During a recent appearance on the “Out of Character with Ryan Satin” podcast, Raquel Rodriquez commented on the impact Dakota Kai had on her run in WWE NXT, the company changing her ring name when she was called up to the main roster, and more.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On Dakota Kai’s impact on her NXT run: “When I got teamed up with Dakota Kai, I was very excited because she’s always been such a lovely person and she’s always been so giving and put on great, great matches with everyone on the roster. Everyone admires her for her hard work and in-ring ability. She’s just one of a kind. So getting paired with her, I was excited. Then, getting to work with her the following two years we were together and building that relationship and building that trust and being able to lean on each other, it was something that I knew at the time in NXT that I really needed. I didn’t feel alone when it came to putting so much pressure on myself. We shared the pressure. That’s what was really nice, and I think that’s what really helped bond us even more is we were able to do that for each other. There are a lot of people who don’t get that experience with their tag partner sometimes, and we really got to share something that made us like sisters.”
On the reaction to her WWE name change: “I wanted to keep Gonzalez because it represented me. It represents my legacy because it’s my real last name. It’s the name my dad used all while he was wrestling throughout his entire career as well. But I wasn’t upset about it. I’m glad they still gave me something Hispanic, Rodriguez. I’m grateful that I even got something that was R&R because I was joking with Rhea [Ripley] the other day, her initials are R&R and mine are R&R and when we used to tag together, we used to be R&R. So I really can’t say I was super upset about it. Gonzalez just had a special meaning to me but it’s always going to be my name.”
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(h/t – 411 Wrestling)
