That Time WWE’s Iyo Sky Nearly Went To Prison
WWE’s Iyo Sky almost never took off...
Despite some iffy performances in 2026, Iyo Sky has established herself as one of the most popular attractions during what is one of WWE’s most popular periods. This probably doesn’t get praised enough. Sky is a woman who speaks English as her second language. She is the antithesis of what Vince McMahon thought a star should look like, and she clears countless men that he failed dismally to push towards the end of his career as a promoter. Hell, she’s more over than many wrestlers he pushed during his prime. She stole the show at WrestleMania 41 and it was a disgrace that she didn't perform at WrestleMania 42.
What makes Sky’s run all the more impressive is that the average modern WWE fan cares little about the craft of pro wrestling. It’s easy to reduce the appeal of WWE to catchphrases and entrances and “aura” and “cinema”, but look at (or rather listen to) the average WWE TV match. These fans do not care - until Iyo hits the ring. An effervescent performer who hits hard (mostly) and boasts an ability to craft electrifying and dramatic sequences, Sky is so fantastic that Michael Cole, often accused of being a soulless robot, ceases to become a commentator and becomes a fan, frequently referring to her as the best wrestler in the company. Sky is inordinately likeable, beaming with every centimetre of her face when her character has momentum or has just enjoyed a big win, and her “I’m crazy” head-point crowd appeal always generates a massive reaction. As improbable as Sky’s rise is, how much of a surprise is it, really?
The conditions to get over as a star are really quite favourable, if you’re Iyo Sky. She is vastly experienced but nowhere near physically thrashed - and, at 36, has entered the wrestler’s prime, in which the performer has mastered the art of crowd psychology, held onto their physical gifts, and works frequently enough to equip themselves with a body calloused to bumping. If Cagematch is accurate, and it’s close enough far more often than not, she has cleared 1,000 career matches in 2026. (She boasts a very high 9.56 rating on the database, incidentally). Sky’s run will continue for as long as she wants to, you’d expect; while the NXT women’s division has bucked a bleak industry-wide trend, in which the experience gap between the TV wrestler and their independent counterparts has rarely been so wide, nobody is close to touching Iyo (with the exception of the impossibly precocious Kendal Grey).
In the U.S. mainstream these days, if you’re really good, you get pushed. The days of Vince McMahon ruining a promising talent because they aren’t big enough or he plain doesn’t get them are over.
CONT'D...(1 of 5)