Kali Armstrong Credits Wale With Inspiring Her WWE NXT Journey

There are various paths to becoming a wrestler from growing up a fan and joining a wrestling school, being born into the business, or becoming an athlete in another sport and finding your way to the squared circle. WWE created its NIL (Name, Image, & Likeness) program in 2021 to recruit high school and collegiate athletes.

Brand new "NXT" Superstar, Kali Armstrong is a former track and field star at the University of Southern California. During an appearance on Rosenberg Wrestling, Armstrong revealed that a surprising name inspired her wrestling path: Wale. After her track and field career ended, she was working a 9-5, but missed sports. She's good friends with rapper Wale and he was doing "WaleMania" at the time. He kept contacting her and saying, "you're beautiful, you have this charisma, the physique. I think you'd be a really good WWE wrestler." When she first heard it, she thought, "that's not something you could be" and she laughed it off. Armstrong wasn't even watching wrestling at the time, although she watched when she was younger. After Wale mentioned it a couple more times, she decided to look into it. She was impressed that they were working with athletes, so she connected with a recruiter. That led to a tryout and "that was all she wrote."

Armstrong signed with WWE in 2023 and became the inaugural Evolve Women's Champion in 2025. Earlier this month, she debuted in "NXT" during  Week One of "NXT Revenge" and picked up a victory over Skylar Raye.