Tatum Paxley Reveals She Got Into WWE With No Prior Experience
Before she was NXT Women’s Champion, Tatum Paxley was a powerlifting champion, a background she credits for her entire WWE career. Speaking on Eat Sleep Podcast Repeat, Paxley revealed she didn’t grow up as a wrestling fan and got her start in the most unlikely way.
“Life works in such funny ways, because powerlifting really like that powerlifting purpose in my life was to get me to WWE,” Paxley stated. She admitted her knowledge of the business was limited. “I did not grow up with wrestling. I watched Total Divas with my mom, but I didn’t really watch wrestling beyond that.”
How a Sponsorship Led to a Tryout
Paxley explained that her power lifting career led to a sponsorship which put her in contact with a pro wrestler. “Me, being a power lifter, actually got me a sponsorship through a sports supplement company called Dymatize,” she said. “And there was an athlete at Dymatize, who was a pro wrestler, and I remember I was talking with her, and I started to get kind of interested in it.”
After YouTubing matches, Paxley decided to pursue wrestling, but she had no idea it would be with WWE. “I was messaging local schools in my area. I was in Texas at the time, and nobody got back to me,” she recalled. “I had messaged that girl that I met through Dymatize and she just kind of threw word of mouth, put my name over to a recruiter for WWE, and the rest was history, like they got a hold of me, and they’re like, hey, in two weeks, there’s a trout in Vegas. Do you want to go? I was like, whoa, okay.”
Her “Terrifying” First Bumps
Paxley confirmed she was signed without any prior experience, and her first time in a ring was at that Las Vegas tryout. “They had us taking bumps for the first time, which is like terrifying to do,” she said. “Like to go up to somebody that’s never just fallen flat on your back, and they go, hey, just fall flat on your back and it it was terrifying.”
The aftermath was even worse. “Oh my gosh. I could not believe how sore I was, even just from hitting the ropes,” Paxley remembered. “I think people underestimate, even just that, how much that messes up your body. Like I had welts on my back. It was a, it’s like I got in a car accident. Truly. It was crazy.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Eat Sleep Podcast Repeat with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.Â
