NXT UK women’s champion Kay Lee Ray recently spoke to The National to talk all things pro-wrestling, including
Her earliest memories of wrestling:
“I don’t have the usual story. A lot of the people I know watched wrestling when they were really young, and I don’t have any big brothers so I didn’t really have anyone that watched wrestling. My earliest memory was probably when I was about 11 or 12 and my little cousins were watching it. I was like, ‘I’m not going to watch wrestling’ and I feel like that was such a big mistake.”
On the training she receives at the NXT UK Performance Center:
“I feel like that’s a double-edged sword because I don’t know if I would have necessarily been ready for [NXT UK] when I was younger, but the training and everything they give you here is beyond anything you’d receive anywhere. For young people now, I think it’s unique for them that they have this here and to be able to train right straight on their doorstep. But you do have to work hard to be here – it’s not just a walk in the park.”
On recently becoming a record setting champion:
“It’s been 10 years since I’ve been doing this and I have had a wonderful career on the independent scene and I wouldn’t change that for the world. I’ve seen some amazing places but I’m glad I had that experience before coming to WWE. I think if I had been younger, I would have been too young or too naive, whereas now I feel I’ve really honed my craft and I’m in the place where I need to be.”