Kaitlyn says the hardest part of her WWE run was not wrestling in front of thousands of fans. It was dealing with the pressure backstage.
During her interview with TMZ’s Inside the Ring, the former WWE Divas Champion opened up about the mental toll of WWE locker room culture during her time with the company. She was asked what it was like having to work with people backstage while still putting on a face and performing in the ring. Kaitlyn did not hold back, making it clear that the backstage environment was tougher on her than performing live on television.
“That was literally the hardest part. And I say this sometimes in interviews or just in conversations with people that are really interested about what are the inner workings of that career, and this is so true, I’m not exaggerating, I felt more pressure backstage than I ever did in the ring on television in front of, you know, 4,000 people live and millions of people at home.”
She explained that things got difficult after she debuted on NXT, won the competition, and moved to the main roster. According to Kaitlyn, the NXT women were not even allowed in the main women’s locker room at first.
“When I debuted and was put on television for NXT and then I ended up winning NXT and I got a spot on the main roster, they put me on SmackDown. First of all, with NXT, with all of the NXT girls, like the six of us, we were not allowed to be in the main locker room with the main talent, the women. We were always in this other little tiny room.”
That changed once she became part of the main roster, but Kaitlyn said the transition was not easy. She suddenly had to enter the bigger locker room, and some of the top women were not happy about it.
“When I got my spot on the roster, it was all of a sudden time for me to start going into the bigger locker room. And some of the women that were there, some of the top women that were there did not like that. They were not welcoming.”
Kaitlyn made sure to note that not everyone treated her that way. She specifically praised Beth Phoenix, Eve Torres, and Natalya for being kind to her and helping her during that period.
“There was the women like Beth Phoenix, Eve Torres, Natalia who were so kind and truly mentors in so many ways.”
The former Divas Champion also connected that pressure to the final stretch of her WWE run. She said her storyline with AJ Lee was the highlight of her career, but it also came while she was dealing with more pressure, more attention, and emotional chaos she did not know how to handle.
“I had had my title run and then my storyline with AJ started, which was the highlight of my career pretty much. I had my best matches with her. We gained a lot of momentum together. We were getting longer segments. We were getting crossover segments. Like, we were killing it.”
Even with that success, Kaitlyn said the pressure was building behind the scenes. She started gaining weight, and that only added to the insecurity she was already carrying.
“During that time, it was kind of also what I spoke to, it was this buildup of emotional chaos that I didn’t know how to handle and it was more pressure, more spotlight. I was just gaining weight and so it was adding to this insecurity that I had.”
By the time she asked for her WWE release, Kaitlyn said she was at the heaviest weight of her life.
“By the time that I asked my release, I was 30 lbs heavier than I am now. I was at my heaviest I’ve ever been in my life, was 170 lbs. Now I sit at about 140. And when I got hired, I was about 145 or 150. So, it was a lot of weight.”
Looking back, Kaitlyn said she now sees that weight gain as a reflection of the emotional pressure she was carrying at the time.
“The way that I see it now is like the weight was like a metaphor for like the pressure and the emotional weight that I was carrying that I didn’t know how to process.”
Kaitlyn’s WWE run gave fans memorable moments, especially her rivalry with AJ Lee, but her comments make it clear that the biggest fight was happening away from the cameras. She may have looked confident on television, but behind the scenes, she was dealing with pressure that eventually pushed her to walk away.
What do you think about Kaitlyn saying backstage pressure was harder than wrestling on TV? Do you think WWE’s locker room culture during that era hurt the women’s division? Please share your thoughts and feedback in the comments.
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