Before she was Franky Monet in NXT, Franky built her name in IMPACT, Mexico, and the Independent scene as Taya Valkyrie.
She signed with WWE in February 2021 and wasn't quite sure her dream had come true when she received the initial phone call.
"There was a lot of silence on my end because I was like 'this isn't really happening, are they really calling me? Is this really real or is someone prank calling me?' {laughs}. I always go the worst-case scenario, this is just kinda what we've been taught, to never get excited until something is like there and I think that I just didn't allow myself to be fully excited about this until I was walking into the Performance Center, and I was shaking Triple H's hand, wearing the shirt, doing the stuff. That was when I think it really really set in. Because obviously, the process is a long one, there's obviously so many steps that go into it. I just tried to contain myself till it was actually happening and then when it did I was like 'oh no this is real,'" Monet said with a laugh in an interview with Denise Salcedo of Sportster.
With the move to WWE came a name change. Taya Valkyrie became Franky Monet, and while fans weren't initially receptive to the change, it's quickly caught on as Monet has made her mark on NXT television.
"Franky is just a different evolution or a different chapter within my professional wrestling book, of my life basically. So she's just an elevated version of who Taya Valkyrie was. I get inspired by a lot of music artists and movies and television. So I think I take little bits of all these people that I like and enjoy watching and just kinda mash it into one. There's a lot of Lady Gaga in Franky Monet. There's a little bit of Erika Jayne from the Housewives, there's a little bit of Marilyn Monroe, so there's just many different iconic blondes.{laughs} People that I think are really cool or interesting or maybe have strange quirks that piss people off or make them happy and I've kinda smushed them all together and made this Franky Monet that you see before you every Tuesday night on NXT," she said.
Franky Monet has had a successful premiere and encore in NXT and the reviews are fresh for her performances. She defeated Elektra Lopez on Tuesday's episode of NXT.
If you missed anything from Tuesday's NXT, check out Fightful's full report on the show by clicking here.
