Despite being out of the ring for nearly a year now, Jamie Hayter is still one of the best women’s wrestlers in the world. Despite this, she was actually rejected by the WWE before making a name for herself in All Elite Wrestling.
Hayter was a star in the UK and Japan before moving to the US. She was the Undisputed British Women’s Champion until 2021, when she vacated it for a chance in NXT UK. The Brit also had some incredible matches in Japan, as one of the top foreign stars in the Stardom promotion.
However, she actually wrestled one match in WWE before having her try-out. She wrestled a single match against Piper Niven, on the cancelled NXT UK. This was before the pandemic finished the job the WWE started by killing the British indie scene, and was a huge opportunity for her.
This match took place on the April 19th, 2019 episode of NXT UK. It was filmed at the Intu Braehead arena, in Glasgow. While this was a massive opportunity, the bout was essentially a squash match. Hayter has zero offence, and as beaten handily by Niven in under two minutes.
For some reason, this match did not impress WWE. She was not brought back for any more matches in NXT, although the company did offer her a try-out two years later.
Jamie Hayter Had A WWE Try-out Two Years Later
After having already debuted in AEW Dynamite, back in 2019, Jamie Hayter was offered a NXT UK try-out in 2021. She lost to Britt Baker on the fourth episode of Dynamite, but took a backseat over the next two years in the promotion.
This led her to try her luck in the WWE. F4WOnline wrote that the then-26-year-old vacated her British Women’s title in order to try to get a job in NXT UK. Wrestling jobs in the UK are very limited, especially for women’s wrestling. If AEW wasn’t giving her a chance, NXT UK was Hayter’s best opportunity to succeed.
Very little is known about how the try-out went. Jamie Hayter had a grown a lot since her last appearance in NXT UK, and likely would have been given a better shot than her previous WWE match.
However, WWE keep very quiet about these things. All we know is that she did not sign for the company. This would imply that the audition to become a new WWE Superstar did not quite go to plan.
Although, given the fact that she signed for AEW very soon after, there is a possibility that Jamie Hayter rejected the WWE contract, signing for Tony Khan’s promotion instead.
Hayter returned to America the following month. She signed with AEW, and officially announced as “All Elite” in August 2022. Here, she became the top star in the company, becoming the first ever British women’s champion in AEW history.
She is on the shelf with injury right now, but make no mistake. Jamie Hayter is one of the best British wrestlers in AEW history, and WWE will be kicking themselves that they missed out on such a fantastic wrestler.
