Reviewing Roxanne Perez's Monumental Week

The end of the December 13, 2022 episode of WWE's NXT program cemented a spectacular year for Roxanne Perez. After competing in Reality of Wrestling and Ring of Honor (and winning titles in both), Roxanne Perez signed with WWE in March of 2022. Fast forward nine months, and Roxanne stands on top of NXT's Women's Division, doing so at the tender age of 21. Let's take a look at how Roxanne's amazing week progressed.

Roxanne was selected as one of five women to compete in the Iron Survivor Challenge, with the women competing in one match while the men competed in another. The rules for the Iron Survivor Challenge went as follows. The match was 25 minutes long, with two combatants starting the match, while the other three entered in five minute intervals. Winning falls were one point each, while the defeated combatant would serve 90 seconds in the penalty box. Both matches were #1 Contender's bouts, and whoever had the most falls would win that honor.

Both matches took place at NXT's Deadline event on December 10, 2022, with the women's match kicking off the event. Roxanne was the first entrant, followed by Zoey Stark, and in order, Cora Jade, Kiana James, and Indi Hartwell filled out the contest. It was a tough road for Roxanne, as Zoey, Cora, and Indi each had winning falls withing the first 16 minutes, and even worse, Roxanne was pinned two of the three times. However, Roxanne managed to pin Zoey at 18:47, and with under two minutes left, she pinned former tag team partner turned villainous foe Cora Jade, and held on to win the entire challenge and become NXT's first-ever Iron Survivor.

Literally everyone, myself especially, was so happy for Roxanne regarding her big victory. However, the person who had the most emotion, unsurprisingly, was two-time WWE Hall of Famer Booker T, who has been on NXT commentary since September of this year. I mentioned Reality of Wrestling; that's Booker's promotion out of his native Houston, and Roxanne (also a native Texan) was one of his proteges. Booker expressed so much emotion for Roxanne following her victory, and I'll bet anything that his eyes weren't the only ones who couldn't remain dry. So Roxanne earned the right to face Mandy Rose for the NXT Women's Championship, and the match would (most likely) occur at NXT's New Year's Evil event in a month.

However, plans do have a habit of changing.

The aforementioned latest edition of NXT kicked off with Roxanne attempting to celebrate her big win at Deadline. Notice I said "attempting." That was because she was rudely interrupted by the other Iron Survivor, Grayson Waller, though he was shut down by not only Roxanne, but also NXT Champion Bron Breakker, who went after Waller in response to his attack at the end of Deadline. It was at that moment that Mandy Rose appeared and assaulted Roxanne, and her response to the attack: she challenged Mandy for the title that night! That's right. Roxanne wasn't going to wait for New Year's Evil; she wanted Mandy on the spot that night.

As we recall, the last time Roxanne challenged Mandy, she ended up on the losing end due to the traitorous actions of Cora Jade. However, I knew Roxanne would take this. No one was getting involved. There was no Toxic Attraction (who had their own business involving the tag titles), and there was no Cora. There was only Roxanne and Mandy, and the title. Mandy thought she had Roxanne finished late, but the challenger kicked out, infuriating the longtime champion. Roxanne delivered Pop Rocks to Mandy later on, and three seconds later, Mandy's 413 days at the top came to an end.

I am so, so happy for Roxanne; she truly worked hard for this moment, and at the age of 21, she reached the top of the proverbial mountain. Roxanne's win opens the door for so many feuds; villainesses such as Cora Jade, Zoey Stark, and even Tiffany Stratton could emerge as potential challengers for Roxanne, and those feuds would be absolutely golden. As for Mandy, again, she had 413 days as champion, which is way more than she received on the main roster. One has to believe that Mandy and her Toxic Attraction cohorts are main roster bound, but before that happens, I would think we'd get a send-off rematch at New Year's Evil. One thing I always love: a villain's reaction to being knocked off a perch that they were on for a long time. In the case of Mandy, she'll definitely be on the rampage en route to the rematch, but again, that will be the send-off she gets to the main roster.

Once again, many congratulations to Roxanne Perez for capturing the NXT Women's Championship! This is only the beginning for the up-and-coming superstar's WWE career, I just know it!