Danielle Moinet (November 28, 1983) is an American model, actress and former football player who played with the Chicago Bliss of the Lingerie Football League. She is a professional wrestler, best known for her time with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) under the ring name Summer Rae.
Football career[]
Moinet played with the Chicago Bliss of the Legends Football League (LFL) from 2008 to 2011. She played as a cornerback and was the team's captain. On June 30, 2011, Moinet played in the LFL All-Star Game at Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, Ontario, in Canada which was her final game in the LFL. She was one of two players in the game from the Chicago Bliss.
World Wrestling Entertainment[]
Developmental territories (2011–2012)[]
In November 2011, it was reported that Moinet had signed a contract with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and been assigned to the Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) developmental territory. Moinet made her television debut on the December 18 episode of FCW television, appearing in a ringside promo with Abraham Washington, and the following week she managed Washington during a tag team match. She also worked as the ring announcer for FCW television show. Changing her ring name to Summer Rae, she was prevented from interfering in a match between Seth Rollins and Rae's "new client" Brad Maddox by the debuting Paige on the March 5 episode of FCW television.
On the March 11 episode of FCW, Rae became the FCW General Manager, replacing the former general manager Maxine whom was fired early that event by FCW owner Steve Keirn. On the March 15, episode of FCW television, Rae decided to deactivate the Queen of FCW crown, leaving Raquel Diaz as the last champion. Rae made her in-ring debut on the April 6 episode of FCW television, where she lost to Sofia Cortez in an elimination triple threat match, which also involved Paige. On the April 19 episode of FCW television, Rae teamed up with Caylee Turner and Audrey Marie in a winning effort against Raquel Diaz, Cortez and Paige. Rae made her singles debut on the May 10 episode of FCW television, losing to Paige in a singles match. On the May 31 episode of FCW television' Rae teamed up with Turner to defeat The Anti-Diva Army (Paige and Cortez). On the June 3 episode of FCW television, Rae announced that Marie was to receive a match for Raquel Diaz's FCW Divas Championship, if she could defeat Paige in a number one contenders match. In June, Rae defeated various Divas in bikini contests. On the July 19 episode of FCW television, Moinet teamed up with Skyler Moon to defeat Cortez and Paige. She continued to wrestle against Paige, in both singles and tag team matches through September. On October 18, Rae teamed up with Corey Graves in a losing effort to the team of Sasha Banks and Jason Jordan in a mixed tag team match.
NXT Wrestling (2012–2014)[]
Rae debuted on the first episode of the sixth season of WWE NXT taped at Full Sail University as a ring announcer. Rae made her in-ring debut for NXT on a live event 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.
On the January 30 episode of NXT, Rae turned heel by attacking Paige due to Rae's jealousy of Paige's popularity and success. A vengeful Paige interrupted a scheduled match to attack Rae on the February 13 edition of NXT, but suffered a shoulder injury in the process, which Rae exploited later that episode to defeat Paige in her first match. Rae's victory ended Paige's undefeated streak. Rae then teamed with Audrey Marie against Paige and Sasha Banks; Marie was pinned when Rae ran away from Paige. Rae finally faced off against Paige in a singles match on the May 1 edition of NXT, where Paige emerged victorious despite Rae's pre-match attack on Paige during her entrance. Summer Rae faced off in singles competition against former WWE Divas Champion Natalya in a singles match on the May 15 edition of NXT, where Rae emerged victorious despite Paige's attempt to distract Rae. Rae competed in the NXT Women's Championship Tournament on the June 19 edition of NXT to crown the inaugural champion and defeated Sasha Banks in the first round. Rae was defeated in the semi-finals by Emma on the July 10 edition of NXT, where Rae lost following Emma reversing Rae pinfall attempt. After the match, Rae attacked Emma before being chased off by Paige.
Rae began to feud with Emma after losing to her in a #1 Contender's dance battle match by attacking her, leading to her unsuccessfully challenging Paige for the NXT Women's Championship. For weeks, Rae began to influence Sasha Banks to make herself relevant, which led to Banks turning heel on the September 11 edition of NXT, by attacking NXT Women's Champion Paige. On the September 25 edition of NXT, Summer accompanied Sasha to her match against Bayley, which Sasha won. Summer then declared that her and Sasha would run the NXT Divas division. Banks and Rae, now known as the “BFFs: Beautiful Fierce Females” faced Paige and Emma on the October 16 edition of NXT, where they would emerge victorious after Rae pinned Paige. Rae and Banks defeated Charlotte and Bayley on the November 13 edition of NXT, with the victory coming after the evil Charlotte turned against Bayley and later became the third member of the BFFs.
Alliance with Fandango (2013–2014)[]
On April 22, Rae appeared on Monday Night Raw as Fandango's newest dance partner. She danced briefly with Fandango's rival Chris Jericho after his attack on Fandango on the stage area. During the May 13th episode of Monday Night Raw, Rae joined Fandango in a Dance-Off Competition against Chris Jericho and Jericho's partner Edyta Sliwinska. During the competition, Rae faked a leg injury, distracting Jericho long enough for Fandango to attack him with part of the dance floor.
On the May 20th episode of Monday Night Raw, Rae accompanied Fandango to his first tag match with Wade Barrett to face Chris Jericho and The Miz. While the match was in progress, Fandango abandoned his partner and instead danced with Rae until the end of the match which resulted in Barrett's defeat. After Fandango was chased off from ringside by his opponents, Jericho offered to dance with Rae before reneging on the offer after Rae fooled him during the dance-off competition. On the May 27th episode of Monday Night Raw, Rae stood at ringside during a match between Wade Barrett and Fandango, refereed by The Miz. The match was won by Fandango who disrespected The Miz prompting him to strike Fandango causing the nearby Rae to land on him allowing The Miz to mockingly count a pin by Rae on Fandango.
On the October 25th episode of Friday Night SmackDown, Summer got into a brawl with diva Natalya inside the ring during a match between Fandango and The Great Khali. Summer made her debut match in WWE at the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view, where 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 her fiancé, the returning Tyson Kidd, in a losing effort.
At the Survivor Series pay-per-view, Rae participated in a seven-on-seven traditional elimination tag team match as her team took on the cast of Total Divas. She was on AJ Lee's team who claimed to be "true divas". In the end Summer was eliminated by Nikki Bella. After Survivor Series there was a re-match on Raw where Summer Rae was the last standing for her team but she was eliminated leading her team to a second loss. On the December 19 episode of Superstars, Rae defeated Kaitlyn, garnering her first singles match victory on the main roster.
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 Fandango lost to Emma and Santino Marella in a mixed tag team match, with Emma making Rae submit.
Face Turn; Feud with Layla, Teaming Up With Layla (2014)[]
On April 8, 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: Moving Target.
Rae returned on the May 19 episode of Raw, 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 following night on Main Event by throwing kitty 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. On the June 16 episode of Raw, Rae and Rose defeated Fandango and Layla in a mixed tag-team match, completing her face turn. On the June 20 episode of SmackDown, Rae shared another kiss with Fandango backstage, which Layla would witness. In the following weeks, Rae and Layla assaulted each other backstage and at ringside during Fandango's matches, leading to a match between Rae and Layla at the Money in the Bank pay–per–view on June 29, with Fandango as the special guest referee, which Layla would win.
Various Alliances (2014–2017)[]
On the June 30, 2014 episode of Raw, during a match between Fandango and Dolph Ziggler, Rae interfered and kissed Ziggler, causing Fandango to lose. On the July 11 episode of SmackDown, Rae attacked Layla during a match between Fandango and Adam Rose, which Fandango lost. This led to a rematch between Rae and Layla later that night, with Fandango once again as the special guest referee. At the beginning of the match, Layla and Rae kissed Fandango, and the match would end when both Rae and Layla attacked Fandango, ending Layla's relationship with him, and the two would dance together afterwards. Beginning at Battleground, Rae and Layla formed their own alliance and began distracting Fandango during his matches, costing him several matches. In their first match as a team, Rae and Layla, who dubbed 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. At Survivor Series, Rae participated in a four–on–four elimination tag team match, where she was eliminated by Emma before her team ultimately lost the match. In January 2015, The Slayers quietly disbanded when Layla underwent surgery.
Upon the release of Rae's first film The Marine 4: Moving Target in April, 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, having been working with Miz from the start.
In June, Rae became involved with Rusev's storyline with his former manager Lana and Dolph Ziggler, in which Rae formed a relationship with Rusev. On the June 29 episode of Raw, Rae insulted and slapped Lana, which led to a fight between the two. The following week on Raw, Ziggler would get injured after an attack by Rusev, and would later return on the August 17 episode of Raw, saving Lana during a confrontation with Rusev and Rae. This led to a match between Ziggler and Rusev at SummerSlam, which ended in a double count–out due interference from both Lana and Rae. In September, Rae attempted to ruin Ziggler and Lana's relationship by showing Ziggler's attempts to "seduce" Rae, however, the storyline quietly ended when Lana injured her arm and stopped appearing on television. After Rusev refused Rae's marriage proposal, Rae confronted Rusev about his real-life engagement to Lana, which had been reported by TMZ, officially ending their association by berating and slapping him. Rae got revenge on Rusev on the following episode of Smackdown by officiating his match with Ziggler as the special guest referee, arguing and slapping Rusev and fast-counting him to give Ziggler the win, but failed to gain his affections.
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. 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 in mid-February 2016 competing in various matches, where she was on the losing side. In late March, Rae allied herself with Team B.A.D. (Naomi and Tamina), Emma and Lana, leading to a tag team match on the WrestleMania 32 kick-off show, which Rae's team lost. Rae appeared on the post-WrestleMania 32 episode of Raw where she was defeated by Sasha Banks. Rae would then wrestle at various house show events with her final match in WWE taking place on the June 30th episode of SmackDown where she was once again defeated by former-BFF ally Sasha Banks. On July 19, Rae was drafted to Raw as part of the 2016 WWE draft, however due to injuries she never performed on the brand.
On October 29, 2017 WWE announced they had released Summer Rae from her contract.
Independent circuit[]
On May 3, it was announced that Moinet would be making her independent circuit debut in a Battle Championship Wrestling event on May 25 at the Whitehorse Club Function & Convention Centre in Burwood East, Victoria, Australia, where she would face NXT alumnae Ivelisse Vélez (formerly Sofia Cortez) in a losing effort.
Other media[]
In 2014, Rae joined the cast of Total Divas for its second and third seasons, where she continued to feud with The Bella Twins and Natalya out of the ring. She starred in The Marine 4: Moving Target alongside The Miz.
Summer Rae has appeared in five WWE video games. She made her in-game debut in WWE 2K14 as DLC and appears in WWE 2K15, WWE 2K16, WWE 2K17, and WWE 2K18.
Filmography[]
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2014-2017 | Total Divas | Herself / Summer Rae | Main Cast (season 2-3)
Recurring (season 4-6) |
2014 | The Marine 4: Moving Target | Rachel Dawes |
In wrestling[]
- Finishing moves
- Summer Crush (Inverted leg drop bulldog) – 2013–present
- Summer's Solstice / Summer Time (Spinning heel kick) – NXT; used as a signature move in WWE
- Signature moves
- Corner foot choke
- DDT to an opponent's leg
- Discus leg drop
- Guillotine choke transitioned into a DDT
- Hair-pull mat slam
- Indian deathlock
- Lotus Lock
- Roll-up
- Tag teams and stables
- Beautiful Fierce Females (w/ Sasha Banks & Charlotte)
- The Slayers (w/ Layla)
- Team B.A.D. and Blonde (w/ Lana, Tamina, Naomi & Emma)
- Entrance themes
- "Way You Love Me" by Hollywood Music (April 6, 2012 – February 7, 2013)
- "So Cool (Instrumental)" by Kodiene (February 7, 2013 – February 20, 2014)
- "ChaChaLaLa" by Jim Johnston (April 22, 2013 – April 7, 2014; Used while managing Fandango)
- "Rush Of Power" by CFO$ (February 20, 2014 – October 29, 2017)
Championships and accomplishments[]
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- Ranked 49 of the top 50 female wrestlers in the PWI Female 50 in 2014