Roxanne Perez Shares Message With Fans Amid Murky WWE NXT Status

It’s been two weeks since “WWE NXT” Women’s Champion Roxanne Perez mysteriously “collapsed” after her successful title defense against Meiko Satomura at the Roadblock special, a clear homage to the November 1995 angle where “NXT” booker Shawn Michaels collapsed during a match with Owen Hart due to what was claimed to be post-concussion syndrome. There have been conflicting reports as to whether this was a cover for any kind of real-life health issue, and WWE has been building to a ladder match for the title at Stand & Deliver during WrestleMania weekend, but officially, Perez is still champion. On Tuesday, hours after Dave Meltzer reported that Perez was cleared to return from whatever was keeping her on the sidelines, she shared an update on Twitter.

“I can’t thank the @WWENXT Universe enough for all the thoughts and prayers over the past two weeks,” she wrote in the presumably in-character tweet. “The outpouring of support fills my heart. I wish I had better news, but the doctors are saying we’re no closer to finding out what happened to me at RoadBlock. I’m very frustrated, but I promise I’ll be back, stronger than ever, but I just don’t know when!”

https://twitter.com/roxanne_wwe/status/1638321201310253058

https://twitter.com/roxanne_wwe/status/1638321317815496706

Perez —as Rok-C — was the first wrestler to hold the rebranded Ring of Honor Women’s World Championship, winning a tournament final in September 2021. After Sinclair Broadcasting announced the restructuring of ROH shortly thereafter and offered releases to all contracted talent, she took them up on it and dropped the title to Deonna Purrazzo before jumping to WWE. Perez has held both women’s titles on the “NXT” brand, winning the singles title from the departing Mandy Rose in December and briefly holding the tag titles with Cora Jade in between them defeating Toxic Attraction and Jade turning heel in July.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE NXT Preview 3/21/2023

Tonight’s episode of WWE NXT from Orlando, Florida at the Capitol Wrestling Center on the USA Network:

NXT Women’s Champion Roxanne Perez has been medically cleared.

WWE NXT’s Roxanne Perez Medically Cleared

WWE NXT Women’s Champion Roxanne Perez has been medically cleared after a mysterious issue that kept her sidelined.

A few weeks ago, WWE did a collapsing angle following her latest title defense that reminded fans of a similar segment Shawn Michaels did in the mid-nineties. It was reported that there was concern within WWE about Perez as she was dealing with an issue that was keeping her from in-ring action and wasn’t an injury.

WWE announced a ladder match for Stand & Deliver for the NXT Women’s Championship, although Perez has not been stripped of that title.

Speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer noted that Perez is now cleared to compete again and is expected to appear on NXT TV soon. There’s still no word yet on what the issue was.

Source: eWrestlingNews

Conflicting Reports Emerge Regarding Roxanne Perez Situation In WWE NXT

Last week on the “WWE NXT” Roadblock special, “NXT” Women’s Champion Roxanne Perez successfully defended her title against Meiko Satomura. Following the momentous victory, Perez suddenly collapsed, and WWE have been providing updates ever since, including when she was discharged last Friday night. While the injury gives every indication of being storyline, separate outlets are reporting conflicting things as to its legitimacy.

Today on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer noted that the situation was vague and that hopefully nothing is wrong, but there might be. He also suggested that until they know what the situation is, WWE has to be vague about it. However, Fightful Select were a lot more direct, reporting that Perez is fine and that her “injury” is and always has been for storyline purposes. It should be noted that WWE has not shied away from discussions or replays of the incident on “NXT” programming, which would suggest it is kayfabe.

In perhaps continuing with said storyline, WWE Senior Vice President of Talent Development Creative Shawn Michaels announced this week that with Perez’s health in question, “NXT” needed to take steps to potentially crown a new women’s champion at Stand and Deliver, beginning with a series of qualifying matches this past Tuesday. “With Stand and Deliver in less than three weeks I have the obligation to announce we possibly have to crown a New NXT Women’s Champion,” he tweeted

Tuesday night’s “NXT” saw both Zoey Stark and Gigi Dolin qualify for the Ladder Match at Stand & Deliver, which is slated for April 1 at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California. Perez, meanwhile, has held her title since defeating Mandy Rose on the December 13 episode of “NXT.”

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Roxanne Perez’s Availability In Doubt, WWE NXT Poised To Crown New Women’s Champ At Stand & Deliver

It appears that a new “WWE NXT” Women’s Champion will be crowned at the brand’s Stand & Deliver event. WWE Senior Vice President of Talent Development Creative Shawn Michaels took to Twitter and announced that there will be a series of qualifying matches starting on tonight’s episode to determine who will be competing at Stand & Deliver in a ladder match for the “NXT” Women’s Championship.

“As of Friday Morning Roxanne Perez was discharged from the hospital,” Michaels wrote. “However, after numerous tests, Roxanne’s health is still in question. With Stand and Deliver in less than three weeks, I have the obligation to announce we possibly have to crown a New NXT Women’s Champion. Starting tonight there will be a series of qualifying matches with the winners advancing to Stand and Deliver to compete to become the NXT Women’s Champion in a Ladder Match.”

The end of the March 7 episode of “NXT” saw Perez suddenly “collapse” after she retained her title against Meiko Satomura. Perez was stretchered out of the arena to an ambulance backstage. This happened after several vignettes showed her “exhaustive workouts” ahead of the big match with the former “NXT UK” Women’s Champion. Perez has been the “NXT” Women’s Champion since defeating former WWE Superstar Mandy Rose on the December 13 edition of “NXT.”

Stand & Deliver is set for Saturday, April 1 at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California. It will be on the same day as night one of WrestleMania 39 and will be starting at 1 PM ET. Other matches announced include Bron Breakker defending his “NXT” Championship against Carmelo Hayes and Grayson Waller will be facing Johnny Gargano.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE NXT Preview 3/14/2023

Tonight’s episode of WWE NXT in Orlando, Florida at the Capitol Wrestling Center on the USA Network:

NXT North American Championship: Wes Lee (c) issues another open challenge.
Johnny Gargano to speak to the NXT universe.
NXT Tag Team Championship: Gallus (Wolfgang & Mark Coffey) (c) vs. Pretty Deadly (Kit Wilson & Elton Prince)

WWE Provides Update On NXT Women’s Champion Roxanne Perez

This past Tuesday night at “WWE NXT” Roadblock, “NXT” Women’s Champion Roxanne Perez successfully defended her title against the legendary Meiko Satomura. Following the bout, though, and shortly after Satomura handed her the championship, Perez suddenly “collapsed” to the mat. Medical officials, referees, Shawn Michaels, and even Booker T rushed to the ring to check on her. The last thing viewers saw was Perez being taken away on a stretcher to an ambulance backstage. Now, WWE has provided a further positive update on the champion.

“Update: Roxanne Perez has been discharged from the hospital and is now at home resting,” WWE tweeted.

WWE’s first update Tuesday night simply stated that she’d be kept in the hospital overnight for further testing. So while the latest announcement is certainly progress, it’s also worth monitoring whether or not she’ll be competing at the “NXT” Stand and Deliver event on Saturday, April 1. Thus far, only two matches have been announced for the big show. Johnny Gargano will make his in-ring return to “NXT” to take on the man who brutally attacked him before he left WWE in 2021, Grayson Waller. Also, Carmelo Hayes is set to challenge “NXT” Champion Bron Breakker.

Perez has been “NXT” Women’s Champion since December 13, when she dethroned Mandy Rose, ending her 500-plus day reign and becoming the developmental brand’s youngest-ever women’s champion in the process. Perez has successfully defended it five times since, including Tuesday’s contest against Satomura. While the bout itself lasted nearly 14 minutes, vignettes leading up to their showdown showed the champ putting herself through very rigorous workouts.

Roxanne Perez’s injury at NXT Roadblock concerned fans about her well-being. Fortunately, the whole collapsing scenario was a take from an angle with Shawn Michaels on RAW in the mid-90s. Similar to HBK, Perez took several blows to the head, which led to the kayfabe injury.

As fans pointed out, Roxanne Perez’s injury at NXT Roadblock is kayfabe because the referee didn’t show the dreaded X sign. The signal is used whenever a superstar is grievously injured and isn’t a part of the storyline. WWE takes head injuries seriously and if Perez did suffer one, multiple reports would have hit the wrestling capsule already.

The injury angle did put over Roxanne Perez in a major way. She may now sport the neck brace as a reminder of her heroics. Her participation in Stand and Deliver is unknown, although the injury could mean she will be out of the ring for a while.

Nonetheless, The Prodigy does have a challenger in line. Tiffany Stratton staked her claim to the Women’s Championship before Roadblock rolled out. It remains to be seen if the showdown will be booked for April 1 or a later date.

Sources: Wrestling Inc. and sportskeeda

Shawn Michaels Names Johnny Gargano As Grayson Waller’s Opponent At WWE NXT Stand & Deliver

The ongoing feud between Grayson Waller and WWE Senior Vice President of Talent Development Creative Shawn Michaels has escalated to the “NXT” Stand & Deliver premium live event. During Tuesday night’s special Roadblock episode, Michaels was a guest on “The Grayson Waller Effect.”

During the segment, Waller challenged Michaels to a match, which is when Michaels revealed that former “NXT” Champion and current “Raw” Superstar Johnny Gargano was going to be Waller’s opponent instead. Gargano and Waller have a history that goes all the way back to Gargano’s farewell to “NXT” in December 2021. As he was ending his farewell speech, Waller came out from behind and attacked him. Gargano’s last “NXT” match before he went to the main roster was at the “NXT” WarGames 2021 event.

Waller started his feud with Michaels when he crashed the Vengeance Day post-show media call and was “suspended” for his behavior. Waller returned on the February 14 episode of “NXT,” when he was kicked out of the arena after confronting Michaels backstage. While Waller was being escorted out of the building, he called the WWE Hall of Famer “a hypocrite and a suit” and that “HBK doesn’t exist anymore.”

“NXT” Stand & Deliver is set for April 1 at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California. It will be on the same day as night one of WrestleMania 39 and will be starting at 1 PM ET. The only other match announced for Stand & Deliver is Bron Breakker defending the “NXT” Championship against Carmelo Hayes in the main event.

Source: Wrestling Inc.