On December 6, Valerie Loureda took to social media to reveal that she would be performing under the name Lola Vice in WWE.
Loureda is a former MMA fighter who competed for Bellator before signing with WWE in June. She's been training at the WWE Performance Center full-time since July. She made her non-battle royal in-ring debut at the November 12 NXT live event. She dressed as Lola Bunny in the NXT Halloween battle royal at the October 28 NXT live event.
Speaking to Jim Varasllone of the Miami Herald, Lola discussed her new name.
"Lola came out because when my sisters and I were little, we had a lady who liked to do our makeup, and that was always our alter ego name, Lola. When we were coming up with names, I was like, 'Let me throw that in there' because I liked it. Then, I always had a vision of Miami Vice because I am the first Cuban American woman and I was born and raised in Miami. I feel like that's me and I need to represent, how can I do this, and incorporate it into my name. I thought about Miami Vice and said, 'how about Lola Vice?' Actually, I gave them ten first names, ten last names, and Shawn Michaels chose Lola Vice. It's beautiful, it goes, and I feel like this is my new era," she said.
When asked if it was difficult to come up with the list of name, Lola said, "I always think very ahead. Another option I had was Estrella, which means star in Spanish. I liked that too, but something about Lola, I thought it was cute, a little latina and something easy for other people to announce. I had to get in the ring and say, 'Can I be Lola for the rest of my career? Yes, I can.' I'm glad they chose that for me and now we're in the works to hopefully debut soon."
With any name change in WWE comes a fan response, especially when the name of an established performer or someone with a following is changed.
Speaking about the response to the change, Lola said, "Twitter messed this up for me. Since I'm verified on all my accounts as Valerie Loureda, they had to switch my handles. I woke up and it said Lola Vice WWE and I had tweeted and I didn't know they had changed my name already. Then it came out and people started talking about it because I had given hints like dressing up as Lola Bunny for a rumble match we had. I put Lola with winky faces, obviously they knew I was dressing up as a character, but I had already known that was my name. Twitter ruined it for me and I was like, 'I'm just going to release on my Instagram.' The fans reactions, I was a little nervous because everyone was like, 'you should keep your name.' The way I think about it is, Valerie Loureda is the fighter who has been fighting since she was three-years-old and made this whole career very young and Lola Vice is the entertainer that Valerie always wanted to be. Having this new name gives me more of a character and allows me to really play this part of the Miami girl, the Cuban girl, the Latina in the WWE and it fits really well."
It is unknown when Lola will debut on NXT television.
The brand is set to hold a live event in Florida on December 16 and 17. Fans can find results from past NXT live events at Fightful's results section.
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