Tamyra Mensah-Stock – better known as Tyra Mae Steele in WWE – was one of the names released from WWE following WrestleMania 42. With a strong foundation in amateur freestyle wrestling and a gold medal victory at the Tokyo Olympics, Steele came in strong on “WWE LFG” and won the first season. While some might be surprised by WWE deciding to cut her, Bully Ray, who was involved in “LFG,” claims he saw the move coming.
“Tyra Mae Steele is a credit to the United States of America, a credit to women’s amateur wrestling, a gold medalist — my god, what an incredible accomplishment!” he exclaimed during an episode of “Busted Open Radio.” “Nothing but the highest of praise for Tyra Mae Steele and what she was able to do for our country, representing it well, and becoming a gold medalist … However, this is the world of professional wrestling, and I don’t think she quite was grasping it, or was moving forward the way she wanted to.”
Bully further expressed that he’d go as far as to say that Steele shouldn’t have won season 1 of “WWE LFG,” and that the coaches involved didn’t believe it either. Instead, Bully claimed that Zena Sterling’s injury led to Steele getting the win over her.
When it came to Steele’s progression as a pro wrestler, Bully recalled helping her get into her character authentically by not pretending to be happy 24/7, but didn’t see it enough.
“I didn’t see it in her, the other coaches didn’t see it in her,” he said.
‘She did not impress enough to continue her career at WWE.’
Ray continued to unpack where Steele went wrong in her pro wrestling stint, harkening back to her final “WWE LFG” match against Sterling, claiming that even while she was injured, she still outperformed Steele in “LFG.” He said Sterling was the clear winner and would have been chosen if not for the injury.
“They gave [Steele] the contract and since the end of season one until this weekend, they did not see enough of Tyra Mae Steele or she did not impress enough to continue her career at WWE,” Ray said.
When it comes to WWE focusing on former athletes to transition into pro wrestling, Ray expressed that he isn’t sure it’s the right direction for the promotion, especially since those athletes often never wanted to be in the industry from the beginning and might not see it as their future anyway. However, he took specific issue with WWE pulling them out of their dedicated sports, only to release them.
“When they don’t make it in your world, you just cut and release them back into their real life, and now their real life might not be waiting for them anymore,” he opined, pointing out that they likely missed out on opportunities in other sports.
“I would love to see [WWE] maybe be a little bit more honest upfront about what can happen, if things can go wrong,” he further explained. “They’re not letting them know the perils or the pitfalls that can happen once it’s all over.”
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit “Busted Open Radio,” and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Read the full article here
