Saturday GLOWcase: Celebrating Angel - The Badass Biker Chick of GLOW

Angel, played by Andrea Laird Micheil, was a gymnast from the age of six through high school and a Theater Arts major in college. She was working with a casting firm, performing as an extra in various TV and film productions when she went to an audition for athletic women for GLOW.

At the audition, she asked, "What does GLOW mean?" When they said, "Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling," she replied, "I can do that." They asked, "What makes you think so?" and she said, "I don't have to land on my feet anymore." The rest is history. Shortly thereafter, she was in Las Vegas at the Riviera Hotel, and two weeks later, she was teaching girls how to do somersaults.

Unlike most of the ladies, Andrea created her own character. She knew she would be a bad girl, and her badass persona really fit the character she became. "Angel, don't let the name fool you!" became her tagline. She performed as Andrea Jackson (a good girl) for one fight in Germany and as Hot Rod Andie for various promotions, including POWW, another David McLane promotion. Andrea made her debut during the second season of GLOW and quickly realized that many of the girls had no athletic ability whatsoever. Just two weeks after arriving, she was literally teaching them how to do somersaults. Doing backflips off the top turnbuckle was no easy task for most, but for Andrea, it was a breeze. She wasn't a wrestling fan and had no idea how to wrestle; aside from learning moves by watching wrestling on TV, she and many of the other ladies would have been lost in the ring. TV was their trainer.

The ladies watched wrestling moves on TV and then tried to figure them out in their hotel rooms or during rehearsals before taping days. Andrea would come to the ring and start teaching the ladies wrestling moves she barely knew herself, but she had confidence in spades. Some of the season one girls knew a bit thanks to their brief time with Mondo Guerrero and were able to learn from them as well.

I started watching GLOW after Andrea had already left the promotion, but I had the pleasure of meeting her in 2016 on the Queen Mary. We spent a week on the Carnival Imagination with her and many other GLOW ladies. I not only learned about her wrestling career and the friendships it afforded her, but I also got to know the real person behind her GLOW persona and her incredibly sweet husband, Stephen.

The first night I met her was the only time I talked to her about GLOW. After that, I was more interested in Andrea than Angel. She was more than the badass biker chick; she was intelligent, outgoing, and one of those people who isn't happy until everyone around her is having a good time. The night we met, she shared with me insights about her time with GLOW and the fact that she was one of the people involved in "selling" the show to TV stations before it aired. She also talked about the fate of a few of her fellow wrestlers, including her GLOW & POWW tag team partner Attache/Genie Beret.

Andrea shared a story about Matt Cimber and David McLane giving the ladies the choice to vote on whether they should go on tour with the Harlem Globetrotters or a solo tour of the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling. The show had just started airing, and they weren't yet well-known. Wrestling was becoming popular again, and characters were coming to life. Before the vote, Andrea gathered the girls and said, "If we want to be taken seriously as wrestlers, we should go on tour by ourselves." The Globetrotters, despite being good players, were more about comedy. They voted to go solo, but Matt Cimber wasn’t happy. That decision led to David McLane leaving GLOW and taking many of the ladies with him to start a new promotion while Matt continued GLOW with season 3 and 4, featuring a new cast and a handful from seasons 1 and 2.

Upon leaving GLOW, Andrea and the other GLOW ladies weren't allowed to use their GLOW names due to a tight contract. Andrea's character remained basically the same, though her name became Hot Rod Andie instead of Angel. Tina Ferrari was known as Nina, and some of the other GLOW ladies either used similar characters or created totally new ones. Michele Duze, who created the first Dementia in GLOW, played the Russian character in POWW.

She got yelled at for this but this is one of my favorite moments with Angel

After wrestling, Andrea did stunt work, acted in movies, and moved to Reno, NV, where she worked as a liquor sales rep. Sadly, Andrea passed away from Covid-19 on January 18, 2022. Andrea's presence in and out of the ring will be fondly remembered by all who encountered her unique persona.

As we reminisce about the legacy of Andrea "Angel" Laird Micheil, I invite you to share your own stories and memories of her. Whether you had the pleasure of meeting her in person, watched her dazzling performances, or were inspired by her strength and charisma, I would love to hear from you. Feel free to leave comments and share your cherished moments. Let's celebrate the life of this remarkable woman together!