Lacey Evans

Macey Estrella-Kadlec ( Evans; born March 24, 1990) is an American professional wrestler and former U.S. Marine.

Estrella-Kadlec was born Macey Evans in Georgia on March 24, 1990.

According to ESPN, she was "raised in a home torn by depression, drug, and alcohol abuse" and had to live in tents at times while growing up due to her parents' legal problems.

Her father, who had entertained thoughts of becoming a wrestler but never acted on them, died of a drug overdose before she got her WWE tryout.

Estrella-Kadlec is a veteran of the Marines, serving as a United States Marine Corps Military Police officer, including Special Reaction Team training.

She enlisted at age 19 and served for five years, earning a bachelor's degree from Indian River State College and starting a construction business while on active duty.

She was introduced to professional wrestling while in the Marines through a Staff Sergeant who promoted independent shows on the side.

On the second show of which she attended, the Staff Sergeant booked her to wrestle him.

Estrella-Kadlec trained under Tom Caiazzo at the American Premier Wrestling training facility in Statesboro, Georgia.

She made her debut for the promotion in 2014, later winning the company's World Heavyweight Championship.

She is best known for her career in WWE from 2016 to 2023, where she performed under the ring name Lacey Evans.

Originally introduced to wrestling while serving as a military police officer in the Marines, Evans trained and began her career on the independent circuit.

She started working for WWE in their NXT developmental brand in 2016, and participated in their inaugural Mae Young Classic.

On April 12, 2016, Estrella-Kadlec signed with WWE and was assigned to the developmental brand, NXT, and began training at the WWE Performance Center.

At an NXT Live show on October 20, she made her wrestling debut as Macey Estrella in a battle royal, which was ultimately won by Ember Moon.

Three months later, in her first appearance on the NXT television program, Evans teamed with Sarah Bridges in a tag team match which they lost to the team of Billie Kay and Peyton Royce.

In 2017, Estrella was given the ring name Lacey Evans, which is coincidentally, her sister's maiden name.

She was used mostly as a jobber to various competitors.

In July, Evans participated in the inaugural Mae Young Classic, defeating Taynara Conti in the first round, but losing to Toni Storm in the second round.

On the January 17, 2018, episode of NXT, Evans established herself as a heel.

In April, Evans started a feud with Kairi Sane, as the two exchanged victories and attacked each other throughout the next few weeks.

Eventually, Evans lost to Sane on the June 6 episode of NXT to end their feud.

Throughout the rest of the year, Evans started a winning streak, defeating the likes of Dakota Kai and Candice LeRae.

On the December 17, 2018, episode of Raw, Evans was advertised as one of six NXT wrestlers about to move to the main roster.

After feuding with Kairi Sane in NXT, Evans debuted on the main roster on Raw in January 2019, entering a feud with Becky Lynch that culminated in a mixed tag team match in the main event of Extreme Rules.

Over the next several years, she appeared sporadically on WWE programming until leaving the promotion in August 2023.

In January 2019, she participated in the women's Royal Rumble match at the Royal Rumble.

She entered the match at number 1 and lasted over 29 minutes, eliminating The IIconics (Billie Kay and Peyton Royce), before she was eliminated by Charlotte Flair.

After that, Evans began appearing on Raw, SmackDown, and at pay-per-views to interrupt various segments and matches by walking out on stage, waving to the crowd, and leaving.

Shortly after WrestleMania 35, Evans was drafted to the Raw brand as part of the 2019 WWE Superstar Shake-up, and placed in her first feud on the main roster as she continuously attacked Raw and SmackDown Women's Champion Becky Lynch.

This led to a title match between the two for the Raw Women's Championship at Money in the Bank, where Evans lost to Lynch via submission.

A few minutes later, Evans helped Flair win the SmackDown Women's Championship from Lynch.

Throughout mid-2019, Evans continued to feud with Lynch and was defeated by her at Stomping Grounds, she lost again to Lynch, and in the main event, was Baron Corbin's choice for a special referee for the WWE Universal Championship match, due to Seth Rollins dating Lynch.

At Extreme Rules, Evans and Corbin challenged Lynch and Rollins for their respective titles in a last chance extreme rules mixed tag team match, where they failed to win the match after Rollins pinned Corbin, thus ending her feud with Lynch.

As part of the 2019 Draft in October, Evans was drafted to the SmackDown brand.

At Crown Jewel, Evans and Natalya became the first female wrestlers to wrestle in Saudi Arabia, where Evans lost.

At Survivor Series, Evans then went on to compete in the 15 woman elimination tag match, where Team NXT ultimately won.

On the November 29 episode of SmackDown, Evans took exception to Banks and Bayley insulting the SmackDown roster, particularly the women, for losing to Team NXT at Survivor Series.

After exchanging insults, Evans hit Banks and left the ring, thus turning face.

In 2020, at the Royal Rumble, Evans challenged Bayley for the SmackDown Women's Championship in a losing effort.