Kelly Verbil, best-known to WWE fans for her role as an NXT backstage interviewer under the name Kelly Kincaid, recently shared that she’s been devoting her attention to a career in roller derby.
Verbil joined WWE in February 2022, but earlier this year she announced that her contract had expired, and she wasn’t given a chance to renew it. While her time in WWE was spent as an interviewer, she also has in-ring experience, wrestling as Quinn McKay in Ring of Honor from 2019 to 2021.
However, in a message
posted on Instagram over the weekend, Kelly shared that she doesn’t know if she’ll “ever return to wrestling.”
Kincaid, who has a daughter with Elton Prince of the WWE tag team Pretty Deadly, wrote that instead of wrestling, she is now focused on roller derby. Though she didn’t provide information about what team she’s skating for, she said that she can be seen competing in the “Orlando area.”
Kelly began her post by saying she “didn’t have an identity outside of work for eight years,” before adding that “I’ve never had more fun in my life than when I was Quinn McKay at Ring of Honor. I poured my heart and soul into her, and I like to think it showed. But it was an all consuming love, and I spent every waking moment figuring out how to build that character.”
“WWE was another story. It’s a rewarding, but very demanding, job. Everything I thought I knew about my craft was dissected, analyzed, and turned around,” Kelly wrote. “It wasn’t better or worse than what was expected of me at ROH, it was just different. I loved all the moments I spent with you as Kelly Kincaid, even if it was incredibly different than what I would have chosen to give you.”
She continued: “So I guess this is a very delayed thank you for spending those eight years with me. I don’t know if I’ll ever return to wrestling. As we’re told over and over again at the performance center, ‘it comes for us all.’”
The former wrestling personality then said that since her release, she’s been “figuring out what that means for me, and how I exist outside that bubble.” Kincaid then explains how she got back into roller derby.
“I had forgotten who I was while living inside different characters for so long. So I’ve gone back to my roots. I’ve started playing roller derby again. It’s given me my life back,” she said. “I love my family. I love to riot. I love skating. I can see just the barest glimpse of who I used to be.”
She wrapped up her message by telling her supporters: “If you’re in the Orlando area, come check out a game sometime. It’s like wrestling, but you know… on roller skates. And after four very long years, I’m stepping back into my own spotlight.”
We at Cageside Seats wish Kelly all the best in her roller derby career.
What do you think, Cagesiders? Will you catch Kelly in a roller derby game if you’re ever in Orlando? Let us know in the comments.
