Savelina Fanene (born May 29, 1984) is an Australian-born American professional wrestler and plus-size model signed to WWE, where she performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Nia Jax as the current Raw Women's Champion in her first reign.
Video Nia Jax
Early life
Fanene was born in Sydney, Australia and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. She also spent time in San Diego, California. She is the daughter of Joseph and Renate Fanene. She attended Palomar College in San Marcos, California, where she played college basketball. Prior to professional wrestling, Fanene was a plus-size model.
Maps Nia Jax
Professional wrestling career
WWE
NXT Women's Championship pursuits (2014-2016)
She was signed by WWE in early 2014 and was assigned to their developmental territory NXT, based at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. She made her in-ring debut on May 7, 2015 at an NXT house show under the ring name Zada, where she and Devin Taylor were defeated by Bayley and Carmella in a tag team match. In August, her ring name was changed to Nia Jax.
After a series of introductory vignettes throughout September, Jax made her debut on October 14 episode of NXT, defeating Evie in a singles match. Following her debut, she was shown as a villainess who went on a winning streak, defeating various enhancement talents and NXT Diva Carmella. In November, Jax formed an alliance with Eva Marie and started her first feud with Bayley over the NXT Women's Championship. Jax earned a title match on December 16 at NXT TakeOver: London, but she was unsuccessful in winning the title.
On January 27, 2016 episode of NXT, Jax returned to the ring after a month of inactivity due to a storyline injury with a win over Liv Morgan. On February 10 episode of NXT, Jax assisted Marie in an attack on Bayley and Carmella after their championship match until Asuka made the save, which led to a tag team match on February 24 episode of NXT, where Jax and Marie scored the victory. On the 25 May episode of NXT, Jax won a triple threat match over Alexa Bliss and Carmella to become the number one contender to Asuka's NXT Women's Championship. On June 8, Jax lost her title match at NXT TakeOver: The End. On July 20 episode of NXT, Jax was defeated by Bayley. On December 28 episode of NXT, Jax lost to Asuka for the NXT Women's Championship in her last match in NXT.
Various feuds (2016-2018)
Shortly after being drafted from NXT to the Raw brand as part of the 2016 WWE draft, which took place on July 19, 2016, Jax started a winning streak against various competitors. In September, Jax was placed in her first feud with Alicia Fox, which led to a match between the two on September 12 episode of Raw that ended in a no contest after she performed a spear on Fox through the ringside barricade. In a rematch between the two which took place at the Clash of Champions pre-show on September 25, Jax defeated Fox via pinfall. On November 20 at Survivor Series, Jax was a part of Team Raw in a five-on-five elimination tag team match and was eliminated via submission by Becky Lynch.
In December, Jax started a feud with Sasha Banks, whom she injured as part of the storyline. This led to two matches between the two: Jax was victorious at the Royal Rumble pre-show on January 29, 2017, but she lost on March 5 at Fastlane. On April 3 at WrestleMania 33, Jax competed in a fatal four-way elimination match against Banks, Bayley and Charlotte Flair for the Raw Women's Championship, but she was eliminated first. On the June 26 episode of Raw, Jax competed in a gauntlet match to determine a number one contender for Alexa Bliss's Raw Women's Championship, eliminating Bayley, Mickie James, Dana Brooke and Emma consecutively before being defeated by Banks. On September 24 at No Mercy, Jax took part of a fatal five-way match for the Raw Women's Championship, but she failed to win the title. On November 19 at Survivor Series, Jax once again was a part of Team Raw in a five-on-five elimination tag team match from which she was eliminated by countout.
Starting from December 4 episode of Raw, Jax was placed in an on-screen relationship with then WWE Cruiserweight Champion Enzo Amore, which was dropped when Amore was released from the WWE in January 2018. On January 28 at the Royal Rumble, Jax participated in the first Women's Royal Rumble match: she entered at number 22 and eliminated Jacqueline, Kelly Kelly, Ruby Riott and Naomi before being eliminated by six women. Throughout January and February, Jax started a feud with the undefeated Asuka, whom she failed to defeat on February 25 at Elimination Chamber and a week later on Raw.
Raw Women's Champion (2018-present)
On the March 12 episode of Raw, Jax turned into a fan favorite after being insulted and betrayed by former best friend, Raw Women's Champion Alexa Bliss, who body shamed her and made fun of her personality. This led to a title match between the two on April 8 at WrestleMania 34, where she won the match to capture the Raw Women's Championship, marking the first title win of her career. The following night on Raw, she teamed with the debuting Ember Moon to defeat Bliss and James. On the April 23 episode of Raw, it was announced that Jax would defend the Raw Women's Championship in a rematch against Bliss at Backlash. At the event on May 6, Jax went onto defeat Bliss and retain her title at the event. After issuing a challenge on May 14, it was announced that Jax would defend the title against Ronda Rousey at Money in the Bank. On the May 21 episode of Raw, Jax and Rousey had a contract signing to make the match official.
On the May 28 episode of Raw, Jax returned to being a villainess character, taunting Rousey by bragging that she was not afraid of armbars while also repeatedly beating up an enhancement talent, Michelle Webb. Tim Fiorvanti of ESPN.com wrote that the storyline made no sense at all as despite Jax having for months being "an outspoken hero for the downtrodden and bullied, it's taken less than two weeks for her to go back on all of that to become a bully herself". Meanwhile, Konstantinos Lianos of Daily Express wrote that "WWE committed a big gaffe" by having Jax scorn the armbar as she has already tapped out to Asuka's armbar months ago, "therefore the storyline makes no sense".
On the June 4 episode of Raw, Jax started "acting like a babyface again", smiling during her ring entrance and later showing sympathy and concern for Natalya, who had injured herself (in storyline) after wrestling Jax. This resulted in Rousey being upset with Jax. "None of this story made any sense", wrote Jon Mezzera of PWTorch.com.
Other media
Jax has appeared in two WWE video games, making her in-game debut in WWE 2K17 as a DLC playable character and also appearing as a playable character in WWE 2K18.
Jax participated in the seventh season of Total Divas. In August 2017, rapper Magneto Dayo released a song dedicated to her, titled "Nia Jax".
Personal life
Fanene is of Samoan and German ancestry as well as a cousin of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.
On August 2, 2014, Fanene and her aunt, Ata Maivia-Johnson (mother of Dwayne Johnson), were hospitalized after being hit head-on by a drunk driver (subsequently charged with driving under the influence) in Clermont, Florida.
Professional wrestling highlights
- Finishing moves
- Fireman's carry scoop powerslam
- Running leg drop to a supine or prone opponent, sometimes while standing or done repeatedly in succession
- Running somersault senton
- Samoan drop, sometimes from the second rope
- Spinebuster
- Signature moves
- Bearhug, sometimes while applying a hammerlock
- Cobra clutch
- Canadian backbreaker rack
- Headbutt
- Elbow drop, sometimes done repeatedly in succession
- Hair-pull whip
- Hip attack to a bent over opponent, sometimes with a facewash to a cornered opponent
- Running body avalanche to an oncoming or cornered opponent
- Seated senton, sometimes transitioned into a straddle pin
- Shoulderbreaker to an oncoming opponent
- Tilt-a-whirl backbreaker
- Wrestlers managed
- Eva Marie
- Nicknames
- "The Hybrid Athlete"
- "The Irresistible Force"
- Entrance themes
- "Force of Greatness" by CFO$
Championships and accomplishments
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- Rookie of the Year (2016)
- Ranked No. 22 of the top 50 female singles wrestlers in the PWI Female 50 in 2017
- WWE
- WWE Raw Women's Championship (1 time, current)
References
External links
- Nia Jax on WWE.com
- Nia Jax on Twitter
- Nia Jax's profile at Cagematch.net, Wrestlingdata.com, Internet Wrestling Database
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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