Former WWE NXT Champ Tatum Paxley Reflects On Journey From Powerlifting To Wrestling

In the professional wrestling world, Tatum Paxley is known for being a former WWE NXT Women's Champion. Before she ever stepped foot into a ring, though, Paxley spent much of her days as a cheerleader and a powerlifter. In between, she also worked another job, where Paxley felt her identity gradually fading away. Luckily, an unexpected connection helped her change that.

"Powerlifting was the one thing that brought me joy, but before I was powerlifting, I was a cheerleader my whole life, so I was always in front of crowds and always performing. I had stopped that after I dropped out of college. That's when I started the powerlifting thing," Paxley told "Busted Open Radio" when reflecting on her journey to WWE. "I was working at a supplement store for maybe four or five years. I just was losing myself entirely. I didn't like how I was feeling. I didn't like how I was talking to people. I just felt like what I was doing was killing me."

Around 2019, Paxley recalls meeting an unnamed woman involved in the professional wrestling world whose glowing praise for the industry eventually persuaded her to dig deeper into it. Upon surfing through YouTube, Paxley then discovered wrestlers such as former WWE Raw Women's Champion Alexa Bliss, whom Paxley cites as one of her main inspirations for later pursuing wrestling herself.

"I started watching all these videos on YouTube and I was like, 'This looks like something I could do. This looks really fun.' I have the strength. I have the agility. I watched Total Divas with my mom, and I remember my mom going, 'I think you can do this.' And I'm like, 'No, you don't know. I don't know about that,' but I was also very young," Paxley said.

"I messaged that girl that I met that was involved in pro wrestling and I said 'I just want to learn. Where do I go to learn?' I was messaging wrestling schools near me in Denton, Texas. Nobody responded to me. I was sending them direct messages like, 'Hey, I want to get started in this world. I want to learn about it.'"

While efforts to start training locally in Texas proved fruitless, a direct path to WWE later opened for her. According to Paxley, this came after the aforementioned woman got in touch with a figure in WWE's recruiting department, who went on to contact Paxley herself.

Amidst their conversation, the recruiting representative offered Paxley the opportunity to take part in an upcoming WWE tryout centered in Las Vegas during SummerSlam 2021 weekend. Paxley, of course, accepted the invitation and impressed WWE officials at the tryout, so much so that they officially signed her to a contract.

Following several months of in-ring training, Paxley made her pro wrestling debut by teaming with Ivy Nile in a tag bout against Fallon Henley and Kiana James on "WWE Level Up" in February 2022. Nile would remain a close ally of Paxley's in her early WWE career as the two served as members of Diamond Mine. In late 2023, Nile ascended to WWE's main roster, while Paxley remained in "WWE NXT." 

As she continued to look back on her unlikely passage to WWE, Paxley noted that she is grateful for it as it allowed her to transform her life for the better. In just over four years under the WWE banner, Paxley has found success as a singles champion; she's also enjoyed runs with various tag team partners, though not all of them turned out to be triumphant.

"This is something that I really want people to hear is please, please trust the process of which your life is taking you through," Paxley said. "Because I felt so lost, so confused, and the complete 180 that my life has turned by just trusting that time is going to take care of it, really it will. You're never going to see it coming. If you were to ask me when I'm sitting at the supplement store selling my 10,000th jug of protein powder that day, like 'Hey, you're going to be a WWE Superstar in a month.' What are you talking about? You're crazy. Life comes at you quick."

Paxley's most recent in-ring outing emerged as an emotional one, with The Culling ultimately blindsiding her during her NXT Women's Championship defense against Fatal Influence's Jacy Jayne on "NXT" Gold Rush week one. As a result, Paxley is now titleless, while Jayne became a two-time NXT Women's Champion after nailing the former powerlifter with a follow-up Rolling Encore. Whether or not Paxley will receive a rematch for the title has yet to be seen.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Busted Open Radio" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.