Roxanne Perez: Rising Star With A Cult Hero’s Support

Roxanne Perez, whose given name is Carla Gonzalez, was born on November 5, 2001, in Laredo, Texas, and is racing through the ranks of wrestling professionals at full force. Having signed on with WWE to work on the NXT brand, Perez has set forth on a truly impressive young career full of title reigns and captivating rapport with audiences. Inspired by a lifetime of love for wrestling that has shaped their career in part by icons like Booker T and CM Punk, she is one of the biggest hopes in WWE wrestling today.

Early Life and Inspirations: Childhood Aspiration

Carla Gonzalez’s love affair with sports entertainment was established at an early age in young childhood. Most individuals get addicted to sports entertainment much later in their lifetime, but not Perez. She was hooked at an early age. She watched wrestling for innumerable hours on TV, getting captivated by wrestlers’ larger-than-life characters, wrestlers’ dramatic storylines, and wrestlers’ athleticism. And before she even realized it, that initial attraction grew to evolve into an unrelenting goal in mind: to set foot in a sports entertainment ring one day.

Growing up in Laredo, Texas, Perez was motivated by other wrestlers’ careers. AJ Lee has personally cited having a unique personality and defiant demeanor, while she has cited The Rock for having charismatic energy and people-connecting qualities. They motivated her to make wrestling a career before she was even in her teenage years. She began to build for her future by studying everything she could on wrestling and working hard to get ready for things to come.

Training and Early Career (2018–2021): Rok-C Rises

Perez’s commitment to reaching her goal was solidified at age 13 upon beginning to train. Seeing that she needed to train with someone of experience, she went to approach Booker T, a Hall of Fame wrestler in the WWE for in-ring performance as well as for mentoring young talent. Training with Booker T was priceless. Not only did he give technical work and wrestling fundamentals, but he also instructed her on how to create character, tell stories, and work with people in front of people.

In December 2018, at just 16 years old, Gonzalez made her professional wrestling debut under the ring name Rok-C. The name itself was a tribute to one of her biggest inspirations, The Rock, with the “C” representing her first name, Carla. Her initial proving ground was Booker T’s own Reality of Wrestling (ROW) promotion, a Texas-based organization known for showcasing emerging talent.

Rok-C quickly took to the challenges of wrestling professionally, showcasing natural ability and a flawless work ethic. She honed her craft in the ring and developed a charismatic personality that won over audiences. All that hard work and dedication was not for naught, as she went on to win not only the ROW Women’s Title but even the ROW Diamonds Division Title to establish herself as someone to watch in Texas wrestling circles.

Ring of Honor (2021-2022): A Star is Forged

Rok-C’s success was not ignored by Ring of Honor (ROH), which has a focus on in-ring athleticism and solid storylines. Rok-C started in ROH in April of 2021 by making a quick impression. Rok-C was part of a time-limit draw with Laynie Luck and Hyan alongside Max the Impaler to show that she was more than capable of hanging with more experienced opponents.

The defining moment of Rok-C’s ROH career was the ROH Women’s World Championship tournament. To start off in the tournament, she was given a gauntlet of seasoned competitors in Sumie Sakai, Quinn McKay, and Angelina Love. She showcased improvement and determination by beating all that was placed in front of her through talent and determination.

At Death Before Dishonor XVIII in September 2021, Rok-C reached the pinnacle of her ROH career. In a highly anticipated match, she defeated Miranda Alize to become the inaugural ROH Women’s World Champion. This victory was especially significant, as it made her the youngest champion in the history of the company, at just 19 years old. This cemented her status as a rising star with immense potential.

Rok-C continued to defend titles, proving that she was capable of beating all manner of opponents. She defended on an episode of Ring of Honor Wrestling in November against Gia Scott. At Final Battle in December, she defended against Willow Nightingale in ROH’s second-to-last pay-per-view event before going on a restructuring hiatus.

After her fight with Willow Nightingale, Impact Knockouts Champion and AAA Reina de Reinas title holder Deonna Purrazzo met Rok-C to demand that she have a winner-take-all fight. Rok-C fought Purrazzo in a hard-fought fight on Impact Wrestling in January of 2022. She ended up losing the ROH Women’s World Title and AAA title in defeat, thus ending her reign in ROH while opening a new chapter in her career.

WWE (2022–present): Roxanne Perez Stealing the Limelight In March of 2022, Roxanne Perez signed with WWE developmental territory NXT in a career breakthrough move. As ring handler, Roxanne Perez competed on the April 15 edition of NXT Level Up by defeating Sloane Jacobs. Four days later, she competed on NXT for the first time by defeating Jacy Jayne. Perez won the 2022 NXT Women’s Breakout Tournament in May and June of that year by defeating Tiffany Stratton in the final to earn a title contention contract.

NXT Women’s Tag Team Champion

At The Great American Bash, Perez teamed with Jade to defeat members of Toxic Attraction, Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne, to win the NXT Women’s Tag Team titles. Jade betrayed Perez in turn next week by having Perez get beaten by Mandy Rose for the title of NXT Women’s Champion. Jade discarded her title in the garbage, but WWE treated Perez as if she still retained titles. Perez vacated titles to Alundra Blayze to crown new title winners of the NXT Women’s Tag Team titles. Jade was to face Perez at Heatwave on August 16 in a fight that Jade won by having Perez distracted. They arranged on October 4 at Halloween Havoc for Jade to face Perez in a Weapons Wild contest. They signed on to have pick-your-poison fights in which each was to have their choice of anyone in WWE to fight for the other.

NXT Women’s Champion

Perez earned an opportunity at the NXT Women’s Championship by winning the Iron Survivor Challenge at NXT Deadline in December 2022. Three days later, she defeated Mandy Rose to end her 413-day reign as champion.

Perez dropped the title at NXT Stand & Deliver 2023 in a six-woman ladder match as Indi Hartwell was assisted by Dexter to win gold. Twice NXT Women’s Champion is Roxanne Perez. She won gold from Lyra Valkyria at NXT Stand & Deliver 2024.

On RAW after WrestleMania 40, Roxanne Perez officially made her main roster debut by defeating Indi Hartwell.

Mentorship and Guidance: Booker T and CM Punk

Roxanne Perez’s career has been shaped in part by advice and mentoring from some of wrestling’s biggest figures, foremost of which have included Booker T and CM Punk. Booker T trained Perez at the beginning of her career and has remained a sounding board for advice ever since. He taught her in-ring style and how to create characters and tell stories in-ring. Queen Sharmell and Booker T have essentially taken on family status in her mind, she has stated, and she credits them for looking out for her and helping her in wrestling in general.

Perez has also referred to the influence of CM Punk, whose independent style of wrestling has acted as inspiration for him throughout his career to date. As she adapts to working in WWE, CM Punk has given insight and advice to steer her through the ins and outs of professional wrestling.

These mentorships have not only helped to advance Roxanne Perez professionally but have also endowed her with these traits of hard work, determination, and respect for traditions and heritage of professional wrestling.

Accomplishments

NXT Women’s Champion Twice

NXT Women’s Tag Team Champion

First-ever NXT Women’s Breakout Tournaments Champion

First-ever Woman Survivor of the Iron Challenge

Inaugural ROH World Women’s Champion

ROW Women’s Title

ROW Diamonds Divisional Championship

The Future: Star on the Rise

Roxanne Perez’s wrestling career has only just started, but she has achieved so much in so brief a span of time. Through good mentoring by seasoned professionals, hard work, and determination, Perez has all of the potential to be a leading star in WWE. She has all of the qualities that it takes to succeed in wrestling: good rapport with audiences, charisma, athleticism, and willingness to listen and get better. As she continues to get better at her craft, Roxanne Perez is surely one of the most exciting prospects to watch in coming years. Her career is on the rise, and wrestling fans eagerly await to see how far she’ll go next.