Former WWE superstar Tegan Nox has opened up about her release from the company for the very first time.
The 30-year-old Welsh wrestler, who first joined the sports entertainment giant more than seven years ago and appeared on the likes of Raw, SmackDown and NXT, was let go in November as part of talent cuts.
Speaking exclusively to Metro, the star – who will return to the ring for ATTACK! Pro Wrestling in May under the name Nixon Newell – has explained her lengthy absence, having not wrestled since August even before her release.
‘I did get incredibly sick for a little while,’ she said. ‘We didn’t really get a legit answer. I went through tests, I was in hospital, a bunch of different stuff.
‘So I think it was down to a lot of stress mixed with other things. But I was really sick, which didn’t help with the time off. I think that started it all, even though I said, “I’m good to go, it’s just I get sick now and again”. But it wasn’t, like, deathly or anything.’
The so-called Girl With The Shiniest Wizard gave WWE credit for giving her time away to ‘heal’ from the illness, but she was frustrated to not get back in the ring once she was ‘cleared’ and ready.
‘I think it was a mix of them wanting to be safe, miscommunication with a lot of different people, because it was going from their doctors to outside doctors to hospitals,’ she added.
‘I think it just got lost in [translation] and stuff like that. But I think unnecessary time off started with a necessary time off, if that makes sense.’
Newell, who was speaking to us in an interview set up by CryptoManiaks Sports, noted she ‘was on medication’ and in a position to wrestle again, although she was expecting her release ‘even before’ her issues away from the ring.
‘I needed that second to try and figure out what was going on, and then when we kind of figured it out, I was on medication, I could have come back, and I was just never brought back from there,’ she said. ‘I thought I was going to be released a lot sooner.’
Now, her 90-day noncompete has expired, and she’ll be back in the ringwith fellow WWE alum Dani Luna when they face off at C’est La Vie in May.
‘[Dani] is a superstar in every sense of the word. So knowing that I’m wrestling her soon, that definitely helped light that fight a little bit more,’ Nixon beamed. ‘If I put my mind to this, we could have an absolute banger.’
It’s been a rollercoaster for Newell, who has suffered injury setbacks and even another WWE exit during previous roster cuts in 2021, before Triple H brought her back.
‘I text him and asked if I could just hop on a call with him just to ask some legal advice with green card stuff,’ she recalled. ‘And then by the end the conversation, “Okay, cool, so do you want to come back to work?”‘
Unfortunately, she struggled for momentum and TV time, despite pitching everything from an NXT return to new characters ‘multiple times a week’ aschanged her hair, got new gear and pushed for a heel turn.
She was keen to embrace her football past with a hooligan-style persona, trying to ‘change everything’ about her presentation to move away from being a ‘stereotypical babyface’.
‘Let me go a complete opposite. Stomp on people’s skulls, like football hooligans do, headbutt people – I brought in the Zidane headbutt as part of my move set,’ she revealed as she delved into the Green Street-inspired character.
There have been fun moments for Newell in between, including her feud and team with Dakota Kai (‘she’s so easy to work with’) and partnerships with Shotzi and Natalya.
Although she tried to turn heel for ‘six years’, she saw the creative team keep going back to vignettes and commentary playing off her unfortunate knee injuries.
The first came before the 2017 Mae Young Classic, while she suffered a separate injury in the following year’s tournament during her quarter-final match against Rhea Ripley.
That setback sparked ‘death and injury wishes’ from vile trolls, which Newell still receives ‘even to this day’, including one disgusting message which read: ‘It’s a shame your knee broke, it should have been your neck.’
She was in an ‘incredibly dark place’, adding: ‘I gained a lot of weight because I was just drinking, I was so depressed.’
Newell even considered retiring before Sara Amato helped turn things around, even after the heartbreak of a third injury.
‘What a lot of people either don’t realise or don’t want to hear, is that the third injury wasn’t like, it didn’t happen in the ring,’ she fired back at ‘injury prone’ critics.
‘It wasn’t like, “Oh, she’s wrestling on torn knees’. No, something had happened during rehab, when the ACL graft slipped out. It was as simple as that. And I wrestled without an ACL for close to a year.’
Now, Newell has been training with the likes of WWE star Pete Dunne for her comeback, while Piper Niven, Sheamus, Drew McIntyre, Damian Priest, William Regal and Chelsea Green have all been on hand for advice.
Despite feeling inspired by her upcoming return to ATTACK!, she’s ‘lost a lot of love for wrestling’ over the past year or so, and if that fire isn’t reignited in the next two years, she’ll hang up her boots.
‘I’m giving myself two years to either find the love, find myself, or just call it a day,’ she said. ‘Mid 2027, just before my 33rd birthday.’
She added: ‘That’s a decent amount of time to be able to find myself and be like, “Okay, is it time to retire? Or do I have a little while left?” I think that’s what’s driving me right now, the thought of finding myself and trying to find this happiness again.’
Got a story?
If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us [email protected], calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.
