Interview: WWE’s Lyra Valkyria on her journey from selling WWE games to appearing in them

Lyra Valkyria is one of the WWE’s fastest-rising stars.

The Dublin-born grappler made her debut in the company’s NXT UK division in 2020, and moved to its main NXT roster two years later, shortly before beating popular WWE superstar Becky Lynch to become the NXT Women’s Champion.

She’s now a mainstay of WWE’s flagship TV program, Monday Night Raw, and has established herself in a packed roster.

For every new member of the WWE roster looking to legitimise themselves, inclusion in WWE’s annual video games is a big step towards that legitimacy. This was a milestone Valkyria reached last week.

The Global Superstars DLC pack, which is available now, contains Valkyria along with six other superstars – Nia Jax, Jade Cargill, Kairi Sane, Michelle McCool, Carlito and Dragon Lee.

Before the DLC’s release, we spoke to Valkyria about joining the roster, and how she went from stacking shelves in a video game shop to debuting in one herself.

“It’s amazing,” Valkyria told us from backstage at Monday Night Raw. “Especially seeing the character, that was huge.

“I actually used to work in a video game shop and the 2K games were always there, and I’d spend hours labeling them, so to actually be in one now is insane.”

One of the most important aspects of a professional wrestler is their presentation, and never is this more evident than in their entrance. A good entrance can make or break a wrestler, and that’s something that the WWE games have always looked to replicate.

Videos of wrestlers’ entrances are often the first things that fans search for when a new game is released, with every minute detail of the real wrestler’s entrance compared to their virtual counterpart.

We asked Valkyria what it was like to see her entrance in the game, and what the fan response has been like.

“The woo chants with the crowd and everything, it’s just pure joy and excitement,” she told us. “It’s so cool, the excitement that I’ve seen from the reveal was amazing.”

As for the future, Valkyria would love to see a premium live event come to Ireland.

For decades the vast majority of these events have been exclusive to the US, but recently WWE has started bringing them overseas, such as 2024’s Clash at the Castle, which took place in Glasgow, Scotland and saw hometown favorite Drew McIntyre fall victim to rival CM Punk’s antics.

I’d absolutely love to see a PLE in Ireland,” Valkyria told us. “Anywhere in Dublin, though the 3 Arena is always going to mean so much to me since that’s where I went to see WWE when I was younger.”

Before our brief chat ended, we asked about her memories of WWE video games, and whether she’s still a fan. She explained that she was most interested in one mode in particular.

“I have more memories of watching my brother play them,” she explained. “I used to just want to go onto the Create a Wrestler section.”

She added: “My family and friends who might not understand WWE, they understand being in the game, which is really cool.”

In terms of her other gaming interests, Valkyria told us she’s “a big fan of The Witcher 3“, adding: “I tried Skyrim and The Witcher, but for me, Skyrim didn’t even come close.”

The Global Superstars pack is the fourth of five planned DLC packs for the game. The first, the ECW Punk Pack, was released in May and included CM Punk, Bubba Ray Dudley, D-Von Dudley, Sandman and Terry Funk.

This was followed by Post Malone & Friends Pack, which included Post Malone, Headbanger Mosh, Headbanger Thrasher, Honky Tonk Man and Sensational Sherri, as well as Jimmy Hart as a manager.

The final pack, the WCW Pack, will be released on November 13 and includes Diamond Dallas Page, Lex Luger, Mr Perfect, the Great Muta and the Iron Sheik.