The returning Summer Rae deep dives into her forthcoming WWE appearance.
WWE is one week out from their 2022 Royal Rumble Premium Live Event. The fields for the traditional women’s and men’s Rumble matches are taking shape and the women’s match will feature the returns of The Bella Twins (Nikki & Brie Bella), Summer Rae, IMPACT Knockouts Champion Mickie James, Michelle McCool and Kelly Kelly.
As January 29th inches closer, Summer Rae chatted with Renee Paquette on Oral Sessions to discuss her upcoming appearance. She received the phone call from referee John Cone, who also works in the company’s Talent Relations department. At the time, Summer was with current IMPACT Wrestling talent Tenille Dashwood and shared how happy Dashwood was for her.
I remember at the beginning of the pandemic, living in New York, I was like, ‘Connecticut’s kind of close. I wonder if I could work for headquarters’ and like, and then the pandemic hits. So I like — always [Mark] Carrano and [John] Cone would message me happy birthday and I never burned the bridge but I also don’t have access to Vince [McMahon] or anything and then I went to Tenille [Dashwood’s] show on IMPACT TV because I just happened to be in Vegas and I was like — and of course the dirt sheets picked that up and were like, ‘Oh, she’s going there’ and I was like, ‘No, I’m just not — at this –’ very coincidental. I just happen to go to her show, you know? I guess I could’ve sat in the back but I wanted to see her, you know? And so, I’m literally packing for Abu Dhabi, it’s like 9 o’clock at night and I see John Cone’s name pop up on my phone and I went, ‘What?’ And you just know. I literally picked up the phone, I said, ‘What do you want?’ And he was like, ‘Vince saw –’ I go, ‘Oh, don’t you play coy with it. What on earth? What is this? It’s been four-and-a-half years’ and he goes, ‘Well, putting together a list of potential girls, wanted to gauge your interest’ and I kinda was like, I honestly didn’t even really get my hopes up. I said, ‘Well that’s flattering and cool, of course.’ There’s only been, he said three women’s Rumbles?
Yeah, so I was like, ‘That’s amazing.’ Growing up, the Rumble for me is like my favorite pay-per-view. It was always that or Money In The Bank I thought was really cool and course Mania everyone loves but, all my guy friends love Rumble. It’s just fun, it’s exciting.
So I was like, ‘That’s crazy’ and I think I called my mom and was like, ‘You’ll never guess what?’ And my mom was like, ‘Oh, what?’ And I literally flew to the Middle East. So it was like, they were like, ‘You won’t find out until probably in the new year.’ I was like, ‘Okay, great.’ So got it, received it, let it go and then he called me, I think five days later and was like, ‘Well, Merry Christmas because we actually have an answer for you and it’s yes’ and I was with Tenille and I was like, ‘Really?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah’ and then in my head I just started thinking, I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, okay. Gear? What moves do I do? What is my entrance?’ And I was like, ‘Wait, when is this? Who do I tell? Do I not tell? Where is it?’ So it was just all in your head and Tenille was like so happy for me. She’s like, ‘Oh my Gosh!’ And I was like that too but I was like processing it. I’m like, ‘Wait, so does he know I have red hair?’ And they’re like, ‘Yeah, Johnny loves it, Vince thinks it’s cool’ and I was like, ‘Okay’ and so then I — and then I didn’t even ask who else was [in the match]. I was just like, ‘Okay, great’ and then I hung up the phone and Tenille’s like, ‘That’s great! Spin kick, spin kick, cover.’ She’s like, ‘Do a little spin kick, spin kick, roll through, you know? You have to be in there for two minutes or 20, who knows?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, that’s true’ so I love that response for me for that. She’s just a really good friend friend so then I kind of was like, ‘Oh shoot, I’m overseas forever’ so that’s when I kind of was like, ‘I don’t even know anyone, to like a ring or fix gear’ or anything so, you know, luckily I have really good pieces of gear that I have spent $1,500 dollars on that I have never really worn but once. But I’ve been able to alter stuff, which I know is gonna annoy some people but also, no one pays my bills and like, you know, that’s just what I wanna do.
She has had the opportunity to catch up with fellow talents in the match. She was informed of how hectic the match can be at points but feels she’s easy to work with. She went on to add that she hopes to have a ‘Total Divas’ moment in the match, seeing as how there are multiple former cast members competing in this year’s Rumble.
So, I talked to a bunch of the girls and you know, they all were like, ‘It’s an insane match to put together and everything changes up until the moment that you walk out’ and I’m just like, ‘How is that even possible?’ Like imagine someone goes up for a superplex and you forget and there’s someone across the way and they get suplexed on, like it’s just interesting but, I mean I definitely have no ego. I feel like I’m very easy to work with and I think producers probably have a time with the boys and the girls matches for those because of all the personalities and the egos and getting your sh*t in so, you know, with me, I would love to have maybe like, maybe we could have a little Total Divas moment because there’s gonna be so many of us Total Divas in there and you know, have like maybe a spot with Nattie or something and then wave to my friends. I have like a lot of people coming.
Summer Rae stepped away from the ring for a period of time because she was diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome. She also had a bone spur on a vertebrae in her neck. She rolled around and did some MMA-related training and said she feels fine, but doesn’t think she could take on a full WWE schedule again.
So for me, it wasn’t like a, ‘Do I get cleared? Do I not?’ Situation. I don’t really know what — I’ll be fine, but then I’ll need to get adjusted and stuff so personally, I don’t think I could ever be on the road 200 days a year again bumping but I definitely can do some things but, I’m also not trying to get in there right now and take [a] suplex. I’d rather just do it while we’re out there and have the adrenaline going. But I rolled around with some people and stuff and done some MMA stuff and I didn’t feel rusty so…
Coming out of the 1/17 Monday Night Raw, both Bianca Belair and Liv Morgan were added to the women’s Royal Rumble field. To read a written recap of the program, click here.
If the quotes in this article are used, please credit Oral Sessions with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.
