Lexie Fyfe is not a sports entertainer, she is a wrestler.
It is a statement found on current NWA Women’s World champion Fyfe’s web site and a mantra that symbolizes the journey that has been her 10-year professional wrestling career.
In other words, Fyfe is a woman who wants to be taken seriously and has taken a lot of bumps to prove it.
“It is my way of saying I’m not in it for the T and A,” said Fyfe in a phone call from her home in Tampa, Florida. “I’m in it for the wrestling. I would have to say that I’m an entertainer in the aspect that I do play a role, but I don’t cater to the stuff that the WWE puts out right now. I’m more, let’s get out there and do what we know how to do best and do it as good or better than the guys.”
It’s an open door to ask how the indy star feels about how her female colleagues are currently portrayed in the bigger promotions.
“I never begrudge,” she states firmly. “I always thought Sunny was excellent, I loved watching her manage. And as for Woman and Elizabeth, I think there is room for the girly aspect. I think Torrie Wilson makes a good manager, but I don’t particularly like to see her in the wrestling role because I think she takes away from people like me who have worked for years and actually like to wrestle and don’t mind taking the bumps and maybe coming away with a black eye.”
Fyfe does have positive comments for the athletic abilities of Trish Stratus and long-time friend, Lita. She hopes that when Lita comes back from the injured list the focus will shift from the unnecessary diva searches to current female talent developing in OVW.
Although a lifelong wrestling fan, Fyfe, who does not favor having her real name or age publicized, only began her wrestling career after graduating from Elon College in North Carolina with a Communications degree. It was 1995 and Fyfe was working at what she describes as a “real” job when she met Brandi Wine, who was a valet with a couple of the local promotions.
“I saw her reading a wrestling magazine,” she laughed. “I thought, ‘Whoa, another girl that likes wrestling?’ It was so few and far between especially back then. Brandi really wanted to train to be a wrestler, but she didn’t feel comfortable training with the big guys, so she was looking for a partner.”
Fyfe was easily convinced and began her initial training at a wrestling school run by Ken Spence. Fyfe stayed for about a year and a half and then considered quitting because she didn’t feel she was progressing.
Malia Hosaka, whose own wrestling career has spanned 18 years and today is often an opponent of Fyfe’s, can attest to her initial concerns.
In fact Hosaka describes, the first time the two faced each other in the ring as “horrible.”
“She had little knowledge of how the moves were supposed to be done,” confessed Hosaka. “After the match, I thought she was poorly trained. But I thought she had raw talent that could be worked with to become one of wrestling’s future legends.”
Another person who saw this potential was Matt Hardy. Fyfe and Hardy met at an indy show and he convinced her to come train out in his “ring in the woods,” making her the first female to do so.
“It was fun,” recalled Fyfe, even though Matt ended up chipping her tooth while she was there. “I actually credit Matt with the fact that I am still wrestling. I was ready to quit when I met him. I had reached a plateau at my first school and wasn’t getting any better. I needed the challenge.”
She stopped training there after Matt and Jeff Hardy got their WWE deals because with their new traveling schedules, she says the brothers stopped having practices.
In 1999, Fyfe pursued her own WWE aspirations. She had a televised match against Tori and did some house shows. In 2001, along with house shows, she did a two-month stint in OVW. After leaving for personal reasons, Fyfe looks back on her WWE achievements with pride, not regret.
Her current focus is the independent scene. She’s applied her finishing move, the attitude adjuster (a modified diamond cutter), in 28 states in the U.S. so far. She has also traveled to seven different countries, although she is yet to execute her submission move, the Figure Fyfe (an inverted Indian Death Lock), in Canada. A travesty even to Fyfe who names Chris Benoit, Lance Storm and Chris Jericho as some of her favorite wrestlers. Along with females like Leilani Kai and Wendi Richter of course.
“You guys have some awesome wrestlers,” she revealed to this Canadian journalist. “Canadian wrestlers they’re all top. I watched the ECW pay per view just because I wanted to see Lance Storm vs. Chris Jericho that last time.”
For those who haven’t gotten to witness all that is Lexie Fyfe, there is one word that describes her character: loud. Fyfe has a fondness for being outspoken, flip-flopping from baby face to heel, talking off the cuff, playing to the crowd and being a chameleon when it comes to her hair. She can be found constantly switching from brown, blonde, red, purple, black or fuchsia hair dyes. Sometimes it’s a combination of a few.
But when she’s not wrestling, Fyfe prefers to be a homebody. Having no interest in partying or the bar scene, she would much rather watch a movie, preferably a musical such as The Sound of Music or The Wizard of Oz or visit a theatre, which she tries to frequent once a week. She also owns Slammin promotions, a company that runs wrestling web sites, with her fiancée.
It is through her involvement with the web sites that Fyfe promises to always be around the wrestling business even if she can no longer wrestle. As it is, she has an impressive array of injuries that she jokes are “normal stuff.” Among the more serious are two herniated disks in her neck that will require surgery.
But until retirement is eminent, wrestling will remain her sole addiction.
“I have to have some vice,” she giggled. “I love the crowds. I love interacting with the fans. I love to travel. I’ve met such wonderful people over the last 10 years. Some of them have become like family to me. And the kids are wonderful. I love performing in front of them and talking to them afterwards. Just seeing their eyes light up and hearing them say, ‘Wow that was really cool!'”
