Kayleigh Kerr (
néeRae; born 11 August 1992) is a Scottish
professional wrestler. She is currently signed to
WWE where she performs on the
Rawbrand under the
ring nameAlba Fyre. She is one-half of
The Unholy Union with
Isla Dawn and is currently one-half of the
WWE Women's Tag Team Champions with Dawn in their first reign. She previously wrestled under the ring name Kay Lee Ray (a tweaked version of her real name).
After competing in WWE's inaugural
Mae Young Classic in 2017, Rae signed with WWE in 2019 and debuted on their
NXT UK brand, becoming a one-time
NXT UK Women's Champion, holding the record for the longest WWE women's reign at 649 days.[a] She moved to
NXT in 2021, changed her ring name to Alba Fyre in April of the following year, became a one-time
NXT Women's Tag Team Champion alongside Isla Dawn in 2023 (with their team being the final holder of the championship before it was unified with the
WWE Women's Tag Team Championship), and moved up to the main roster in April of that year. In 2024, Fyre and Dawn won the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship, becoming the second female tag team to have won the WWE and NXT Women's Tag Team Championships.
Ray faces off against
KANA in
SHIMMER in 2013Ray delievers a superkick to
Kimber Lee in SHIMMER 2016
Trained by Kid Fite,[3] Rae made her debut under the
ring nameKay Lee Ray at SWA Battlezone on 30 May 2009, losing a Battlezone Rumble to determine the number one contender for the
NWA Scottish Heavyweight Championship.[5]
On 28 February 2015, she defeated
Candice LeRae,
Nixon Newell, and
Saraya Knight to win the SWE Queen of Southside Championship. On 24 October, she lost the championship to Newell in a tag team match where Newell's tag team partner
Jimmy Havoc defended his Speed King Championship against Ray's tag team partner
El Ligero. On 27 December, she was defeated by Ligero in a Loser Leaves Southside match.
On 7 August 2016, Ray won the
Queen of Southside Championship in a three-way match against Alex Windsor and
Jade, and lost the championship two months later to
Melina.
At WCPW Built to Destroy on 16 June 2017, Ray won the WCPW Women's Championship from Viper, who replaced
Bea Priestley in the match.[6]
At Luke...Who Yer Da? on 4 May 2013, Ray defeated Viper in a tournament final to win the Fierce Females Championship.[8]
At Shug's Hoose Party on 27 July 2014, Ray and
Stevie Boy unsuccessfully challenged for the vacant
ICW Tag Team Championship in a match that was won by
BT Gunn and Chris Renfrew.[9]
On 29 May 2015, Ray lost the Fierce Females Championship (now called the Scottish Women's Championship) to Viper in a 20-woman rumble, ending her reign at 755 days.[10] On 15 November, she faced
Nikki Storm and Viper in a three-way match for the inaugural
ICW Women's Championship, which was won by Viper.[11]
On 20 November 2016, Ray won the ICW Women's Championship by defeating Viper and champion Carmel Jacob in a three-way match at
Fear & Loathing IX.[12]
On 29 July 2017, at Shug's Hoose Party IV, Ray lost the ICW Women's Championship to Kasey Owens in 37 seconds.[13] She won it back at 1 October Fight Club tapings.[14] She lost the title the next month to Owens at Fear & Loathing X on 19 November in a three-way steel cage match also involving Viper.[15]
At Fear and Loathing XI on 2 December 2018, Ray won the Women's Championship from Viper in the inaugural
Queen of Insanity match.[16]
Ray entered the 2012, 2014, and 2018 Square Go! matches.[17]
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2014–2015)
Ray appeared for
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) in 2014 on the second season of TNA British Boot Camp. Her first match on the show was taped on 16 August, where she lost in a four-way match won by
Nikki Storm and also involved Kasey Owens and Leah Owens.[18] Her second match was a loss taped on 6 September in an eight-person tag team match alongside
Al Snow,
Grado, and
Mark Andrews against
Angelina Love,
Dave Mastiff,
Rampage Brown, and
Noam Dar.[19] On the finale, taped on 7 December, she was revealed to be in the top three competitors, after which she faced
Gail Kim in a losing effort.[20] Andrews won the show and the TNA contract.[21]
Ray later appeared on two episodes of TNA Xplosion taped in the United Kingdom, with the first being a victory alongside Noam Dar against Gail Kim and Rampage Brown on 29 January 2015,[22] and the other on 31 January in a victory alongside Andrews, Dar, and
Crazzy Steve against Brown, Dave Mastiff,
Madison Rayne, and
Samuel Shaw.[23]
World of Sport (2018–2019)
At the 5 May 2018 tapings of the newly-revived World of Sport Wrestling, Ray won the vacant WOS Women's Championship in a three-way match against
Bea Priestley and
Viper.[24] She successfully defended the title on subsequent episodes in a battle royal[25] and a singles match against Viper.[26]
On 19 January 2019, during a WOS house show tour, Ray lost her championship in a three-way match when she was pinned by Viper.
WWE
Early appearances and Mae Young Classic (2015, 2017)
Ray made a one-off WWE appearance at the 8 October 2015 tapings of NXT, losing to
Nia Jax.[27]
At
NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool on 12 January 2019, Ray and
Jazzy Gabert appeared at ringside.[31] It was later confirmed that the two had signed with WWE, marking Ray's first contract with WWE.[32] On 13 March, Ray made her NXT UK in-ring debut as a
villainess, defeating
Candy Floss. On the 19 June episode of NXT UK, Ray won a battle royal to earn an opportunity to face
NXT UK Women's ChampionToni Storm at a time of her choosing.[33] On the 17 July episode of NXT UK, Ray said she will face Storm at
NXT UK TakeOver: Cardiff. At TakeOver: Cardiff, Ray defeated Storm to win the NXT UK Women's Championship, becoming the first British-born wrestler to hold the title.[34] On the 13 November episode of NXT, Ray interfered during a "
WarGames Advantage"
ladder match between
Shayna Baszler's team member
Io Shirai and
Rhea Ripley's team member
Mia Yim, helping Shirai win the match and revealing herself as the fourth member of Baszler's team in the first ever Women's WarGames Match.[35] Ripley's team would defeat Baszler's team at
NXT TakeOver: WarGames.[36]
On the 8 January 2020 episode of NXT, Ray returned and teamed with
Bianca Belair and Io Shirai in a six-woman tag team match against Storm, Ripley and
Candice LeRae in a losing effort.[37] On the 12 December episode of NXT UK, it was announced that Ray would defend the NXT UK Women's Championship against Storm and
Piper Niven in a
triple threat match at
NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool II.[38] Ray would go on to retain her title against Storm and Niven at TakeOver: Blackpool II.[39] On the 27 February episode of NXT UK, Ray retained her title against Storm in an
"I Quit" match with the stipulation that if Storm lost, she could no longer challenge Ray during Ray's championship reign. After the match, Ray started a feud with Niven after Niven watched Ray brutally attack Storm.[40] On the 2 April episode of NXT UK, Ray and
Jinny successfully defeated Niven and Dani Luna.[41] On the 24 September episode of NXT UK, Ray retained her title against Niven.[42] On the 5 November episode of NXT UK, Ray and Niven's feud continued after Ray insulted Niven, so Niven came out and attacked Ray in the ring and backstage.[43] On the 19 November episode of NXT UK, Ray was again successful in defending her title against Niven in a
Falls Count Anywhere Match, when Jinny interfered as a result of Niven disrespecting her two weeks prior.[44]
Ray retained her title in a championship match against Jinny on 21 January 2021,[45] and
Meiko Satomura on 4 March.[46] On the 10 June episode of NXT UK, Ray, in what would be her final appearance for the brand, lost the title to Satomura, ending her record-setting reign at 649 days.[47]
NXT singles run (2021–2022)
At
NXT TakeOver 36 on 22 August 2021, Ray made her debut appearance for
NXT at the conclusion of the
NXT Women's Championship match between
Raquel González and
Dakota Kai.[48] On the 23 November episode of NXT, Ray distracted
Mandy Rose during her match against
Cora Jade, causing Rose to lose the match. Later that night, she joined
Io Shirai's team at
NXT WarGames, teasing a
face turn in the process.[49] At WarGames on 5 December, her team was victorious; during the match, she teased turning on her team when she approached an injured Jade with a kendo stick, only to turn and attack Kai instead, thus cementing her face turn.[50]
Ray would unsuccessfully challenge
Mandy Rose for the NXT Women's Championship on the 8 February 2022 episode of NXT due to interference from
Toxic Attraction (
Gigi Dolin and
Jacy Jayne).[51] Shortly after, she and Io Shirai would team up in the
2022 Women's Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic where they defeated Amari Miller and
Lash Legend in the first round,[52]Kacy Catanzaro and
Kayden Carter in the semifinals,[53] and Dakota Kai and
Wendy Choo in the finals.[54] This would lead to a fatal four-way match at
NXT Stand & Deliver on 2 April where she failed to win the NXT Women's Championship.[55] On the 26 April episode of NXT, Ray's
ring name was changed to Alba Fyre.[56] On the 10 May episode of NXT, she defeated Amari Miller.[57] After defeating Tatum Paxley on the 7 June episode of NXT, she was attacked by
Lash Legend, starting a feud between the two.[58] Fyre would defeat Legend on the 21 June episode of NXT by disqualification after Legend used Fyre's own bat,[59] and defeated her again on the 2 August episode.[60] At
Halloween Havoc on 22 October, Fyre unsuccessfully challenged Mandy Rose for the
NXT Women's Championship.[61]
On the 15 November episode of NXT, Fyre lost her championship rematch[62] against Rose in a
Last Woman Standing match when a returning
Isla Dawn interfered.[63] This led to a match between Fyre and Dawn at
NXT Deadline on 10 December where Dawn was victorious.[64] Fyre defeated Dawn in an
Extreme Resolution match on the 3 January 2023 episode of NXT,[65] and failed to win the NXT Women's Tag Team Championship three weeks later.[66] Fyre turned heel again and joined forces with Dawn on the 31 January episode of NXT.[67] At
Stand & Deliver on 1 April, Fyre and Dawn defeated
Fallon Henley and
Kiana James to win the
NXT Women's Tag Team Championship.[68] They would retain their titles in a rematch against Henley and James on the April 11 episode of NXT and against
Katana Chance and
Kayden Carter on the May 1 episode of NXT.
As part of the
2023 WWE Draft, Fyre and Dawn were drafted to the
SmackDownbrand together.[69] Fyre and Dawn made their SmackDown debut on 19 May 2023, defeating Valentina Feroz and
Yulisa Leon.[70] On the 9 June episode of SmackDown, Fyre and Dawn were confronted by the
WWE Women's Tag Team ChampionsRonda Rousey and
Shayna Baszler, who challenged them to a
unification match on the 23 June episode of SmackDown,[71] where Fyre and Dawn lost the match and were recognised as the final NXT Women's Tag Team Champions.[72] Fyre and Dawn returned on the 22 December episode of SmackDown to attack
Damage CTRL during the Holiday Havoc Match.[73] The team of Fyre and Dawn is now called
The Unholy Union.[74]
In July 2021, Rae married fellow professional wrestler
Stephen Kerr (best known as Stevie Boy), after a 13-year relationship.[5][77][78]
Rae's parents, Bridgeen Mitchell and Ronnie were struck by a car while visiting Rae in
Orlando,
Florida on May 17, 2024. While her father survived, her mother died shortly following the incident, aged 51.[79]
^The WWF Women's Championship only became WWF property in 1984, making The Fabulous Moolah's (disputed) 10,170-day reign as NWA Women's Champion a non-WWE title reign.
^What Culture Pro Wrestling was renamed to Defiant Wrestling during Ray's reign, thus the title was renamed to reflect the change.
^The championship was renamed to the Scottish Women's Championship during Ray's reign.
References
^
abc"Kay Lee Ray". WWE.
Archived from the original on 6 August 2017. Retrieved 13 October 2017.
^"Kay Lee Ray". OWOW.
Archived from the original on 20 December 2019. Retrieved 13 October 2017.
^
ab"Kay Lee Ray". Cagematch.
Archived from the original on 2 February 2019. Retrieved 13 October 2017.
^Satin, Ryan (12 January 2019).
"Jazzy Gabert and Kay Lee Ray Join NXT UK". Pro Wrestling Sheet | Insider Wrestling News and Reports.
Archived from the original on 13 January 2019. Retrieved 13 January 2019.