Summer Rae Talks Wrestling, Lingerie Football League, Vince McMahon

WWE Diva and “Total Divas” star Summer Rae is returning to her alma matter, East Carolina University, as WWE returns to the area for its shows this upcoming week. Rae spoke with mixer about various topics related to wrestling, her career and ECU.

Rae talked about how she grew up with wrestling, but never saw it as a career option:

“I always loved wrestling, but honestly I never thought it was within my reach,” she said. “I like to always achieve what I set out for, and I think with WWE being 80 guys on the roster and maybe 13 to 15 girls on the roster, those are slim odds.

“I think deep down, I was just nervous of failing.”

Her career took a more interesting twist, as she became one of a few lucky women to be part of the Lingerie Football League:

“It’s full-contact, 7-on-7 arena football with little-to-no pads,” she said. “When I was getting rammed and pushed into the wall and spending three to four days at practice, after two years I kind of just said, ‘If I’m spending so much time on this, why not go after what I love — especially if I’m risking my body for this?

The East Carolina University graduate also discussed what it was like when Vince McMahon, a fellow alumnus, found out she went there as well:

“The man himself!” Summer said. “I think for a while he may have not known that (I was an ECU alum) and then I had my purple and gold on one day and said, ‘Oh, I’ve got to have my ECU colors on’ and he kind of doubletook, he was like ‘what do you mean?’

“It’s very, very cool,” she said. “Pirate pride.”

More from the interview can be found here.

Editor’s Note

Some interesting stuff from Rae here. Many forget she was in that football league.

Follow @JonAlbaSFC