Raquel González continues to reign supreme as the NXT Women’s Champion on WWE NXT 2.0.
In the midst of Hispanic/Latinx Heritage Month, González spoke to Yahoo Sports and described how she strives to stay true to her culture and bring it into the spotlight using her platform with WWE.
“I try my hardest to incorporate [my roots] in different things that I do,” González said. “Whether it’s my style or on my boots. I have the word ‘Chingona’ on my boots and I fought to have my finisher be called the ‘Chingona Bomb.’ I use Spanish in my promos every day because I want to show that I am proud of my culture, that I embrace it, that I want to bring it more to the WWE platform.”
For the first several months of her run on what had been the black-and-gold brand, González was a dominant, imposing heel. While she thrived in this role, the champion looked back on her switch to a babyface and expressed her excitement about being able to express herself more as a person and as a character.
“I think the transition from heel to babyface hasn’t felt too different,” González said. “I feel like I am still being true to myself. Another big change is being more vocal. When I was a heel bodyguard, I was silent and kind of kept to myself. Now, I can open up about me, my character and who I am.”
During the interview, “Big Mami Cool” also stated that she wants to be like a modern-day version of Selena, a positive example for Hispanic girls because she stayed true to her roots.
“I know this sounds cliche for Hispanic girls everywhere, but I grew up listening and watching Selena,” González said. “When I would watch her stuff, I viewed her as humble and as a light in people’s lives. You never hear anything about her being a negative or someone that people couldn’t look up to. You see someone who sacrificed and pushed herself to get to where she was, but also someone who always kept her roots. That’s how I view myself right now.”
Likewise, González made it clear that she wants to send a message that emphasizes “staying connected, grounded and true to who you are” to the WWE Universe, and she continues to do just that every Tuesday night on WWE NXT 2.0
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