Zoey Stark Comments On Her Return To WWE TV
Zoey Stark is the new number one contender for the "NXT" Women's Championship, and she couldn't be happier. The "NXT" star made her surprise return to the ring on this week's episode and ended up being the one to win the main event battle royal to earn the right to face Mandy Rose for the title.
"I'm so on a high right now from Tuesday," Stark said to Quetzalli Bulnes of "El Brunch De WWE." "It's such a surreal moment. That's a moment that I'll never forget for the rest of my life. I was not expecting the WWE Universe to react in that way, so when they did, that meant the world to me. I mean, it was amazing. My physical therapist actually sent me a video of how the crowd reacted, and it's so crazy to see that the fans reacted that way to me. So mind-blowing."
Starks had been on the shelf with a torn ACL/meniscus prior to her return on Tuesday. This isn't the first time she's shouted-out her physical therapist, either — back in December, Stark gave a big thanks to her physical therapist, Lauren, for helping her get off crutches so quickly after surgery. Before she made her return to television, Stark last wrestled at Halloween Havoc back in October, so she had some worries about still being relevant.
"I've been gone for eight months and I only had two matches in 'NXT 2.0,'" she said. "So it's a whole different vibe, whole new crowd, whole new feeling to everything so for me. I wasn't sure if they would remember me or not, to be completely honest."
Fittingly, that Halloween Havoc match saw Stark and her partner, Io Shirai, lose their "NXT" Women's Tag Team Championships to Rose's group, Toxic Attraction, and Stark was written off television due to her injury via a Toxic Attraction attack. As a result, her battle royal victory makes perfect sense from a storyline perspective.
Stark also had some unique hype behind her return, as fans were encouraged to participate in an ongoing "QR code" campaign that ultimately revealed Stark to be a surprise participant minutes before the battle royal took place.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "El Brunch De WWE" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.