A lot of people who've been athletes have come here and not been able to just pick it up right away. I hate using this example, and I love her to death, but Eva Marie. She was an amazing soccer player and athlete, but coming to WWE and getting in the ring was a whole different ball game for her.
I was having a lot of issues with just a lot of social media trolls: people would try to make fun of my size and my weight to the WWE and what not. I just decided to go out there and post a picture of me in a bathing suit. I said, 'You know what? This is my body. I'm going to embrace it, and I'm going to show the world.'
I remember I was playing basketball, and an entire arena was, like, chanting 'Big Foot.' It was a high school game, but... you're constantly being reminded you're bigger; you don't look like everybody. There were days where I would be upset, and, like, I'd cry about it.
Nia Jax is bringing a whole different message to the 'Women's Evolution.' Yes, we are athletic. Yes, we can go just as hard as the men, but women come in all different shapes and sizes.
Byron Saxton is creepy. He has a relationship between me and him going on in his head. I'm not included in this personally - like, I am, but I'm not. He has a weird fetish with my feet: he loves to call me different kinds of names, like 'Samoan Sweetcake' and 'Twinkle Toes.' It goes on from there.
My first name during my first match was 'Lena.' I was still Lena then, just because we hadn't gotten a name yet.
If I'm called to be on the grandest stage, at 'WrestleMania,' I'll be ready.
I wouldn't get asked to dances because I wasn't as petite and cute as the other girls.
When I started coming on the scene, just really new into NXT, and people started seeing me, I got a lot of positive feedback from my friends, my friends back home. They were like, 'Oh, you are doing such great things for young girls,' and then it clicked in my head, like, 'Wow! I didn't know that was something I could do here.'
I've been an athlete my whole life. I've played every sport, including soccer, baseball, softball, basketball.
On 'Raw,' I'm the big mean girl who goes and beats everybody up; on 'Total Divas,' they will see a softer, vulnerable side of me that definitely isn't seen on 'Raw.'
Sports helped me become super, super confident in my body growing up, especially in my high school and college careers. I wasn't going to be a hot prom chick that everyone wanted to go on dates with, but I was a stellar athlete.
Winning the championship at 'WrestleMania' was a dream come true because not only had it more than a decade since there had been a women's singles match at 'WrestleMania,' but the fact that I got to win it against my best friend in a storyline that was so close to my heart, it was just all kinds of emotional.
I submitted a bunch of names. Nia is, like, a Samoan girl name that a lot of women have. Jax is from 'Sons of Anarchy.' I was super into Jax, so I threw the name Jax in there, and it came about that way.
People who've never played a sport in their life come to WWE and can kick butt. On the other hand, people who've played football or some other professional sport can come here and get in the ring and not do what we do. It's a different tango.
Don't get me wrong: there have been many occasions where I wished I could be thinner or have a different nose or hairline to fit in, but I realized that fitting in is not always as important as it seems; I realized that I love standing out in positive ways!
Our bodies are always going to change, and we might not always love that, but it really has nothing to do with true beauty. True beauty comes from within.
Your uniqueness is what makes you special, and that is beautiful.
I considered wrestling at a young age, but I never could relate to any of the Divas. I have always been a bigger girl, and I did not think that WWE would want a girl my size, so I never expressed my dream to wrestle.
When I was a young girl playing basketball, WNBA was a dream.
