NXT Star Roxanne Perez 'On Radar' For Main Roster Call-Up After Royal Rumble 2025 Run (WWE News)

A WWE main roster move is on the horizon for NXT's Roxanne Perez.

WWE Royal Rumble 2025 Roxanne Perez
WWE

To the surprise of likely nobody, NXT's Roxanne Perez is on the cusp of a full-time move to the WWE main roster.

As per Fightful Select, Perez is expecting to head to Raw or SmackDown "sooner rather than later", with the outlet told in early January that an imminent call-up was in the future for the former NXT Women's Champion.

While there's no set timeline for the Roxanne call-up, the 23-year-old's performance in the women's Royal Rumble this past weekend is said to all but confirm her impending NXT exit. There, the Texas native entered at #3 and put it in a record-setting one-hour-and-seven-minute performance that saw her make it through to the Rumble's final two - with Charlotte Flair eliminating the Prodigy as the Queen became the first woman in history to win two Royal Rumbles.

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A move to the main roster has long been on the cards for Roxanne Perez, with the one-time Rok-C having done pretty much all there is to do in NXT. A former ROH Women's Champion, Perez signed with WWE in early 2022 and was one-half of the NXT Women's Tag Team Champions - with Cora Jade - by July of that year. She would then win the first of her two NXT Women's Championships that December, defeating Mandy Rose for that prize.

As for being ready to move to Raw or SmackDown, one source that Fightful spoke to noted how Perez has long been ready to make that jump.

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Roxanne Perez
WWE

What Could Be Next For Roxanne Perez

When Roxanne Perez does formally move to the main roster, the big question is what brand will see land on. From a kayfabe sense, both Raw GM Adam Pearce and SmackDown GM Nick Aldis should be chomping at the bit to bring Roxanne to their respective brand, but one other key player in all of this is another favourite of the NXT faithful: Bayley.

The past few weeks have seen Bayley and Perez butt heads, and the two will be involved in a triple-threat for Giulia's NXT Women's Title at NXT Vengeance Day on 15 February. Given how Bayley has recently made the switch from SmackDown to Raw as part of the transfer window, one has to imagine that slotting Roxanne onto the Raw brand would be a smart move - with Bayley also being a great choice for a first main roster feud for Perez.

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Of course, the issues between Bayley and Roxanne Perez could feasibly be wrapped up at Vengeance Day, but the Role Model would serve as a perfect opponent to introduce Perez to the main roster audience who maybe aren't all that familiar with Roxanne. Either way, that Royal Rumble outing should have at least put Roxanne on the radar of such fans, with the Booker T-trained talent very much impressing in that hour-plus stint in the women's Rumble.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.