Every WWE Release Of 2021 - Where Are They Now? (Five Years Later)
27. Franky Monet
Then: February-November 2021.
That's how long the Franky Monet character (and her little pooch Presley) stuck around on WWE TV via NXT. Her stuck up gimmick was standard heel 101 work, but it didn't lead to anything further. No, not even a mixed tag-team bout with her pet dog on one of the TakeOver specials. WWE left cold hard cash money on the table there. Would you want to miss a Pomeranian hitting moonsaults or hurricanranas?
Now: Post-WWE, Taya Valkyrie (a better yet much harder to spell ring name) returned to promotions like AAA, Impact/TNA and did some work in MLW. Then, in 2023, she signed a deal with AEW and started becoming a full-timer there.
Like Ember Moon/Athena, Valkyrie was lined up as the woman who'd tear down Jade Cargill. Yeah, good luck with that. Ultimately, like almost everybody who came before her, Taya failed to prize the TBS Title from Jade and started sinking further and further down the card.
Technically, she's still under contract to AEW, but fans don't get to see much of Valkyrie outside ROH on HonorClub fare or the occasional episode of Collision. To put things into perspective, Taya hasn't wrestled on 'A' show Dynamite since losing to Toni Storm on the Christmas Day 2024 edition.
Merry Christmas, ya filthy animal (not Presley, and definitely not Valkyrie!).
Most fans know that Taya is married to fellow ex-WWE man John Morrison/Johnny TV. They wed in 2018 after meeting in Lucha Underground. Valkyrie has bags of experience, but she's never been able to become a top, top star in WWE or All Elite.