In the high-stakes world of professional wrestling, where larger-than-life personas clash under blinding lights and scripted drama meets raw emotion, few moments capture the essence of the business quite like the one Lyra Valkyria shares in Netflix’s WWE: Unreal Season 2. The Irish Superstar, born Aoife Marie Cusack, has risen from NXT standout to the inaugural Women’s Intercontinental Champion on Raw, forging rivalries with icons like Becky Lynch that blur the line between storyline and personal growth. But behind the pyro and entrance music lies a grueling reality—one that’s on full display in the docuseries, which pulls viewers into the writers’ room, the road life, and the relentless grind leading to SummerSlam.
More on Netflix about WWE: Unreal Season 2
In an exclusive sit-down with AMFM Magazine’s Paul Salfen, Valkyria opens up about the whirlwind of Unreal, the pressures of live TV, and the unexpected vulnerability that comes with letting cameras capture the unfiltered chaos. The interview, raw and reflective, arrives as Season 2 streams on Netflix, offering fans an unprecedented peek at how WWE crafts its spectacles while Superstars like Valkyria navigate the toll it takes.
Salfen kicks things off with enthusiasm: the show is a “nice peek behind the curtain,” a rare glimpse into the machinery that makes Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown hum. Valkyria agrees, but not without caveats. “There are pluses and minuses to pulling back the curtain,” she says, acknowledging the double-edged sword of exposing the “chaos of the people on the headsets” and the “crazy and chaotic live TV” that fans rarely see. For someone whose job once felt as straightforward as stepping through the ropes for a match, the scope of production hit hard. “My job is just to go out and have a match,” she admits. “When you see everything else that goes on… it’s wild.”
The conversation turns inspirational when Salfen asks about the little girls who look up to her and her fellow Superstars. Valkyria’s advice is grounded and honest: embrace the failures. “Sometimes stuff doesn’t go to plan, and that’s okay,” she says. “You have to be okay with not being good at this… repetition and working really hard and consistency, and falling in love with the journey.” It’s a mantra born from years of balancing college, part-time jobs, training, and social life—until she reached a breaking point and decided to “put everything into wrestling.” Her personal Hail Mary? Choosing the ring over everything else, even when the bar elsewhere had to be lowered.
That mindset—”do what you should do”—serves as her internal compass. When doubt creeps in (“Do I just want to stay home today?”), the answer is simple: push forward. It’s the same discipline that carries her through the adrenaline rush before curtain call. “That moment before you go through the curtain is the biggest,” she confesses. “I hate the feeling, but I love this feeling.”
Valkyria doesn’t shy away from the pressure of millions watching, or the temptation to go off-script when the moment feels right. “Sometimes stuff isn’t laid out that we do in the ring… sometimes it just happens,” she notes. The chaos can backfire, but it’s part of what makes wrestling electric. And while the spotlight brings scrutiny, she and her peers “live for it.”
As for what fans can expect from the rest of Unreal Season 2, Valkyria is candid. Initially nervous about her own footage—”I wasn’t excited for the world to see my part”—she’s relieved it landed well. Now, she’s eager for viewers to understand the weekly road life: the travel, the stress, the unrelenting schedule that turns Superstars into road warriors.
The interview wraps with well-wishes for a Texas return, a nod to Valkyria’s growing fanbase in the Lone Star State and beyond. In an era where WWE blurs reality and performance more than ever, Valkyria embodies the evolution: a technical wizard in the ring, a reluctant but increasingly open subject on camera, and a beacon for the next generation. WWE: Unreal doesn’t just document the spectacle—it humanizes it, one vulnerable moment at a time.
For Valkyria, the journey isn’t about perfection; it’s about falling in love with the process. And as Season 2 proves, when the curtain pulls back, what’s revealed is often more compelling than the show itself.
