Kay Lee Ray Discusses Become a Record-Setting Champion in NXT UK, How She Got Hooked on Wrestling

– The National recently interviewed NXT UK women’s champion Kay Lee Ray, who is now the longest reigning title holder of the belt to date. Below are some highlights.

On her memories of wrestling in her youth: “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 getting hooked after joining her future fiancé Stevie Xavier at a training session: “I started watching [pro wrestling] all the time from that point on. I was training all the time and I just wished I had watched it since I was young. There’s just so much wrestling I have not seen and I need to catch up on. I’ve tried to watch a lot of that but it did become a passion for me when I turned 15 and jumped into training.”

Her thoughts on if NXT UK was around when she was younger: “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.”

Kay Lee Ray on 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.”