Raquel Rodriguez has had an interesting trajectory to say the least since joining WWE’s main roster in 2022. In NXT, Rodriguez was built as a monster of a talent and was the NXT Women’s Champion during her time there. She was compared on the same level as Bianca Belair and Rhea Ripley, the latter who have gone on to a lot of success so far on the main roster.
Kevin Nash had brought up about Rodriguez that she needs to “work bigger.” Rodriguez has been coming around and showing more confidence in the ring over the past few months, but it seems that the constructive criticism by Nash worked in Rodriguez’s favor.
Big E spoke about Rodriguez on the SummerSlam pre show:
“I want to talk a bit about the rise of Raquel Rodriguez, I think people have been understandably critical of Raquel. Look, I remember back to NXT she was, in many ways, kind of put in the same class as Rhea and Bianca, but the bar is so high with those two, and I think people were waiting for her to earn that positioning, to be a rightful third,” he said.
“Kevin Nash, I think, a few weeks ago, was very critical of Raquel, and said that she needed to work bigger.”
“What I loved was the way that Raquel received that. She didn’t complain, she didn’t whine, she didn’t run from it. She said, ‘If that’s what Kevin Nash believes, I’m going to take that to heart. I’m going to start working bigger.’ Immediately, within like a week of seeing those comments, I saw a real change in Raquel, seeing her match with Rhea at Night of Champions, even in a loss, that was the best version I’d seen up until then, at Evolution as well, seeing how sharp she was. I’m telling you this version of Raquel is someone she should really be proud,” said Big E.
Rodriguez wasn’t able to keep the tag team titles with herself and Roxanne Perez at SummerSlam, however, the match received a great reaction. Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss became new champions.
This was Rodriguez’s first SummerSlam match. Although she hasn’t had singles success on the main roster, she has held the tag team titles more than any other woman.