Female Ex-WWE Star Confesses: “They Can Relate To Someone Falling In Love”

A former WWE superstar explained why her unique relationship with another wrestler worked so well.

Indi Hartwell is a former WWE superstar who currently works for TNA as she pursues the Knockouts Championship.

During her WWE run, Hartwell was mostly a babyface who had earned the love and respect of the fans. While Hartwell was on the main roster, her greatest success came in NXT, where she was a former NXT Women’s Champion, and she even got married on the show.

There aren’t many WWE weddings in this era, but on the September 14th, 2021 episode of NXT, Indi Hartwell married Dexter Lumis in the main event. Indi and Dexter became known as “InDex,” and while there wasn’t an official end to the story as the characters evolved, they were beloved by fans.

Since Indi Hartwell was very easy to like, thanks to the wrestling fandom that led her to live out her dreams on WWE TV, pairing her with a unique character like Dexter Lumis was one of those “odd couple” pairings that seemed to work.

On the Battleground Podcast, Indi Hartwell discussed the success of her pairing with Lumis.

“I think it’s because in wrestling, there are a lot of things that wrestling fans can’t relate to. Like, wrestling fans can’t relate to having a match or winning a title. But they can relate to someone falling in love or chasing someone in pursuit of love.

The story there was Indi was after Dexter, but her family, The Way, Candice, Johnny, were keeping her away from that. But it was just like showing perseverance and then showing that the perseverance pays off, you can get the guy. It was just fun. 

Indi Hartwell Believes WWE Fans Related To Storyline With Dexter Lumis

As she continued, Indi Hartwell made the point that fans’ ability to relate to Indi and Dexter’s love is what made the story work so well.

“Tommy Dreamer always tells me that it was very endearing. I think people were drawn to it because I was very endearing as this lovesick, lovable girl going for this weird, creepy serial killer, stalker, I don’t even know what to call.

For wrestling, it was still larger than life because it kind of is weird, like this young innocent girl going for this creepy guy. But like I said, it’s relatable. So I think fans just were drawn to it because it’s something that they can experience in their real life, rather than winning titles and wrestling at WrestleMania. That’s the thing that separates the wrestler from the wrestling fan. But this was able to bring them into it, if that makes sense.” (H/T Fightful)

As mentioned above, there was no proper end to the Indi-Dexter pairing. After they moved on from NXT, the storyline was essentially dropped, and there was no breakup, and the marriage was rarely mentioned again. Hartwell was released by WWE in November 2024, while Lumis was released in April 2026. That could mean there will be an “InDex” reunion in the future, perhaps in TNA, or somewhere else in the wrestling world.

Also Read: How Released WWE Star (Indi Hartwell) Is Keeping Their Ring Name