Lacey Evans spoke to ScreenRant.com ahead of WWE's upcoming Money In The Bank premium live event and spoke on a variety of topics, including who her biggest influences in NXT were. The former Marine debuted for the black and yellow version of the developmental brand under the name Macey Estrella in 2016.
She'd take on the Lacey Evans name by April of 2017, and after spending time taking losses to the likes of Liv Morgan and Sonya Deville, she slowly started working her way up the card. By the time she made her debut on the main roster during the Royal Rumble in 2019, she had wrestled more than 150 matches in NXT.
When asked who influenced her the most during her time in developmental, Evans said that "the three that pop up right now is definitely Scottie Too Hottie. He helped me perfect and create the name down to the impact of my finisher, the Women's Right. He's just such a performer and such a life at NXT, so it just reminds me to bring life to everything that I have. Norman Smiley, in the ring, from how your boots are laced to slowing down and making things make sense. And Sarah Amato. And Sara taught the women how to ensure that we carry ourselves just as that and still stay true to ourselves but get out there and kick butt and take names at the same time. So there are a lot of voices, but those three stick out a lot more."
Scottie Too Hottie and Norman Smiley are both renowned for their character work and ability to make just about anything fly inside the right, and it's awesome to hear that they both rubbed off on Evans as they did. Amato might not be as well known to more casual wrestling fans, but she works closely with the woman in the performance center and was trained by Bryan Danielson. She worked the independents under the name "Death Ray" Sara Del Ray and put on some bangers on the independent scene before landing with WWE in 2012.
Evans is set to take part in the Money In The Bank ladder match on July 2, where she'll square off with Shotzi, Asuka, Liv Morgan, Alexa Bliss, Raquel Rodriguez, and Becky Lynch. She teamed up with Rodriguez on the June 24 episode of Friday Night SmackDown to take on Sonya Deville in a quick handicap match. It'll be interesting to see those two interact during the bout. More recently, she pinned Xia Li on June 25's Main Event , and Shayna Baszler the day after at WWE Live - Sunday Stunner. Money In The Bank is set to air live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The kickoff show begins at 7 p.m. ET, while the main card kicks off at 8 p.m. ET.
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