As one of the mainstays of the WWE Divas division in the mid-2010s, Summer Rae was one of those names who had the organic responsibilities of garnering attention. With fewer wrestling skills in her arsenal, WWE primarily used her in valet roles before eventually inserting her on the Total Divas reality show on the E Network. It was obvious that WWE wanted to utilize her ability as an on-screen character rather than a wrestler.
The name of Summer Rae eventually made it to the mainstream media with her original personality of Danielle Moinet taking the backseat. That identity still remains even after her WWE departure that came more than six years ago. Eventually, one of the WWE Legends and Cornerstone figures predicted the same while choosing the on-screen character of Moinet.
Coming up with a suitable TV name is a big decision in professional wrestling especially for the WWE Superstars as they would be known with that name to a global audience. While speaking to Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Summer Rae revealed how Dusty Rhodes played a pivotal role in helping to choose hers after rejecting her first option, Kylie Summers.
“He [Rhodes] goes, ‘What in the f*** is a Kylie Summers,'” Summer Rae revealed. “He said, ‘Your name will stick with you for the rest of your life, what you have for the rest of your life’… I said, ‘Kylie Summers, fine, what about Summer? Because it was Summers,’ and he was like, ‘Yeah, okay I like that.'”
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Dusty Rhodes offered all-round help toward Summer Rae
Admittedly, Dusty always wanted the wrestlers to have a name with two syllables since it would be easier for the fans to chant with those names. He also pushed the “Summer” phrase to be the first name of her character as it rolled off the announcer’s tongue. The American Dream always helped Summer Rae to make her comfortable in roles like announcing, refereeing, or being a General Manager,
“Dusty was the only person that believed in me super early. It was great, I think it was really good for my confidence so early on just like Dusty Rhodes was in my corner, it’s so great. I hear him all the time, he’d always tell us, especially when I was on Raw valeting, he’d always say, ‘Do it first and ask for forgiveness after.'” (quotes courtesy Wrestling INC)
Before signing with the WWE in 2011, Summer Rae enjoyed a career in the Lingerie Football League. During her NXT days, she found success as part of the BFFs with Sasha Banks before being called up to the main roster as the dancing partner of Fandango.
Later, she was seen as a romantic interest for the likes of Rusev (AEW’s Miro), Dolph Ziggler, Damian Sandow, and Tyler Breeze before shortly transforming into a wrestler. In 2016, she stopped wrestling forever due to an admitted neck injury after announcing her departure from the WWE.
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