AEW star says she didn’t know anything about wrestling when she tried out for WWE

During an appearance on Renee Paquette’s Oral Sessions podcast, Tay Conti talked about being contacted by WWE for a tryout without having any knowledge of wrestling…

“Wrestling is not a big thing in Brazil. I never watched it, I never knew about it before. That was not a thing at all for me. It’s hard, because normally everybody that asks like, ‘Oh, who was your favorite wrestler growing up?’ I’m like ‘ I don’t have it, because I never watched it till I came here.’ But the WWE contacted me and they asked me to do a tryout, and I said ‘no’ because I was like, ‘I don’t know what it is.’ And in my mind I was like, ‘I’m not getting out of my country to go to a different country to do something that I don’t even know what it is!’ I’m not going to lie, I thought it was some type of like, prostitution or something. [laughs] ’cause I’m like, ‘I’m not getting out of my country!’ I didn’t know, I had no idea what it was. But then, I knew Adrian [Arturo Ruas] and he was in WWE. I asked him, and then I was like ‘Yeah, let’s do it. It’s a good opportunity.’ So that’s how pro wrestling became a thing in my life.”

Conti also commented on her tryout experience…

“I remember more like Bayley because she was screaming at me all the time. Yes … That was crazy because honestly, I had no idea what I was doing. I’ll be 100% honest, no idea. But then, because of my background, I was like, ‘That’s a competition and I want to win.’ And then I was like, ‘What am I winning? I don’t even know. But like, it’s a lot of people, it’s a competition, and I’m going to be the best.’ That was my mentality. And I didn’t know any words [in English]. Like, I didn’t know how to say ‘Hi’ back then, right? And I had to watch it first, and then try to do it. And I’m like ‘Oh my god, I have no idea what I’m doing.’ I had to be copying what other people were doing because I had no clue. But then that was fun. That was a great opportunity I will never forget. And I remember Bayley like, every time I was doing this stance, she was like ‘AHH,’ screaming in my face. She was motivating me and I was like ‘Hell yeah! I like this.’” (quotes courtesy of 411Mania.com)