Billie Kay's friendship with Peyton Royce dates all the way back to their high school years in Australia, but they were not always friends.
In an interview with the Miami Herald, Kay explained that she and Royce weren't on the best of terms growing up and even had a rivalry on who is the biggest WWE fan.
"We went to the same high school," Kay said. "I was three years ahead of her. Westfields Sports High, I was there for basketball, and she was there for dancing. We actually didn't get along at first. We would see each other in line for all the shows WWE would do in Australia, all the signings they would do. One time Mickie James was signing near our hometown, and I remember Peyton being like four or five people in front of me in line, and I had been there about five hours at this point. So we used to have a little silent competition as to who was the biggest WWE fan."
And when she was signed by WWE, “The first person I told was Peyton Royce,” she said. “As soon as I got the email I rang her, and I said WWE wants to hire me, and she said, ‘Me, too,’ and we just cried on the phone a good 15 minutes…and then said, ‘OK, it’s time to tell our families,’ and the rest is history.”
Kay recently competed for the NXT Women's Championship at NXT TakeOver: San Antonio in January alongside Royce. Even though Kay did not win the title, she was exciting to be able to compete for a title on that stage, crossing that off her bucket list.
"It was overwhelming to say the least," Kay said. "I had actually written out my 2017 goals a couple of weeks before that, and the first one was to wrestle for the NXT women's championship on a TakeOver...and I was able to check that one off on the [bucket] list the first month of the year. And the fact that I was able to do it with Peyton Royce just made it a little more special. Going out there in front of almost 20,000 people is a feeling I want to continue to have over my career."
When asked about this year's WrestleMania 33 in Orlando, not far from NXT's home at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida, Kay expects, with the NXT fan base being there, WrestleMania 33 to be the biggest rendition of the event yet. NXT TakeOver: Orlando is scheduled to take place on April 1, the day before WrestleMania 33, at the Amway Center where Orlando Magic of the NBA play.
"I think it's going to be probably the biggest WrestleMania ever," Kay said. "It's in Orlando where NXT is based. There are going to be so many exciting events and activities happening around that whole week. So I will be grateful if I can be included in anything. Obviously I would love to wrestle at TakeOver in Orlando because I think it's going to be really special and an amazing event to be part of."
The full interview can be read at this link.
