Danielle Moinet (November 28, 1983), better known by her ring name Summer Rae, a American professional wrestler, model, actress and former American football player who performed in FCW and WWE.
Prior to joining WWE, Moinet played with the Chicago Bliss of the Legends Football League. She was a main cast member on the WWE reality television show Total Divas for seasons two and three.
Professional wrestling career[]
Rae debuted on the first episode of the sixth season of WWE NXT taped at Full Sail University, of the new NXT, as a ring announcer. Rae made her in-ring debut on September 27, Rae teamed up with Audrey Marie in a winning effort defeating the team of Emma and Paige in a divas tag-team match. In January 2013, Rae formed a tag team with Emma, with the pair defeating Mercedes KV and Paige in their first match as a team. Summer Rae teamed up with Emma on several occasions, trading victories with Sasha Banks and Paige. At the Royal Rumble fan-fest, Rae teamed up with Emma in a losing effort to Paige and Sasha Banks.
On the January 30 episode of NXT, Rae turned heel after attacking Paige when Paige accidentally ran into her after Paige won a match against Aksana. On the 13 February episode of NXT, a vengeful Paige interrupted a scheduled match to attack Rae, but suffered a shoulder injury in the process, which Rae exploited later that episode to defeat Paige in a her first match to end Paige's winning streak. On the February 20 episode of NXT, Rae exploited her win over Paige in a backstage interview where Rae official debuted her gimmick "The First Lady of NXT" ending the interview where she said she can focus on becoming the greatest Diva ever. On the March 13 episode of NXT, Rae defeated Emma in a singles match, during the match she even mocked Paige. After the match, Paige made her return and tried to attack Rae but she ran away. On the April 3 episode of NXT she teamed with Audrey Marie in a losing effort against Sasha Banks & Paige after Summer ran away from Paige to the back.
Rae made her main roster debut in the WWE European Tour with Fandango. Rae official debuted on the April 22 episode of Raw, as Fandago's dancer. Following his match, Chris Jericho attacked Fandango and shared a short dance with Rae on the main stage. Rae also made her SmackDown debut on April 26, 2013 with Fandango again in his match with Justin Gabriel. On the May 13 episode of Raw, Rae along with Fandango faced Chris Jericho and Dancing with the Stars competitor Edyta Sliwinska in a dance off but Fandango's dance was cut short by an apparent injury to Rae's ankle. However, Rae later revealed that her tweaked ankle was merely a distraction to trap Jericho into Fandango's attack. In June, Fandango suffered a legitimate concussion, removing him from his scheduled title match against Barrett and Miz at WWE Payback and being replaced by Curtis Axel. Rae returned on the July 1 episode of Raw, accompanied Fandago in an losing to Sheamus via count-out. On July 14 at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view, Fandango competed in the World Heavyweight Championship Money in the Bank ladder match, but was unsuccessful as the match was won by Damien Sandow. On the October 25th edition of Smackdown, Summer got into a brawl with diva Natalya inside the ring during a match between Fandango and The Great Khali. Summer had her debut match at Hell in a Cell when she teamed up with Fandango to face Natalya and Khali in a winning effort when Summer rolled up Natalya. Rae made her singles debut the following night on Raw, where she faced Natalya in a losing effort. The following week on Raw, Summer and Fandango faced Natalya and Tyson Kidd in a losing effort. On the November 18th edition of Raw, Summer competed in a divas musical chairs contest. This would end in a brawl between the cast of Total Divas and the rest of the divas. It was announced later that night that Rae will be involved in a 7 on 7 tag team elimination match at Survivor Series. She would be eliminated fourth by Nikki Bella. The following night on Raw, they faced The Total Divas in an rematch, in a losing effort after Rae was the last True Diva standing. Rae teamed up with AJ Lee and Tamina Snuka against The Bella Twins and Natalya in a losing effort on the December 2 Raw, when Natalya pinned AJ. At the TLC pay-per-view, Rae interfered in Fandango's match against Dolph Ziggler by distracting Dolph, allowing Fandango to win. On the December 19 episode of WWE Superstars, Rae defeated Kaitlyn with a roll-up, garnering her first singles match victory on the main roster. Rae would continue her rivalry with Natalya, who would align herself with Bayley, losing to both in singles match on NXT and WWE Superstars.
In the beginning of 2014, Rae started a feud with Emma who was called to the main roster and the two competed in several dance-off competitions on both Raw and SmackDown, which Emma won. The two finally faced off in a match on the February 24 episode of Raw, where Emma defeated Rae. On the 27 March episode of WWE Superstars, Rae once again lost to Emma via submission. On April 6, Rae made her WrestleMania debut, competing at WrestleMania XXX in a 14-Diva "Vickie Guerrero Invitational" match for the WWE Divas Championship, which was won by defending champion AJ Lee. The following night on Raw, Rae and Fandago once again lost to Emma and Marella in a mixed tag team match, with Emma making Rae submit.
On April 8, 2014, Fandango announced the end of his association with Rae via Twitter. On the April 11 episode of SmackDown, Fandango replaced Rae with Layla. This storyline was put in place to allow Moinet time off television to film The Marine 4.
Rae returned on the May 19 episode of Raw as a face, where she confronted and kissed Fandango and attacked Layla before their match. Rae made her in-ring return on the following episode of Raw, in an losing effort to Eva Marie following the interference from Fandango and Layla. On the June 9 episode of Raw, Rae attacked Layla by pouring milk over her and beating her down. Layla would get revenge on Rae on the June 10 episode of Main Event by throwing cat litter on her, officially setting up a feud between the two. Rae would attack Layla again on the June 13 episode of SmackDown, posing as one of Adam Rose's "Rosebuds" during Rose's match with Fandango. This would lead to a match between Rae and Layla at Money in the Bank, with Fandango as the special guest referee. At the pay-per-view, Layla would secure the victory over Rae. The following night on Raw, Rae would cost Fandango a match against Dolph Ziggler, by kissing Ziggler, allying herself with him and turning her face in the process for the first time in her career.On the July 11 episode of SmackDown, Rae attacked Layla during the match between Fandango and Adam Rose, in which Fandango lost via count-out.
This would lead to a match between Rae and Layla later that night, with Fandango once again as the special guest referee. The match ended when both Rae and Layla attacked Fandango, then danced together in the ring turning Layla face. On the July 14 episode of Raw, during Fandango's match against Dolph Ziggler, Rae and Layla danced on the announce table to Fandango's music, distracting Fandango in the process, causing him to lose. Rae and Layla would then get into the ring and kiss Ziggler before leaving with him, ending their association with Fandango as well as forming their own alliance. On the Battleground pre-show, Rae and Layla accompanied Adam Rose to his match against Fandango. In their first match as a team, Rae and Layla, now calling themselves the Slayers, lost to Paige and AJ Lee on the July 18 episode of SmackDown. The Slayers won their first match as a team on the September 2 episode of Main Event, where they defeated Rosa Mendes and Natalya. On the September 22nd episode of Raw, both Layla and Rae turned heel once again by disparaging the fans before Summer's match with Natalya. At Survivor Series, Rae participated in a 4-on-4 Divas Traditional Survivor Series elimination tag team match, where she was eliminated by Emma before her team ultimately lost the match. In April 2015, Rae's first film The Marine 4: Moving Target was released, but she was disrespected by her co-star The Miz and as a result she allied herself with Miz's estranged personal assistant, Damien Sandow. On the April 20 episode of Raw, Rae helped Miz win a match against Sandow to retain the "Miz brand", having been working with Miz from the start.
In June, Rae became involved with Rusev's storyline with Lana and Dolph Ziggler, in which Rae formed an alliance with Rusev. On the June 29 episode of Raw, Rae would insult and slap Lana, which led to a fight between the two, which ended due to both Dolph Ziggler and Rusev intrusion. On the July 6 episode of Raw, Rae and Rusev again came out to insult Lana and Ziggler. Rusev would then viciously attack Ziggler, hitting his throat with his crutch. It was subsequently announced that Ziggler had suffered a bruised trachea in the storyline. After weeks of confrontation between Lana and Rae, on the August 10 episode of Raw, Rusev ordered Rae to put Lana in his own submission move, The Accolade. Ziggler made his return on the August 17 episode of Raw, aiding Lana during a confrontation with Rusev and Rae. This altercation prompted a match between Ziggler and Rusev at SummerSlam, which ended in a double count–out due to interference from Lana and Rae. After the match, Lana and Ziggler brawled with Rusev and Rae. On the August 31 episode of Raw, Rae was shown following Ziggler into his locker room backstage. Later on, Rae was shown running out of the locker room, followed by Ziggler, who was nude barring a towel. Ziggler would then explain the situation to Lana as Rae simply walking in on him while he was in the shower. On the following episode of SmackDown, Rae, Ziggler and Lana appeared on Miz TV, where Rae claimed that Ziggler had kissed and attempted to seduce her, and presented footage of Rae and Ziggler kissing in 2014 during her storyline with Fandango, leading to Lana attacking Rae in response. On the October 5 episode of Raw, Rae proposed to Rusev in the storyline, but said he would not marry her until he had won another championship. The next week however, Rae dumped him after Rusev's loss to Ryback in the wake of Rusev's real-life engagement to Lana after berating him and slapping him, turning face in the process.
On the October 22 episode of SmackDown, during a Miz TV segment between Rae and Ziggler, she introduced the debuting Tyler Breeze as her "new man", before Breeze attacked Ziggler, therefore reverting back to a heel. However, during the final SmackDown of 2015, Rae and Breeze announced that they amicably decided to go their separate ways.
Rae returned to in-ring action on the February 15, 2016 episode of Raw, where she defeated Paige, but lost to her in a rematch the following night on Main Event. After Lana started helping her with post–match assaults over her opponents, on the March 22 episode of Main Event, Rae, alongside Emma who was making her return to the main roster, viciously attacked Alicia Fox and Natalya during a match between Paige and Naomi, aligning herself with Team B.A.D., Lana and Emma, after she reconciled with Lana and agreed that the five of them would concentrate on having their "WrestleMania moment" at WrestleMania 32. The following week, she along with Naomi, Tamina and Lana accompanied Emma to her match against Paige on the March 28 episode of Raw, where she emerged victorious after being helped by Lana. Post-match, she along her allies attack Brie Bella, Natalya, Alicia Fox and Paige, before they were saved by a returning Eva Marie. As a result, a 10-Diva tag team match between the Total Divas team (Brie, Fox, Natalya, Eva and Paige) and the newly dubbed team B.A.D. & Blonde (Naomi, Tamina, Lana, Emma, and Rae) was announced for the pay-per-view pre-show. Rae's team would ultimately lose. On July 19, at the 2016 WWE Draft, Rae was drafted to Raw in the ninth round. However, she never appeared for the brand due to injuries. After over a year of inactivity, Rae announced to release from her WWE contract on October 29, 2017.
Gallery[]
External links[]
- Summer Rae on Pro Wresting Fandom
- Summer Rae on Official WWE Wiki