Kendal Grey knows some fans roll their eyes when WWE signs athletes instead of independent wrestlers, but she is not letting that label stick to her.
While speaking to Complex Graps, Kendal Grey admitted she did not come through the indies, but said everyone has a different path into wrestling and that does not mean she lacks passion.
“Honestly I feel like just because certain people are like everyone grows up and has a different path to get to to where they want to go. Just because I don’t have like an independent um background, I come from an athletic background doesn’t mean I’m not passionate about it. Doesn’t mean that I love it.”
Grey said wrestling was already part of her life growing up, even if she never thought WWE was actually a realistic career path. She watched the product, played the video games with her brother, and went to events with her dad, but becoming a WWE Superstar never felt like something that could really happen to her at the time.
“You know, growing up I never knew that I could be in the WWE. I watched it. I you know, me and my brother played the video games, my dad would take us to events, but I never knew in my head like that would be a possibility for me.”
Now that she is in NXT, Grey says she is fully locked in. She made it clear that coming from athletics does not make her some outsider just passing through, because she cannot see herself doing anything else and believes her passion is just as strong as anyone who took the independent route.
“But now that it is and now that I am here no matter if I came from an athletic background, I couldn’t see myself doing anything else. And I’m just as passionate if not more. I feel like just because we have different backgrounds doesn’t mean that I’m not taking this serious or I’m not passionate about it.”
Grey also did not pretend she has everything figured out. She admitted that not working her way up through the independents means there are experiences she missed, but she said she knows that, accepts it, and wants to learn everything she can about the business.
“Honestly, yeah, I do, you know, I think coming from an athletic background, I don’t I do miss out on like you know, having to work your way up and coming from the independents and stuff like that. But I feel like that doesn’t mean, you know, I know that and I feel like I do have a lot to learn, but I feel like I’m very open-minded to that. And I understand that. So like I am new to the business, but I have a lot to learn and I want to learn. I want to learn everything.”
As for the people doubting her, Grey sounds like she is using that noise as fuel. She said negativity is part of life, not everyone is going to like you, and every person saying she cannot or should not do this only makes her want to work harder.
“I feel like for me for anything, like anything negative or anything, you know, at the end of the day people are going to hate on you for something. I feel like not everyone’s going to like you and that’s just life and that’s in everything. And I feel like for me negativity or like doubters or people saying that I can’t do it or shouldn’t do it, I feel like that just ultimately motivates me and lights a fire for me to work even harder to prove them wrong.”
Grey summed up her attitude pretty clearly: fans can believe whatever they want right now, but she plans on changing their minds in the ring: “Like, all right, you believe this, but I’m going to prove you different, you know?”
Bottom line, Grey hears the criticism about WWE’s athlete-heavy recruiting pipeline, but she is not apologizing for how she got here. She knows she has work to do, but she also knows she wants this badly, and the doubters are only giving her more reason to prove she belongs.
Do you think fans are too harsh on NXT recruits who come from athletic backgrounds instead of the independent scene? Please share your thoughts and feedback in the comments below.
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