Taylor Wilde Opens Up About WWE Opportunity She Had To Turn Down

Tegan Nox was a recent guest on the Wilde On podcast where she spoke about the WWE Performance Center. Within the podcast, the host, Taylor Wilde revealed that she was originally set to be part of the Mae Young Classic. However, much like Nox herself, she got injured in training which is what stopped her from returning to WWE.

"I was invited to that first Mae Young Classic," Taylor Wilde revealed. "I hadn't been wrestling, this was like six, seven years retired, I was like, 'yeah, okay f*ck it. You don't get this opportunity all the time. WWE's going to run this all-women's tournament. If there's any reason to get my ass out of retirement, this is it.'"

"So I start training, I am a firefighter now and I am a lot stronger and healthier than I used to be. So I went to run to the turnbuckle, dude was going to pop me up, land on the top rope and I can't remember what I was going to do. He pops me up, but I overshot him," she revealed. "I basically could have done it myself, I overshot the turnbuckle, headbutting the beam. My face was all mangled. I landed on my feet and I was like, 'I'm okay.' But, it was the first time I had post-concussion syndrome. So I was like, 'that's enough.'"

"I made it six years professionally with a career on TV, here I am at 30 trying to get back in gear and I knock myself silly and have to get my face glued shut. I was like, 'Nah, pass,'" she revealed. "Everything happens for a reason. I wasn't ready then and it still took me a few more years, but I'm back now. A career for a female wrestler is different now, 35 is not the kiss of death anymore. I feel like I have a lot more to give."

During the interview, Tegan Nox told Taylor Wilde about the mental health help that is available to WWE talent.

"What I found the Performance Center really good for is they're very into people's mental health," Nox revealed. "So, at one point during the second knee surgery, I was in a really bad place. I told one of the coaches and within hours I was in a therapy session with one of their people. It was all so quick. They just want to help make your mind right. Because, if your mind's not right, then nothing else is going to be right. It's good to have a place where you can do that sort of stuff and be like, 'oh, I'm having a bad day, they've given me a therapist so I'm going to take full advantage of it.' It helped a lot."

Tegan Nox also spoke about what else the Performance Center had to offer. She specifically mentioned the gym and the promo classroom as great facilities.

"They have the promo room which is really good," Nox said. "You can just cut promo after promo after promo and watch it all back and get feedback from all the coaches, which is great. The gym is amazing with the strength coach, Sean. It's incredible. I've never seen something like that, with as much equipment as I was used to, which was just a dumbbell and a band. Now it's like, 'hey, here's a machine that you can do squats on that doesn't involve you loading up your back."

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit the Wilde On podcast with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.