Phoenixes. Mystical birds that are beautiful in their crimson visage and nearly immortal in the grand scheme of things. They’re said to die in a dramatic fashion – combusting and exploding, only to be reborn in its own ashes.
Not only is that metal as fuck, but that’s the spirit of NXT that dwells within the soul of one its current biggest talents since her arrival. That person? Roxanne Perez.
It’s crazy to think that last year she was the Reality of Wrestling’s Diamonds Division Champion and the Ring of Honor Women’s Champion, the latter of which aired on Impact Wrestling in January 2022, only to now have dethroned Mandy Rose’s 413 day reign as the NXT Women’s Champion. Life happens fast, even faster if you’re at the top of your game.
Trained by Booker T at his Reality of Wrestling promotion, the Texas native and one half of the historic Harlem Heat tag team raised his pupil as he does for many of his talents before they make it big in any of the notable promotions – through hard work and dedication. We may know Booker for his goofier side on commentary and his exemplary performances in the ring in WCW, WWE, and Impact, but his contributions to the industry are still overflowing with no intentions to stop.
Roxanne was one of these students who showed no intention of stopping. She went above and beyond, impressing the industry quickly. A diamond already made, around coals who have yet to get there, Roxanne, known then as Rok-C, bounced across the independent scene and even made it to Ring of Honor, where she soundly soared through the ROH Women’s World TItle Tournament in speedy and impressive fashion to fell Miranda Alize and claim the vacant championship belt.
Through some successful title reigns, Rok-C was garnering eyes from the industry, notably WWE. Of course she did, she lives for this and she’s only 21 years old. When your passion beats hard and you fight for what you want when you’re young enough, there’s no telling where your ceiling is. For hers, I’m not even sure it exists.
Perez’s ROH title reign would end sometime after the promotion temporarily ceased operations, with her last defense taking place on an episode of Impact Wrestling, as she faced Deonna Pufrazzo in a Winner Take All Match for the youth’s ROH Women’s World Championship against Purfazzo’s AAA Reina de Reinas Championship, where Rok-C would lose her title.
This was not a bad thing, however, for Roxanne had another calling. As it turned out, her mentor’s company saw interest in her, and she saw her dream there in WWE. Not surprising, as many young up-and-coming talents dream of becoming big stars for the company that is known globally, and she was no exception. The bright lights captivated her.
In a time of mass releases and a changing vision, there was some uncertainty on if she made the right choice, with the occasional mentions of how she should’ve gone to All Elite Wrestling or Impact or even overseas in Japan. Still, she stuck to her guns and never looked back.
Looking back at her time in NXT so far, Roxanne has made monumental accomplishments – becoming NXT Tag Team Champion with Cora Jade, winning the inaugural Iron Survivor Challenge on NXT Deadline for a future NXT Women’s Championship title shot, and taking that shot the very next week on NXT to challenge then-champion Mandy Rose, where she ended the 1+ year run of the Toxic Attraction leader.
In this, Perez made Booker T damn proud. The smile and chuckle on his face and the tears streaming as someone he invested in, put time in, and bonded with did the incredible. All at the age of twenty-one.
While she works on finding her character, she can rest knowing that she’s soared above and beyond in having an all-time classic against Meiko Satomura, a legend of this industry. Roxanne Perez wrestled Meiko as though she were a decades-long rival like it was any other wrestler having any other match.
Roxanne has also made it to main roster television in a one-off match, teaming with Raquel Rodriguez and Shotzi against Damage CTRL on an October episode of Friday Night Smackdown, where she performed in front of the largest audience she’s had to wrestle for. Though she was the one who took the pin, she showed out. Were I any ordinary viewer with little knowledge of NXT, I’d have viewed her as one of the next big stars to build the company around.
Roxanne may be small in stature, but she wrestles like an industry giant. Every time she steps in the ring, I feel the odd goosebumps and shiver down my spine knowing that we are seeing something special in the making that is going to last for a long time and create lasting wrestling memories.
She came in at a time where NXT was losing the black-and-gold appeal in lieu of the rainbow splattered NXT before the new white-and-gold era, where the typical independent style that this developmental scene was designed around was becoming one for building new wrestlers who hadn’t stepped in the squared circle yet. She wasn’t a tall amazon or supermodel, but rather some kid who had the mind and spirit of an industry veteran and mountains of talent that she carries effortlessly as though she were a Kryptonian.
It’s hard not to look at Roxanne at this point in her career and wonder how far she’ll go. Winning Elimination Chambers, Royal Rumbles, Money in the Bank Ladder Matches, hell, she could very well main event a WrestleMania. If you were to put the acumen, talent, and aura of Charlotte Flair and Bianca Belair into one person, that’d be Roxanne, and she could very well surpass that.
In conclusion, Roxanne can be placed anywhere in the wrestling landscape and kill it. It just so happens she took a chance on herself to follow a dream and show the world what she’s made of.
The Roxanne Perez Era has begun, and the ace of WWE is just getting started.
Everyone, the future is now.
