Former AEW World Champion Helped Thea Hail Land WWE Deal
Thea Hail got an unlikely helping hand on her way to WWE.
Despite being just 20 years old, Thea Hail has made an impressive name for herself since signing with WWE in 2022.
As part of Chase University, Hail has risen through the ranks to become an integral part of the NXT women’s division. A division soon to be bolstered by the arrivals of Giulia, Stephanie Vaquer, and Delta.
At NXT’s Great American Bash on July 30th, Hail will challenge Roxanne Perez for the NXT Women’s Title. Elsewhere on the show, Joe Hendry will hold a live concert on WWE television for the first time, and The Unholy Union will defend the Women’s Tag Team Titles against Jakara Jackson & Lash Legend.
Thea Hail’s Path To WWE
Ahead of her match with Perez, Hail sat down with the Pittsburgh City Paper to discuss her rise to the top of NXT. The star explained that after quitting gymnastics she was struggling to decide what to do next, until she saw a clip of Rey Mysterio on Instagram.
“I quit gymnastics, I quit cheer, I had no clue what I wanted to do with my life, and I was just scrolling through Instagram, and I always follow(ed) WWE. I always thought it was amazing, but I never really thought it was a thing you could do. I saw this video of Rey Mysterio, and I just put my phone down, and went, ‘I’m doing that.’
Hail went on to recall her dad helping her get into a wrestling school to try and make her new dream a reality.
“He found me a training school in Pittsburgh called the Stronghold Training Center, and then that was combined with the Iron City Wrestling Academy, and I trained at both of those schools.”
The NXT star added that it was actually former AEW Women’s World Champion Thunder Rosa who helped her get in touch with WWE.
“I ended up landing a dark (non-televised) match for AEW after having a seminar with QT Marshall, and I wrestled Thunder Rosa, and she got me in contact with a recruiter from WWE.”
Thea Hail was most recently in action on the July 12th episode of NXT where she teamed with Karmen Petrovic and Kelani Jordan in defeat to Fallon Henley, Jacy Jayne, and Jazmyn Nyx.