Millie McKenzie dives into her departure from WWE.
In the summer of 2022, WWE made the announcement that their NXT U.K. brand would be going on hiatus and they planned to relaunch as NXT Europe. The latest on the relaunch came via Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque at the post-Money in the Bank press conference. He stated that the merger with UFC slowed the process down.
Millie McKenzie, who was part of NXT U.K., spoke about her time with the brand while on the Hitting The Turnbuckle Podcast. She stated that it was a big shock no longer being in WWE and she had gotten used to the schedule, but now she’s back on the road on a weekly basis.
I think obviously, it was a shock initially and a big change (no longer being with WWE) because I was going from wrestling maybe once every six weeks with WWE to getting back on the road and wrestling every weekend. So that was a shock but you know, I’m enjoying it again. Tiring, but it is fun.
The first time WWE offered McKenzie a deal, she turned it down. She’s glad she got the offer but felt it was not right for her at the time. Millie added that she’s glad she was able to go her own route and then circle back to WWE when she was more mature.
She recalled doing training camps for the company and described it as a ‘cutthroat environment’. She would be nervous come show day and did not want to keep putting herself through that stress. She went to Butch a.k.a. Pete Dunne for advice and he advised her to travel the world before coming into WWE on a full-time basis.
I think the first-ever time they (WWE) contacted me was via email. Obviously, because I trained with Pete (Dunne), the people I was hanging around, most of them were signed anyway. It was kind of — not in the talks but people would always be like, ‘Oh, have you heard from them? Have you heard from them?’ But people talk, and then yeah, I just had an email and yeah, it was a shock really. I think I was 18 when I got the email because I started wrestling when I was 14. Obviously, soon it became like a career for me but at 18, to be messaged by WWE, it was ridiculous really and yeah, I did two shows for them, maybe three. Did a bit of time with them and I was very grateful that they offered me something but for me at that time, it wasn’t the right thing to do. I wasn’t ready for it and I’m very glad that I didn’t accept, just because the stage of life I was at, I wasn’t ready for anything like that so I’m glad I had a few years away and then I returned when I was a bit more mature let’s say. I think not fully there but a little bit more (she laughed).
The opportunity to wrestle there was incredible but me as person, I would go to these training camps for two weeks and I’d be a nervous wreck the whole time. I wouldn’t eat, I’d be so stressed. It wasn’t a very nice environment at the time. It was very cutthroat, not everyone was kind of friends to your face but then you never knew who was saying stuff behind your back as life is. But on the days of the shows, oh my God, I’d be so stressed out. There’s stressed and then there’s — I’d be dry heaving backstage. It was horrible and I thought, do you know what? I’m not confident enough in my own ability to keep putting myself through this yet. I wanted to travel more and I did have people like Pete I spoke to and said, ‘What should I do?’ And he said, ‘I’d go and travel. Travel for a bit. Get around, go to Japan, learn from Meiko and when you’re more comfortable, a little more settled, then come back because they’ll come asking again.’ Thankfully they did.
Looking back at NXT U.K. going on hiatus, McKenzie says talents were put on a group call and informed about the news. If the opportunity to go back presented itself, McKenzie thinks she would go back.
She expressed that she’s grateful for all the traveling she’s been able to do as an independent talent, but does not think it’s realistically sustainable. Millie said she misses the NXT U.K. schedule sometimes.
We were all kind of on a group call and they just said, ‘Look, we’ve got some news for you. We’ve had a great time with NXT UK. You’ve all grown, the brand has grown. But we wanna move on to bigger and better things now so we’re gonna close this brand. Give us some time and we’re gonna sort Europe.’ That’s what they said to us and then they sacked us all (she smiled). Thank you all for that. Yeah, I think they’re working on it and they said stay in touch, keep in contact and I guess I’d go back. I think anyone would and I think anyone that says they wouldn’t is lying. I’m very grateful for the year I’ve had traveling and stuff but I think realistically, it’s not sustainable. I’m young, I’m 22. I’m wrestling every week and stuff I love it, I do love it but I think if I wanna be doing this full-time, there needs to be a mix body-wise. As I said, I’m wrestling three times a week and training and I miss the WWE schedule sometimes. Somewhere in the middle would be nice, and obviously it’s nice having a stable income as opposed to now, if I get injured, I’ve got nothing. I need that stable income coming in. I’ve got bills to pay and fortunately, I eat a lot.
At the July 16th Sendai Girls’ Pro Wrestling event at Korakuen Hall, Millie McKenzie became Sendai Girls’ World Champion.
If the quotes in this article are used, please credit Hitting The Turnbuckle Podcast with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.
