# Lyra Valkyria

Aoife Cusack (born 23 October 1996) is an Irish professional wrestler. She is signed to WWE, where she performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Lyra Valkyria. She is the current and inaugural WWE Women’s Intercontinental Champion in her first reign and is a former one-time NXT Women's Champion.

## Professional wrestling career
### Early career (2015–2020)

After being a student of Fight Factory Pro Wrestling for one year, Cusack made her debut in 2015 adopting the ring name Valkyrie Cain (after the protagonist of the Skulduggery Pleasant book series by Derek Landy).

### WWE
#### Beginnings (2020–2022)

Cusack was reported to have signed with WWE on 20 January 2020, and was assigned the ring name Aoife Valkyrie. She competed in her first match on 13 February episode of NXT UK, defeating Amale. In February, Valkyrie toured with WWE's US-based NXT brand for the first time, wrestling on two house shows in Florida. Valkyrie defeated Aliyah on 14 February in Tampa, followed by defeating Jessi Kamea, MJ Jenkins and Taynara on 15 February in a six-woman tag team match at a Fort Pierce house show, where she teamed up with Mia Yim and Rita Reis.
She made her return to television on 17 September 2020 episode of NXT UK in a winning effort against Isla Dawn. Valkyrie remained undefeated until 29 April 2021 when she lost to Meiko Satomura.
Valkyrie remained with NXT UK until its closing in fall 2022, after which she moved to the U.S. to wrestle in NXT under the new ring name Lyra Valkyria. She made her in-ring debut on 13 December episode, defeating Amari Miller.

#### NXT Women's Champion (2023–2024)

On 21 March 2023 episode of NXT, Valkyria defeated Ivy Nile to qualify for a ladder match for the NXT Women's Championship at NXT Stand & Deliver on 1 April, but failed to win the title. Valkyria then took part in an eight-woman single-elimination tournament for the vacated title, defeating Kiana James in the quarterfinals, Cora Jade in the semifinals, but lost to Tiffany Stratton in the finals on 28 May at NXT Battleground. On 25 July episode of NXT, Valkyria faced WWE Women's World Champion Rhea Ripley in a losing effort, but teamed with Dragon Lee to defeat Ripley and NXT North American Champion "Dirty" Dominik Mysterio in a mixed tag team match at NXT Heatwave on 22 August.
On 3 October episode of NXT, Valkyria earned another title opportunity by defeating former NXT Women's Champions Roxanne Perez and Indi Hartwell in a triple threat match proposed by champion Becky Lynch, who she bested to win the NXT Women's Championship at Night 1 of NXT: Halloween Havoc on 24 October. On 21 November episode of NXT, Valkyria successfully defended her title against Xia Li in her first defense.
At NXT: New Year's Evil on 2 January 2024, Valkyria retained the title against Blair Davenport. After the match, Lola Vice tried to cash in her Breakout Tournament contract, only to be stopped by Tatum Paxley, who had been obsessed with Valkyria since December. At NXT Vengeance Day on 4 February, Valkyria retained the title against Perez and Vice, who cashed in her Breakout Tournament contract while the match was in progress to make it a triple threat match. On 20 February episode of NXT, Valkyria defended the NXT Women's Championship against Shotzi. During the match, Shotzi suffered a torn ACL and Valkyria won by referee's decision. NXT General Manager Ava announced an open challenge for the title, which Lash Legend answered, who Valkyria subsequently defeated to retain the title. On 5 March at NXT: Roadblock, Valkyria and Paxley faced The Kabuki Warriors (Asuka and Kairi Sane) for the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship as a reward from Valkyria to Paxley for the latter not interfering with the former's title matches the previous week, but they failed to win the titles after Valkyria inadvertently kicked Paxley. After the match, Perez attacked Valkyria and injured her arm. At NXT Stand & Deliver on 6 April, Valkyria lost the NXT Women's Championship to Perez by submission, ending her reign at 165 days.
On the following episode of NXT, Paxley turned on Valkyria and she eventually revealed that her obsession with Valkyria was only because she had the NXT Women's Championship. At Week 1 of Spring Breakin' on 23 April, Valkyria failed to regain the title from Perez in a triple threat match also involving Paxley, in what was her final match in NXT.

#### Main roster and Women's Intercontinental Champion (2024–present)

On Night 2 of the 2024 WWE Draft, Valkyria was promoted to the Raw brand. On 6 May episode of Raw, Valkyria made her on-screen debut saving then Women's World Champion Becky Lynch from a beatdown by Damage CTRL's Dakota Kai, Iyo Sky and Kairi Sane, and at the same time defeated Kai in the first round of the Queen of the Ring tournament in her main roster in-ring debut. She proceeded to defeat Zoey Stark in the quarterfinals and Sky in the semifinals but lost to Nia Jax in the finals on 25 May at King and Queen of the Ring, marking her first loss on the main roster. On 24 June episode of Raw, Valkyria defeated Shayna Baszler and Sane in a triple threat match to qualify for the women's Money in the Bank ladder match at Money in the Bank on 6 July, which was won by Tiffany Stratton. Valkyria returned to NXT on 3 September to save Tatum Paxley from a beatdown by Wendy Choo and TNA Wrestling's Rosemary, reuniting with Paxley in the process. On the following day's episode of Speed, Valkyria participated in the tournament to crown the inaugural Speed Women's Champion where she lost to Sky in the first round.
In December, Valkyria entered a tournament for the inaugural Women's Intercontinental Championship, defeating Ivy Nile and Zelina Vega in the first round, Sky in the semifinals, and Kai in the finals on 13 January 2025 episode of Raw to become the inaugural champion. At Royal Rumble on 1 February, she entered her first Royal Rumble match at number 4, but was eliminated by Nile. Valkyria successfully defended her title against Kai in a rematch and Nile on 24 February and 3 March episodes of Raw, respectively.

## Other media

Cusack made her video game debut as Lyra Valkyria in WWE 2K24 as downloadable content.

## Personal life

Cusack is in a relationship with fellow professional wrestler LJ Cleary. They got engaged on 14 September 2024 after ten years of dating.

## Championships and accomplishments

* Fight Factory Pro Wrestling
** Irish Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
* Over the Top Wrestling
** OTT Women's Championship (1 time)
* Pro-Wrestling: EVE
** Pro-Wrestling: EVE Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Debbie Keitel
** Pro-Wrestling: EVE Tag Team Championship Tournament (2019) – with Debbie Keitel
* Pro Wrestling Illustrated
** Ranked No. 73 of the top 150 women's wrestlers in the PWI Women's 150 in 2021
* Pro Wrestling Ulster
** PWU Women's Championship (1 time)
* WWE
** WWE Women’s Intercontinental Championship (1 time, current, inaugural)
** NXT Women's Championship (1 time)
** WWE Women's Intercontinental Championship Tournament (2025)