Former WWE Diva Savannah Trained to Wrestle
By Scott Fishman
The Miami Herald
Angela Fong cheered in the Canadian Football League as a member of the BC FeLions.
Angela Fong didn’t advance in the 2007 World Wrestling Entertainment Diva Search competition, but the Vancouver native wouldn’t let that stop her from breaking into the business.
Fong, known to WWE fans as Savannah, was signed to a WWE developmental contract in 2008 and honed her skills at Florida Championship Wrestling, WWE’s feeder group in Tampa.
The model turned wrestler worked alongside other divas in training including Alicia Fox and the Bella Twins. Fong was called to the main roster in 2009 to work for WWE’s version of Extreme Championship Wrestling, which aired on SyFy. It was good and bad news.
“I wanted to be a wrestler,” Fong said.
“I trained five days a week for two years straight at FCW. When they brought me up, they told me I was going to be backstage interviewing. I thought, ‘OK. This is my chance to get my foot in the door.’
“Then they told me I would be ring announcing. I accepted it and took whatever they gave me, but I wanted to wrestle. It is what it is.”
The former diva was placed in that role as Lilian Garcia was on her way out of the company. As a fellow female ring announcer, Fong was under a lot of pressure.
“It was huge shoes to fill,” Fong said.
“She was with the company for 10 years. She was always giving me advice, saying things like, ‘Maybe you will take my spot. Maybe you will start announcing.’ She was really helpful.”
Most of Fong’s opportunities to mix it up in the ring were at house shows. After WWE’s ECW folded, Fong became the ring announcer for the inaugural season of NXT. A few months later, she was released from her contract.
Fong decided to pursue other ventures. She appeared as a dancer for Xtreme Fighting Championship, a mixed martial arts company. A few months ago, Tara (former WWE diva Victoria) put in a good word at Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. Fong isn’t sure if she wants to fully return to wrestling.
“She was so sweet to do that,” Fong said. “She called me about it. At the time when she asked me about maybe going for a tryout, I was really busy and couldn’t fully commit at the time. You never know.
“I still love it, and I still wrestle every chance I get, different shows here and there. I’m not sure right now.”
Fong continues to audition and send her resume for work. She also schedules appearances to meet fans at events, most recently at Wizard World Miami. The convention fit in with her last project.
“I just did a short film in LA,” Fong said.
“It is a comic book they made into a film. It’s called ‘Black Tiger.’ I play the main character. She is a lawyer by day and a superhero by night. We did some really awesome choreographed martial arts fighting scenes.”
Her wrestling background helped her land the job.
“They asked if I could do some of these wrestling moves,” Fong said.
“We had these choreographers come in, and they taught us these great fight scenes. The girl I worked with had never done anything like that before; so it was cool to help her out.”
