WWE NXT star ZARIA recently spoke with Wide World of Sports about various topics, including her WWE tryout at Elimination Chamber in Perth in 2024.
ZARIA said, “My tryout was on Elimination Chamber weekend when they went to Perth. Before I even had the tryout, I had so many people telling me, ‘You’re gonna get in, stop stressing’ but I’m the type of person where I don’t wanna get my hopes up, just in case. I had my tryout and then it was a blur, but I think it was the next day or the day after, I was wrestling on a show and a few people from WWE went and watched and Grayson Waller was one of the people that was there. I had my match, came backstage and cooled down. Grayson Waller comes up to me and he goes, ‘Hey, come over here’ and was like, ‘I wanna let you know you’re in, you’re gonna make it’ and I was like, ‘Get out of here.’ He was like, ‘No, seriously, they were talking about it and you’re in –‘ so that was the moment. There was still a little bit of me that had to hear it from the horse’s mouth. It might have been two weeks later that I got the call and I had just finished my usual day job and I was sitting in my car. It was the call where they told me, ‘Hey, we’re gonna offer a contract to you’ and I couldn’t even process that thought. It all felt like a dream and it still feels like a dream.”
On the Australian talent in WWE helping her:
“Rhea Ripley is obviously a big inspiration, now more than ever. I met her while I was still in Australia; she had come over a couple of times. She is the loveliest person you will meet and she will talk to you like you’ve been friends for years. She has kept in touch with me since I had met her and she’s so helpful, especially since I’ve come to Orlando and she had heard I got signed. She’s extended a helping hand on numerous occasions and so has Grayson Waller, Indi Hartwell, Bronson Reed – all the Australians, just because they know what it’s like to pack up your life and move to another country. I got to watch her wrestle live when WWE came to Perth last year. Seeing it with my own eyes, that was such a motivator to push to where I needed to go.”
On being part of WWE Evolution:
“Everything that happened that day was the best-case scenario. It’s so surreal to be where I am, let alone be in the same ring as wrestlers like Charlotte Flair. I was given the best opportunity and the best match. Evolution was such a great showcase for women’s wrestling.”
