Ahead of tomorrow night’s pay-per-view, Raquel Rodriguez was interviewed on Corey Graves’ “After The Bell” podcast. Raquel was asked what is going through her mind regarding the Royal Rumble:
“Everything possible. Everything that could go right. Everything that could go wrong. Everything that could just happen in general. It’s my first Royal Rumble. I have been dreaming about being a part of a Royal Rumble since I was a little girl. I think it was two years ago when the Royal Rumble was in Houston, Texas. I had just made my NXT debut, and in my head I was like ‘Yeah, now’s my chance, and it’s in Texas. Great’, but it didn’t work for me that way. So It’s fine. You know, everybody’s journey is different. It feels very serendipitous that this Royal Rumble is in San Antonio, Texas, and that I’m able to do this, have my first Royal Rumble in front of my family, my friends, just everyone who I truly love and just share this experience with them. I’m absolutely freaking out and nervous.”
“I’m gonna have all of my immediate family there. All of my cousins are coming that live in San Antonio. A lot of my basketball friends are coming, some that have known me since the sixth grade, and some that I met in college that are just very good, strong friends of mine. Then I also have a lot of my close family, or I guess they would just be friends and people that I went to school with and grew up with and coaches and whatnot from the valley that are also making the drive up to come and watch the Rumble that weekend. So I’m excited.”
Raquel has said in the past that she has struggled with some mental struggles. She was asked to give advice for those that may be experiencing these challenges:
“It’s honestly been a thing for me, just because I’ve always been much bigger, much taller, than a lot of the women. So I never felt like I fully fit in with anyone. Basketball really helped me with my confidence because, to put it in the lack of better words, I was needed, right? You need the tall girl. You need the tall girl to make the rebounds. You need the tall girl to make the points. So I felt like I was contributing to a team to the best of my ability. It’s the same when it comes to wrestling, but you know, we can always stop and compare ourselves to other people or we can always hope that something happened a certain way.”
“I like to take a step back and I like to think, Okay, I’m struggling with this today, but I look at everything else that I have going on for me. I have my family. I have my friends. I have people who love me. Then I tell myself, ‘If someone is sitting out there and they’re struggling with that today, is me frowning and me just bad mouthing and giving a bad performance, is that gonna make them feel better?’ No, it’s not. They’re gonna see that. They’re gonna know that I am dwelling in my own sad little world instead of going out there and bringing a smile to their face pretty much. So that’s something that, you know, I’m very heavy into my religion, but it’s something that I pray for every time before I step through that curtain. I pray to God. ‘I say please, if there’s just one thing I do tonight, it’s one, give us a healthy match where we both come out of here safely and to help me put a smile on one person’s face today. Help me make someone’s day, even if it’s not a smile, help me have an impact on their emotions in some little way.’ That’s all I asked for every time I go out.”
“So that’s something that I’m hoping with this Royal Rumble that I can do and open the eyes of lots of little Hispanic girls here that probably do feel stuck in a box, or they don’t feel like they can compete with other women, or they feel self conscious about stuff. I want them to know that they’re beautiful any way that they are, the way they were born. Like, just accept what God has given you and use it to the best of your abilities. It’s taken me a long time to use my size to the best of my abilities, but now that I’m there, I get it.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit After The Bell with Corey Graves with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
