Priscilla Kelly (Gigi Dolin) recently detailed the difficult period she went through in WWE, describing the NXT schedule as feeling like “Groundhog Day” and revealing she was in a “funk” for nearly a year. Speaking with Denise Salcedo, Kelly explained how the repetitive nature of the NXT schedule in Orlando wore her down during her period of depression.
“I Would Just Go Home And Rot”
“I was just showing up, and I was just getting through the days like I would show up, I would count down the minutes till I got to go home, and then I would just go home, and I would just rot, because you get like, such in like, a funk, and especially in NXT, every day ends up feeling like Groundhog Day. It’s the same thing over and over, every single day, training, ring, gym, TV, you know, like the same thing every single day, and you’re stuck in Orlando,” Kelly said.
She continued, “I was like that for almost a full year, like, just showing up, collecting a paycheck, and, I talked about it before. Like, if they would have released me during that time, I would have understood. I would have been like, yeah, I get it. I look like shit right now, and I’m wrestling like shit because I’m depressed and I don’t care”.
The Coaches Who Helped
Kelly gave credit to the NXT coaches for being the “behind the scenes piece of this machine that don’t get talked about”. She named Terry Taylor, Johnny Moss, Robbie Brookside, and Norman Smiley as people she had great relationships with .
She shared a specific story about Steve Corino showing her empathy when she was struggling. “You can’t really call in and say, Hey, I’m like, sad today. I don’t want to [get] cut, you can’t do that. Like, and you’re really not even supposed to show that you’re having a bad day at work. Like, it just looks bad,” she said. “But I would come in some days, and Steve would be like, Hey, go home. Like, go home. Like, I can tell you’re having a bad day. Like, just go home. Go rest, and like that. Those are, like, the kind of things you remember.”
The Turning Point
Kelly said the spark returned when she was told she would have a program with her “very, very good friend,” Blair Davenport (Bea Priestley). The positive momentum continued when she was booked on Main Event, specifically in a match with Chelsea Green.
“I had a match with Chelsea green, and I had a match with a few other girls on Main Event too, but I had a match with Chelsea green, and Chelsea, who I’ve known forever… in WWE sometimes you’re very restricted on what they’ll let you do… producers wouldn’t let me do my moves and my matches the way I wanted to do them,” Kelly explained. “So when I went up and I had the match [with] Chelsea. Chelsea was like, No, I know how you wrestle. You’re going to be Priscilla Kelly today, and we’re going to go out there… we’re going to wrestle the way you wrestle.’ And she, she just, she gave me one of my funnest matches in my time in WWE because it felt like I could relax. It felt like I could be myself. I could wrestle my style”.
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Denise Salcedo with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription. You can find her YouTube channel by searching for Denise Salcedo.
