Madison Rayne signed with AEW in early August which was a surprise to many fans as she was working as an in-ring competitor for IMPACT Wrestling. She was recently one-half of the Knockouts World Tag Team Champions along with Tenille Dashwood known as The Influence. Dashwood has since parted ways with IMPACT as well.
On the latest episode of AEW Unrestricted, Rayne talks about how happy she is to have stepped into an AEW ring but her primary goals moving forward is coaching for the promotion –
“You walk in and every day, you don’t really know what’s going to happen. When I had my initial conversations about coming to the company, it was primarily as a coach, and obviously, there were those, ‘You can wrestle, you’ve wrestled for way too long. There may be times where we have you as an in-ring competitor.’ The wrestler in me who still has a tiny shred of ego that needs to be filled a little bit, walking out into an arena and the reaction of the AEW fans is truly, I’m not just saying that because I’m happy and new and butterflies, but it’s truly unlike anything I’ve ever felt.
Getting to scratch that itch a little bit was perfect, but I do think going forward my duty will primarily be as a coach. That’s great too. I came in and did, a couple of matches for AEW fans or anybody who wasn’t super familiar with who Madison Rayne was, I got in the ring and showed that I kind of know how to do this thing so hopefully I will have earned the trust of people who maybe didn’t know me before I came in. I’m glad I got to do that and am always happy to accept the challenge and will continue to accept them if they are put in front of me, but I think for now, as far as I know today as we sit here, coaching is going to be my primary goal.”
Since joining AEW, Rayne has a 2-2 record in singles action as she has defeated Leila Grey in her debut on Rampage followed by a defeat against Viva Van on Dark. Her losses came to both Serena Deeb and the TBS Champion Jade Cargill. Rayne is a former five-time Knockouts Champion and a former three-time Knockouts Tag Team Champion.
(Transcrption Credit – Fightful, Interview Credit – AEW Unrestricted)
