NXT star Tegan Nox put up a valiant effort on Wednesday night in her NXT Women’s Championship match against reigning champ Io Shirai. However, days before the match wrestling fans were already applauding her as the Welsh star publicly came out as queer via an Instagram post. Leading up to the Wednesday night’s NXT episode, Nox gave a number of interviews where she discussed her decision, as well as how her fellow WWE Superstars supported her backstage.
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“My life has always been a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ situation, but I felt like it was the right time, especially when you’ve found the right one you’re in love with,” Nox told Newsweek. “It was the right time to do that. The reaction [backstage] has been great. There are a few people who obviously don’t agree with that, but 99 percent of the reactions have been positive. I’ve got texts coming through from so many colleagues and friends. It was nice. It’s great to see that there are so many nice people in the world.”
Nox said Friday Night SmackDown star Sonya Deville played a big role in her decision.
“I actually talked to Sonya before I even did this,” Nox said. “She was a big, big help. She gave me her phone number and told me to text her if I needed anything. So we keep in contact quite a lot about it. She’s a massive help with the fans, because my family knew but my fans didn’t. So she helped me bring it out to the public.”
In a separate interview with ComicBook, Nox discussed WWE’s “Women’s Evolution Week” and her hopes for the Women’s Division over the next 10 years.
“I’ve loved just witnessing the Evolution and seeing the doors open with people like Molly Holly, Lita, and Trish, and then 5 years ago with Bayley, Sasha, Charlotte, Becky, and then Shayna Baszler, who opened doors for so many others,” Nox said. “Now we get a chance to elevate that even more and have fun doing it, and break even more boundaries by having In Your House, and Great American Bash and doing some cool things, and having the trust to be able to do Street Fights and be able to do Ladder Matches. I mean, who knows what the next generation is going to do, and how much they’re going to skyrocket that, because there’s only one way for this to go, and that’s up, and I’m super excited to see what happens in the next 10 years.”
