Former NXT star Taya Valkyrie who went by the name of Franky Monet in the NXT and a former Impact Knockouts Champion recently talked about the late great professional wrestler Shad Gaspard and revealed how the WWE Hall of Famer got her to wrestling.
Taya Valkyrie made her debut against Cora Jade who was a trainee jobber back then. In a short booking, Monet completely dominated her opponent. It looks like WWE has big plans for the indie sensation.
Taya Valkyrie Remembers Shad Gaspard Bringing Her To Wrestling
Taya Valkyrie went by the name of Frankie Monet in her previous run in the NXT. She worked in the promotions like Lucha underground, AAA and Impact wrestling. She is one of the longest reigning TNA knockouts champion too.
Fans who know about her are extremely glad to see are in the biggest promotion in the world right now. Finally, she has made a mark. And by the way WWE made her promo packages and the way she got booked in her first match, it looked like WWE is planning a main event push for her.
But Taya got released from WWE before her career could start properly. As WWE was reshaping NXT and stopped pushing and bringing stars from the indies, Taya had to be sacrificed as well. Currently she is active in various wrestling promotions including Impact Wrestling and MLW.
Taya Valkyrie who went by the name of Franky Monet in the NXT and a former Impact Knockouts Champion recently spoke to Steve Fall at NBC Sports Boston where he talked about late great professional wrestler Shad Gaspard and revealed how the WWE Hall of Famer got her to wrestling. She said;
“I had already been competing in fitness for a really long time. I had already had the idea of being a wrestler and everything like that. It was a few weeks before I won the Canadian National fitness competition. I was really lean, super spray tanned, and dressed like a female John Cena at a live event.
“They ended up coming into where I worked. We were having a wrestling night theme because WWE was in town. My manager knew that I was always talking about wanting to be a wrestler, so he brought them directly to me. Shad was like, ‘You look like a wrestler. You want to be a wrestler?’, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, yes, but I don’t know how I’m gonna be a wrestler.’ It was just a weird, coincidental thing.”
“I was also working as a personal trainer. So the next day, they all came to Gold’s Gym where I worked and I got them in for free and whatever. But I remember Shad asked me for, like pics, eight by 10s of me, or something that he could hand to talent relations.
“I printed off these awful quality fitness pictures of myself and put them in a little envelope. Honestly, WWE ended up calling me a few weeks later. I had like a few phone conversations, but nothing really came of it.”
“Then I did the Arnold Amateur the following spring, and then I was invited to come for a tryout after that. So that was prior to me even training with Lance Storm prior to any of that. Then it was after that try out that they’re like, ‘We really like your look, we like this about you, but maybe you should like to try to get some training’, and I was like, ‘Okay’. I was already living in Calgary so they pointed me in the direction of Lance Storm, and then yeah, here we are.”
H/T to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription