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IMPACT Wrestling Knockouts Champion Rosemary is one of the most macabre and mysterious stars in the business.

The 33-year-old, aka Holly Letkeman, from Winnipeg, Manitoba, first cut her teeth on the Canadian independent scene.

She then gravitated to America's Shimmer Women Athletes, where as Courtney Rush she developed a gothic Demon Assassin persona.

This dark force caught the attention of TNA Wrestling, where she became the controlling mind behind an evil new trio, called Decay.

Initially introduced as a valet for Abyss and Crazzy Steve, Rosemary's theatrical performances in 2016 made for compelling viewing.

Speaking in riddles and excelling in deception, before the year was out she had proven her ring skills by capturing the women's title.

Rosemary spoke to the Mirror about her roller-coaster year, the Broken Universe, Decay's demise and the evolution of her beguiling character.

(Image: © IMPACT Wrestling)

You joined IMPACT Wrestling [then TNA Wrestling] 18 months ago, in January 2016. How would you sum up your first year and a half with IMPACT?

The first entire year could be described as... pun intended... a "rush". Ha ha. The entire time has gone by so fast - it's been almost a blur. At one point I looked back, I think it was in the summer when we just starting the feud with the Hardys, I looked back and I remember saying to Crazzy Steve 'it hasn't even been a year!' Decay was already doing crazy, fun stuff that people hadn't seen in a very long time. For me since The Brood [the stable of Gangrel, Edge and Christian in WWE during the Attitude Era] probably... Being a big fan of what they did I remember trying to encapsulate the feeling that they gave to me when I was a pre-teen watching wrestling. That was something I tried to capture and I think people got caught up in how different it was. It moved so quickly and I remember by August after just eight months I was like 'wow - this has gone really fast'. It was definitely a rush and incredibly creatively fulfilling for me as somebody who has grown up as an actor, a writer and somebody who is always telling stories, somebody who is always creative. To me it was very fulfilling to be able to portray this character on a higher level.

You debuted on the January 26 episode of IMPACT Wrestling by interrupting TNA Tag Team Champions The Wolves. You were dressed as a macabre cheerleader, had Marilyn Manson's song The Nobodies as your entrance theme, and were joined by Crazzy Steve and Abyss, who attacked The Wolves and stole their title belts, forming Decay. What was it like joining the company and being thrust straight into a major storyline with such a fanfare?

It was literally a completely different debut to what most people receive. Normally your first experience on television in front of a national audience will be maybe 'here's this newcomer, taking on current veteran XXX, we'll be able to take a look at them...' and commentary will read some background notes they have come up with about their wrestling background. It's a very static introduction for most people. With Decay's debut, which brought in a new, revamped look for Crazzy Steve and Abyss and a completely new look for me, this was the first experience anybody had of me and it was in your face, thrown in at the deep end, high paced, high tempo, immediately attacking the tag team champions. It was a case of 'try to keep up, because we're going with this, there is no time to explain'. I think that was how it came across as a feeling in the story for the characters in IMPACT as well, primarily The Wolves, being like: 'Holy s*** where did these people come from? This is not what we were expecting.' They were experiencing the same feeling the audience was experiencing too, so it was fourth wall-breaking almost.

(Image: © IMPACT Wrestling)

Were you pleased to team up with a TNA original in Abyss, who has vast experience, and Crazzy Steve, a unique performer with whom you had worked already?

Yeah, Crazzy Steve and I are both veterans of the Ontario independent wrestling scene in Canada. I've known Steve for about 10 years now. Abyss was a major inspiration to me when I first started watching TNA back in 2005. The two main reasons I watched TNA were the X Division and Abyss. I just loved his character and especially his feud with AJ Styles. I've talked to him about that several times and his favourite match being him versus AJ Styles at LockDown [in 2005]. A killer match. So coming into debut in IMPACT, which was a major influence in me wanting to be a wrestler and going to train at Scott D'Amore's school, who was coach of Team Canada at the time, coming in and getting to team up with someone who is one of my best friends and someone who is one of my heroes, was huge. Not a lot of people get that. It was very exciting for me. It was a humbling experience.

When TNA came to the UK in January 2016 there was a real air of excitement around Decay, despite the fact your IMPACT debut hadn't even aired on television here yet. You took part in a Monster's Ball match with The Wolves and fans clearly wanted to find out more about this mysterious trio.

There was yeah. We came into the UK tapings at the end of January 2016. It hadn't even aired yet in the UK when we went on the MAXIMUM IMPACT tour. We walked out in front of that crowd and not even having seen us on TV yet, they were singing our theme song back to us as we stood at the top of the ramp. It was incredibly surreal and I remember looking at each other in the back and I was like 'oooh, that gave me goosebumps!' Because they were feeling the same excitement we were feeling. It was very organic and it was almost like were were bonding with the crowd, like salivating over something different and exciting and wanting more. We were like 'yes, we're with you'.

As the months went by you started to peel back the layers of the character of Rosemary, revealing a jilted lover who had an evil mother and a traumatic head injury that made her hear voices. Little by little, we found out more about her backstory.

Yeah and the one thing that is really interesting and I like exploring about Rosemary is that you can't forget she is a demon and demons lie. Demons will tell you what you need to hear in order to get what they want and they like making deals and to try and twist your emotions. So, the story that was told to Bram, was specifically for Bram, in order to try and twist his feelings and his allegiances, into what Rosemary wanted. That didn't work unfortunately! And she didn't take that very well. But if you think back to the Dark Knight movie and how The Joker's backstory altered depending on who he was talking to and depending on what story he felt he wanted to tell to that person, that's how I believe Rosemary operates as well. Perhaps because she is host to so many minds and so many consciousnesses which create and make up the hive, perhaps every back story she tells is true. Perhaps there's not just one creation of her, because she has had so many personalities.

You can tell you enjoy being part of the creative process of exploring her personality.

Absolutely. All through my life, from being a kid, I was the oldest of 13 cousins, so I was always telling stories to everyone. I was always coming up with stories and creating characters. I'm a very creative person and I love being part of a process where we say 'let's dive in, let's get in-depth and figure out who this character is'. I've done six years of theatre and a lot of theatre is about figuring out who your character is and how you will portray them. When I think about Rosemary, I think about things that not necessarily will ever be reflected on screen, but I think about because it gets me into her head better. It makes me able to portray her in a more full and thought out matter, that is going to allow me to bring a fuller and completely fleshed out character to your screens and make her more believable.

(Image: © IMPACT Wrestling)

Did the success Decay enjoyed in those first few months take you by surprise? Abyss and Crazzy Steve defeated TNA legends Beer Money, Inc. to win the TNA World Tag Team Championship in March and a month later you made you in-ring debut, defeating Gail Kim, IMPACT's most successful ever Knockout.

In my opinion probably the best woman's wrestler in the world. To have the opportunity to face her in my first singles match in IMPACT, me against Gail Kim, that was yet another one of those moments in my first year when I came out of myself and thought 'what is happening?' Ha ha. 'Where am I?' Gail is incredible and one of the most professional people I have ever worked with. She is encouraging and educational, she will talk to you and discuss what you did right and what you did wrong and always wants to help everyone. She is the most unselfish person and wants you to improve because Gail is always improving herself. She wants to help everyone else improve as well.

In September you started a feud with Rebecca Hardy, when you tried to abduct her son Maxel! You looked like you had a lot of fun filming segments at her home and facing her in singles competition, even if you went through a lot of tables!

Ha ha. I did go through a lot of tables! That seemed to be my MO. But that's okay, if it made me stand out! It was completely different but something I definitely got excited about, because it was so different and we were pushing boundaries and trying new things. That in itself was a challenge and I like to believe I perform best under pressure. One of the greatest pressures is doing something that is perhaps unfamiliar territory, because people naturally gravitate towards what is familiar. If something is unfamiliar, and we saw this with the resistance to the Broken Universe at first, people were kind of unsure how to take it, because it was different, and it's not in our nature to immediately accept something different and scary, it's 'better the devil you know'. So, to be part of that, it was either going to sink or swim, and to make it succeed, it had to be full commitment from everyone involved. Something I have believed, from the moment I started doing this darker gimmick, which was just before I got signed by IMPACT, in order for a character like that to succeed, you have to be fully committed to it. If there is a glimmer of doubt, a glimmer of a lack of self-confidence in your own performance, it will show. As soon as I walk out of that curtain, there is nothing left in front of the camera that isn't fully Demon Assassin, that isn't Rosemary. There is never a part of me that is like 'I don't know about this'. There is never any self-doubt.

You couldn't really have any self-doubt entering into a performance like Delete or Decay or the Great War, such a radical concept, which only really resonated with fans because everyone involved was so invested in it.

Exactly. For example when we filmed the off-site segments for the Great War for Bound for Glory, the segment where Abyss and Matt were fighting in the back of the truck over Janice [Abyss' patented nail-studded 2x4], I was driving that truck for real! That wasn't fake, that wasn't a matter of me getting in the truck and someone else driving it, I was driving the truck down the road at 4am in Orlando, wondering what my life had become ha ha. Hoping I didn't have to brake suddenly and kill two people in the back of the truck! That was an example of 'well, we're doing this, we're fully committed, so do it, don't doubt yourself because there isn't time, let's go'.

When it comes to being a success in wrestling, it seems you have to be open to doing and trying almost anything.

No matter what you're given, even if on paper it looks ridiculous and you think 'oh my God, this is never going to work, everyone is going to s*** all over this', you know what, you have to try. No matter what Ric Flair was given, he made it his and he made it amazing and good TV. A perfect example if you remember the mental institution scene in WCW when he was committed, it's not a great storyline, but Ric Flair made that scene amazing and memorable. He threw everything into it, over the top as his character always was, and he made it work. It could have been a disaster, but it was 'oh my God, Ric Flair is amazing'. That was something I wanted to bring into Rosemary in my own way, in my own application of the process. Throwing myself in and making anything I was given into my own and the best I could possibly do with it, even if I didn't particularly like part of it, if I committed to it and made it my own, it was going to work.

(Image: © IMPACT Wrestling)

In November, you started a feud with both Gail Kim and Jade, then Kim was injured and vacated the TNA Women's Knockout Championship. This led to a bout on the December 1 episode of Impact Wrestling, where you defeated Jade in a six sides of steel cage match to win the title for the first time. That must have been an amazing moment.

It was so cool. I only learned what was happening at that set of tapings... that with Gail injured legitimately she was going to be at ringside for the match, it was going to be in a steel cage, it was going to main event that episode of IMPACT, but not only that, it was going to be the opening match of that day's tapings, so that was the first thing that live crowd was going to see. It was the most wonderful, high pressure situation, because to me, some people perhaps might not like that kind of pressure and crumble under it, but I feel I perform best under that kind of pressure because it means 'they trust me with this position, they believe I deserve it and I will go and prove that right'. I think that's what we did. I loved that match.

Did it feel like validation for the nine years and counting you have spent in the business, building a reputation for yourself on the independents, in NCW Femmes Fatales [in Montreal, Quebec, Canada] and Shimmer Women Athletes [based in Illinois, Chicago] and now on a global stage with IMPACT Wrestling?

Yeah and to have been brought into IMPACT in January basically to just be the female part of Decay, and not brought in to be a wrestler, to by the end of that year be Knockouts Champion, because everything they had given me I had knocked out the park and they had the trust and faith in me to carry whatever weight they put on me, that to me felt so good.

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There have been so many changes behind the scenes at the company, with TNA Wrestling becoming IMPACT Wrestling, new ownership in the form of Anthem Sports & Entertainment, new leadership and a new creative team. There have also been a number of changes for you personally - your feud with Jade came to an end when she left the company and then we saw Decay dissolved as Crazzy Steve moved on too. What are your thoughts on this sea-change for you and the promotion?

I've been through several changes, several new bosses over a short period of time, and to me again it factors into the pressure situation where I impressed perhaps the last regime, but now there are new owners, so it's time to step up, 'put your big boy pants on', impress these new owners and prove to them that I am in the position I am for a reason and they should keep me there. With Jade leaving and Steve leaving, all that meant was it was going to be a new story, a new angle to knock out of the park. I was nervous not to have Steve with me and Abyss out at ringside with me after the dissolution of Decay, because I was so used to us being a unit and a trio, but it's a new challenge for me and for Rosemary. I knew as much as I missed having Steve around me, I wasn't worried about myself because from a storytelling point of view, whatever I'm given, I'm going to give it all. Now we're seeing a new side of Rosemary and character development we haven't explored yet. As a storyteller this is so exciting.

Again there were more surprises in store for the audience and a change in direction that a lot of viewers may not have seen coming, as Rosemary suddenly started helping the likes of Allie against Laurel Van Ness and Sienna at the end of May, and turned face in the process. That was a bold evolution for the character.

Exactly, it was the evolution from the Demon Assassin to the Vengeance Demon. It has changed her outlook on certain things. Perhaps being part of a team wasn't the best way to go and now she has no allies and is moving into a different way of operating and helping, rather than pushing people away. Some people might wonder that Decay was destroyed by LAX and this new path Rosemary has taken has taken her away from LAX, but logically speaking LAX defeated Decay by playing the numbers game and now they have even more on Rosemary and she is not stupid enough to take them on, one-on-five. To use an old quote, revenge is a dish best served cold. She has not forgotten about LAX.

Do you feel there is still a lot more for you to explore with Rosemary in IMPACT?

Absolutely. There is so much more story to tell with her and especially given her turn. Not necessarily as a full babyface, I like to think of her as an anti-hero, but there is definitely a new outlook and path for her to follow, and so many new stories to tell.

You can watch the latest episodes of IMPACT Wrestling on Spike UK every Friday at 9pm.

The company's pay-per-view Slammiversary 2017 will be held live on Sunday, July 2.