Niece of Former Iron Maiden Drummer to Make WWE Debut Next Week

Iron Maiden’s legacy will extend beyond the concert stage and into the ring when wrestler Lizzy Rain, the niece of late Maiden drummer Clive Burr, makes her WWE debut next week.

Rain, formerly known as Rayne Leverkusen, will debut next Tuesday (April 28) in WWE’s NXT division, a developmental brand that serves as a training ground for wrestlers before they move to the Raw or SmackDown rosters.

READ MORE: The Best Song Off Every Iron Maiden Album

Who Is Lizzy Rain?

The 28-year-old Rain, who’s also adopted the nickname “the Maiden of Metal,” has been wrestling since 2021. She announced her WWE debut in a teaser video on Tuesday (April 21).

“They said I was too loud, too gritty, too unapologetic. But I will never apologize for who I am, and that is Lizzy Rain and heavy metal, baby!” she proclaimed. “The stage is set next week for my NXT debut, and the world is about to find out that Lizzy Rain and heavy metal will never, ever, never, ever die!”

Clive Burr's Iron Maiden Tenure and Relationship to Lizzy Rain

Burr played with Iron Maiden from 1979 to 1982 and appeared on the band’s first three albums: 1980’s Iron Maiden, 1981’s Killers and 1982’s The Number of the Beast. After his dismissal from Iron Maiden, he briefly played with bands such as Alcatrazz, Gogmagog (the short-lived supergroup featuring former Maiden vocalist Paul Di’Anno and future Maiden guitarist Janick Gers) and Dee Snider’s post-Twisted Sister band Desperado.

Burr was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in the ‘90s and died in 2013 at the age of 57.

Although Rain was not particularly close to her uncle, she said his music played a huge role in shaping her heavy metal wrestling persona.

“When I knew him, we didn’t really get to have these cool conversations about, ‘What was it like?’ All this sort of stuff," Rain told The A2thaK Wrestling Show podcast in December. "But me and my brother have always listened to Iron Maiden, Alice Cooper, Motley Crue, KISS, Guns N’ Roses. You name it, anyone, we’ve gone to see them live in concert. I think we’ve seen Alice Cooper about 16, 17 times."

READ MORE: 16 Best Hard Rock and Metal Wrestlemania Moments (Ranked)

Rain said her early love of heavy metal "completely shaped my wrestling persona because I just wanted to be me. And they say just try to be yourself but times it by 10, and that’s what I think I am.”

See how we've ranked every Iron Maiden album below: