Top WWE NXT Superstar Called A “Number Two” By Shawn Michaels

A comment from Shawn Michaels lit a fire under Jacy Jayne, pushing the WWE NXT Superstar to championship glory.

In a recent interview with Brad Gilmore, Jayne recalled how Michaels’ blunt assessment — that she wasn’t yet a “top star” — fueled her determination to prove him wrong. She said,

“There’s never been a time I was taken off TV or left out of a storyline. I just wasn’t one of the chosen ones, one of the main girls. I got complacent for a minute, thinking, ‘Well, at least I’m still on TV.’

“Then Creative and Shawn told me, ‘You’re a great number two, but you’re not a number one yet.’ I took that so personally. It lit such a fire in me. I thought, ‘Oh, really? I’m not a number one? Okay.’ I started night classes on top of my PC training and worked my ass off for months, just waiting for my shot.”

That shot came in a big way. Jayne ended Stephanie Vaquer’s reign to capture the NXT Women’s Championship — and she’s also in her first run as TNA Knockouts Champion, becoming the first Superstar to hold WWE and TNA gold at the same time.

On a recent episode of “The Nikki & Brie Show,” former WWE Superstar Brie Garcia opened up about her shift from the wrestling ring to reality television, as well as her journey into motherhood.

You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:

On transitioning away from wrestling to reality TV and becoming a mom: “Being a pro wrestler and then a reality star and then becoming a mom, finding that identity was hard. I didn’t know like how do I be the old Brie, mix it with the new Brie. But it was hard to lose baby weight. It was hard for me to keep up with all the girls. I wanted to be an excellent mother and a wife, but I didn’t want to lose my momentum in the game, but I did …”

On shifting into her soft girl era: “My 30s were definitely figuring out more identity, but towards the end of my 30s, I feel like I started to do this shift into my soft girl era … everyone always kind of saw what I loved which was nature being in a more slow paced life. But I feel like maybe in the last year you guys have visually really seen the shift.”