THE PRITCHETT FAMILY
Kid: PAYTON PRITCHETT, 13 Years old
ParentS: CHRISTIAN & NICOLE
ATLANTA, GA
Payton’s been hooked on wrestling ever since she watched her idol, Raven, perform in May of 2020. From then on out, her dad, Christian, has been by her side every single day pushing her to be the best she can be. He’s sacrificed a lot to get her where she needs to be: twice a week, Christian drives 2.5 hours to pick Payton up at her mom’s house, an hour to her wrestling school, waits 2 hours while she trains, and drops her off. That’s 9 hours, twice a week! The hard work is paying off, though. Payton is doing so well she’s already beginning to train some of her peers and hopes to begin performing live within the next year. Christian is incredibly proud. Though he is admittedly, a bit of a stage dad. He manages a Facebook page devoted to chronicling Payton's wrestling life, and with Payton’s blessing, may soon officially take up being Payton’s manager.
There’s a bit of a conflict between Payton’s parents, though. While Christian is a major supporter of her burgeoning wrestling career, Nicole, his ex-wife, can’t stand it. Even though Payton’s been going at it for over a year, she still holds out hope that this is just a passing phase, terrified of Payton getting injured. She and Christian often bicker over it, too. She pushes back when Christian pushes Payton to her max, even when she’s burned out. With the insane driving hours driving, training and the tension between him and his ex-wife, Christian has a lot on his plate. But, nothing will stop him of getting Payton to where she needs to be.