Naomi, real name Trinity Fatu, has been in the wrestling business for the past 16 years. She first signed with WWE in 2009 and took part in its then-developmental program Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW). She would then compete in the NXT third all women’s season of the show when it was originally a competition series.
While speaking with BET in its recent installment of The Evolution of Black Storytelling in Pro Wrestling, Naomi talks about going from a dancer for the Orlando Magic to being a trailblazer in WWE and the wrestling industry.
She says she sort of stumbled onto wrestling ad a whim, but admits at the beginning, it was tough. “I didn’t feel seen at first,” she admits to BET. “There weren’t many Black women on screen, and I constantly questioned if the audience would connect with who I really was. I got comments on my Florida southern girl accent; people said I sounded ‘ghetto.’ That hit me hard.”
Naomi struggled on the mic at first, doubting herself: “I remember thinking, ‘Do I need to change how I talk just to be accepted?’ No.” She got through this and feels very different now. “The fans love all of it,” she says. “It’s not just tolerated now, it’s celebrated.”
While history was made between Sasha Banks and Bianca Belair at WrestleMania 37, Naomi has made her own history at WrestleMania 41 with Jade Cargill.
Naomi returned to WWE from some time in TNA. She returned in the 2024 Women’s Royal Rumble which also happened to be Jade Cargill’s WWE in-ring debut.
“That was such a special night for me and all of us,” she reflects. “We hugged and prayed together before we went out, and even though I don’t like her now,” she says, “we both knew what that moment meant.”
Naomi and Cargill may be bitter enemies now, but at WrestleMania 40 they teamed up with Belair to face Damage CTRL. “There’s a responsibility in that,” she says. “Me, Jade, Bianca, we know what we represent and carry that with pride.”
Lastly, Naomi would share her experience portraying Ethel Johnson in the film Queen of the Ring, and what that meant to her.
“They almost lost their lives just for the opportunity to wrestle,” she says. “They were threatened and discriminated against, and they still made it happen. When I’m struggling, I think of them and everything they endured so we can be here. If they could get through that, I can push through anything.”
Full credit to BET.
