Madison Rayne was signed by AEW at the beginning of August as a coach for the company and quickly made her in-ring debut, wrestling on the August 5 episode of AEW Rampage.
Rayne defeated Leila Grey in her debut, setting up a TBS Championship match against Jade Cargill. Cargill was victorious in the bout. Rayne has continued to be active in the ring, appearing on AEW Dark, AEW Dark: Elevation, and AEW Rampage.
Speaking on AEW Unrestricted, Rayne discussed wrestling for AEW and focusing on coaching moving forward.
"You walk in and every day, you don't really know what's going to happen. When I had my initial conversations about coming to the company, it was primarily as a coach, and obviously, there were those, 'You can wrestle, you've wrestled for way too long. There may be times where we have you as an in-ring competitor.' The wrestler in me who still has a tiny shred of ego that needs to be filled a little bit, walking out into an arena and the reaction of the AEW fans is truly, I'm not just saying that because I'm happy and new and butterflies, but it's truly unlike anything I've ever felt. Getting to scratch that itch a little bit was perfect, but I do think going forward my duty will primarily be as a coach. That's great too. I came in did, a couple of matches for AEW fans or anybody who wasn't super familiar with who Madison Rayne was, I got in the ring and showed that I kind of know how to do this thing so hopefully I will have earned the trust of people who maybe didn't know me before I came in. I'm glad I got to do that and am always happy to accept the challenge and will continue to accept them if they are put in front of me, but I think for now, as far as I know today as we sit here, coaching is going to be my primary goal," she said.
Rayne last wrestled on the September 9 episode of AEW Rampage, losing to Serena Deeb.
Deeb is set to challenge for the Interim AEW Women's Championship at AEW Dynamite Grand Slam in a four-way bout featuring Interim Champion Toni Storm, Athena, and Britt Baker.
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