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Grayson Waller has named the Australian wrestlers who made it possible for him to become a WWE Superstar.
A number of stars from Down Under have made names for themselves in the WWE in recent years, namely in the women’s division. Stars like Peyton Royce, Rhea Ripley, Toni Storm, Emma and Rhea Ripley all came from Australia to become wrestling stars in the past decade.
Grayson Waller appeared on Insight with Chris Van Vliet and spoke about the inspirational wrestlers from Australia who got him into the wrestling business.
He noted that The IIconics in NXT made him feel like it was possible for an Aussie to become a wrestling star. That was before Rhea Ripley showed Australia that it was truly an option for somebody like him.
“I didn’t really watch any Australian independent wrestling.” Grayson Waller said. “I didn’t know it existed. I just saw WWE. Then I got into Ring of Honor, CZW, Chikara, like real random American Indy wrestling. I rarely saw Australians. There would be maybe one or two here or there. It didn’t seem like a possibility. But then when I saw Peyton (Royce) and Billie (Kay) get on NXT – They are from the same school as me – Then I was like, ‘Oh, wow.’ And they came back and did a little seminar, and I’m like, ‘It’s possible.’”
“I think Rhea’s the one who really cemented it. Like, I met her just before she left, and then she was doing such big things. I think she showed the rest of Australia, ‘Hey, this is possible.’ And that opened the door. Then you get Bronson, you got Indy there already, you had TMDK doing really good stuff before they left. There’s so many people and now I think the Australians are seeing, ‘Hey, this is possible. Hey, there’s people there.’ And now we’re going to properly takeover.”
Grayson Waller: Emma Doesn’t Get Enough Credit
Grayson Waller continued, giving credit to Emma for putting Australia on the map in wrestling and inspiring him and other Aussie wrestlers to get into the business.
“I don’t think she gets enough credit. Obviously, she was one of the first women who really was able to star in NXT. I just hadn’t met her in Australia so I never had that connection of someone I’ve met and seen doing such big things.” Grayson Waller said about his fellow Aussie, Emma.