If Stone Cold Steve Austin was a woman, ODB.
Jessica Kresa is TNA star ODB, an alcohol drinking, baaam yelling, tough chica who parties hard and is always, always ready for a fight.
"It's a crazy business. I don't know why I'm in this," said ODB, drinking from her ODB flask. "Actually, like all of us or most of us, I've been a big fan since I was little.
"My mom and dad would take me to independent shows in Minneapolis. The first wrestler I met was Jumping Jim Brunzell of the Killer Bees. I used to hang out at the gym in the area. Smash of Demolition owned the gym. I'd go meet the wrestlers, wearing my Zubas [pants] and my Muscle Venus Beach shirt."
A former ice hockey standout, Kresa, loved pro wrestling as a youth. After playing two years ice hockey for St. Cloud State University in her home state Minnesota, she ventured into professional wrestling.
"I went to college and did all that," she said, "but pro wrestling is what I was supposed to be doing."
Trained by the famous Eddie Sharkey in Minneapolis, she debuted in 1998.
"I did some research, and I always knew about Eddie Sharkey," she said. "I just went in his backyard, and that's how I got trained."
Sharkey's list of trainees reads like a Who's Who also including the Road Warriors (Hawk and Animal), Ravishing Rick Rude, Tom Zenk, Bob Backlund, Jerry Lynn, Sean Waltman, Nord the Barbarian, Barry Demolition Smash Darsow, the Steiner Brothers, Madusa and Jesse The Body Ventura.
"They were larger than life back in the day, so colorful," she said. "Going to the shows, they were like super heroes. It didn't even cross my mind that they were real people when I was little."
She learned.
Listing the name Eddie Sharkey as 'your' trainer spoke volumes when trying to find wrestling work in a very cut-throat, competitive market.
"I used to beat up my older brother a lot in front of his girlfriends to start it all, but I got trained by Eddie Sharkey in Minneapolis, and that really started it all," she said. "Before I went there, I was watching it on TV, and then it just clicked."
Her family was glad it did.
"They love it. They're my biggest supporters," she said. "If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't be here. They supported me throughout the years, and it was some rough years. I'd pack my bags and move to further my career, and I did that a bunch of times.
"Even before you get to one of the big shows [like TNA], I was traveling the road with Tracy Brooks, and we weren't smart about it. We would travel 14 hours and then sleep in rest stops which wasn't smart. Two girls with a bunch of truckers.
"It's only been a year now since I've been on TV, and I want to be more busy. I love being on the road, but people don't realize, though, to get here what it takes."
Her family attended a show last year at the TNA iMPACT Zone at Universal Studios Orlando.
"It was very cool," she said. "After my match, I walked up the ramp, and I looked over, and there was my mom and dad wearing my T-shirt, drinking. That was a good feeling because they supported my &^% through all these years, eight years. I thank them for everything."
In 2001, Kresa registered for WWE's inaugural Tough Enough I. She made the Top 25 but not the final cut for the weekly televised reality show. Still, she continued her quest.
Competing on the indie circuit in the Midwest, she even battled the men including WWE's Mr. Kennedy and TNA's Sheik Abdul Bashir (WWE's Daivari).
In 2003, ODB appeared during the early days of TNA against Trinity. She returned to TNA in 2004 against Brooks. In October 2007, TNA contacted her and other female talent for TNA's pay-per-view Bound for Glory. The crowd roared, chanting ODB, and the TNA Knockouts Division was born.
"At first, I don't think [TNA] was going to keep me around," she said. "They were starting a women's division, but I think they had no idea who they were going to keep. I think they were surprised [at the crowd reaction] for me. I was surprised too."
Prior, ODB honed her skills in Ohio Valley Wrestling, a former feeder group to WWE.
"In OVW, you just learn." she said. "I was training seven days a week. It's not about getting in the ring and doing these fancy moves. It's about studying."
She learned well, bringing her talents to TNA.
"When I walked out there, I was like, 'All right. It's on now,'" she said. "I worked my %^& off. It's go time. They ain't going to kick me out. I was confident. I was going to make TNA sign me. They had to."
Some comparisons to Stone Cold's character are common, but ODB has made a name for herself, helping lead the talented TNA Knockouts Division which has grown into a prime spot on television on TNA iMPACT! (9 p.m. EST Thursdays, Spike TV) and TNA pay-per-views.
"It's cool because most of the girls here have worked each other on independent shows," ODB said, "and we've all worked at least seven, eight years, and all of us deserve to be here, and we're all so different.
"When you put us all together, it's like a freakin' circus, and we put ourselves on the map this year. Now we have to step it up even more next year."
TNA listened to its fans who wanted to see women's wrestling with actual women's wrestling matches. Some of the highest rated segments on the television show came from the women's battles in the ring.
"I didn't expect the big push," she said. "I think TNA wanted to see how it went, and it took off. People wanted to see us, and we can wrestle. People went nuts. It was something they hadn't seen before.
"We're fighters. We're not bikini models."
ODB is loud, obnoxious, and she can fight.
"ODB is basically me with the volume turned up a lot obviously," she said. "Throughout the years, you got to just find yourself as a character. I was very shy, quiet, when I first started. Actually, I am still kind of quiet . . . sometimes.
"Back in the day, I was the little innocent girl in this business," she chuckled, "not so innocent no more. It took me a while. I've always been ODB. Just when I first started, I was the bad girl, 'Raar. I'm bad. Shut up.' I had no idea what I was doing."
In 2006, ODB worked for OVW.
"I trained with Al Snow and Danny Davis in OVW," she said. "That's when ODB came out of her shell more because they were like, 'Do your thing girl. Be yourself. That's what sells tickets.'
"If you look at the people who made money -- Hulk Hogan, Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, John Cena now -- they're themselves, and that's what sells tickets."
She became OVW's first women's champ, winning a fictitious tournament in Rio de Janeiro, ala former WWF star Pat Patterson and the Intercontinental title.
"It's still a work in a progress," she said, "but each year gets better for me. I just let loose out there. I have a blast. I probably have too much fun."
Touching herself constantly is part of finding herself?
"That came like a nervous thing," she said. "I always watch my stuff, and people critique me. They say, 'Why do you touch yourself so much?' I think I get nervous. It's a different kind of nervous now. They're like, 'Well, it kind of works. Keep touching.'
"I only can touch them for three seconds, though."
Spike TV via FCC regulations.
"You can play a drinking game out of me, if you watch me touching myself," she chuckled. "You get drunk on my four minute matches. Hopefully, that game will come out."
TNA merchandising take notice.
• The fans
"I'll notice people in the crowd, and I will pick out a few people," she said. "They're not in the show, but if it wasn't for them, obviously, we wouldn't be here. They want to be you. So I'll give them a little cheers up. Hopefully, they'll be cheering back with my flask."
• The flasks
TNA is marketing ODB flasks at TNAWrestling.com under ODB merch.
ODB owns tons of flasks.
She said, "I sell my in-ring ones that are actually used."
• The tattoos
"They all have meaning," she said. "Actually, I covered up a few of them. This one has my last name, and then there's me in a martini glass, drinking and smoking something. It kind of inspired me when I first got signed by TNA. I wanted to do a nice little tattoo to remember when I got signed. This one is a dead beauty queen. I'm not a beauty queen, and I don't want to be one.
"When I did that promo with Kong, Jim Cornette actually gave me that line, 'I'm not just another face,' and he said it would work. He was right. Baaam. Two weeks later, it was on a T-shirt."
• Jim Cornette
"He's done it all. He's been in the ring with everybody. It's ridiculous. He's a good mind to pick."
• ODB continues to reach her goals.
"My goal was to get my own talk show on TNA, and I got it," she said. "That was one goal I accomplished. I want to be a legend in this business, a Hall of Famer. I'm not cocky. I'm just confident, and I want it all. I want to do everything, and I'll be around the wrestling business until I'm six feet under."
• Could the TNA Knockouts Division morph into its own television show?
ODB said, "GLOW did that back in the day. They tried to redo GLOW and called it CRUSH. I was part of that. It lasted one show, and nothing ever came out of it.
"It's a good idea, but I don't know. I think just leave us on TNA iMPACT!. You don't want to take something good off the show. Having your own show is a little iffy, but it would be cool to have a little special with all of us and see what we do."
She laughed, "That's what DVDs are for."
• TNA has lost some women's wrestlers and gained some women's wrestlers.
"It's just part of the business," she said. "People leave and come back. When they leave, I take advantage of it. If it's my turn then to step up when someone does leave, I'll step up. It's all about business."
• In 2003, she had a mixed martial arts match, losing to Kelly Kobold by armbar submission in the first round.
• Awesome Kong vs. ODB
ODB said, "Awesome Kong is something different who I've never seen before in women's wrestling. That's good, but I'm not done with the big &*^%. I ain't done with her, yet. She hasn't seen nothing. Now that she has the TNA Knockouts title back, we will get in the ring again."
She laughed, "2009 for ODB."
• The TNA pay-per-view Genesis is Sunday, Jan. 11 at the Cricket Arena in Charlotte. Kurt Angle vs. Jeff Jarrett and more.
• TNA tapes four shows a month for its TNA iMPACT! TV shows at Soundstage 21 at Universal Studios Orlando.
See Kurt Angle, AJ Styles, Sting, Samoa Joe, Booker T, Rhino, Scott Steiner, Matt Morgan, Kevin Nash, Awesome Kong, Abyss, Hernandez, Homicide, Roxxi, the Motor City Machine Guns, the Beautiful People, Beer Money Inc., ODB, Sonjay Dutt, Hector Guerrero, Jay Lethal and more.
Admission is free.
• TNA iMPACT! is 9-11 p.m. EST Thursdays on Spike TV.
Taken from: miamiherald.com
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