Jacy Jayne Details Shawn Michaels Backstage Meeting And Singles Push

Jacy Jayne Opens Up About Backstage Push, Transition to Singles Success, and Fan Backlash

Current WWE Women’s United States Champion Jacy Jayne recently reflected on her career trajectory, detailing her transition from Toxic Attraction tag team member to a prominent singles champion across both WWE NXT and TNA Wrestling.

Speaking in an interview with Denise Salcedo, Jayne admitted that following the split of Toxic Attraction, she struggled with finding her footing and initially pushed creative before being ready.

“I think obviously that Shawn and the creative team, they believed in me in Toxic Attraction. I feel like once Toxic Attraction split, I don’t want to say I lost myself but I definitely wasn’t in the best headspace wrestling wise. I guess I’m going to really peel back the curtain here. I feel like I was in over my head. I felt like I was ready for the next step when in reality I really wasn’t. I was kind of pushing backstage like, give me the opportunity, give me the opportunity. They were like, no, you’ve got to work on stuff. You’ve got to get better in the ring, you’ve got to get more comfortable on the mic. There’s little things that you’re just not getting yet. I was very frustrated but I worked really hard behind the scenes for a long time and I felt like I finally understood my role in wrestling, being a heel. Shawn kind of really made it click for me, he was like, ‘This is how we need you, this is the character you are, whatever the case is.’ I kind of got tired of waiting around again and I went into Shawn Michaels office one day and I was like, ‘You don’t need to make me the champion, you don’t need to do anything like that, I just want one singles match to show you that I can be a singles wrestler. What do you need from me, because clearly I’m not doing what you need. So, what do you need from me?’ He told me to just stay consistent. So then I just kept asking, please, just give me a match.”

Jayne pointed to an un-advertised television match against Stephanie Vaquer as the catalyst for her eventual push into title contention, which led to cross-promotional opportunities in TNA Wrestling and a title reign totaling 300 combined days.

“I finally got a match with Stephanie Vaquer — it was not for the title, it was just a random match on television on a Tuesday. They were super happy with it and I think the ball honestly started rolling from there. Then, I went to TNA, just me being able to work both schedules and have singles matches and show that I can be my own person and that I don’t need to rely on someone else. I think that’s where the ball really started to roll and they started to believe in me more and more. I think through the title reign, I don’t even think I was supposed to hold that title very long. The transitional champion thing, that came from somewhere. That was not was just fans talking. I really believe I was actually supposed to be a transitional champion but I just kept having good matches and helping people get over and telling the stories that they wanted. I kept my mouth shut and yeah, it turned into a 300 day combined reign.”

Describing the day she captured the NXT Women’s Championship, Jayne shared that the moment initially felt surreal.

“I mean, leading up to it, I was kind of just like — it didn’t really feel like it was happening. I felt like I was having almost like an out of body experience that day. It’s something that I envisioned happening for so long but then when they day came, I was like, ‘Wait, really, me? Okay.’”

Addressing the mixed fan reactions and internet discourse surrounding her elevated position, Jayne noted that she embraces the criticism as fuel for her heel persona.

“Handling the reactions, ugh. I mean, you couldn’t write anything better. People were so mad. I have been the underdog my whole career for some odd reason. I feel like even after everything I accomplished in NXT, I have the United States Championship, I’m still for some reason looked at as the underdog. I really don’t understand that because I don’t know what more I could do to show everyone that I am that girl. I am the new it girl. But, I love the hate. I love when people boo me. I love when people underestimate me because it just keeps making me work harder and it makes me want it more.”

Jayne currently serves as the leader of Fatal Influence alongside Jazmyn Nyx and Fallon Henley, while actively defending the WWE Women’s United States Championship on Friday Night SmackDown.