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The WWE Universe witnessed the NXT debut of Franky Monet, formerly known as Taya Valkyrie in Impact Wrestling, last night.
Monet interrupted WWE NXT Women's Champion Raquel Gonzalez as she addressed the WWE Universe. The champion assured the fans that "the Raquel Gonzalez era has officially begun."
The former Impact Wrestling star made her way to the ring to introduce herself:
"Congratulations champ! Felicidades campeona! I'm here to formally introduce myself to you and the world. I am La Wera Loca! I am Franky Monet! and now the best division on this planet has got a little bit shinier, a little bushier, and a whole lot better."
Monet then told Gonzalez to expect to see a lot more of her as long as she is on top of the NXT women's division. The two then exchanged threats before the newest addition to the NXT women's division left the ring.
Although she has a decade of pro wrestling experience, many WWE fans might not know much about Monet. Here are five things you didn't know about La Wera Loca.
#5. Franky Monet Explained the meaning of her nickname La Wera Loca
Franky Monet introduced herself to Raquel Gonzalez as "La Wera Loca". She was referring to the famous nickname that she has held since her early days in Mexico.
The Spanish nickname made some non-Spanish speaking fans wonder about its meaning. One fan asked her about the meaning of her nickname on Twitter nearly eight years ago. She responded by saying:
"@Neilosophy: stupid question but what does wera in wera loca mean?" Wera, or in proper spelling Guera, means blonde soooo CRAZY BLONDE!."
Monet then gave the full story behind her nickname in an interview with Chris Van Vliet:
"I was given the nickname by Perro Aguayo Jr who passed away a few years ago, when I first went to Mexico. So, I've been called La Wera Loca for about eight years now."
"It means crazy white girl or crazy blonde. It just kind of depends on how you are saying it. But he would, because I didn't speak Spanish at that time, we would have arguments basically, and I was always just like 'but I don't understand what you're saying', like it was just and I would be yelling at him in English and he would yell at me in Spanish. When I say yell, I don't mean like a mean yell, I mean like an argument with a lot of hands flailing around, so he would say 'pinche wera loca', which means effing crazy..."
The nickname stuck to her from that point forward:
"It just kind of stuck and it was the most, I don't know what happened just like on everybody at the Perros del Mal office in Mexico City was calling me Wera Loca and it kind of just went from there, and everyone would call me Wera Wera all the time. Then When I went to Lucha Underground, when I had my debut and I was like so worried that no one knew who I was. I was like my God are they even gonna react to me, like oh I'm just Taya from AAA you know, and then I came out and they all started chanting Wera Loca and clap clap clap."
#4. Franky Monet is a former ballet dancer
Franky Monet grew up doing ballet. The 37-year-old Canadian walked the same path as her parents as a child. Monet's parents did dance and gymnastics, and she had to train in both.
Monet preferred ballet over gymnastics. She told that story in an interview with Wrestling Travel:
"I did ballet when I was growing up as a really young kid in Canada at about seven or eight years old. My parents did dance and gymnastics, I was very small growing up and my gymnastics teacher really wanted me to go every day, I picked ballet over gymnastics and I always wanted to be a performer and put on a show."
Monet would later make her way into wrestling training with former WWE Superstar Lance Storm at Storm Wrestling Academy in Canada. She competed in several Canadian promotions after changing her real name Kira Renee Forster to Taya Valkyrie.
In 2012, Monet moved to Mexico to join Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide. She started competing in Lucha Underground in 2016. Nearly a year and a half later, she made her debut for Impact Wrestling.
#3. WWE shattered Monet's life 10 years ago
The current run is not the first for Franky Monet in WWE. The 37-year-old NXT Superstar had previously joined the company nearly a decade ago. Monet signed a developmental contract with WWE in October 2011.
Monet told that story in detail to Wrestling Travel:
“That was the first time that WWE contacted me for a trial, I hadn’t trained at that point, so I went there, and they said, 'we love your look'. I went to Calgary to have a meeting with Lance Storm, the wrestling coach, so I started the three-month training, but he thought I could do really well as I came in and tried a few things and it went well."
"I’d been in a wrestling ring before but hadn’t met Lance and didn’t know the ropes and psychology of wrestling, but Lance goes through everything intricately, he is an excellent teacher and he makes sure that everyone is safe, and I would recommend him. After a year of wrestling for Lance, it was amazing when they (WWE) first offered me the actual contract after they did my background check and medical records."
Monet's first stint with WWE ended quickly when the company decided to release her a year later. She said the decision shattered her life:
"After a year, they phoned me up and told me that I wasn’t needed anymore, and I was devastated. My whole life was completely shattered because of what was happening so I was determined to go somewhere and to make something of myself and also, my pride was bruised so I was in contact with Konnan, through Teddy Hart and I had met them during my time on the circuit and they said ‘why don’t you come down to Mexico and train for a couple of weeks?’ and I was fully determined to go and make it work."
#2. 2019 was a big year for Franky Monet
2019 was a big year for Franky Monet, a.k.a. Taya Valkyrie in Impact Wrestling. Monet kicked off the year by winning her first-ever Impact Wrestling Knockouts Championship. She defeated Tessa Blanchard for the title at Homecoming on January 6.
After her title win, La Wera Loca opened up to Vulture Hound about her feelings:
"This is the first major title that I have won within the United States and, for me, that’s a huge accomplishment. I am a Canadian girl that wanted to become a professional wrestler and had to change my entire life and move to Mexico in order to follow my dreams. Ultimately ended up here in the US, now working with Impact, I mean it’s a dream come true for me. I worked my butt off to get here and I don’t think anybody can tell me otherwise because I’ve been through hell and back to get to this point. I’m extremely proud to be the Impact Knockouts Champion, to represent the lineage that is being a Knockouts Champion and representing it in the world of today. With how strong women’s wrestling is, this is an extremely important title to have and I’m very proud of it".
Monet's reign remains the longest in the title's history at 377 days. Sports Illustrated ranked her fifth in the top 10 women wrestlers of the year in 2019. She also won the Knockout of the Year award.
#1. Monet is married to WWE Superstar John Morrison
Franky Monet is the wife of WWE Superstar and former three-time Intercontinental Champion John Morrison. They went into a relationship in 2016 and tied the knot two years later.
Monet told the story of how they met in her interview with Chris Van Villet:
"We had met before because he was coming to AAA because obviously, I think once he started working on [Lucha Underground] Season 1, he was coming to AAA and doing TV. But it was never like we weren’t friends. I was just excited that someone spoke English."
Monet interrupted a match between Morrison and Brian Cage in AAA. It was the beginning of her professional relationship with her future husband as she later became his valet:
"I did my first run-in with John, and we were just like–I was just nervous because I didn’t know what to expect. This guy is a mega-star. Brian Cage is in there; there’s a lot going on. I was just nervous. It was my first time in the temple, and I finally put my mark in the U.S. doing something. But it wasn’t until he started following me around the temple that he asked me out on a first date. But he would follow me around, and there were different locker rooms."
Following a date in California, the two wrestlers started their romantic relationship:
"We went and did press in New York, and he took me to Hamilton. He took me to Hamilton, and then we just kind of started dating. Then he came to visit me in Mexico and I came to LA to visit him. We were filming and doing stuff, and the rest is history."
