"I'm not too mad about it" - Raquel Rodriguez on WWE's decision following SmackDown call-up

SmackDown star Raquel Rodriguez recently explained why WWE changed her name multiple times over the past few years.

In January 2017, Rodriguez made her in-ring debut at an NXT live event under her real name Victoria Gonzalez. However, the company changed her ring name to Reina Gonzalez a few months later. In early 2020, WWE again changed her name to Raquel Gonzalez. The 31-year-old continued to wrestle under that same name in NXT for about two years. Nevertheless, it changed again to Raquel Rodriguez when she made her main roster debut earlier this year.

Speaking to Fox 61, Rodriguez explained why she does not wrestle under her real name in WWE.

"I think that has a lot to do with just like logistics and, you know, WWE having ownership of the image of Raquel Rodriguez and the name of Raquel Rodriguez. So, that's really a decision that they've made if it was up to, I mean if you go back to my NXT career, I had the name Reina, I had the name Raquel Gonzalez, with my last name, and then now we're on Raquel Rodriguez which is totally fine because my biggest concern was keeping my Hispanic heritage strong and representation strong," said Raquel. [From 3:10 to 3:37]

The former Women's Tag Team Champion also stated that she was not "too mad" about the company changing her name.

"As long as I have a very strong Hispanic last name, I think that really tells the people of who I am and what I'm doing here and it puts together the whole package. So, I'm not too mad about it. You know, a name, it's just a name," she added. [From 3:38 to 3:51]

Raquel Rodriguez heaped praise on Rhea Ripley for her incredible strength. Check out her comments here.

WWE SmackDown Women's Champion Ronda Rousey recently praised Raquel Rodriguez

After moving to the main roster, Raquel Rodriguez went head-to-head against Ronda Rousey twice on SmackDown. Their first match ended in defeat for the former NXT Women's Champion.0

Meanwhile, their second ended in no contest. The two also teamed up to defeat Natalya and Shayna Baszler in a tag team match last May.

Speaking on her YouTube channel, Rousey recently praised Rodriguez, disclosing that she always wanted to work with her:

"I've always really wanted to work with Raquel [Rodriguez]. So I'm really glad that I got to make this happen. I always wanted to work with Raquel because she's really f***ing strong. She's a great wrestler but I love working with girls that can support my weight. Because it enables me to do so much more." [From 1:30 to 1:52]