You Can’t Kill the Metal: A Thank You to Rayne Leverkusen

I’m not normally one for sappy, sentimental articles - and in fact haven’t written a piece for the site in a long time. But with Rayne Leverkusen seemingly on her way to Florida and the WWE there’s one thing I need to say…

In short, that thing is, thank you Rayne. But in reality there’s much more to it than that.

After the pandemic and all the fall out from Speaking Out wrestling returned, but something felt very different. It felt like there was a downer across the scene, people had been left hurt and jaded by the horrifying things we learned about over the summer of 2020 and rightly so.

At this point I think it’s important for me to make very clear that the issues that hit me are nothing compared to what the victims of Speaking Out went through and my thoughts continue to remain with them for the horrors they suffered.

I’m ashamed to admit that a lot of my favourite wrestlers were named in Speaking Out and for a long time I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to look at wrestling the same way again.

Even when wrestling returned and we came back to indie shows, even after I launched Grapple Theory, I struggled to find the love for wrestling that I used to have and wondered if I could ever have another ‘favourite’ wrestler. Then I went to EVE’s Piledrivers and Pints at the Signature Brew in London.

Ava’s opponent on that night was a debuting Rayne Leverkusen, and from the moment she made her entrance you could tell there was something special about her. As a metalhead myself I had an immediate affinity for Rayne; the leather jacket, the metal entrance, the 80’s style hair, it all screamed ‘Maiden of Metal’.

In around ten minutes, and despite falling to defeat, Rayne made a lasting in-ring impression. She just got it, right from the off; in terms of move set, in terms of crowd work and how to connect with the crowd. It was the work of a wrestler who’d been working for years, not for just a few short months.

I was a fan right away and for the first time since pre-Covid I was actually excited about wrestling.

Rayne started to get more opportunities both at home and abroad - getting a tour of Japan within a year of her debut, a remarkable achievement all in itself.

She found instant success on our scene as well; already being the Hustle champion but adding belts in the likes of Chaos and the tag belts in EVE to her collection before too long

And then came the bump in the road…

When she got injured and spent more than a year on the sidelines it was heartbreaking. She’d had so much going for her and in the blink of an eye in had been taken away. Speaking to her about it you could tell how much she was hurting, but also how determined she was to get back to training as soon as possible.

Seeing the work she put in to get back in the ring, speaking to her about what she went through and watching her do everything possible to make it back was nothing short of inspiring.

All the struggles were worth it as she made her return to wrestling; she got hold of the Hustle belt once again, got another tour of Japan and ended 2025 by becoming the champion in both PROGRESS and CHAOS.

But the crowning highlight of course came when she became the MVP of the SummerSlam tryouts in 2025. All the hard work to fight back from injury, all the determination to prove herself, it all paid off in that moment. A contract was bound to follow and now looks like it has and nobody deserves it more.

To see someone who I’ve admired for so long get the dream she’s worked for years to achieve is so heartwarming. Like a lot of fans, there’s that small selfish voice in my head that wants her to stay on the scene. But the overriding feeling is pride for a wrestler I’ve come to admire so much over the last four years.

I personally will be grateful to her forever, because she is the reason I still have my love for wrestling.

So thank you Rayne Leverkusen! The metal will never die!

You Can’t Kill the Metal: A Thank You to Rayne Leverkusen

WRESTLER CRUSH WEDNESDAY: KANJI