Jacy Jayne Was Worried She'd Be Fired Weeks Ahead Of WWE NXT Title Win

Jacy Jayne has emerged as one of the most promising additions to the main roster, with her Fatal Influence stablemates Fallon Henley and Lainey Reid alongside her. All three are currently reigning as champions, but looking back at the height of her "NXT" run, Jayne admitted that she was still battling anxiety in the weeks leading up to her NXT Women's Championship victory. 

"Before I won the title, I actually thought I was getting released," she admitted during an interview with Denise Salcedo. "I was having panic attacks thinking, like, it's over for me." Winning the title allowed her to get some momentum, but Jayne added that she still felt like she was in a "do-or-die" situation. 

"Every single time I'm on television, I have to be a 100%, I have to be on my game, I can't have any slip-ups," she said. Jayne then explained that her attitude and consistency eventually impressed the higher-ups, who believed that she could be placed in any position and still handle herself. "I think that's what ultimately brought me to main roster," Jayne said. "If I didn't have that title reign or all those opportunities, I don't think I'd be on main roster. I'd either be still in NXT or not here at all!"

Jayne recalled that she'd been in "NXT" for four years before winning the title. Although she "came in hot" with Toxic Attraction, she eventually fell down the card. Even so, she pointed out that she always had TV time as a supporting role before recalling her time with Chase U, where she believes she found herself as a wrestler, as she no longer wanted to play a supporting role. "I wanted to be champion, I wanted to be the main 'It Girl!'" she expressed.

Before Fatal Influence, there was Toxic Attraction, the stable in which Jacy Jayne established herself in front of the WWE audience alongside former WWE stars Mandy Rose and Gigi Dolin. However, Rose and Dolin both parted ways with WWE by 2025, after the faction officially disbanded in 2023 when Jayne turned on Dolin. According to Jayne, the entire process left her feeling in over her head, and she was very frustrated with her booking. 

"Shawn [Michaels] kind of made it really click for me," she explained. Jayne noted that WWE pushed back on her bids for more, and while she steadily improved, she got tired of waiting around and went directly to Shawn Michaels' office personally and asked for a match to prove herself. "Like, what do you need from me? Because clearly, I'm not doing what you need, so what do you need?"

Michaels told Jayne to stay consistent, so she kept asking for a match before being booked in a non-title match against then-NXT Women's Champion Stephanie Vaquer. "They were super happy with it, and I think the ball honestly started rolling from there," she said, adding that her stint in TNA also proved her worth. "They started to believe in me more and more, and through the title reign — I don't even think I was supposed to hold that title for long!"

In hindsight, Jayne recognizes that her WWE run was a process and suggested that some people simply don't want to wait and develop. However, she acknowledged that she, too, struggled with feelings of stagnation before deciding to change her outlook and apply herself as a wrestler.

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit Denise Salcedo, and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.