Jacy Jayne isn’t pretending she was always happy about spending years in NXT. The WWE Women’s United States Champion admitted there were times she got frustrated waiting for her main roster opportunity, but she now believes WWE was right to keep her there until she was ready.
During an appearance on Not Sam Wrestling Live, Sam Roberts brought up how fans often start calling for an NXT star to move up as soon as they find success. Jayne said wrestlers can easily convince themselves they’re ready for the next level before they actually are.
“I think a lot of talent get frustrated being down in NXT for a long time. You always think you’re ready for the next step, but in most cases you’re really not. You think you are, but then you get thrown into the deep end and it’s sink or swim.”
Jayne admitted she heard that message plenty of times while she was in NXT, and it didn’t always make the wait any easier. Looking back, though, she believes getting called up a couple of years earlier could have ended very differently for her.
“If you’re not ready, you’re gonna shoot yourself in the foot, essentially. I got told that so many times, and there were times that I was getting frustrated, but ultimately, I think everything happens for a reason. I think everything played out exactly the way it was supposed to.”
“If I had come up two years ago, or whatever the case was, there’s no way I would be in this kind of position. I wouldn’t have been ready. I probably would’ve sunk.”
Jayne then gave Shawn Michaels credit for keeping her in NXT and helping her improve, even when she wasn’t exactly thrilled about having to stay.
“So, thank you Shawn Michaels for keeping me around and helping me get better, even when I was annoying about it.”
That extra time eventually paid off. Jayne said elsewhere in the interview that when she finally reached the main roster, she knew she belonged there and felt prepared to handle the faster pace and pressure that comes with WWE television.
Jayne may have wanted the call-up sooner, but she now sees those extra years in NXT as a major reason she’s succeeding on SmackDown. Instead of being thrown into the deep end before she was ready, she arrived with enough experience to make an immediate impact.
Do you think WWE made the right call by keeping Jacy Jayne in NXT as long as they did, or should she have been moved to the main roster sooner? Let us know what you think in the comments.
