Raquel Rodriguez was fine with her name change, saying it was a very small adjustment and she enjoys having the double R initials like Rhea Ripley.
Raquel Rodriguez, formerly Raquel Gonzalez, joined the Friday Night SmackDown roster on the Friday after WrestleMania and it was clear from the moment she was introduced that some changes were being made. Speaking with Cageside Seats’ Rick Ucchino on the Bleav in Pro Wrestling podcast, Raquel explained why she's okay with this minor change and joked that she is already working on new tag team names with Rhea Ripley now that they have the same initials.
“They just basically said, ‘Hey, you’re getting a name change and this is it.’ I was like, ‘Cool, that’s fine.’ I really had no big arguments with it at all. It was just a simple little switch,” Rodriquez said. “It’s funny, I was just joking with Rhea (Ripley) last Friday because she was actually at SmackDown, and her initials are R-R, Rhea Ripley, and we’ve always joked about being a tag team, and we had our feud NXT. Well, now my initials are R-R, Raquel Rodriguez. So it kind of just feels like it was meant to be, so I’m okay with it. We’re starting to think of new tag names.”
For Raquel, she is excited to have this chance to grow on the main roster and says this is what her whole journey has been leading up to.
"This is what I’ve been waiting for. It’s what I’ve worked for. This is what all the sacrifices are for. But I definitely took that moment (getting called up) and I squashed it right away, because I was like, this doesn’t mean you made it. This doesn’t mean that it’s over. You know what I mean? Like this is where the work begins and this is where you really have to start hustling,” she said.
Raquel Rodriguez recently appeared on Busted Open Radio, further explaining the changes she's undergone including the request for her to smile more on the main roster. Learn more here.
