Meet the most metal wrestler in WWE

One of WWE’s newest faces is, quite manifestly, One Of Us. London-born Lizzy Rain has wrestled on the independent circuit for the last four-and-a-half years (as Rayne Leverkusen) and made her WWE debut in April, beating Nikkita Lyons. Nicknamed “the maiden of metal”, Rain has immediately made an enormous impression with her fearless moves and equally fearless mullet, channeling a 1980s metalhead vibe.

It’s a lot more than a styling choice, however. Rain – real name, confusingly, Rayne Leat – has not only grown up with a denim-heavy soundtrack, there’s an argument to be made that metal is in her blood: her late uncle was original Iron Maiden drummer Clive Burr. Clive played on Maiden’s first three albums – Iron Maiden, Killers and The Number Of The Beast – before being replaced by Nicko McBrain in 1982.

While she gets used to her new life, we caught up with her at the WWE Performance Centre in Orlando to talk metal origin stories, her abandoned musical theatre plans and putting herself at risk to take her opponents down…

Hi Lizzy! You’ve wrestled on the indie circuit for a while, and now you’re in the WWE. Was this always the plan?
"It's always been my dream since I was a little girl, but, you know, saying you want to be a WWE wrestler is like saying you want to be an astronaut. I never thought it would actually be a possibility. But ever since I started wrestling, WWE was always the goal. It’s a very surreal time!"

Where does the persona of Lizzy Rain begin and the real you – Rayne Leat – end?
"You know what? It's just me, turned up to a 10. I love my '80s metal music. I've got an older brother, and growing up, getting ready for school, we’d just listen to Mötley Crüe, KISS, Iron Maiden, Alice Cooper, AC/DC, Metallica… He introduced me to this awesome music that I've always loved since. I was never drawn in by the pop culture aimed at young people – I've always just loved that vintage metal. So Lizzy Rain is just me, to be honest: she’s not really a character, she's just me being myself on telly. It’s amazing, because I don't have to put effort into thinking how I should act. It comes naturally."

Metal and wrestling go together naturally: there’s theatricality, larger-than-life characters, ripped clothing… When you started wrestling, did you always want to bring metal into it?
"100 per cent. When I was a kid growing up, I felt like people who liked wrestling and people who liked metal were these two sets of outcasts who don’t follow the norms of life. A lot of wrestling fans are also rock and metal fans – this unapologetic bunch who don’t care what other people think. I’m a person that wasn't the most popular in school. I don’t have to be the prettiest or the smartest, I’m just gritty and I'm real when I fight. This was always going to be my persona, and it’s what I’ve done from my very first match, four-and-a-half years ago."

Your uncle being in Iron Maiden is huge, but would you still have found metal without that connection?
"It was really my brother who introduced me to this music, so even without that connection I’d still have been the same person. It’s just very cool: even though I didn't really know him well because he had severe MS by the time I was old enough to talk to him, I can listen to those first three Iron Maiden albums and go, 'Wow, that’s my uncle!'"

You mentioned AC/DC, and your signature move is called Thunderstruck. Were there any other contenders?
"There were literally no other contenders. It was always Thunderstruck: when I was creating it I wanted my leg to look like a lightning bolt for the cameras, really spectacular. So I thought, it’s gotta be Thunderstruck. AC/DC even have the lightning bolt, so it was just perfect."

Any other moves or trademarks on the way that will continue the metal theme?
"A lot of my move-set, I like to think, is based on putting myself at risk in order to harm the other person. That’s how I wrestle – in a lot of my moves I take pretty crazy bumps, because there’s a risk versus reward factor. That’s what Lizzy Rain is like. I've got quite a few signatures that need a name. I do this crazy running headbutt into the corner, which is currently unnamed, and a matrix cutter that I haven't named yet either."

Before a match, are there particular songs you listen to to get yourself in the right frame of mind?
"Since being here at the WWE, I’ve been listening to my old theme song that I used to come out to when wrestling on the indies, Rain by The Cult – very fitting for my name. It reminds me of my roots and where I've come from, and helps me bring energy and badassery to the WWE."

Did you ever consider going down a musical route yourself?
"I've never played an instrument. I did musical theatre in college, so I can dance and sing a little bit, but never any other instruments. I don’t really have the patience for it if I'm honest. I graduated right before COVID; the world shut down when I was fresh out of college, so I binned off musical theatre for wrestling and it was the best decision I've ever made."

As your WWE career begins, where are you aiming for?
"Just onwards and upwards. Obviously the end goal is main event WrestleMania. There’s some work to do to get there, but there was work to do four-and-a-half years ago when I first started wrestling, and now I'm in the WWE. So who’s to say, in the next four-and-a-half, that I won’t be the main event in WrestleMania? It’s all surreal. May it continue. May it rain!"

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