For me, I got to start at FCW and see it turn into NXT, and I remember going to house shows, and there were legit ten fans in the crowd. Now, every weekend where we have a show, there are 300-plus people.
I was born in California and moved around a lot. When I was 17, I moved to Boston because my mom got a job there. The moment I went to Boston, everything just felt right and fell into place on how I wanted it to be.
I remember looking up wrestling schools at the age of 10, and I emailed so many people. The responses were that I had to be 16 or 18 to train, and that was a bummer.
I call Boston home because it's where I started coming into my own.
After a pay per view, I know there is TV the next day. But after Raw, I like to eat bad. I can have some pizza, French fries, a burger, live it up, a glass of wine - red, of course.
I was in the independent scene for two years before I got the call from the WWE.
It's really cool to see how many people try to imitate me or wear my stuff. I get a lot of Instagram videos of people doing my entrance. I think that's so cool. To see the variety of people, little girls, guys, doing it. I never really thought that would happen. It's amazing.
We are at a point now where people respect us and respect our work - the guys want to sit down and watch women's matches.
I went from two-minute matches when I started with NXT to eight, to 10, to 12.
When you have little girls bringing you your action figures for you to sign, it's like, 'Wow, things are happening, and dreams do come true.'
It's really cool, the opportunities that NXT brings. Who would ever thought that Jushin Liger would be in this company, Samoa Joe, Sami Zayn? It's crazy. Man, I don't know, bring anybody. I want to wrestle with everybody. Even I want to wrestle Jushin Liger, so I'm jealous.
To me, my dream is just to have it all. I would love to be the first woman to have a ladder match, the first woman to have a Money in the Bank match. That's just a dream of mine, but that's such a far dream that who knows if that's going to happen?
I just remember that when I started at NXT, I had no character. I had nothing. I was just so excited to be here and just to be a wrestler.
It feels like a whole other brand onto itself, and I know for the girls - and just speaking for myself - being at NXT has been such an amazing experienc, and I feel so accomplished here as wrestling as a woman and just showing fans that women can do it better than the men.
I know that at 'NXT TakeOver' and the fatal four-way, we'll definitely have people saying, 'Oh my God, those were not Divas; those were superstars right there.'
I always try to outdo the guys. It doesn't matter who you are. Even Sami Zayn - I want to have a better match than Sami Zayn, and he is absolutely incredible. I knew at a very young age that I wanted to change the definition of what it is to be a Diva and what it is to be a woman's wrestler.
People are talking about women's wrestling, and that's all I've ever wanted since I was ten years old. I wanted people to talk about the women and all they could do. We're celebrating women's wrestling. People want to see us, and we're just doing our best.
