The "Road to WrestleMania" is perennially the busiest, most thrilling time for WWE and its roster of Superstars.
For Nia Jax, it has been historic, too. She kicked off the year in January as the fourth woman to ever participate in the men's Royal Rumble, before teaming with Tamina to compete for the inaugural WWE women's tag titles at Elimination Chamber last month.
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Though they came up short then, Jax and Tamina will look to exact revenge when they face Sasha Banks and Bayley at WWE Fastlane (7 p.m. ET Sunday, live-streaming on the WWE Network), with the tag-team belts on the line. Being part of the legendary Anoa’i wrestling family, whose tree includes her cousins Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and the late "High Chief" Peter Maivia, to name a few, Jax winning Sunday night would have her earning a bragging rights branch of her own — as the first in the family to be a women's tag-team champ.
"The Irresistible Force" speaks with Sporting News about Fastlane, her memorable "Road to WrestleMania," the women’s division being on fire and her legendary lineage. In addition, the 6-foot stunner speaks about the criticism she received for her infamous punch of Becky Lynch, her love for modeling and the funniest Superstar backstage.
SPORTING NEWS: What are your feelings about teaming with Tamina to face Sasha Banks and Bayley for the WWE women’s tag-team championship at WWE Fastlane?
NIA JAX: The WWE women's tag-team championships are such a coveted title, and Tamina and I definitely want to be tag champions because we have such a long lineage of wrestling in the family and a long lineage of tag champions in our family. We want to be the first female tag champs in our family, so I’m very excited for us to go up against Sasha and Bayley and most likely take their titles.
SN: Your "Road to WrestleMania" has been historic thus far: You became the latest woman to participate in the men’s Royal Rumble (the late Chyna competed in 1999 and 2000, Beth Phoenix in 2010 and Kharma in 2012), which became one big viral moment, and then you competed for the inaugural WWE women's tag-team titles at Elimination Chamber. What were those experiences like?
NJ: The Royal Rumble was on another level — probably the highlight of my career thus far. It was pretty incredible to compete in both the women’s and the men’s Rumble in one night, and not only that, but being able to share the ring with Randy Orton, Dolph Ziggler, Andrade, Rey Mysterio and have such a great — like you said — a viral moment. I’m sitting here like, "I don’t know if I could top that." And then, of course, the WWE … we’re such a fast-moving ship, we go over stuff and before I get a chance to enjoy it, the next thing I get to be a part of is the Elimination Chamber.
That's the first time I've ever been in an Elimination Chamber, so that was another moment where I was like, "Oh, my gosh." It’s incredible every time I get to do these things. To be in the ring and get RKO'd and 619'd, I'm like, "This is incredible."
And then I go to Elimination Chamber, where I’m in a pod, I feel like everything keeps getting better and better. So, competing at Fastlane against Sasha and Bayley for the tag-team championship is just another exciting moment for Tamina and I, and I can’t wait.
SN: The women’s division in WWE has arguably never been better than it is right now, with there being rumored reports that the ladies might have the main event at WrestleMania. Can you even begin to put the current state of the women’s division into words?
NJ: It’s our time. It’s definitely our time. We all work hard, we work our butts off and it’s our time. People are starting to recognize all the talent that we have and we keep doing it every week on "Raw" and then the pay-per-views. The fans want to see a main event at WrestleMania and the women end the show. It’s great. We have 100 percent support from all the men backstage and everyone is supporting us to get to where we are. We’re taking over. That’s what it is.
SN: WWE Superstars obviously travel a bulk of the year, spending more time with each other than your own families. Who’s the funniest Superstar backstage?
NJ: You could probably already tell, but R-Truth is one of the funniest people ever. He's hilarious. Heath Slater is hilarious. Tamina is hilarious. I feel like you almost have to have that comedy bone to be able to work in what we do.
SN: Pro wrestling is a contact sport, yet you got criticized for the infamous punch that broke Becky Lynch’s face in November. What did you learn from that experience?
NJ: Obviously, we learned that I can’t throw punches (laughs). I’m just kidding. From that experience, there’s always an opportunity whether it’s good or bad. If somebody gets hit, that happens in a contact sport. It happens, so you just have to be able to look at the positives and take it and run with it. I just realized that everything is an opportunity no matter what happens. People might freak out like they did on me and that’s OK because now I’m one of the top heels in this company and I’m OK with that. That’s my job, so I take everything as an opportunity.
SN: You come from this legendary wrestling family, the Anoa'i family tree, and you’re a cousin to the late Peter Maivia . . .
NJ: I'm second cousins with (Maivia), my dad is first cousins with him. You know what the funny thing is? That means I’m fourth cousins with Dwayne ("The Rock" Johnson), I think (laughs). Obviously, we don’t look at it that deep because we're just family and family is family. But if you look at it technically, we’re fourth cousins.
SN: With this long lineage of wrestling in the bloodline, was this something you always knew that you were going to do? Almost like you were destined for it?
NJ: Really, I wasn’t destined to do this until I stepped into the ring and had my tryout. It was something that I wanted to do when I watched Dwayne at WrestleMania 28 against John Cena in Miami (in 2012) and I was completely taken (aback) and fell in love with the energy, the entertainment, athleticism. All of it was just incredible. But the second I stepped into the ring and had my first tryout and took my first bump, I knew that this is what I had to do. One-hundred percent.
SN: What’s the best piece of advice that a wrestler family member has given you?
NJ: Always be willing to change. Always be willing to go with the punches. We're constantly moving, we never stop, so my cousins always said, "Always be willing to adjust and change with everything because we’re always on the go and that’s our job."
SN: You had your life flash before your eyes back in August 2014, when you and The Rock’s mom were hit head-on by a drunk driver. What do you remember from that ordeal?
NJ: It was pretty scary. It was really scary. To see a car coming at you full speed — head on — it was pretty scary. I cracked my collarbone and it hindered my wrestling training, but thankfully we survived it and are now happier, healthier and a lot more cautious on the road.
SN: Outside of the squared circle, you have done some modeling. What is your favorite part of modeling?
NJ: I did model before I got here (WWE). I did the New York runway fashion show for New York Fashion Week. That was awesome. I try to make it work around our schedule just because we’re so busy. I just don’t sleep. I’m like, "Whatever, I could sleep later," so I just stay up and keep going like the Energizer bunny.
I just love fashion. I enjoy fashion. It’s a form of art, right? I've said it before that fashion is art and my body is a canvas, so I enjoy going out and modeling my fashion and doing things like that. Wrestling is a form of art for me with my body and athletics and modeling is another form of art for me, showing off fashion and photography. That’s something I really enjoy about it.
SN: In addition to your modeling, you stress a positive body image especially on social media, where there’s negativity daily. How important is it for you to do that?
NJ: I just feel as though nothing creates change and help without positivity, right? I feel like there’s no need for me to feed into the negativity because it’s already out there, but I want to change the negativity to positivity, so I better put it out there.
My message is for everybody to just be themselves because you have to love yourself to get through this life because if you don’t, nobody will. I always like to put out positive messages, so people who do follow me can maybe get some type of motivation in their lives to stay positive.
