Leah Van Dale, better known as WWE’s Carmella, made a serious statement this past week, not only with her words but also her attire.
Her anticipated return to WWE arrived, but not at the Royal Rumble. Instead, she appeared several days later on the televised Raw following the Rumble as the Princess of Staten Island.
For her return attire, the 35-year-old wrestling and reality TV star shared a video of herself rocking denim in the form of distressed jeans with a matching cropped denim jacket featuring rips and a cut that ended below her bra.
That bra featured a captivating cheetah print with black band trim on top of the cups and a white border on the bottom. She matched that with cheetah print undies, visible as her jeans sat slightly open and below her waistline.
“She baaaack 🤑,” she wrote for her caption, complete with a money-face emoji since Mella is money.
Her video appropriately featured a remix of Diamond Dondada’s freestyle song, “She’s Baack,” as she modeled her latest look.
The Instagram video clip had Mella starting with her back turned to the camera before turning and strutting for a close-up view of the outfit.
As she walked, she also fixed her long brown hair, tugged on her jacket a bit, and winked at the camera.
The video accumulated over 112,000 likes with 1,800-plus comments in admiration of her return and the fashion statement.
Carmella calls herself a ‘trend setter’ in stunning photo series
Shortly after her video post on Instagram, Carmella shared a series of images featuring the look from above, which she wore for Raw.
The first two images had the WWE star leaning back with her hands gripping the bottom edges of her open jacket.
A third photo had Mella standing with her back somewhat turned to the camera as she looked back at viewers over her shoulder.
She referenced herself as “trend setter” in the caption, with the location of the pic “In Your Dreams.”
Carmella returned on January 30 Raw
As mentioned, Carmella officially returned on this past week’s episode of WWE Raw. In one segment, Cathy Kelley interviewed her, indicating she was back after a seven-month absence. Carmella reminded everyone she’s the “moon-walking, trash-talking Princess of Staten Island.”
The interview was interrupted by Asuka, who was recently among the final three competitors in the women’s Royal Rumble. While Mella tried to put Asuka on notice, she was grossed out by the colored spew that Asuka had in her teeth and dripping from her mouth. All of that led to Mella’s exit, but this rivalry could be getting started.
During the interview, Mella also spoke about competing in the upcoming Fatal Four-Way match set for Raw on Monday, February 6.
That match will also feature Michin, Candice LeRae, and Piper Niven to determine the final two participants for the women’s Elimination Chamber match later this month. That match is part of the premium live event of the same name, which will take place in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Qualifying for the Chamber match and winning it is a huge deal. The winner will challenge WWE Raw Women’s Champion Bianca Belair for her title at WrestleMania 39.
Carmella’s workout routine for lower body
Several years ago, Carmella appeared in an episode of Celtic Warrior Workouts, a YouTube series hosted by fellow WWE star Sheamus.
Her workout focused on the glute muscles, and she took Sheamus through the exercises she uses to help define and grow that area.
They performed glute bridges by holding a weight plate on their midsections and lying on the floor. The objective is to raise one’s hips off the floor while keeping the feet and shoulders in place to create a bridge.
Mella shared a way she makes the exercise more intense. They started with one bridge and held for one second. Then they’d perform two bridges and hold for two seconds. They continued this until they did 12 repetitions of the exercise.
The complete workout routine featured many other exercises, including split squats, rear deadlift pulses, single-leg glute bridge using a bench and dumbbell, and goblet squat pulses.
It was undoubtedly an intense workout based on the number of reps, as Sheamus seemed worn out after they were finished. However, it goes to show Mella takes things quite seriously when it comes to her workouts for the ring and life in general!
WWE Raw airs Mondays at 8/7c on MTV.