There was a time when more than a few WWE fans took particular pleasure in letting Carmella know that, in their opinion, she can't wrestle. That's right, despite being a former SmackDown Women's Champion and the first-ever Women's Money in the Bank winner, some fans just couldn't get over that the former Laker Girl was getting opportunities they would have preferred to see afforded to “real” wrestlers like Asuka or Becky Lynch.

Since returning to WWE, she's made it her mission to go back to her roots, embracing the best elements of her old character and folding them into her new character to create a more complete Carmella, but one thing the “Princess of  Statin Island” isn't looking to do at all is go back to the “Carmella can't wrestle” chants that plagued the previous segments of her career, as she detailed to Corey Graves and Kevin Patrick on After the Bell.

“I've made history in the WWE, several times,” Carmella said via Fightful. “I think Carmella is overlooked because people look at Carmella and think, ‘I have the looks, I can talk,' but I think people underestimate my in-ring ability. There is something to be said for that. For me, I feel like it's a chip on my shoulder and I feel I have to go out there and prove exactly what I can do. ‘Oh, Carmella can't wrestle.' First of all, that was like so 2016. People thought I couldn't wrestle in 2016. I proved them wrong time and time again. I love to be underestimated. I'd rather be underestimated, underrated, than overrated. Now, I always have something to prove. I want to prove to everybody why I belong here. That's exactly what I've done. I not only have the looks, I not only can talk, I can go. If people still don't want to talk about that and recognize and give me the credit I deserve, that's on them, they're an idiot and they're clearly blind.”

Can Carmella wrestle? Yes, clearly she can, she is a professional wrestler, after all, but it's nice to know that convincing fans that she can work matches isn't at the top of her mind anymore, as stepping past external expectations is the easiest way to internal happiness.

Carmella thought she'd have locker room heat for her comeback outfit.

Elsewhere on After the Bell, Carmella touched on her return to WWE and her decision to marry her old look with her new and also give a little tip of the cap to one of the best to ever do it, Lita? Unfortunately, Lita was also on the show, with created a potentially contentious situation for Carmella in the back. Fortunately, Carmella was as cool in the back as she appears to be on screen and actually complimented her fellow female Superstar.

“Coming back and knowing that I was going to do a new version of my old character, I wanted to kind of marry my look with the bra top that I've been wearing, but also…when Carmella debuted, she was wearing the joggers and the boxers showing,” Carmella said via Fightful. “I kind of wanted to take that and put a new twist on it. I thought, ‘what better way to do that than pay homage to Lita?' She had such iconic gear. I figured, ‘let me take that and put my twist on it.' Little did I know, the night I'm debuting this gear, Lita is backstage and I am freaking out. ‘Oh Gosh, is she going to be mad at me? Is she going to say what are you doing? Take that off. I have nothing back up to wear, what am I going to do?' She was in makeup, I walk by, I'm wearing the gear. ‘Hey Lita, how are you?' ‘Oh my gosh.' ‘I hope you're not mad.' ‘Are you kidding? Not at all, that's amazing.' ‘I really wanted to pay tribute to you.' She loved it. I'm not going to lie, I was a little scared for a minute, is she going to be pissed at me?”

Wow, what an interesting story, Carmella. Though Lita is no longer a full-time professional wrestler and just recently returned to the company for a surprise tag team title run with Becky Lynch that should run through WrestleMania 39, it's nice to know that the WWE Hall of Famer isn't too precious with others taking influence from her look. Considering the duo are now both members of the RAW roster, at least for now, avoiding that awkwardness should breed positive results all around.