Roxanne Perez has explained how she took inspiration from Eddie Guerrero‘s heel work and fell in love with wrestling because of John Cena.
Roxanne on WWE Past & Present Inspiring Her Heel Work
Roxanne is one of the fastest-rising stars in WWE, at the young age of 23, having arrived on the main roster earlier this year. She’s a former two-time NXT Women’s Champion and recently held the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships with Raquel Rodriguez.
The Prodigy is living up to that moniker, although she’s found it easier to do so as a heel rather than a babyface. She began training at the age of 13 with a dream of becoming a professional wrestler.
Roxanne enjoyed a meteoric rise and finds herself currently filling in for Liv Morgan as part of The Judgment Day during the former WWE Women’s Champion’s spell on the sidelines due to injury. But she’s caught the eye with her in-ring ability, earning praise backstage after defeating Iyo Sky in the main event of RAW.
A product of Booker T’s Reality of Wrestling School, she has grown into her villainous persona and credits some of WWE’s past and present with helping her adapt to her heel role. She told Chris Van Vliet:
“Eddie Guerrero is probably my top one that I always watch. Just his mannerisms and the way he wrestled. Even in his entrance it’s like he’s not doing much but he is with his face. So him for sure.”
Roxanne is a stablemate of Dominik Mysterio, whose father, Rey Mysterio, was best friends with the late great Guerrero. Latino Heat was one of the most conniving heels in the business, lying, cheating and stealing his way to the top of WWE, but fans fell in love with his cunning ways.
Another WWE legend whom Roxanne used to watch is on the RAW roster with her:
“CM Punk, he was one of my favourite heels growing up”
Roxanne and CM Punk share a close bond as the Best in the World has mentored her since returning to the company in November 2023. He is excelling in his second spell with the promotion, but the height of his career came as a villainous WWE Champion from 2011 to 2013.
Punk’s real-life wife, AJ Lee, was also an inspiration for Roxanne and her character does share some similar traits to the former Divas Champion. AJ was a crazy chick whose short temper caused issues for plenty of the men’s roster, but she plotted and schemed in a similar fashion to Roxanne.
The newest member of The Judgment Day was also a big fan of Alexa Bliss during her Goddess era. She’s currently a babyface and performing with a gimmick that contrasts with that which made her a huge success as a heel, able to switch her tone at any given moment, and her Elimination Chamber promo in 2018 deserves more recognition.
Roxanne Perez On John Cena Storyline That Made Her “Love Wrestling”
Roxanne has been involved in several entertaining storylines both on NXT and on RAW. Her current Judgment Day story is intriguing, as many expect Liv Morgan will return and feel betrayed by the rest of the group because of the upstart seemingly replacing her.
She was also embroiled in a high-profile rivalry with Bayley, which only helped put eyes on her upon her arrival on the main roster. She recalled how she fell in love with the business because of a storyline involving Cena:
“One of the biggest storylines that made me love wrestling so much was The Rock vs John Cena. That once-in-a-lifetime match. Just the whole story, everything that went into it, all the things that came out of it. The Fruity Pebbles, The Rock going out there and singing songs on a guitar and all of that was just so cool to me.”
Cena and Rock feuded for a year before their Once in a Lifetime rivalry became a two-part series, as they main-evented WrestleMania 28 and 29. Roxanne has spoken of her desire to one day main event the Show of Shows, and it feels as though she’s on the right track, given how she continues to exceed expectations.
