Yulisa Leon talks about her road to becoming a wrestler and what inspired her to join the business.
Prior to joining NXT on February 26, 2021, as a part of the February 2021 Class of the WWE Performance Center Recruits, Leon was a prolific Power-lifting champion, winning three gold medals and even trained to be a part of the Mexican Power-lifting Team for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. She is also a second-generation wrestler, being the daughter of former CMLL Wrestler El Bronco, and she discussed a bit of what got her into the business and achieving a WWE Landmark.
Speaking with Quetzalli Bulnes on WWE Espanol show El Brunch (alongside Valentina Feroz), Leon spoke about her experience in WWE and her feelings about becoming the first-ever Mexican-born Women's wrestler to sign with WWE, saying that it was an honor to achieve this. She said the following:
"It is something that I can get away with and say that I’ve made history. For me, especially coming from a wrestling family, wrestling is sacred and it is an honor to follow in the footsteps of my father (Former CMLL Wrestler El Bronco). The situation from the Olympics is now behind me for a lot of reasons that led to me making this step. I am a satisfied and happy woman, with both what happened in Power-lifting and what’s going to happen in wrestling. Being the first-ever Mexican-born wrestler is a privilege and it is something incredible. Hopefully, this serves to give a lot of inspiration to the Latino community, to the Mexican community. It is not easy for us to achieve these types of dreams, it takes a lot of work and a lot of hurdles to go through, but everything is possible when you are aggressive and dedicated, and when you cannot stop dreaming and fighting. It ain’t easy, but it is definitely possible. "
Despite being coming from a wrestling background, she said that what motivated her to become a professional wrestler, saying that watching Bianca Belair got her motivated to follow her family's footsteps. She stated the following:
“I remember when I started feeling the tickle about becoming a wrestler. When I got home, my dad (El Bronco) was watching a video of Bianca Belair. She was doing a move that was very similar to a weight lift and he said that she reminded her of me in some aspects. When I saw her, it gave me the feeling of wanting to do that and thinking that I could do it too. She was a great inspiration of mine for a while and seeing her being the champion and a great representative of the brand is something incredible. She was one of my top inspirations to join the business.”
Leon is set to team with Valentina Feroz against Kayden Carter and Katana Chance for the #1 Contendership to the NXT Women's Tag team Championships on the 4/26/2022 edition of NXT 2.0, where Solo Sikoa is also scheduled to face Trick Williams in a singles match. You can see more matches announced for the show here.
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