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#4. Tay Conti didn't know what pro wrestling was before she signed with WWE
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AEW's Tay Conti didn't grow up watching pro wrestling in Brazil. WWE is not as popular in the country as compared to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu or football. The AEW star was only introduced to the wrestling world in the inaugural Mae Young Classic.
The Brazilain’s legit style and unique charisma shone through despite her unfamiliarity with wrestling. It was no surprise when WWE signed her to a developmental contract shortly after her tryout in 2016 before AEW signed her full time in 2020.
During a guest appearance on Oral Sessions with Renee Paquette podcast after she was picked by AEW, Conti revealed that before meeting with WWE, she had zero knowledge of what pro wrestling was:
"Wrestling is not a big thing in Brazil. I never watched it. I never knew about it. That was not a thing at all for me. It’s hard, because normally everybody that asks like, 'Oh, who was your favorite wrestler growing up?'"
"I'm like 'I don’t have it, because I never watched it till I came here.' But the WWE contacted me and they asked me to do a tryout, and I said 'no' because I was, like, 'I don’t know what it is.' In my mind I was, like, 'I'm not getting out of my country to go to a different country to do something that I don’t even know what it is!'"
"I'm not going to lie, I thought it was some type of, like, prostitution or something [laughs] 'cause I'm, like, 'I'm not getting out of my country!' I didn’t know, I had no idea what it was. But I knew Adrian [Arturo Ruas] and he was in WWE. I asked him, and then I was, like, 'Yeah, let's do it. It's a good opportunity.' That's how pro wrestling became a thing in my life."
While not a natural, Tay worked hard to master the basics and get up to speed. She trained with Dustin Rhodes at the WWE Performance Center and cites Bayley as the wrestler who helped her improve ring acumen. Conti has become a polished and confident wrestler in AEW thanks to her dedication and drive to get better at wrestling.
