Fallon Henley came within a heartbeat of turning down WWE, and not because of money or nerves. She had just lost one of her twin sisters, and at only 22 years old she suddenly found herself raising two grieving teenagers in her two-bedroom Tampa apartment. That tragedy is the untold backstory behind her entire WWE journey.
Henley opened up about the loss on What Do You Wanna Talk About? with Cody Rhodes podcast, explaining that one her twin sisters passed away right before WWE called her for extra work. That extra-work call led to a third tryout and eventually the career she has now.
She said the death came with no warning. Her sister was rushed to the hospital as her organs began shutting down, and she was gone before the family could process it.
It was a really hard time. Like I said, it kind of came out of nowhere. Essentially, all of her organs shut down. She got rushed to the hospital, and before we knew it, she was gone,” Henley said.
Raising Two Teenagers At 22
Her sister left behind two daughters and a son. The children had already lost their father a year or two earlier, which made an impossibly painful situation even harder.
The girls’ options were Michigan with Henley’s mother, California with another sister, or Tampa with Henley. She took them in, gave them the larger bedroom, and kept the smaller one for herself while they finished school.
I had a two-bedroom apartment at the time, so I brought them in. They shared one of the rooms. I took the smaller one. I think they were like 16 and 17. So one had to still finish high school and the other one was just starting college,” Henley said.
She credited her nieces for how mature they were through everything. Henley said they are thriving today: Tabby recently started a full-time job, stepping into a role her late mother once held, while Julia is now in nursing school.
The Call She Almost Refused
The hardest part of the story is how close Henley came to saying no. When WWE called with the extra-work opportunity, she was not in a mental place to accept it.
So when I got that call to do the extra work, I mentally was not in a place where I thought I could do it. And I almost said no,” Henley said.
And had I said no, I wouldn’t be here right now, I wouldn’t be on SmackDown. I wouldn’t be doing any of the things that I’m doing.
Henley believes her late sisters gave her the push she needed in that moment, calling them her biggest supporters long before she chose wrestling as a path.
And I think that was like a little piece of my sister kind of kicking me and telling me to go do it because she knew how much I wanted this,” she said. “Heather and Heidi were the twins, and they were probably my biggest supporters ever. So a lot of what I’m working for now is for them.
Henley, from Chelsea, Michigan, is a former NXT Women’s North American Champion, NXT Women’s Tag Team Champion, and WWE Women’s Speed Champion. Her WWE Women’s Speed Championship reign recently came to an end, but she remains an active performer on the roster.