Kayla Braxton, known for her hosting roles on WWE’s Talking Smack and SmackDown, often shares glimpses of her life on Instagram. In June, she posted a striking photo of herself in a black outfit, captioning it, “Humble enough to know that I can be replaced. Confident enough to know that there is no one like me. 😌” Braxton’s career is filled with growth, mentorship, and confidence, thanks to influences like Paul Heyman. She continues to pursue new opportunities while enjoying outdoor activities and international travel in her free time.
Braxton talked about her career in an interview with Insight with Chris Van Vilet. She says that she helped develop her reporting style with Paul Heyman. “I mean, I give a lot of credit to Paul. I had so much fun doing all that back and forth with him with The Bloodline. But, you know, Paul and I were doing Talking Smack together and we didn’t really know each other at the time. I knew that we didn’t really interact a lot, and getting to know him on that panel and getting to go back and forth and realising we’re both kind of spitfires helped immensely. And then you know, he got me on camera to do those bits with him on SmackDown with The Bloodline and then now I am the sassy backstage interviewer. I’ve been told I can be a little sassy. I think he wanted to help me, he does that with a lot of talent and other interviewers, he wants to see what our strengths are and makes it happen. I don’t even remember how the first one happened. A lot of times like Paul and I, we just go, there’s not really talking about it beforehand. We just said, whatever happens, happens. I think that his freakout happened on one and it just hit big. So we just kind of kept doing it. It got a good reaction, fans loved it.”
In her Insight interview, Braxton revealed that her co-workers supported her when she had to do a new segment. “I remember my first kickoff show. I was never planning to do those. I was terrified to do a kickoff show. And it was F1, Renee left and Cole goes, ‘Hey, you have to do the next kickoff show because Charlie was gone too.’ And I was like, ‘what? I’ve never done a kickoff. What are you talking about?’ And I think my first one was going to be right before Mania and Mania is a two hour kickoff show, by the way. Anyway, all this to say, I was terrified. And Cole looked at me and goes, why, ‘You can do this in your sleep?’ And walked away. And that boost of confidence of just like, why are you worried helped me so much.”
In an interview with the Nikki & Brie Show, Braxton talked about her decision to step away from her role at WWE. “I was under contract,” she said. “Announcers, we operate very differently. I just realized, within myself, after eight years; I’ve done everything I can do here. You know how the schedule is at WWE. It’s very hard to (accomplish) anything else you want to do. I just felt like I was starting to miss out on opportunities outside of the company.”
As you can see from her Instagram post, Braxton spends a lot of time outside. This has health benefits. According to UC Davis, “Getting out into nature can lead us to want to walk, bike, hike, or kayak more often. People typically engage in regular physical activity when they’re in nature. So, stepping outside can help you keep a healthy weight or even lose weight by increasing activity levels.”
One outdoor thing Braxton enjoys doing is going swimming. She shares a lot of posts on Instagram of herself by the water. Braxton shared this photo of herself in the pool in Saudi Arabia. She captioned it, “I’ve seen some cool places. I wanna see some more. Where to next? Drop some of your fav international travel destinations in the comments below 🧳 ✈️ 🛥️”