With near a decade of experience now, “The Liverbird” Lizzy Evo has garnered an impressive resume in her professional wrestling career. In early 2022, she transformed into NXT UK’s Eliza Alexander, joining forces with Xia Brookside, and beginning a notable run in WWE. By August however, NXT UK officially began disbanding, as WWE announced the launch of NXT Europe instead. As a result, several NXT UK superstars were released from the company.
SEScoops’ correspondent Ella Jay recently spoke with Lizzy Evo (fka Eliza Alexander) about wrestling Mickie James at 1PW, NXT UK disbanding, her NXT UK influences, bouncing back from a car crash last year, and much more!
Watch Ella Jay’s interview with Lizzy Evo:
Here are some highlights of what Lizzy said about:
Wrestling Mickie James At 1PW
“So when they (1PW) first reached out to me and they were like, ‘So we want you to be a part of 1PW and we think you would work really well with Mickie James.’ And at first I was like, ‘That’s not going to happen.’ I used to her watch as a kid, I used to come home from school [and] I put wrestling on and Mickie James was coming out [on screen] and to me, that was surreal. I had very high hopes, but I was like, ‘maybe not.'”
“Then it got confirmed and she cut the promo on me and I think I cried mainly because little Lizzy would have been so, so proud because I never, ever, imagined that them things would happen. So when I got to the actual show, I was so nervous. I was like, ‘Look kid, [chill out].’ But she was just really, really nice, so humble and so lovely. It was an honor for me to be in a ring, sharing it with Mickie James. I can’t believe it’s even a real thing.”
How She Joined NXT UK
“So I remember, like go back a few years ago, and they reached out to me and they asked for like footage and stuff like that. So when I saw footage back and I knew it wasn’t what they’re looking for, and then COVID happened, so nothing really came off the email and stuff like that. I kind of just took it on the chin, ‘maybe it’ll never happen for me.'”
“Throughout lockdown, I tried to stay focused on getting mentally stronger and getting physically better because I was out of shape. I was always blowing in the ring and I just knew things needed to change and it was up to me to change them. No one was going to do it for me, and I couldn’t sit and be in a phase where I was like, ‘I wish, I wish,’ because that doesn’t it doesn’t change any. You just have to go and try and get it again. So that was what I did.”
“Then I just randomly one day I had an email that said like, ‘Are you still interested in working for NXT UK?’ That was kind of where it took off, and then I got a tryout and then I was invited for a dark match. I had quite a few dark matches before I was put on screen, which was cool because it allowed me to get like a feel of it. It was a dream, like for me at home with ten years to get to that — just being in a ring and seeing the WWE logo on turnbuckles and the cameramen and the steps. Yeah, I took it in. Some people don’t really appreciate moments like that, but, it’s the little things for me. They were everything that I ever wanted it to be when I was younger.”
Her Influences In The Company
“I had quite a few influences. Sam Gradwell, he’s always been like, ‘you’re so good.’ And he always gives me praise when he sees me and he always makes me feel better and gives me that recognition as a wrestler that as a fellow wrestler would like, if that makes any sense. Like I know from a fan’s perspective, it’s good to get their comments, but from a worker to a worker, it’s nice, especially someone who’s as good as Sam. So he did help me out a lot, a bit of guidance here and there, like ‘Don’t do this, don’t do this.'”
“It was helpful. It was helpful. So once I arrived, I think I watched Meiko [Satomura] a lot because that more was just the humbleness for such a legend in the wrestling world. It’s unreal. She was such a lovely, lovely woman and could just smack it off, so fast. She’s so cool. So I always looked at Meiko as inspiration to be like that.”
Finding Out NXT UK Was Disbanding
“I didn’t expect it at first. I was like, ‘[sigh].’ It kind of set [me back to] the mentality, like I said before, all them years ago, ‘You just have to go and try and get it again.’ I knew from that moment that was when I had to start working, if that was where I wanted to be back. It was sad because I felt like I never even got going. They gave me such a really good push, and they did look after me well. But, yeah, it was sad. It doesn’t take away from the fact that it was sad to see it all come to an end. Even before I got there, all the memories that I see people share, it’s [a] sad time. And now if you want that [back], you have to go and for it again.”
