'I wanted to be a dancer - now I'm a WWE star'

She is watched by millions and has won titles in sold out arenas, but WWE wrestler Isla Dawn has one challenge still to overcome – getting her nephews to cheer her on.

"They refuse to watch me," laughs the wrestler, real name Courtney Stewart.

"They'll watch anyone on it but me! Auntie Coco is my name with them, and they'll just skip through my matches and go onto a battle royal or whatever's next."

Luckily Isla has had far less trouble connecting with fans at home and abroad, with the Glasgow grappler winning the company's tag team titles in 2024 on an emotional night in Glasgow.

Although professional wrestling results are pre-determined, the emotion, bumps and bruises are all very real, and being told she and Scottish tag team partner Alba Fyre - real name Kayleigh Rae - were winning gold at June's Clash at the Castle event at the OVO Hydro was a "special moment."

"To win a title in WWE is what everyone wants, it's real dream come true stuff, but getting to do it in Glasgow was extra special," she explains.

"I remember when we walked out for our entrance and got in the ring, I could see my family sitting in the second row. That was such a nice moment as they don't get to see me wrestle that often. I think the last time my mum saw me would have been about 2019.

"It was like the whole of the Hydro were behind us. My sister started crying when we won and my brother-in-law took a photo of her, so that's the family WhatsApp group chat's cover photo now!"

Dubbed the Unholy Union, the duo held the titles for 77 days before dropping them back to former champions, Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill.

Now a whole new audience is set to open up for the 30-year-old, with WWE programmes moving to streaming giant Netflix in a massive financial deal, a move Isla hopes will capture new audiences.

Isla grew up in Balornock in the north of Glasgow, and first had her attention grabbed by the squared circle as a child, loving early 2000s competitors like Trish Stratus and Lita.

"Although I loved the matches, it was more about the moments in-between and the characters" she says.

"It's why acting was so closely linked to wrestling for me. It's performance, it's characters, it's big personalities – I got drawn into that, losing myself in that world."

However, while she "grew up performing" in acting and dance classes, it was much later that the idea of wrestling entered her head.

"I went to study acting at Langside College and we did a play about professional wrestling," she recalls.

"My uncle had connections in Scottish wrestling and put me in touch with [local wrestlers] Big Damo and Nikki Cross, who came in to explain about the physicality of it all.

"They're like my wrestling mum and dad. They kept encouraging me, and saying I'd be good at it, so they shepherded me into starting training."

From 2013 onwards Isla was wrestling across Scotland, rather than just for a play.

As her popularity grew she appeared on shows in England and Japan, before eventually landing a contract with industry leaders WWE in 2018.

She then progressed from the company's smaller "brands", NXT and NXT UK, to the flagship Raw and Smackdown shows, moving to Florida in the process.

However she is not alone, as there is a considerable number of other Scots in WWE, from major men's star Drew McIntyre to women like Piper Niven and Isla's old mentor Nikki Cross, who she says "still looks out for me - she'll message to make sure I get back to my hotel OK some nights."

Perhaps it's not surprising some Scottish exports are making an unlikely trip across the Atlantic as a result.

"I'm a great baker and will make tablet at any opportunity, so I've been sharing tablet any chance I get.

"I know Gallus [Scottish trio in NXT] have managed to get so many people there watching Still Game, too. I don't know how they've done it, but at the Performance Centre in Orlando there's loads of folk watching it now."

Even surrounded by Scots, upping sticks from Glasgow to Florida was a huge move, and Isla says she couldn't have done it without her family.

"They are my biggest supporters in everything, whether acting, dancing or random hobbies.

"When I moved to America I was moving on my own and it was my first time living by myself. I don't know if I could have done that without my family supporting me.

"Even knowing coming home for Christmas that there's a room ready for me or that my dad will pick me up from the airport – they are my complete support unit."

Such sweet sentiments are at odds with her onscreen character - as the Unholy Union both Isla and Alba are villains, or heels in wrestling terms.

For Isla, her wrestling persona isn't totally dissimilar from reality, even if she isn't venomous away from the ring.

"It's a version of me ramped up, whether it's little bits of personality or taking part of a bad mood and going 'oh, I can use this'.

"The people you relate to the most in wrestling are human, like Cody Rhodes or Drew McIntyre – they're themselves on screen. I think that's the best way to connect - just be you and then turn it up."

Villain or hero, she'll be guaranteed a huge reaction when returning home this March for an episode of Raw, with the locker room knowing "Glasgow is one of the most invested, energetic crowds you can get".

She hopes that among the thousands in attendance might be a young girl who decides a career in wrestling is now her dream.

"When I started watching WWE it was a different continent, a different time zone and it felt so far away," she says.

"Hopefully I can show there's a pathway into it, and that's true not just for wrestling but for any big dream. Maybe it's acting or singing or owning your own business – it's never too far away."