IMPACT Wrestling fans will notice a new face backstage during this Thursday night’s broadcast. When IMPACT kicks off four weeks of television from Windsor, Ontario, interviewer Alicia Atout will be the one holding the mic and quizzing IMPACT wrestlers.
But while Alicia is new to IMPACT, she’s not new to wrestling, and is about as close to a lifelong fan as you can get.
“I was about two years old, believe it or not, when I was sat in front of a couch – not by choice but I’m very glad it happened. I would watch wrestling with my dad and all of his buddies.”
When she was only 16, Atout channeled her other passion – music – into the website “A Music Blog, Yea?,” which evolved into a YouTube channel where she interviewed musicians passing through her hometown of Toronto.
“I started putting things online randomly, and it stuck! Luckily I got some major interviews with people because I just threw out an email and they got back to me. And then their fans started to come in, and after three years of running the music side of things, where it got to a pretty popular state, I decided, ‘Why not tackle wrestling?,’ as it’s another passion of mine.”
Given a helping hand by local Toronto promotion Smash Wrestling, Alicia conducted her first wrestling interview less than two years ago with Allie, who was competing in Smash’s all-female CANUSA Classic.
“It just went so well. It was like, ‘You know what? I get a good vibe from this. I’m just gonna stick with it.’ So I owe a lot to Allie.”
“For me, when I got to sit down with Chris Jericho, I kind of lost my mind, because it was right after he had just done ‘The List,’ and right before he was about to face (Kenny) Omega for New Japan. So that was super surreal for me.”
Alicia attacks her interviews from a different perspective than most.
“I don’t mean this in a strange way: I try not to watch a lot of other interviewers because I want to make my stuff unique. So the only time that I’ll watch other interviews is when I’m doing research. I want it to be 100% Alicia Atout when you’re sitting down with me.”
“For me, I find that the fans want to know more about the people (behind the wrestling personas). So I’ll talk about music with them, I’ll talk about if they want to expand on a funny Tweet they sent, or video games. It’s when you ask a question and someone’s like, ‘How did you know that I love Dragonball Z or Golden Girls?’ It’s those little moments. I don’t see that in a lot of interviews, so when you can shock the person on the other side, I feel like I’ve done my job.”
The biggest moment yet in Alicia’s career was getting the nod from IMPACT Executive Vice President Scott D’Amore to join the broadcast team for their latest set of Canadian tapings.
“It was an incredible feeling. (Scott and I) were talking at a show and in passing I said, “I know this (Windsor) show is coming up. Do you need anyone to do anything?” He said, “Make sure you pencil in those dates.” I said, “Absolutely!”
“Next thing I know, it was a couple of weeks beforehand, and he said, “100%, you are doing this.” And I was just, “Oh my gosh.” This is the company that I wanted to work with since I started wrestling interviews a year and a half ago.”
Alicia’s success has been enabled by strong support from her family, including father Yaz, a music industry veteran who also serves as her cameraman.
“He’s the one who lights the fire under my butt when I need it, he’s the one who’s always given me tons of support. Some people my age are like, ‘Oh, it’s not super cool to do things with your dad,’ and I’m still going to concerts with my family because we’re really tight knit.”
This Thursday, it’ll be IMPACT’s world-class production team training the camera on Alicia and her subjects as her interviews are broadcast in more than 120 countries.
“I’m absolutely stoked to be doing things with IMPACT right now because I’ve been watching it since I can remember, so being a part of this has been absolutely incredible for me.”
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