Summer Rae

Danielle Louise Moinet (born November 28, 1983) is an American professional wrestler, model, actress, ring announcer, and former American football player. She is best known for her time in WWE, where she performed under the ring name Summer Rae. Moinet was a main cast member on the reality show '' Total Divas'' during its second and third seasons. Before joining WWE, she played with the Chicago Bliss of the Lingerie Football League.

Early life

Moinet was born in the New York City suburb of Manhasset, New York. Her father is French, while her mother is British. She grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina, and attended Enloe High School and East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina, where she was a member of the Alpha Delta Pi sorority.

Football career

Moinet played with the Chicago Bliss of the Lingerie Football League (LFL) from 2008 to 2011. She played as a quarterback and was the team's captain. On June 30, 2011, Moinet played in the LFL All-Star Game at Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada which was her final game in the LFL. She was one of two players in the game from the Chicago Bliss.

Professional wrestling career

WWE

Developmental territories (2011–2014)

In November 2011, it was reported that Moinet had signed a contract with WWE and was assigned to their developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW). Moinet made her televised debut on the December 18 episode of '' FCW TV'', appearing in an in-ring promo with Abraham Washington. She also served as the ring announcer for ''FCW TV'' for several months. Changing her ring name to Summer Rae, she was prevented from interfering in a match between Seth Rollins and Rae's new client Brad Maddox by the debuting Paige on the March 5 episode of ''FCW TV''.

On the March 11 episode of ''FCW TV'', Rae became the FCW General Manager. On the March 15 episode of ''FCW TV'', Rae decided to deactivate the Queen of FCW crown, leaving Raquel Diaz as the last champion. Rae made her in-ring debut on April 6 at an FCW live event, where she lost to Sofia Cortez in an elimination triple threat match, which also involved Paige.

After the dissolution of FCW, Rae went on to become a ring announcer for the rebooted NXT in 2012. Rae transitioned into an in-ring competitor on the January 30, 2013, episode of ''NXT'' when she attacked Paige due to her jealousy of Paige's popularity and success. After Paige continued to confront Rae, Rae was defeated against Paige on the May 1 episode of ''NXT''.

Rae competed in the NXT Women's Championship tournament on the June 19 episode of ''NXT'' to crown the inaugural champion and defeated Sasha Banks in the first round, but lost to Emma in the semi-finals on July 10. Rae's post-match attack on Emma started a feud between them. Emma later defeated Rae in a dance-off to become the number one contender, but Rae retaliated by injuring Emma in the storyline, then issued a title challenge to the new NXT Women's Champion Paige, which she accepted. On the August 14 episode ''NXT'', Paige defeated Rae to retain the title. For weeks, Rae began to influence Sasha Banks to make herself relevant, leading to Banks turning heel on the September 11 episode of ''NXT'', by attacking NXT Women's Champion Paige. Banks and Rae, collectively known as the Beautiful Fierce Females, faced Paige and Emma on the October 16 episode of ''NXT'', where they won. Rae and Banks continued to face Paige and Emma in singles matches, including aligning themselves with Charlotte.

After a four-month absence from the brand, Rae returned on the June 6 episode of ''NXT'', briefly distracting Charlotte during her match. After the match, Rae led an attack on Bayley, only to be chased off by Paige and Emma. On the June 26 episode of ''NXT'', during a match with the debuting Becky Lynch, Charlotte and Sasha Banks backed away from Rae when reaching out for help, hinting at Rae's removal from the stable. The following week, Banks disbanded the BFFs in a backstage segment. The following week, Rae defeated Bayley in a number one contender's match, earning a NXT Women's Championship match against Charlotte. On the July 24 episode of ''NXT'', Rae received her title shot against Charlotte, however she failed to capture the championship.

Fandango's dance partner (2013–2014)

Rae made her official debut on WWE's main roster on the April 22, 2013, episode of ''Raw'', as Fandango's dance partner and valet. On the May 13 episode of ''Raw'', Rae, along with Fandango, faced Chris Jericho and ''Dancing with the Stars'' competitor Edyta Śliwińska in a dance-off, but Fandango's dance was cut short by an apparent injury to Rae's ankle. However, Rae later revealed that her injury was a distraction to trap Jericho into Fandango's attack. On the October 25 episode of ''SmackDown'', Rae got into a brawl with Natalya during a match between Fandango and The Great Khali, which set up a mixed tag team match for Hell in a Cell in which she made both her pay-per-view and in-ring debut on the main roster, teaming with Fandango to defeat Natalya and Khali, after Rae pinned Natalya. The following night, Rae made her singles debut in a rematch against Natalya, where she was defeated. At Survivor Series on November 23, Rae participated in a seven-on-seven elimination tag team match, as her team took on the cast of '' Total Divas'', where she was eliminated by Nikki Bella, before her team ultimately lost the match. A rematch took place the following night on ''Raw'', where her team was once again defeated, with Rae being the last to be eliminated. On the December 19 episode of '' Superstars'', Rae defeated Kaitlyn, garnering her first singles match victory on the main roster. In the beginning of 2014, Rae began a rivalry with Emma, and the two competed in several dance-off and wrestling competitions on both ''Raw'' and ''SmackDown'', which Emma won. On April 6, Rae made her WrestleMania debut, competing at WrestleMania XXX in the 14-Diva "Vickie Guerrero Invitational match" for the Divas Championship, which was won by the defending champion AJ Lee.

On April 8, Fandango announced the end of his association with Rae on his Twitter account and introduced Layla as his new dance partner on the April 11 episode of ''SmackDown'', which in storyline was put in place to allow Rae time off television to film '' The Marine 4''. Rae returned on the May 19 episode of ''Raw'', confronting and kissing Fandango and attacking Layla before their match. Rae made her in-ring return on the following episode of ''Raw'', in a losing effort to Eva Marie after interference from both Fandango and Layla. In the following weeks, Rae and Layla assaulted each other backstage and at ringside during Fandango's matches, leading to a match between Rae and Layla at the Money in the Bank on June 29, with Fandango as the special guest referee, which Layla won.

Various alliances and departure (2014–2017)

On the June 30, 2014 episode of ''Raw'', she cost Fandango's match. On the July 11 episode of ''SmackDown'', Rae and Layla started an alliance after attacking Fandango during their match where he was working as guest referee. One week later on ''SmackDown'' they lost their first match as team (dubbing themselves "The Slayers"). The Slayers won their first match as a team on the September 2 episode of ''Main Event''. At Survivor Series, Rae participated in an elimination tag team match, where she was eliminated by Emma before her team lost the match. In January 2015, The Slayers quietly disbanded when Layla underwent surgery.

Upon the release of Rae's first film '' The Marine 4: Moving Target'' in April, she was disrespected by her co-star The Miz, and as a result, she allied herself with Miz's enemy, Damien Sandow. On the April 20 episode of ''Raw'', Rae helped Miz win a match against Sandow, having been working with Miz from the start.

In June, Rae became involved with Rusev's storyline with his former manager Lana and Ziggler, in which Rae formed an on-screen relationship with Rusev. After weeks of confrontation, Rusev faced Ziggler at SummerSlam, which ended in a double countout due interference from both Lana and Rae. In September, Rae attempted to sabotage Ziggler and Lana's relationship, but the storyline was abruptly dropped. After Rusev refused Rae's marriage proposal, Rusev's real-life engagement to Lana was revealed, leading to Rae confronting Rusev and ending their association on the October 12 episode of ''Raw''. Rae gained revenge over Rusev on the following episode of ''SmackDown'' when she served as the guest referee for his match against Ziggler; she helped Ziggler. On the October 22 episode of ''SmackDown'', during a Miz TV segment between Rae and Ziggler, she introduced the debuting Tyler Breeze as her "new man", and subsequently began managing him. However, during the final ''SmackDown'' of 2015, Rae and Breeze announced that they amicably decided to go their separate ways.

Rae returned to in-ring action in mid-February 2016 competing in various matches, where she was on the losing side. In late March, Rae allied herself with Team B.A.D. (Naomi and Tamina), Emma and Lana, leading to a tag team match on the WrestleMania 32 pre show, which Rae's team lost. On July 19, Rae was drafted to ''Raw'' as part of the 2016 WWE draft. However, she never appeared for the brand due to injuries. After over a year of inactivity, Rae was officially released from her WWE contract on October 29, 2017.

Independent circuit (2018)

Seven months after her WWE departure, Moinet made her independent circuit debut in a Battle Championship Wrestling event on May 25 at the Whitehorse Club Function & Convention Centre in Burwood East, Victoria, Australia, where she faced NXT alumni Ivelisse (formerly Sofia Cortez) in a losing effort.

Return to WWE (2022)

Moinet, who reprised the role as Summer Rae made her first televised appearance after a five year absence on the January 21, 2022 episode of ''SmackDown'', where she was advertised as a WWE legend, taunting Natalya during her match, playing up their rivalry from '' Total Divas''. She made her in-ring return on the number 23 spot in the 2022 Royal Rumble going straight to attack Natalya but was eliminated by her.

Later, she also attended the WrestleMania 38 pre-show party hosted by Stephanie McMahon.

Other media

Rae has appeared in six WWE video games. She made her in-game debut at ''WWE 2K14'' as a DLC and appears in '' WWE 2K15'', ''WWE 2K16'', ''WWE 2K17'', and ''WWE 2K18''. She also appeared in the mobile game WWE SuperCard.

In 2014, Rae was a main cast member on '' Total Divas'' for the show's second and third seasons. Rae also starred in the 2015 film '' The Marine 4: Moving Target'' alongside The Miz.

Filmography

Film

Television

Championships and accomplishments

* ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated''
** Ranked No. 48 of the best 50 female singles wrestlers in the ''PWI Female 50'' in 2014
* ''Rolling Stone''
** Worst Storyline (2015)
* ''WrestleCrap''
** Gooker Award (2015) - feud with Rusev and Lana/Dolph Ziggler
* ''Wrestling Observer Newsletter''
** Worst Worked Match of the Year (2013)

Other awards

;Nominations

See also

* List of female American football players
* Women in WWE

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rae, Summer
1983 births
Living people

American female professional wrestlers

East Carolina University alumni
Legends Football League players
People from Manhasset, New York
Professional wrestlers from New York (state)
Professional wrestling managers and valets
American people of French descent
American people of British descent
21st-century American women
21st-century professional wrestlers