Josh Barnett
August 25, 2017 3:17 pm ET
Lacey Evans entered WWE with a goal to become famous, but not in the way you might expect.
She wanted to use the platform a career in sports entertainment provides to have a voice to share her story – how she didn’t let growing up in a family tormented by addiction and living in a tent for a time stop her from becoming a United States Marine, a mom, a business owner and now a member of the NXT roster and competitor in the inaugural Mae Young Classic.
“I’m trying to make a positive out of a negative,” she told For The Win. “I hope I can make an impact on people who need it. …
“It was a rough life growing up between the addiction and depression and the suicide attempts that came later. My family was dealing with a lot of things. I was stuck in the middle of it. All I knew is what I didn’t want to become when I became older. I guess I had good role models in a bad way. That made me work extra hard and keep my mind focused.”
Evans, 27, signed with NXT, WWE’s third brand focused on development, in April 2016 and had her first televised singles match in January. She was later selected to be among the NXT talents to participate in the Mae Young Classic, a tournament for 32 women from around the world.
WWE Network will release the first four hour-long episodes of the tournament on Monday night with the next four to be released Sept. 4. The live final will stream on Sept. 12 at 10 p.m. ET.
Lacey Evans (Photo: WWE)
Evans said the performers were “having a rough day” when a group of women from NXT were pulled from the ring by the trainers and told they were in the Mae Young Classic. And how did they express their excitement?
“Well, it was short-lived because we had to get back to working out,” she said, “but it means more than I can even explain. It is the first-ever women’s tournament that WWE has had and there were only select spots. … There’s only 32 worldwide to represent what being a hardworking woman is and to be able to show what we’re capable of. I was so blessed and excited.”
Among her disappointments is that her father never saw her wrestling career. Evans is one of seven children. Her mother, she says, was addicted to drugs and left the family when Lacey was 10. The children were raised by their father, but he too struggled with drugs and depression, she said.
The family moved frequently “depending on the time of his life and the situation,” she said. Evans said she lived at one point in virtually every state in the South from Texas to Florida and often in less-than-ideal surroundings.
“We lived in either trailers or tents and did what we had to do,” she said. “He bought an air conditioning unit that you would put in your window and cut a hole through the tent and put the unit in with duct tape. That was our AC system. We had a plug-in mini-fridge from Walmart. It wasn’t as bad as people think.”
Her voice catches a bit, though, when she talks about her father, who had told her when she began to pursue her wrestling dream that he once wanted to be a wrestler too.
“My father overdosed two months before my WWE tryout,” she said. “My biggest thing, and he didn’t make it. He didn’t make it to any graduation I’ve ever had. Not high school. Not college. Not the Marine Corps. I’ve done big things and he never made it to one.”
Her brothers and sisters also struggled with drugs, although she said she can’t blame them for their issues, given the environment in which they were raised. She is the middle child and felt a duty to take care of them when they faltered and lift them up when she could.
“I knew what kind of lifestyle they had and I know what they’ve been through because I’ve been through it with them,” she said. “Sometimes it’s easier to just give up and lead the life that you were shown at a very young age. I help them daily, all the time and always will.”
Five years ago, Evans, then 22 and a corporal in the Marines, heard from her siblings that they needed help to get clean. They moved to where she was based in Parris Island, S.C., and started a family construction company with her husband, a general contractor whom she has been with she was 14. Some of her siblings worked for her.
“I was trying to make things better and give them a reason to be OK, a reason to not do drugs and a reason to be successful in life,” she said. “I bought a couple of houses so they would never not have a roof over their heads.”
She said the reason she avoided addiction was because she kept busy. She was a softball player and was a state champion amateur wrestler. She washed dishes at a local pizza place. Her “saving grace,” she said, was joining the Marines at age 19.
While on active duty, she graduated from college with a nursing degree after having worked as a nursing assistant and phlebotomist before enlisting.
During her five years in the Marines, Evans was a member of the military police with the Special Reaction Team – a group she described as similar to a SWAT team that handles security at military bases in critical situations.
“It was difficult at first,” she said. “A lot of people underestimate women’s capabilities, especially for that type of job because you have to have a physical strength but also a mental one. I proved very quickly that I could conduct myself under tough conditions mentally.”
The final test? Prove how strong she was. Wearing her own 70 pounds of gear, she had to drag the heaviest man in the company, who weighed 250 pounds and had 70 pounds of gear, out of a building in a drill.
“I loved every minute of it,” she said of her time in the Marines.
Her entry into wrestling came when a staff sergeant she knew was working an independent show in Georgia for American Premier Wrestling about 90 minutes away. She went to watch the show and was hooked. She trained with the staff sergeant during the week and they were in the ring together at the next show.
“I have a daughter and worked hard at my job and it was something I did as a weekend getaway,” she said. “It was something amazing and awesome and refreshing.”
Asuka relinquishes title
No one has beaten NXT women’s champion Asuka in the ring, but she appears to have been toppled by an injury.
Asuka, whose 523-plus day title reign is the longest for a man or woman in modern WWE history, relinquished the title Thursday during the NXT tapings in Orlando after suffering a broken collarbone at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn III on Saturday.
WWE said Asuka landed awkwardly from a throw from Ember Moon and an X-ray after the match confirmed the break. Initial indications were should we miss six to eight weeks.
During the segment to announce that Asuka had relinquished the title, NXT general manager said he had been negotiating with RAW GM Kurt Angle and Smackdown GM Daniel Bryan for Asuka’s services.
Presumably, this will allow her to go to the main roster after she recovers without having suffered a loss and continue the storyline question of whether she can be beat.
The #NXTUniverse cheers for @WWEAsuka moments after relinquishing the #NXTWomensTitle to GM @RealKingRegal. #ThankYouAsuka #WeAreNXT pic.twitter.com/2CjDsDKQXU
— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) August 25, 2017
Big Cass has surgery
Just as Big Cass was about to finish off his rivalry with former partner Enzo Amore and move to a potentially more prominent spot, Cass tore an anterior cruciate ligament on RAW Monday.
Cass went to hit Amore with a boot but flipped over the rope and landed awkwardly on the floor outside the ring. The match continued, but the knee buckled when he went for his finishing move, the Empire Elbow. He was clearly frustrated in the immediate aftermath.
He is likely facing a recovery time of nine months following surgery.
Cass’ girlfriend, Carmella, tweeted a hospital bed photo before Cass went into surgery.
He's in more agony over the lack of pizza than he is over the surgery 🙈🙈🙈🍕🍕🍕❤️❤️❤️ pic.twitter.com/5RtidhMmDX
— MS Money in the BANK (@CarmellaWWE) August 25, 2017
As for Amore, he made his debut on 205 Live on Tuesday night, confronting cruiserweight champion Neville as the show went off the air.
When rumors started weeks ago that Amore was bound for the cruiserweight division, he tweeted that he was 206 pounds, one more than the weight limit. But WWE has more recently been billing him at 200 pounds.
Around the ring
- Ring of Honor has television tapings scheduled for Saturday in Atlanta at the same venue that used to host WCW Saturday Night. An honor rumble is scheduled with the winner to face ROH world champion and Atlanta native Cody Rhodes later that night.
- ROH has new world six-man tag team champions as the Young Bucks and Adam “Hangman” Page beat Dalton Castle and the Boys at the War of the Worlds UK pay-per-view Saturday.
- Eli Drake is the new GFW Global champion after winning a 20-man Gauntlet for Gold, as shown Thursday on Impact Wrestling. Drake began at No. 1 and lasted the entire match, pinning Eddie Edwards for the title. Drake is a 15-year veteran, but this is his first singles title from a major promotion.
