Alexis Gray was one of the many who were let go last week because of budget cuts after the Endeavor merger. Gray is a former track star at Texas Southern University who ran second in the 100- and 200-meter dashes at the 2019 SWAC Championships and she was signed to a WWE developmental contract in January of this year. In an exclusive interview with Steve Fall for WrestlingNews.co, Gray talks about her release from WWE and her future plans.
Alexis Gray on how she applied to get into WWE:
“I saw it on Instagram. I just remember, so you know, it’s funny in today’s world, I feel like when you say things out loud, these computers are listening to you, so they pull it up immediately. I remember saying, ‘I need a job that I would absolutely love that I could fully commit myself to’, and I’m just remembering, ‘Sign up here’, literally popping right up on my Instagram, and I was like, ‘This can’t be real.’ So I applied, and when they reached out to me, I was like, it’s no way because they reached out to me maybe a couple of months after my application, so I completely forgot about it. When I got that call to come to Dallas for that WrestleMania tryout, I was baffled. I was absolutely baffled. I was like, it literally did not even hit me at the tryout that I was trying out for WWE. The fact that I made it, I got my contract, and it took a lot of difficulties with my visa and stuff. I’m an international student. It took a lot of difficulties getting there, but once I got there, I was like having the time of my life for sure.”
On her athletic background:
“As far as the physicality, I think for me personally, I have an extensive athletic background. Track was my main sport, but I found myself in many sports where I actually could compete. I could find myself on a team and actually hold my ground on a team. So I have a lot of athletic background when it comes to flipping and falling and jumping and screaming and doing all this other stuff. It just came super, super natural to me, so that’s why it was a piece of cake.”
If she thought she may be released when the WWE merger took place:
“I honestly think a lot of us had that mindset. I personally did have that thought in the back of my mind, but because I was so new, I kind of didn’t accept that maybe I was a part of the people that were gonna get laid off. So when I did get the call, it was baffling to me. I had a plan, you know. I felt like things were finally making sense in the company. I felt like I understood what they were requesting of us, to just be cut off right, immediately, as I understood it, so it was a lot. It was crazy.”
On what she is going to do next:
“Currently, I’m going to try to find a wrestling school because I’m definitely not going to stop. I definitely have to show you guys what I look like in that ring. That is probably the main thing that I think is so heavy on my heart, the fact that I had so much planned, and now it’s even more postponed. But I mean, the wait is gonna be worth it. I’m more excited. The more I wait, the more ideas I get, the more anxious I get, the more excited I get, the more passionate I get about the sport. I’m just ready. I’m so ready looking forward to the future trying to find a great school. I’m just reaching out to a lot of the ladies in wrestling.”
This interview is exclusive to WrestlingNews.co. If you use these quotes, please include a link back to this page.
