2018 has been a very good year for Madison Rayne. The five-time TNA Knockouts Champion was a participant in the 2018 WWE Mae Young Classic tournament. She was also a part of the only women’s match on the historic “All In” card earlier this year. The 32-year-old has been involved with the professional wrestling industry since 2005.
Throughout the years, Rayne has worked for promotions such as Ohio Championship Wrestling (OCW), SHIMMER, and TNA. Earlier this year, Rayne announced that she signed a one-year deal with Ring Of Honor (ROH). During a recent conversation with KDKA CBS 2 Pittsburgh, Rayne discussed signing with ROH. It turns out, Rayne did talk with WWE about possibly joining their roster.
However, relocating to Orlando to be near the Performance Center and NXT wasn’t an option for her:
“Conversations between WWE and myself were always positive. I always got great feedback on everything I did, from the tryout a year ago to just recently doing Mae Young. This past year has been the first and only time that I’ve ever worked in any capacity with WWE. So, that was really exciting this many years into my career, to finally have been able to do that.
“But it’s about trying to figure out what was going to be best for me and which company I would flourish the best in. I felt that Ring of Honor was my best option, and that is not saying that WWE offered me something and I said no, I just feel like I was always very honest and upfront about the fact that Columbus was my home and Columbus would remain my home.
“I understand that they have a system that they put their talent through, regardless of whether you’ve never taken one bump, or you’ve been wrestling for many years, and that system starts in Orlando. While wrestling is still very, very important to me, being a mother and being a wife, those two things are greatly more important.
“There was never that definitive conversation, but just given the fact that I knew and I never wanted there to be any gray area in my communication with WWE, and I made it clear that I could and would not be willing to relocate, I think that probably kind of settled the question there as far as whether or not a contract with WWE was going to be in my future.”
