In November 2021, Nia Jax exited WWE as she got caught in a wave of talent releases that also included the likes of Eva Marie, Ember Moon, and Mia Yim. Following that, she made a surprise one-off appearance as an entrant within the 2023 Women’s Royal Rumble match. In between, though, Jax says her wrestling profession was full of much uncertainty, especially as she adjusted to life outside of WWE, which had been her homebase for a few years.
“I didn’t think that I desired to wrestle anywhere else, but I did know that I desired to still wrestle,” Jax told “Insight With Chris Van Vliet.” “I didn’t even know if I used to be going to return back to the WWE, truthfully. It was my whole life on the time. So after I was released, it was form of a shock where I used to be like, what’s my life?
“I needed to reset. I’m like, what’s my life at once? My whole life’s been WWE and I actually didn’t take into consideration an after. A whole lot of wrestlers, they get caught up in that since it happens to be like that. After we’re on the road five days per week, you do not really give it some thought after. So I didn’t take into consideration wrestling anywhere else. Everybody kept saying try here and go there.”
In accordance with Jax, she eventually reached a degree where she felt her wrestling profession can be either centered in WWE again or done for good. Fortunately for her, she got a taste of the WWE life over again after WWE Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque approved her idea for a cameo appearance within the 2023 Women’s Royal Rumble. From there, Jax developed an itch to wrestle on a full-time basis.
Jax Officially Returned To WWE After Months Of Training & A Text To Triple H
“It was funny because I got here to the back [from the Rumble match] and Bruce [Prichard] is like ‘Hey, do you need to do that again?’ I used to be like ‘Perhaps.’ I didn’t give him a definite yes because I wasn’t really sure at that time,” Jax said. “But then I sat and I waited. It was like a lady waiting for a man to call. I used to be like ‘Are they going to call me?’ I’m form of sitting around, then got back within the ring and spoke to TJ [Wilson]. He was like ‘Yeah, why don’t you come back?’ I’m like okay, let me get in higher shape.”
Fueled by a possible comeback in the corporate, Jax resumed in-ring training with the assistance of WWE’s TJ Wilson and Natalya, who run The Dungeon 2.0 facility in Florida. Jax sought out additional training on the D-Von Dudley Academy, led by WWE Hall of Famer D-Von Dudley, for several months as well. With an additional push from her former WWE Performance Center coach Sara Amato, Jax eventually then reached out to Levesque again.
“I texted him, literally I used to be sitting at [Amato’s] house, her son and my nephew play together. I just said, ‘Hey, Hunter, how are you doing? Want to talk?’ Then literally like two minutes later, he’s like, ‘Yeah, we are able to hop on a call later.’ Then all of it just rolled from there,” Jax said.
Jax returned to WWE as a full-time Superstar in September 2023 by laying out Raquel Rodriguez and then-WWE Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley on “WWE Raw.” Greater than two years later, Jax herself is now a Queen of the Ring winner and former Women’s Champion once more. She’s also now considered a locker room leader.
For those who use any of the quotes in this text, please credit “Insight With Chris Van Vliet” with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.