The annual WWE Draft often reshapes the rosters, especially for NXT stars hoping to make the leap to Raw or SmackDown.
For Roxanne Perez, however, the 2024 Draft brought disappointment, but it ultimately became the driving force behind her character evolution.
Heading into the draft, Perez was one of NXT’s top babyfaces and a former NXT Women’s Champion, making her a prime candidate for a call-up. Speaking on the Insight with Chris Van Vliet podcast, Perez admitted she wanted the move to the main roster “so bad.”
When it didn’t happen, she used it as motivation. “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.”
Looking back, Perez now believes the extra year in NXT was a blessing in disguise. “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?”
Now part of the main roster, Perez has fully embraced her “Prodigy” heel persona — one she says wouldn’t have been possible without the setback of the 2024 Draft.
Check out the complete interview below:
