible. I hated it.

TGF: Kids are the worst.

Mariah: Yeah, they’re little nasty monsters.

TGF: When did things get better for you?

Mariah: Not till about ninth grade. I had started fighting back and it was seen as a behavior problem. The school district thought it was best that I go to a private school in Orange Country. They thought it would be better and safer for me. There is where I actually did my transition.

TGF: Was that difficult?

Mariah: I already looked feminine. I was already wearing some women’s clothing. One day I just said, ‘You know what, I’m going to do this. I’m going to go home tonight and I’m going to come back tomorrow as Mariah. And at that school I had already earned my respect from the other students. I earned my place there so when I transitioned — when I changed my entire look — they didn’t say much. They respected me. They knew I wasn’t going to be picked on. They gave me my space.

TGF: No problems then?

Mariah: They gave me their opinions and some of their opinions weren’t nice but they made sure that I knew that it didn’t bother them and I can do what ever it is that I want to do. That school helped me out a lot in transitioning. It was a smaller school, smaller setting.

TGF: What age were you?

Mariah: I had just turned sixteen.

TGF: When did you first become interested in wrestling?

Mariah: I’ve always been interested in wrestling. As a child I would watch it on television while skipping through channels but someone else always had charge of the remote control so I was never able to follow what was going on in the wrestling world on TV.

TGF: After you got to see more than a glimpse what was it about wrestling that attracted you?

Mariah in flight.

Mariah: Oh, the technique. Being able to grab somebody and lock up with them and then they can do a move and you can reverse that with something else and they can reverse it. There’s always always a reversal to every, every move. I find that really, really cool. I love that.

Then, the high flying part of it, that’s more like Luche Libre, the Mexican wrestling, I love the high flying aspect of that. I like being able to throw myself off of the top ropes and land on my opponent. That just really sold me totally that I wanted to do that when I saw it for the first time.

TGF: How long did you train before your first match?

Mariah: I trained one year. After I change for that one year I graduated, well not graduated, but I was allowed to wrestle on the independent circuit.

TGF: How do the audiences react?

Mariah: The audiences really don’t know. The don’t know my little secret. They don’t know anything about me. Right now I’m kind of laying low. I’m playing the Bloodthirsty Vixen. My wrestling name is Amanda. I chose Amanda as my name to give people a little hint. I am a man, duh. I want it to be comedy, I want people to accept me. I want to approach them with…let’s say…I’m trying to be comedy with this character that I’m going to transition to from The Bloodthirsty Vixen.

TGF: So like many pro wrestlers you have a long term plan to transition from bad character to good character.

Mariah: The Bloodthirsty Vixen is bad, really, really bad. But The Bloodthirsty Vixen is just something to ‘cover up’ what I’m really gonna become in about a year or two.

TGF: Well, I guess we’ll have to see just what kind of good character the Vixen evolves into. You said that the audiences really don’t know that you’re transgendered.

Mariah: No, the audiences don’t know. There was just one show, one company called XWW and they’re more extreme so he just threw it out there to get more controversy going with his company. His company is pretty hated in southern California so he just threw it out there. Which is fine with me. He asked if it was okay and I said, yeah that’s fine. If fans see that flyer it’s up to them if they want to believe it or they want to scratch their heads, or not think about it all…

TGF: Do you think that you being out there might inspire other transgendered people to get into the ring?

Mariah: You know I really, really hope that. I am praying every day that there’s another transgender person out there training and doing what I’m doing. I don’t want to be the only one in this. But, for right now it looks like I’m the only one, or I’m the first one so hopefully I’m opening these doors so that more ladies like us can get in the ring.  And we can kick butt. We’re just as good as the men and the women.

TGF: Can a TG pro wrestler have a social life?

Mariah: Yes, she can!

TGF: What’s next for The Bloodthirsty Vixen?

Mariah: Just last night I got a phone call from a promoter that I worked for out in New York. He’s doing this whole new, not a wrestling company but he wants to start a new organization that scored a deal with Fox Sports and he wants to use me for this and in the pilot and a couple of things.

TGF: Great! When will this be happening?

The Bloodthirsty Vixen

Mariah: We’re shooting the pilot in a couple of months so I’m really not sure. Right now that’s all I know. I know the pilot is gonna be a death match. It’s gonna be really, really hardcore. Something totally different from regular wrestling. Weapons will be included. Things like tables and chairs, barbed wire, light tubes, ladders, all that kind of crazy stuff.

TGF: Good luck with that and congratulations on being picked for the pilot. Do you have any message you’d like to give to the readers?

Mariah: I would really, really, really appreciate all their support. I don’t want to do this alone. I really want to do this with the TG community. I will represent for the TG community all the way and I just need you guys to be there with me.

For more about Amanda, The Bloodthirsty Vixen visit her wrestling school, Santino Brothers, her Facebook page or her MySpace page.

Category: Transgender Community News