Serena Deeb on Becoming Newest Coach at WWE Performance Center

Former WWE Superstar and Mae Young Classic competitor Serena Deeb is the newest coach at the WWE Performance Center and was interviewed by WWE.com on her new job.

As we previously reported, Deeb was looking to be signed to the company and it was believed she was set to begin with ‘Smackdown Live‘ working for that brand, but we now know her actual role within the company moving forward.

Below we have featured some of the highlights from the interview:

WWE.COM: What exactly will your role be in the Performance Center?

SERENA DEEB: I will be a coach for the female talent, and obviously, alongside Sara Amato for the first little bit and helping to groom the next generation.

WWE.COM: Is the ultimate goal that you will be teaching your own class?

DEEB: I believe that is the goal, yes.

WWE.COM: Do you know if you’ll be focusing on the newer recruits or more along the intermediate-veteran lines?

DEEB: I do not know that just yet. I would love to work with the newer recruits; I think that would be really fun.

WWE.COM: What about them appeals to you specifically?

DEEB: Just thinking back on my career and the process I went through, helping people to reach a point where you can see the lightbulb go off and they start to grasp certain things is very rewarding. I think that it’s very different for beginners than it is for people who are a little bit farther along as far as the concepts you’re trying to teach them are going to be different in those levels. I think teaching people in the beginning, when it’s a clean slate and their brain is just really starting to absorb everything and things start falling into place, is just a really crucial time in their development.

WWE.COM: Can you tell us how the offer to coach came about?

DEEB: Sure. The offer presented itself initially almost a year ago. It was pre-Mae Young Classic. I knew of the tournament and was aware of it, and then I was contacted by the company to see if I had any interest in being one of the talent in the tournament, but it was also coupled with the idea of potentially coming in as a coach following the tournament. The tournament was the first stop on the tracks, and following that, I came back in a week in the fall for an official coaching tryout, and following that, it was pretty quickly offered.

WWE.COM: What exactly does a coaching tryout entail?

DEEB: It was really interesting! I was there for a week. A lot of it was shadowing the other coaches and seeing how everybody does it differently because everybody has their different flavors. Running classes, running drills and talking to each person. I did a lot of one-on-one, watching tape review and watching people’s matches back and offering feedback. It also entailed going to the Live Events and producing matches, giving feedback there as well, just kind of getting a feel for the whole system again because it’s been a while since I’ve been under these roofs.

WWE.COM: What’s changed since you’ve been gone?

DEEB: It’s just an incredibly well-oiled machine at this point. It always was, but it’s been very interesting to see the evolution. I started in OVW, I was there for five years and then I was in FCW, so I got to experience a lot of the different locker rooms and environments. NXT is … I don’t want to say it’s what it always should have been, but it’s kind of what they always were striving for, and it finally is what it is.

WWE.COM: Speaking of NXT, the shadow of the Women’s division kind of looms large even though it’s only been a couple of years. Do you feel any pressure following up on its past successes, or are you just excited to get to work and see who the next star is going to be?

DEEB: I’m very excited, so absolutely. But there’s a little bit of pressure. Sara Amato and Sarah Stock are some pretty big shoes to come in and step beside. What is beautiful about the whole thing is that we all have a history with each other, both personally and professionally. We’ve known each other for a long time and been around a lot of the same locker rooms and companies. There’s a lot of crossovers in our opinions but also a unique approach to each individual coach. It will be a really wonderful thing to have us all come together and contributing.