NXT North American Champion Leon Ruff Announces Engagement With WWE Referee Aja Smith

NXT North American Champion Leon Ruff and NXT referee Aja Smith broke the news on Monday that the [...]

NXT North American Champion Leon Ruff and NXT referee Aja Smith broke the news on Monday that the pair were officially engaged. The couple posted photos of Smith wearing her engagement ring while the two embrace. Smith broke the news by posting "I SAID YES!" along with the hashtag "FutureMrsRuffin." Ruff retweeted the image and added, "Love of my life, I can't wait!"

WWE.com reported on the news, stating that Ruff's "charmed November" was still rolling on. Earlier this month Ruff shockingly won the NXT North American Championship against Johnny Gargano and has since inserted himself on NXT television as a lovable underdog. He'll defend his title against both Gargano and Damian Priest at NXT TakeOver: WarGames this Sunday.

During an interview with ComicBook shortly after his title win, Ruff discussed what it was like moving down to Florida with Smith in order to fight for a WWE contract. Ruff had worked as an enhancement talent on all of WWE's brands prior to his title win.

"It was definitely difficult. For those people that don't know, I didn't have a job coming down here," Ruff said. "I moved down with my girlfriend Aja, because she got a job and I was trying to make wrestling take off because that's all I had at the time. So when I would take all these matches, I did it because I told myself 'Well, I'm down here to get signed. So I need to do something to make ends meet, to help bring money into the household'. It was very scary. It was the first time that I lived on my own and I'm trying to be the man of the house, but I'm not bringing in any money. So not only am I'm trying to take whatever match they give me, but I want to make sure I do the best I can so they keep bringing me back, so I can keep making more money.

"The advice I wanted to give people is it's never going to be time," Ruff said. "You're never going to have that set dollar amount to make your dreams happen. You just got to go and you've got to do it. As scary as it may sound, you'll always find a way. I didn't have any money coming down here. All I knew was I had Evolve, though there was no guarantee of me getting extra work when I moved down here. I knew that 'Well, if I keep doing right with that, eventually, I'll get signed'. It was scary, but I knew that there was no waiting I could do to prepare me for what I was going to encounter, had I did it then or later."

0comments