10 Wrestling Facts We Didn’t Know Last Week (26 Oct)

10. Nia Jax Planned To Drop 50lbs When She Joined WWE

If only WWE had went further with Nia Jax as a body-proud, inspiring babyface instead of flipping her heel for a short run against Ronda Rousey. If only. By sacrificing her positive message to young women, WWE made Jax into less of a star, and it had to knock her confidence. Now, she's struggling to regain her mojo.

In fairness to the company, Nia herself previously thought her natural size was an issue she'd have to fix.

During an interview with Al Jazeera, Jax admitted that she planned to shed 50lbs when she joined WWE in 2014. At the time, women in the promotion were skinny model types, and the emerging focus on in-ring talent hadn't really happened yet. To Nia, that meant fitting in rather than standing out.

Coaches at the Performance Center disagreed. They told Jax she had been hired because she stood out from the rest of the pack, and they rubbished her weight loss idea. That helped Nia see that being unique was a good thing, not bad, and she cancelled plans to try and make herself more like everybody else.