Taya Valkyrie Changes Name And Character For Her NXT Debut

Former indie star Taya Valkyrie made her NXT debut recently and she did change her name and character. But how drastic is the change between Taya Valkyrie and Franky Monet?

Taya Valkyrie Gets NXT Debut With New Name And Character

Taya Valkyrie changed her name and her character for her NXT debut. One thing is certain though, she certainly looked quite different than her previous characters.

When making her debut, Taya changed her name to Franky Monet. Naturally, the name change also has something to do with her new character.

Monet is coming in with a bourgeois new character. So, it seems the WWE chose a rich and unlikeable character for Monet.

Franky made her debut after Raquel Gonzalez beat Io Shirai for the championship at TakeOver.

Naturally, this places Monet immediately in the title picture.

It is no surprise Monet has been put in the title picture almost immediately. After all, she has an extensive indie career to back her up.

Monet went right to the point, interrupting Gonzalez’ victory speech.

She also stated Gonzalez will see a lot more of her now that she is on top of the division.

Based on Monet’s debut, we have a feeling she will capture that title quite quickly. When it comes to overall wrestling experience and expertise, it seems Monet takes the win in that department.

But will it be enough to take the win from Gonzalez when she faces her for the first time? After all, she only just captured the NXT title. 

Taya Valkyrie’s Career

Taya has worked some of the biggest wrestling promotions around. Of course, she did have a good trainer.

Valkyrie started training for wrestling in 2010 under the tutelage of Lance Storm. She would graduate from the Storm Academy that same year.

Taya also travelled around the world to chase her wrestling goals. Only a year after graduating from the Storm Academy, she went to the Mexican independent circuit.

In 2012, she ended up in Lucha Libre AAA. Here, she started wrestling under the name Taya Valkyrie.

Valkyrie spent several years on the AAA circuit and was eventually noticed by Lucha Underground.

She debuted for the promotion in 2016 and left in 2018.

While still working for Lucha Underground, Valkyrie eventually set her sights on Impact Wrestling. She made her debut for the promotion in 2017.

Valkyrie remained at Impact Wrestling for quite some time. In fact, she stayed on the promotion until 2021 and became the longest reigning Knockouts Champion.

The longest reigning champ was eventually noticed by the WWE. She signed her contract with the promotion in February 2021 and made her debut only recently.

Taya Valkyrie also has another connection to the WWE and Lucha Underground. She is married to John Hennigan, also known as John Morrison. 

Morrison and Valkyrie married while they were still working for Lucha Underground.

Morrison eventually returned to the WWE, while Valkyrie worked on Impact Wrestling.

Now, both Valkyrie and Morrison are in the WWE. Naturally, this could be very interesting for the future.