Raquel Rodriguez (formerly Raquel Gonzalez in NXT) was moved to WWE SmackDown on the April 9 episode of the program.
Along with the new name came a slight personality change as she was constantly smiling, a change from the menacing figure she would often portray on NXT.
Appearing on Busted Open Radio, Rodriguez was asked why she's smiling more on SmackDown.
"When I first started at the PC, a lot of the coaches like Matt Bloom always got mad at me for constantly walking around the PC, no cameras, and we're smiling. He's like, 'You have to learn how to stop smiling. You gotta stop smiling and be intimidating.' I get so excited about being in this position because it's something I always wanted and I sacrificed and worked hard for. I can't help but smile. Coming up to SmackDown, I was fully ready not to smile and be this intimidating bad mother trucker and put that on-screen, but the thing they asked from me was to smile. At this point, I feel so comfortable doing both. I can talk to you, look at you, and smile and tell you how excited I am, but I definitely think that if you say anything that is against what I believe, I will bust through the screen and I will find you," she said.
Before being officially called up in April, Rodriguez worked a handful of dark matches on the main roster in 2021.
Asked about her official call-up, Rodriguez said, "It was exciting, relieving, crazy, every emotion you can think of. I've been at the PC since late 2016 and have been training. I didn't have my debut until 2020 with Dakota Kai. It's been a long journey for me. I did college basketball before that and trying to find my way back into this world that I wanted to be a part of so much because my father was a wrestler as well, I'm a second-generation wrestler, it was something that felt like a long time coming, but it was quickly squashed because I know this is not a moment to settle or stop working hard. This is a moment to keep proving myself and prove to everyone that I do belong on Friday Night SmackDown."
Rodriguez is the daughter of Rick González, who worked various territories, largely in Texas, throughout his career.
Asked if it was hard to leave NXT and essentially start over on SmackDown, she replied, "It's definitely hard and that's why after I got the phone call, I was like, 'Alright, I can celebrate now for these couple of seconds, but I know this isn't going to last and I have a lot of work to put in.' Everything I did in NXT, I am carrying over with me. It was a journey, mental and physical, of becoming the superstar that I know I'm capable of being. That's something I want to prove and show at SmackDown. I know everyone has been through the same journey of when you get the call up and you have to, in a sense, start over or changes are made, but I'm fully open to all of that and am committing to whatever box or categorization they want to put me in, I'm ready to break out of that and show them what I can do and that's perform."
Rodriguez was a former NXT Women's Champion and two-time NXT Women's Tag Team Champion during her time on the brand.
She has yet to make her in-ring debut on SmackDown.
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