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Zoey Stark Reflects On NXT Return, Plans To Be A Fighting Champion After She's Done With Mandy Rose

Wrestling WWE
Robert DeFelice Jul 22, 2022 1:49PM

Zoey Stark is stoked to be back on NXT.

Zoey Stark returned to NXT on Tuesday, July 19, 2022 and immediately made an impact by earning an opportunity to face Mandy Rose for the Women's Championship by winning a Battle Royal. She had been out of action with an injury, which, on television, is said to be caused by Mandy but in actuality, was suffered in the Ladder Match at NXT Halloween Havoc 2021.

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Now, Zoey Stark is opening up about how excited she is to be back and the shocking, in her own mind, reaction she received from the NXT 2.0 Universe.

“I’m still on a high right now from Tuesday, it’s such a surreal moment, that’s a moment I’ll never forget for the rest of my life,” Zoey said on the latest El Brunch de WWE on the WWE Spanish social media outlets. “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, she just sent me a video of how the crowd reacted and it’s so crazy to see that the fans reacted that way to me, you know? So mind-blowing, it was amazing.

“I was sitting in Gorilla right before I went out and I’m just sitting there, tapping my foot, so nervous,” she continued. “Then, as soon as the music hit and they went crazy, I couldn’t hold it anymore, so i just rushed out there and I was like, Oh this feels so good to be back.’"

Speaking about the transition from the black and gold brand to NXT 2.0, Stark says that she had only had a couple of matches under her belt following the transition and was nervous about the new vibe in the arena but that just made the pop all the more sweet.

“I've been gone for eight months, and I only had two matches in NXT 2.0. Black and gold, I have had several, but 2.0, since the change, I've only had two. So, it's a whole different vibe, whole new crowd, whole new feeling to everything. For me, I wasn't sure if they would remember me or not, to be completely honest. But as I'm sitting back there, it's like, ‘Alright, this is gonna go one of two ways. One way is, they're going to be like ‘ugh, okay.’, or they're going to remember me from eight months ago,’ which was amazing, really. Everything that I ever hoped for. So I was nervous about that. That's why I got so excited excited and rushed out there as soon as I heard them going. So I just fed off the fans.”

Now that she has Mandy Rose in her crosshairs, Zoey Stark says this is about more than a championship match, this is about revenge.

“I'm going to be a fighting champion,” Stark said. “I'm always here, right? I want to take that belt, that title, to a whole new level. That's what I want to do. That's my goal. Mandy, she's the one that took me out. So there's a lot going into this match. It's not just about a title match anymore either. It's about revenge a little bit. She took me out of what I love to do for eight months. So I have a lot to say and I have a lot of anger to take out on her. She has no idea what's coming.”

Mandy Rose, so far, does not seem to be too threatened by this new challenge.

If you missed any of the most recent NXT, you can check out our live coverage here and our post-show podcast here.

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