Backstage News On Roxanne Perez And Other NXT Stars Appearing At WWE Royal Rumble

WWE reportedly flew out several women from its "WWE NXT" roster to San Antonio for last Saturday's WWE Royal Rumble, with "NXT" Women's Champion Roxanne Perez, Indi Hartwell and Zoey Stark even appearing in the 30-woman battle royal.

This was a stark contrast to last year's Royal Rumble — under the Vince McMahon regime — where management was reportedly hesitant to include "NXT 2.0" superstars at an event featuring main roster superstars.

"NXT" boss Shawn Michaels told Fightful Select on Thursday that main roster higher-ups let him know "who they wanted, and he provided feedback" ahead of the Women's Royal Rumble. The main roster execs also let it be known that they "only needed female talent and were good on the men's side." Fightful had reported last week that WWE was more interested in "unconventional surprises" for this year's Rumble, rather than bringing in retired legends. This was evident in the fact that Michelle McCool was the only legend in the battle royal, which included the surprise comebacks of Nia Jax and Chelsea Green, not to mention the return of Doudrop as Piper Niven.

The report added that Ivy Nile was also backstage for the Women's Royal Rumble "as an alternate" if the need should arise.

Last year, WWE higher-ups reportedly "drew a distinct line in the sand" and made it clear "NXT" talents wouldn't be appearing in the two Rumble matches. As a matter of fact, Damian Priest in 2021 and Matt Riddle in 2020 were the last two male "NXT" superstars who appeared in the Men's Royal Rumble. Both were eliminated in seconds.

Finally, Fightful was told that none of the three "NXT" women who appeared in this year's Rumble — Perez, Hartwell and Stark — had the appearance serve as a "call up" to the main roster. In previous years, WWE has used the Rumble matches as a way to bring up superstars.