Steve Carrier on July 31, 2025
Before she ever stepped foot in a wrestling ring, Bea Priestley was fighting for her life.
During an emotional segment on Rule Breakers with Saraya, the former WWE star, also known as Blair Davenport, opened up about a terrifying chapter from her teenage years—when violent nighttime seizures led to the shocking discovery of a brain tumor growing on her skull. It wasn’t just a medical scare. It nearly ended everything before her career ever began.
Priestley said it all started when she was around 14 years old. Her seizures would hit at night, and because she had no memory of them, her parents initially thought she was suffering from panic attacks and sent her to therapy.
“I was fine until I was like 14. And then all of a sudden, I started having these really violent seizures, but only at nighttime. I tried to tell my parents, but they didn’t know anything about it—they thought I was having panic attacks. So I was sent to therapy.”
Things escalated quickly. She recalled falling out of bed and knocking herself unconscious, all while still being treated like the issue was psychological.
“I’d have multiple seizures, but I wouldn’t remember them. There were times I’d fall out of bed, whack my head on my bedside table, and get knocked out. They thought I had childhood trauma or something, but I had no memory of anything like that.”
The turning point came when she suffered a seizure mid-flight during a family trip to England.
“When I was 15, we went back to England to visit family and I had a seizure on the plane. I remember blacking out in my seat and waking up with staff restraining me at the back of the plane. That’s when my parents were like, ‘Okay, this is something different.’”
Doctors later found a benign tumor—not inside the brain, but growing on the skull itself. And as she hit puberty, the brain began to press against it, causing life-threatening complications.
“Back in New Zealand, they sent me to a neurologist. They found I had a brain tumor—but it was on my skull. They think I was born with it, and then as I hit my teenage years, my brain started growing into the tumor, so it was constant.”
She was placed on strong medication, but it eventually failed. One episode saw her blacking out mid-commute and waking up on a random train platform with no memory of how she got there.
“I was on a medication called Tegritol that made me drowsy, slowed my brain down, and basically made me feel like a zombie. It worked for a few years, but then stopped working. I ended up blacking out on my way home from work and found myself on a random train platform, no idea how I got there.”
From choking hazards to locked bathroom doors, her life became a constant threat. Eventually, doctors told her surgery was the only way out.
“There were times I had seizures while eating—if my flatmates weren’t there, I would’ve choked. I couldn’t lock the bathroom door in case I had a seizure. Couldn’t sleep with my door closed. I wasn’t even allowed to have a job anymore. My dad had to drive 10 hours to pick me up and take me back home.”
The surgery was invasive, but it saved her life—and paved the path for her wrestling dreams.
“They cut my skull, pulled my face back, took out the tumor, and reattached it with metal. I’ve got a scar from my ear all the way across and a dent in my skull.”
“I’ve never been concussed in my life. I’ve been kicked in the head, dropped on my head, never been concussed. I always say, it’s because I’ve got a metal head.”
Priestley’s story isn’t just a tale of survival—it’s a brutal reminder of what she endured just to live a normal life. And for fans who’ve watched her fight in the ring, it adds a whole new layer of respect to her journey.
What do you think of Bea Priestley’s decision to push forward despite the risks? Share your thoughts and reactions in the comments.
Please credit Ringside News if you use the above transcript in your publication.
July 31, 2025 2:14 pm
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