Summer Rae

Summer Rae
Summer Rae in December 2013 at WWE's Tribute to the Troops event
Birth name	Danielle Moinet
Ring name(s)	Summer Rae
Billed height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)[1][2]
Billed weight	115 lb (52 kg)[1][3]
Born	(1983-11-28) November 28, 1983[1][4] Manhasset, New York[3]
Billed from	Raleigh, North Carolina[1][2]
Trained by	NXT Wrestling[1]
Debut	November 2011[1]

Danielle Moinet^[1] (born November 28, 1983)^[1][4] is an American professional wrestler, working for WWE under the ring name Summer Rae. She was also a model and former American football player who played with the Chicago Bliss of the Legends Football League.^[1] She will be joining the cast of Total Divas for the second season.

Football career

Moinet played with the Chicago Bliss of the Legends Football League (LFL) from 2008 to 2011. She played as a cornerback and was the team's captain.^[1][5] On June 30, 2011, Moinet played in the LFL All-Star Game at Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, Ontario, which was her final game in the LFL. She was one of two players in the game from the Chicago Bliss.^[1][6][7]

WWE

Florida Championship Wrestling (2011–2012)

In November 2011, it was reported that Moinet had signed a contract with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and been assigned to the Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) developmental territory.^[1][8] Moinet made her television debut on the December 18 episode of FCW television, appearing in a ringside promo with Abraham Washington, and the following week she managed Washington during a tag team match.^[1][9] She also worked as the ring announcer for FCW television show.^[10] 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 television.^[11]

On the March 11 episode of FCW, Rae became the FCW General Manager.^[12] On the March 15, episode of FCW television, Rae decided to deactivate the Queen of FCW crown, leaving Raquel Diaz as the last champion.^[13] 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.^[4]

NXT Wrestling (2012–present)

Rae debuted on the first episode of the sixth season of WWE NXT taped at Full Sail University as a ring announcer. Rae made her in-ring debut for NXT on a live event September 27, Rae teamed up with Audrey Marie in a winning effort defeating the team of Emma and Paige in a divas tag-team match.^[4]

On the January 30 episode of NXT, Rae turned heel by attacking Paige due to Rae's jealousy of Paige's popularity and success.^[14][15] A vengeful Paige interrupted a scheduled match to attack Rae on the February 13 NXT, but suffered a shoulder injury in the process, which Rae exploited later that episode to defeat Paige in her first match. Rae's victory ended Paige's undefeated streak.^[16][17] Rae then teamed with Audrey Marie against Paige and Sasha Banks; Marie was pinned when Rae ran away due to Paige.^[18] Rae finally faced off against Paige in a singles match on the May 1 NXT, where Paige emerged victorious despite Rae's pre-match attack on Paige during her entrance.^[19] Summer Rae faced off in singles competition against former WWE Divas Champion Natalya in a singles match on the May 15 NXT, where Rae emerged victorious despite Paige's attempt to distract Rae.^[20] Rae competed in the NXT Women's Championship Tournament on the June 19 NXT to crown the inaugural champion and defeated Sasha Banks in the first round.^[21] Rae was deafeated in the semi-finals by Emma on the July 10 NXT, where Rae lost following Emma reversing Rae pinfall attempt. After the match, Rae attacked Emma before being chased off by Paige.^[22][23]

Rae began to feud with Emma after losing to her in Number one contenders dance battle match by attacking her, leading to her unsuccessfully challenging Paige for the NXT Women's Championship.^[24] For weeks, Rae began to influence Sasha Banks to make herself relevant leading to Banks turning heel on the September 11 edition of NXT, by attacking NXT Women's Champion Paige.^[25] On the September 25 NXT, Summer accompanied Sasha to her match against Bayley, which Sasha won. Summer then declared that her and Sasha would run the NXT Divas division.^[26] Banks and Rae now know as “BFFs: Beautiful Fierce Females” faced Paige and Emma on the October 16 NXT, where they would emerge victorious after Rae pinned Paige.^[27] Rae and Banks continued to face Paige and Emma in singles matches, including aligning themselves with Charlotte.^[28][29]

Fandango's dance partner; Total Divas (2013–present)

Fandango and Summer Rae

Summer Rae made her Raw debut on April 22, 2013 as Fandango's dance partner. Later that night, Chris Jericho attacked Fandango following a match and proceeded to dance with Rae.^[30] Rae also made her SmackDown debut on April 26, managing Fandango for his match against Justin Gabriel. On the May 13 episode of Raw, Rae along with Fandango faced Chris Jericho and Dancing with the Stars competitor Edyta Sliwinska 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 tweaked ankle was merely a distraction to trap Jericho into Fandango's attack.^[31] On the October 25 episode of SmackDown, Rae got into a brawl with Natalya inside the ring during a match between Fandango and The Great Khali,^[32] which would set up a match for the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view, where Rae made her in-ring debut, teaming with Fandango to defeat Natalya and Khali, after Rae pinned Natalya, garnering her first pinfall victory.^[33] The following night, Rae made her singles debut in a rematch between Rae and Natalya was contested which Rae lost.^[34]

Rae and other Divas began a feud with the cast Total Divas after the implosion on Raw, leading to them accompanying Snuka on the November 20 episode of Main Event, to defeat Naomi, with The Total Divas in her corner.^[35] At the Survivor Series pay-per-view, Rae participated in a seven-on-seven survivor series elimination tag team match as her team took on the Total Divas; she was eliminated by Nikki Bella, but her team ultimately lost the match.^[36] The following night on Raw, they faced The Total Divas in an rematch, in a losing effort after Rae was the last True Diva standing.^[37][38] Rae teamed up with AJ Lee and Tamina Snuka against The Bella Twins and Natalya in a losing effort on the December 2 Raw, when Natalya pinned AJ.^[1] At the TLC pay-per-view, Rae interfered in Fandango's match against Dolph Ziggler by distracting Dolph, allowing Fandango to win.^[39] On the December 19 episode of WWE Superstars, Rae defeated Kaitlyn with a roll-up, garnering her first singles match victory on the main roster.^[40][41] Rae would continue her rivalry with Natalya, who would align herself with Bayley, losing to both in singles match on NXT and WWE Superstars.^[42][43][44]

Other media

On October 21, 2013, it was announced that Summer Rae would be making her video game debut in a downloadable content package, as a manager to Fandango and playable Diva in WWE 2K14.^[45] Rae will join the cast of Total Divas for its second season.^[46]

In wrestling

• Finishing moves
  • Inverted leg drop bulldog,^[1][21][27] — 2013–present
  • Spinning heel kick^[16][47][40] — NXT; used as an signature move in WWE

• Signature moves
  • Corner foot choke^[20][21]
  • Discus leg drop^[16][19][47]
  • Guillotine choke DDT^[20][21]
  • Hair-pull mat slam^[20][21][22]
  • Indian deathlock^[19][47]
  • Lotus lock^[48][49]
  • Multiple pinning variations
    • Roll-up^{[20][21][47][40]}
    • Schoolgirl, sometimes out of a corner^[33]
  • Snap DDT, to an opponent's limb^[21][47]

• Nicknames
  • "The First Lady of NXT"^[1][16][50]

• Wrestlers managed
  • Abraham Washington^[9]
  • Brad Maddox^[11]
  • Fandango^[51]
  • Sasha Banks^[1][26][28]
  • Charlotte^[52]

• Entrance themes
  • "Way You Love Me" by Hollywood Music (April 6, 2012—February 7, 2013)
  • "So Cool (Instrumental)" by Kodiene (February 7, 2013—present; used in singles competition) (WWE NXT/WWE)
  • "ChaChaLaLa" by Jim Johnston (April 22, 2013 – present; used while managing Fandango) (WWE)

Championships and accomplishments

• Wrestling Observer Newsletter
  • Worst Worked Match of the Year (2013) with AJ Lee, Aksana, Alicia Fox, Kaitlyn, Rosa Mendes and Tamina Snuka vs. Brie Bella, Cameron, Eva Marie, Jojo, Naomi, Natalya and Nikki Bella on November 24^[53]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Danielle Moinet.

• Danielle Moinet's profile on WWE.com
• Danielle Moinet's profile on WWE.com's NXT
• Danielle Moinet on Cagematch (German)
• Danielle Moinet on Twitter
• Summer Rae at the Internet Movie Database
• Summer-Rae.Org Fansite