Madison Rayne is a former Impact Wrestling Knockouts Champion, and a few months ago she competed in the second Mae Young Classic as Ashley Rayne.
Rayne didn’t make it very far in the tournament, but despite her lack of victories some fans were hopeful that she would end up signing with WWE. However, it wasn’t meant to be as she ultimately signed a contract with Ring of Honor.
The Mae Young Classic Competitor spoke to CBS Pittsburgh about her experience working with WWE, and she noted that it was very positive.
“Conversations between WWE and myself were always positive. I always got great feedback on everything I did, from the tryout a year ago to just recently doing Mae Young. This past year has been the first and only time that I’ve ever worked in any capacity with WWE. So, that was really exciting this many years into my career, to finally have been able to do that. But it’s about trying to figure out what was going to be best for me and which company I would flourish the best in. I felt that Ring of Honor was my best option, and that is not saying that WWE offered me something and I said no, I just feel like I was always very honest and upfront about the fact that Columbus was my home and Columbus would remain my home.”
Rayne went on to say that she made it very clear that she wasn’t willing to potentially relocate to Orlando, which WWE often has talents do so they can train at the Performance Center.
“I understand that they have a system that they put their talent through, regardless of whether you’ve never taken one bump, or you’ve been wrestling for many years, and that system starts in Orlando. While wrestling is still very, very important to me, being a mother and being a wife, those two things are greatly more important. There was never that definitive conversation, but just given the fact that I knew and I never wanted there to be any gray area in my communication with WWE, and I made it clear that I could and would not be willing to relocate, I think that probably kind of settled the question there as far as whether or not a contract with WWE was going to be in my future.”
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