10 Things WWE Fans Need To Know About Taya Valkyrie
3. This Isn't Her First Time In WWE
2011, a year after graduating from Lance Storm's wrestling school, actually saw Taya Valkyrie sign a developmental deal with WWE that would see her report to their then-developmental system, Florida Championship Wrestling. The reason this isn't well documented is that there's literally nothing to document; Taya never had an official debut for the company, onscreen or untelevised.
There is, however, an interesting and emotional story behind her tryout.
After competing in fitness competitions, Taya was invited along to a week-long tryout with WWE (the same tryout that saw Kaitlyn signed to her contract), and although WWE also have athletes from other backgrounds at these events, her case wasn't just a pick of the crop choice. She had been put in contact with WWE through the late Shad Gaspard, as she discussed on the aforementioned Chris Van Vliet interview.
While bartending (dressed as a female John Cena no less), the former Cryme Tyme man told Taya that she should look into becoming a pro wrestler. Of course, she already was looking into this. He put her in touch with the company, and the rest is history.
This just goes to show how much of a good samaritan Shad truly was.