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It was Perry's dedication, passion, and natural talent to adapt to various gimmicks that made her a favorite in the ring. And before she knew it, her career with the WWE was on the rise. "I remember my first day on the WWE, I had to create five compelling characters," she explains. "They immediately paired me with my now husband, Rusev, and I immediately was put on TV after three months of the development program." Her life quickly changed after this. Most WWE Superstars are in the development program for a year, Perry tells me. "I had to learn how to wrestle on-the-road, while on TV. My road has been really different," says Perry. Perry's career with the WWE was unlike any other. "My first match in front of 100,000 people at the Dallas stadium, I almost passed out. My first singles match was for a title. I thought I was going to throw up. But when I walk out of the curtain, my nerves go away." Living the life of a WWE Superstar is no easy task. And like any performance, there is a lot of pressure from the audience. But Perry has been training to be on the mainstage since she was a child growing up in Russia, where she studied ballet. Becoming a WWE Superstar takes a lot of training, practice, and determination, and Perry was not going to stop until she accomplished her goal. "If you have a dream, you have to chase it. My dream was to wrestle." When Perry is not competing on WWE, she is filming E!'s Total Divas. She tells me that these are two very different experiences for her, but no matter what, she is always true to herself. "I am pretty transparent with who I am. I am not perfect. We all have flaws. You learn from it and do your best to not do it again. You see me acting out on Total Divas, and I definitely apologize when I am wrong." Being part of the cast of Total Divas has been an adventure and something that Perry has always wanted to do as it gave her the opportunity to show the world who she truly is. "I've had an unconventional journey—she is a pretty face, she cuts a good promo—but people don't know how passionate I am," she explains. "People get to see another side of me. People have no idea who I am. I'm dyslexic. I have gotten one yes for a hundred no's. That's one of the reasons why I wanted to be on the show." In addition to having the opportunity to show her real self to the world, Perry was given the opportunity to work and be surrounded by women who challenge her, understand her, and motivate her to keep pushing forward. "We get to go on fun trips and hangout with each other. I would say that I am surrounded by strong women, Naomi, The Bella Twins, all these women are women who have defied all odds. We are all so uniquely different. One common thing is that we defy our odds and dare to go after our dreams. When we do get discouraged, we encourage each other. We are not always eye to eye, but we do have each other's back." Perry has had a close bond with cast member Naomi (Trinity Fatu) since day one. "We both have a dancing background. She is the yin to my yang. We balance each other out." The Bella Twins, Nikki and Brie, have also helped Perry along the way. "The Bellas have inspired me. They went through so much. At one point, they were just pretty little models, and now they are some of the most popular WWE women of all time. They have helped guide me." As with every good reality show, there is drama. And on Total Divas, just like in real life, there are people who will push your buttons, for Perry, that's Natalya (Natalie Neidhart-Wilson). "She drives me nuts," she exclaims. Despite their disagreements, Perry likes to think of Nattie like her little sister. While Perry is no stranger to the public eye, she explains how the criticism she gets from Total Divas is different from when she is on WWE. "When doing Total Divas, people judge you for you," she says. "When people don't like you for being you, that hurts a little bit more. But I would rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not." This is Perry's third season on the show. When she joined the cast for Season Six, Perry was going through her first match, and she got married. In Season Seven, you see her mature, and in Season Eight, Perry will be put through some trials. "You see me working at my craft. I am very passionate about WWE and wrestling. You go on that journey with me. That's life. Life is sometimes going to knock you down, and it's going to hurt and it's OK to cry. You gotta dust off your knees and keep going. You will see that on Season Eight, disappointment is part of life," she explains. The cast of Total Divas started shooting Season Eight this spring, which is slated to premiere in the fall. "You will definitely see me flush through some rough things in my life and how I deal with disappointment. We are all going to go through hard times, and I hope it inspires some people." ML Keep up with CJ "Lana" Perry on Instagram: @TheLanaWWE, Twitter: @LanaWWE, Snapchat: @TheLanaWWE, and www.CJPerry.com.