Wrestler reveals WWE ‘edited in fake moans’ for pillow fight skit

TNA Wrestling star Indi Hartwell has opened up on one of her ‘weirder’ experiences in the business.

The 29-year-old star, who is challenging WWE’s Kelani Jordan for the Knockouts Championship at Bound For Glory tonight, has reflected on ‘the best time’ in her career when she was paired with Dexter Lumis.

The romcom storyline pitted the hilarious Aussie with the eerily silent type in a match made in TV heaven, complete with outrageous skits showing the differences between them.

‘His character at the time was just like, no emotion, nothing. So I would always try and make him break,’ she exclusively told Metro. ‘That was definitely the best time in my career.

‘I was still quite new to NXT and WWE at the time, but it really helped me come out of my shell, and also helped me find my love for the other side of wrestling that’s not the in ring stuff.’

One of those moments was a pillow fight in what was meant to be a hotel room, although Indi admitted the skit was shot in the bedroom of Jeremy Borash, who is now WWE’s Vice President of Content and Development.

‘Filming that was weird. But then watching it on TV was weirder because they edited in, like moaning, which wasn’t me,’ she laughed.

‘I don’t know where they got this girl moaning from, but they edited that in. And I was, “Oh my God, my parents are gonna watch this”, but it’s all good! It’s all in good fun, and it’s all for the job.’

Thankfully, her parents are ‘very supportive’ of her wrestling career, having made the long journey from Australia to Massachusetts for Bound For Glory this weekend.

‘They’ve been there when I wrestled in front of 20 people when I first started wrestling. So I love that they’ve been a part of the journey,’ she smiled.

‘When I first told them I wanted to be a wrestler, they weren’t so thrilled about it, but then they accepted it.’

Tonight, they’ll see Indi try and live out a lifelong dream by holding the Knockouts Title.

‘There’s a lot of emotion, a lot of excitement going into it,’ she admitted. ‘I’m very excited to be part of the biggest TNA show of the year. I’m a lifelong TNA fan, I grew up watching it.’

It’s also the chance to capture singles gold in TNA, having spent most of her mainstream TV run as a tag team.

Thankfully, she’s full of confidence after a recent match with Mercedes Mone, which has given Indi the boost she needed after getting released by WWE late last year.

‘When I got released, I’m like, “Damn. I’m a singles wrestler now, and I forgot what I can do because I’d been having short matches, short tag matches, or not being used,’ she explained.

‘Wrestling Mercedes, she helped bring me out of my shell, and I feel like we were doing things in the ring that I normally wouldn’t even like give a chance to. Being in there with her made me feel so confident.’

In a few hours, Indi will be facing off with Kelani Jordan, who captured the vacant Knockouts Championship after former champ Ash By Elegance was forced to step away and potentially end her career for unspecific reasons.

‘I don’t really know much about the situation, but it’s nice to see everyone get together and support her. TNA in general, the crew that we have are all so close,’ she smiled.

‘It really makes going to work a good time when the morale is high. My best wishes go out to [Ash]. Hopefully her and I can revisit and have the match one day.’

First, Indi will have to topple the ‘extremely talented’ Kelani, who came into wrestling as an outsider, but has thrived thanks to her gymnastic background.

‘Even though this wrestling may not have been something that she thought of doing when she was younger, I feel like she was born to do it,’ she said of her opponent.

She added: ‘Something that I always remember about her at the PC, is that she was always asking questions, always wanting to learn, very respectful of wrestling.’

If Indi wins, she’ll have a long line of TNA Knockouts gunning for gold, while the WWE partnership means wrestlers from Raw, SmackDown and NXT could step up to the plate.

‘That would be good see some, some of the Raw and SmackDown girls cross the line,’ she said. ‘I would definitely be a fighting champion and open to any and all challengers from any company.’

UK & Ireland fans an watch Bound For Glory on Sunday at midnight using an exclusive new TNA+ VIP Tier, which includes every PLE and PPV, all episodes of iMPACT! Access and the entire TNA library.

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