The annual WWE Draft is a time that changes the rosters, especially for the stars of NXT who are hoping to get the call to the main roster. For Roxanne Perez, the 2024 WWE Draft was a moment of disappointment. She has revealed that the snub ultimately became the motivation she needed to evolve her character and become the star she is today. Perez was one of the top babyfaces in NXT and a former NXT Women’s Champion heading into the 2024 Draft, making her a prime candidate for a main roster call-up. Once she wasn’t called up, she opted to fuel her fire.
A Blessing in Disguise
In a new interview on the Insight with Chris Van Vliet podcast, Perez admitted that she wanted the call-up “so bad” and that she could have let the disappointment derail her momentum. Instead, she channeled it into her work, leading to her successful run as a heel in NXT.
“Last year, obviously, I wanted to get called up in the draft so bad. Part of me thought it would happen, and it didn’t. I was like, oh, like, I could have let it just make me really upset, and just kind of not fully give up, but just make me not as driven, but I feel like it made me even more driven, because I was like, I’m gonna work on my promos. I’m gonna become the best heel that I could ever be. Because people thought that I couldn’t be a heel, and a year later, I was called up.”
“Not At My Full Potential”
Looking back a year later, Perez believes that while she was ready to be a babyface on the main roster in 2024, she was not yet the complete performer she is now. The extra year in NXT allowed her to develop her “Prodigy” heel character.
“I thought I was ready as a babyface. But now that I think of it, I feel like I wasn’t as ready as I was when they called me. I feel like I could have been ready at any point. I could have gone and just executed what they wanted me to execute. But I wasn’t at my full potential, my full character, the Prodigy character, and it was different being the Prodigy as a babyface… Calling yourself a prodigy when you’re a bad guy is more fun. You’ve got to tell people like, I’m super young and I’m really good. What are you gonna do about it?”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Chris Van Vliet with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
