BRADENTON, Fla. — Derrian Gobourne was born to be a performer. As a young girl in Sarasota, she was a competitive cheerleader before joining Lakewood Ranch Gymnastics at around seven years old.
She took her prowess as a gymnast to the SEC, competing with Auburn from 2019-2023. As a Tiger, she won a national championship and was named a WGCA All-American four times under the moniker of "the queen of the floor."
"Queen is my persona. It's who I am. It's my walk, it's my talk, it's my swag, it's my fly, it's my confidence," she said.
Towards the end of her collegiate career, she received a message from a WWE talent scout, asking if she was interested in training to be a professional wrestler. She turned it down, as she didn't think it matched her personality.
However, when she further researched WWE, she discovered she could be the performer that she's always been.
"My major was apparel merchandising. So, there's a lot of fashion, there's makeup, there's a lot of women in it. And I was like, 'Oh...this is actually who Derrian is,'" she said.
She joined WWE's Next In Line program which serves to recruit and develop future talent. Last month, she and other former college athletes visited the company's performance center in Orlando to learn about the business of pro wrestling.
"I feel like WWE has really given me my purpose and to be able to just connect with people of all kinds. And so I think that's something that makes me really excited because I just love to just pour into other people through my gift, and that is definitely going to allow me to do that," she said.
