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

[6][7][8] 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.

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.

[2] 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.

[22] Throughout the rest of the year, Evans started a winning streak, defeating the likes of Dakota Kai[23][24] and Candice LeRae.

[27] After that, Evans began appearing on Raw,[28] SmackDown,[29] and at pay-per-views to interrupt various segments and matches by walking out on stage, waving to the crowd, and leaving.

[33][34] 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.

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

[49] During the following weeks, Ric managed Evans, usually distracting his daughter Charlotte, including a participation in the women's Royal Rumble.

[50] On February 15, Evans' real-life pregnancy was announced and incorporated into a storyline on that night's episode of Raw, in which Ric was implied to be the father.

[56] On the June 10 episode of SmackDown, Evans made her in-ring return, turning again into a face character, defeating Xia Li to qualify for the women's Money in the Bank ladder match.

[58] On the following episode of SmackDown, Evans turned heel when she berated the fans and attacked her tag team partner Aliyah.

[62] Starting on the December 2 episode, vignettes aired showing Evans training in the military, adopting the cobra clutch as her finisher.