NEWNow you can listen to Pak Gazette articles!
WWE NXT wrestlers Tatum Paxley and Kendal Gray have been two of the brand’s most prominent performers throughout 2025.
Paxley went from being in the tag team scene with Gigi Dolan and Shotzi Blackheart to start the year and quickly rose up the ladder to earn shots at the NXT Women’s Championship and the NXT Women’s North American Championship.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON PakGazette.Com
Tatum Paxley celebrates as the new NXT Women’s Champion during NXT Halloween Havoc at the Findlay Toyota Center on October 25, 2025 in Prescott Valley, Arizona. (Meg Oliphant/WWE via Getty Images)
Tatum Paxley in action against Lola Vice during NXT at the WWE Performance Center on October 28, 2025 in Orlando, Florida. (Kevin Sabitus/WWE via Getty Images)
She became NXT Women’s Champion after defeating Jacy Jayne at Halloween Havoc. However, his recent relationship with Izzi Dame and The Culling fractured, leading to an emotional match on NXT Deadline, which he lost thanks to the help of Dame’s compatriots.
Sol Ruca, who has been making her own splash in NXT for the past three years, told Pak Gazette Digital in a recent interview that she was thrilled with Paxley as her hard work paid off.
“Tatum, she’s grown a lot and when she won the title, I was literally backstage, trying not to cry because she tried so hard and she’s always there,” Ruca said. “She’s always showing up and ready to work and I think she really deserved to be the NXT Women’s Champion.”
WWE BOSS MOVES INTO ‘NEW LANDSCAPE’ AFTER TITLES CHANGES HANDS IN SATURDAY NIGHT MAIN EVENT
Kendal Gray enters the ring during NXT at the WWE Performance Center on October 28, 2025 in Orlando, Florida. (Matt Pendleton/WWE via Getty Images)
Kendal Gray enters the arena during NXT Deadline at the Boeing Center at Tech Port on December 6, 2025 in San Antonio, Texas. (Andrea Kellaway/WWE via Getty Images)
Gray found his place in WWE Evolve while splitting his time between that brand and NXT. She won the Evolve Women’s Championship against Kali Armstrong in September. She then won the Women’s Iron Survivor Challenge and earned a shot at the NXT Women’s Championship.
Ruca suggested that she was impressed with Grey’s growth over the past two years. Gray joined the WWE organization in 2023 as part of WWE’s Next In Line program five years after being named US High School Wrestler of the Year.
“Same with Kendal, she’s gotten really good in the past, I don’t know, she’s been here for what? Like two years, maybe? I think the experience in amateur wrestling definitely helps, but they’re really putting her on the back foot right now,” Ruca said. “And I think she’s definitely hanging in there.
“I think she’s performing very, very well. I think her promos are getting better and I don’t think she’s too nervous about the position she’s in. I think she’s pretty confident, which is definitely a good thing for her.”
Zaria and NXT North American Women’s Champion Sol Ruca interrupt Fatal Influence during NXT at the WWE Performance Center on July 15, 2025 in Orlando, Florida. (Andrea Kellaway/WWE)
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE Pak Gazette APP
Ruca will have a great opportunity to impress WWE fans. She will face Bayley on Saturday in the Saturday Night Main Event, which will also be John Cena’s last match in his WWE in-ring career.
