Madison Rayne On Signing With AEW: It Was A Career Moment That I Needed

The new women’s coach of All Elite Wrestling, Madison Rayne, believes her signing process wasn’t traditional.

Madison Rayne was the latest guest on AEW Unrestricted with Tony Schiavone and Aubrey Edwards to discuss a wide variety of subjects. When asked about how her signing with All Elite Wrestling came together, Rayne described the entire situation as a whirlwind.

“It was literally like such a whirlwind,” Madison Rayne said. “I’m not sure what the traditional processes are, but I feel like mine was anything but. Nothing’s traditional, and you should expect complete chaos and all things. I saw the AEW coming to Columbus, which is my hometown. I haven’t wrestled here in when I say years, like many, many years, at least not to a capacity where my friends were there. My family was there. I’ve talked a little bit about my dad is very, very ill right now with stage four cancer, so like I saw that advertised. My only thought was wrestling’s this weird but awesome world now and even though I had been working for one company, I kind of want to do this. I’m within the parameters of being allowed to do this, and for all of those reasons, right like I’ve had a lot of career moments, but I felt like that was one that I needed.

“So I reached out to a couple of people and the response seemed positive, but probably with everything, but definitely in wrestling, it’s like a hurry up and wait type situation, right? But then once the hurry up and wait is over, then it’s like, hurry up and get this done, and it’s time to do it right now. So it was literally just perfect timing. And I had spoken with some people and before I knew it, I was talking to Megha and she was kind of outlining the opportunity for me and I was just like, I’ve read plenty of wrestling contracts in my life. Just send it to me. I know where to sign like, let’s get this done. And it literally kind of just happened that quickly and easily.

“So for my first week at AEW, I was like okay, when does everything fall apart here? When does Ashton come in and say no, sorry, you’re being punked. This isn’t really happening because it was just so seamless and easy. And my first day, I walked into the most overwhelming, positive response, and everyone was so nice and welcoming. And it had been so long since I was a new kid on a playground. So I was feeling all the new kid on the playground feelings of like, not sure what to do with my hands, but everybody was so accommodating and so nice and it’s been the best month of my career, honestly.”

When asked about immediately coming in and receiving a TBS Championship shot on her second match with the company, Rayne admits that you never know what’s going to happen on any given day in professional wrestling.

“You walk in and every day, and you don’t really know what’s going to happen,” Madison Rayne admitted. “When I had my initial conversations about coming to the company, it was primarily as a coach. And then obviously there were those like, you can wrestle. You’ve wrestled for way too long. So there may be times where we have you as an in-ring competitor.

“I’m like great, the wrestler in me that still has like a teeny tiny shred of ego that needs to be filled a little bit like walking out into an arena that that full with the reaction of the AEW fans is truly like, and I’m not just saying that because I’m new and happy and butterflies, but it’s truly unlike anything that I’ve ever felt. So, getting to kind of scratch that itch a little bit was perfect, but I do think going forward, it will be like my duty will primarily be as a coach.

“And I think that’s great too because I came in I did a couple of matches for AEW fans or anybody who wasn’t super familiar with who Madison Rayne was now, I’ve like thought in the ring. I’ve shown you that I kind of know how to do this thing. So hopefully, I will have earned the trust of the people who maybe didn’t know me before I came in so glad that I got to do that. Always happy to accept the challenge and will continue to accept them if they’re ever put in front of me. But I think for now, as far as I know, today as we sit here, coaching is going to be kind of my primary role.”

READ MORE: AEW Expands Talent Relations And Development Team, Madison Rayne Hired As Coach

What do you make of Madison Rayne’s comments? Have you enjoyed what she’s done in All Elite Wrestling so far? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.

If you use any of the quotes above, please credit AEW Unrestricted with a link back to this article for the transcription.