This past April, Kay Lee Ray, formerly known as Alba Fyre, was part of WWE's round of talent cuts following WrestleMania 42, and during a recent interview with "Busted Open Radio," she outlined the positives and negatives of her eight-year run with the company.After her historic 649-day NXT UK Women's Title reign, the Scottish star only wrestled under the name Kay Lee Ray for a short period of time when she began wrestling in America before transitioning to Alba Fyre, and though she eventually enjoyed many years on the main roster, she didn't believe she had enough opportunities to prove herself after being called up."The way it went at the end, obviously wasn't great. But in the past few years, I got to have fun with my friends and I got paid well for it. So I even tried to look on the bright side of that, that I can't really be disappointed with that. I wish I was given a chance to really show what I could have done on main roster ... So if I got a chance to do it again, I know there would definitely be more relationships I would make. I would maybe do things differently. But looking back now, I had fun."Ray continued to reflect on some of the regrets she had from her WWE run, explaining that she wanted to showcase a more dangerous side to herself . "So if I'm saying that I wish I had more of a run, like I wish it had been on my ideas ... I just wish I could have brought a bit more of that killer instinct that I know I can portray to the main roster."
Unlike many of the other stars that were released after WrestleMania, Ray confirmed earlier this month that her contract with WWE was about to expire and that she chose to leave the company. That said, since then she's slightly walked back her previous comments, explaining that she was in the midst of choosing whether or not to re-sign when WWE informed her that they had nothing to offer her in the future, making the decision to leave the promotion an easy one."I had been thinking for a while if I wanted to resign or not ... So at least wanted to give them the courtesy of having that conversation. And I knew my contract was up. And I think it was like three weeks by the time I spoke to them, maybe four. And it was at Mania. So I was like, look, I know we're really busy right now. I'm not asking to have that conversation now. But can we have that possibly soon? And then unfortunately, I got the phone call the next week saying that they didn't want to be offering me anything. So on that, to me, I was like, cool, this was the decision I was already heading towards ... So yeah, it wasn't a surprise to me."Ray also explained that she felt unlucky with her contract expiring at the same time as WWE's yearly releases after WrestleMania, but has remained focused on wanting to excel on the independent wrestling scene for the first time in six years.
In the last year of her WWE run, Ray was paired with Chelsea Green and Piper Niven in the Secret Hervice, a faction that became popular amongst fans due their weekly comedic backstage segments. Although many were disappointed that Ray and Green would no longer have the opportunity to work together, the former NXT UK Women's Champion explained that the Secret Hervice was already starting to be featured less each week, but always credited her stablemate for being creative with the limited time they were given."I'm very grateful for that, that we were featured so often ... Chelsea makes the most of every opportunity she's given, even if it's only 20 seconds. But being a byproduct of Chelsea meant that you're maybe only getting five seconds of that time. And just Chelsea's so good at like bouncing ideas off us. I think we worked really well in-ring and just on camera ... But time is very short and it wasn't increasing. It was just decreasing. And you kind of start to realize, right, okay, I'm not the main feature here," she said. "Yeah, that's when the decision started, kind of been made in the head of like, right, okay, well, maybe we have to do something here."Earlier this month, Ray wrestled in her first match since being released from WWE, having defeated Molly Spartan at a Pro-Wrestling: EVE event.It remains to be seen if Ray will sign to any professional wrestling promotions in the near future, and she recently explained that she'd like to step in the ring with some of AEW's best, including Willow Nightingale, Kris Statlander and Mercedes Mone.If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Busted Open Radio" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
