- Since being released from WWE, Jackie has been traveling to Italy for the New Wrestling Federation where many former WWE wrestlers and current TNA wrestlers are appearing. Jackie has been working independent shows in America and working with fitness modeling organizations.
- Jackie says she was released from WWE shortly after being told by John Laurenaitis that she was a versatile asset to the promotion having come from Tough Enough. Jackie said no one has given her a straight answer about her release. She feels the move to include more T&A over wrestling is questionable, but that is the direction WWE wants to go with the female members of the roster.
- Jackie says her decision not to pose for Playboy "may come back to bite me in the butt," since many women are lining up to pose for the magazine.
- The official line WWE gave for Charlie and her firing was that creative "didn't have anything for us." Jackie says there are great members of the creative team who came up with good ideas but there are others who didn't know much about wrestling. Jackie says it was frustrating being released after giving so much input to the creative and in-ring aspect of the business.
- With Spanky and James Gibson returning to WWE, Jackie feels she'll eventually be asked back to WWE. Jackie says she's working on different aspects of her wrestling to offer whatever the company needs. Charlie Haas will go back to the company if asked. Jackie says she really needs to think over and carefully consider a possible return because she wants to return only as a wrestler and not a T&A talent.
- Jackie says the creative process "could be handled a little bit better." Jackie says that when wrestling was hot in the late '90s, everyone had a storyline and when people were hired, there was an idea for how to use them when they debuted. Right now, there are no ideas for the wrestlers who are being hired.
- On whether she offered opinions for her character or storyline, Jackie says she always threw ideas to the creative team in person, over the phone, or in email on a constant basis. Sometimes her ideas would be well received or simply ignored. One of her ideas was to have Women's Champion Trish Stratus cut a promo at the Royal Rumble before WrestleMania 21 then lose the Women's title in her locker room with the belt showing up on Smackdown with Jackie or Dawn Marie claiming to have found the belt. The idea was to have the belt on the line at WrestleMania with some back-stories between the females on Raw and Smackdown leading to a big blow-off match for the title at WrestleMania. Jackie says everyone on Raw and Smackdown had their input into the storyline and the idea bounced around the WWE office, but nothing ever happened. Jackie says the idea would have added prestige and importance to a title that was and currently is stagnant.
- Jackie says she liked the storyline where Charlie Haas was becoming involved with Dawn Marie causing a three-person triangle. Jackie says they had many more developments planned out but with the creative team constantly changing, the storyline was put to an abrupt end prematurely before they could create some new layers of the story. Jackie says Paul Heyman booked the storyline but left WWE mid-way through the storyline leaving the storyline in the hands of the creative team, which didn't know how to follow up.
- On whether the roster cuts were foreseeable, Jackie says she saw it coming because the "T&A" movement means a constant rotating of girls in and out to keep fresh bodies on camera. Jackie says she was willing to do what the company asked to be a real role-player, but she was "scared" seeing all these girls rotated into the company. Jackie says WWE higher-ups told her she had nothing to worry about just a few months prior to her release.
- On her move from Raw to Smackdown in 2004, Jackie says she was promised new storyline opportunities working with different girls. Jackie says she didn't feel particularly slighted when she moved away from the women's division on Raw and didn't feel like WWE was sending a message that the company didn't feel she was a quality wrestler.
- Jackie says Smackdown is the "B" show with more effort put into the characters and storylines on Raw. WWE has also focused merchandising opportunities on the Raw roster more than the Smackdown roster. With Raw live and Smackdown taped, WWE places more emphasis on Raw because there's more of an aura surrounding the show and the crowds are more alive and into the product.
- Jackie says she hasn't been keeping track of the WWE product since her release. When she was on roster, Jackie didn't watch much of the product because she was on the road and working WWE's travel schedule when WWE programming aired. Jackie says it was hard to keep track of the product and currently, she has no interest in the product.
- Jackie says she met up with several female independent wrestlers who she plans to work with in the future. She will also be working with Gail Kim and Nidia on the independent scene with an opportunity to train and work together. Jackie says she's looking forward to working with Traci Brooks.
- On whether she was surprised when two girls were selected when she won Tough Enough 2, Jackie says she read the contract where the wording did not specify one male and one female, but it was open-ended, so she wasn't surprised to see two females selected. Jackie says she had confidence in herself to win the Tough Enough contest. Jackie says it was unfortunate one of the most-remembered scenes from Tough Enough was her in the hot tub.
- Jackie says she didn't work with Al Snow in OVW but Al was "like my dad in the business." Jackie says she learned about the business from Al and worked with him outside of OVW to get wrestling training. Jackie says the total training for Tough Enough was four months with a Monday-Friday work schedule like a regular job. Jackie says the training is very different from going through the indy scene and getting ring experience working for small promotions.
- On the whereabouts of Linda Miles (Shaniqua), Jackie says she's fallen off the face of pro wrestling. Jackie says she moved back to the Cincinnati area, but no one's heard from her since she left WWE.
- Jackie says she was hanging on by a thread as the last Tough Enough contestant to be part of the WWE roster before she was fired. Jackie says people in management have criticized Tough Enough because it exposed the business and seemed to be an easy way into the pro wrestling business. Jackie says Tough Enough drew more people to WWE programming because they were exposed to the product on MTV. Jackie says many fans only know her from MTV and Tough Enough and don't recognize her from WWE. Jackie says it's unfortunate that a project, which helped the company gain mainstream recognition, was viewed with distaste by higher-ups in WWE.
- Jackie says wrestling is like putting theater and art together; that it takes a long time to learn the nuisances of the business. Jackie says four months of learning moves doesn't allow for the learning of ring psychology to the extent necessary to be comfortable in the ring. Jackie says learning the psychology is a lost art of pro wrestling that cannot be picked up through a crash course training session.
- On WWE's move to condense the latest Tough Enough into a weekly segment on Smackdown, Jackie says the $1 Million prize was a big surprise and the concept of the latest Tough Enough was to throw guys on television doing challenges without experience leading to a less-than-desirable contest.
- On the diva search contest, Jackie says, "WWE can't take out the common denominator of wrestling when it's a wrestling show." Jackie says the "8X10" girls can't even stand on their own two feet and being in pro wrestling requires more than just being a model and a pretty face. "It's a shame when the wrestling is thrown out of the equation, and that's exactly what the diva search is." Jackie says the girls being brought in are just used to run around without a creative background to build a character.
- Jackie says she doesn't believe she was given a fair opportunity in WWE. Sure, she was on two WrestleMania's, but she didn't feel like her potential was tapped into and WWE never made the effort to focus on bringing out her potential.
- On OVW and Jim Cornette, Jackie says Cornette was a character who taught many aspects of the business that wouldn't be part of normal wrestling training. Jackie says Danny Davis is fantastic and can bump and work with people in the ring to get a training point across. There were good lessons learned with working psychology into matches.
- Jackie says WWE had enough of Cornette and his short-temper where he went off one too many times. Jackie says Cornette has amazing passion for the business and it tends to take over at times where he doesn't come across as a professional.
- Jackie says Rico is a great guy and she learned so much from Rico about reacting to crowds to deliver the entertainment aspect of wrestling. Rico is like a big brother who gave out great advice when they worked together.
- Jackie says Vince McMahon is a great businessman who knows how to run his company and "it's all about business."
- On whether TNA is in the future, Jackie says TNA is looking to expand the women's division when the promotion debuts on Spike TV in October, so they're interested in adding her to the roser. Jackie says TNA is interested in Charlie Haas as well.
- Jackie's career highlight in WWE was being at WrestleMania 20 with Stacy Keibler, Torrie Wilson, and Sable. Also, having a storyline with Charlie Haas was a thrill.
- Jackie's website is jackiegayda.com. Charlie's website is haasofpain.com.
Credit: James Caldwell for writing the detailed recap.
