Nia Jax

Nia Jax
Jax in April 2016
Birth name	Savelina Fanene[1]
Born	(1984-05-29) May 29, 1984 Honolulu, Hawaii, United States[1]
Alma mater	Palomar College
Family	Anoaʻi
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	Nia Jax[2] Lina Fanene[1] Zada[1]
Billed height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)[3]
Billed weight	240 lb (109 kg)
Billed from	San Diego, California[3]
Trained by	WWE Performance Center[3]
Debut	May 14, 2015[1][4]

Savelina Fanene^[1] (born May 29, 1984) is an American model and professional wrestler^[4] currently signed to WWE under the ring name Nia Jax,^[2] performing on the Raw brand.

Early life

Fanene was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, and is the daughter of Joseph and Renate Fanene. She attended Palomar College in San Marcos, California, where she played college basketball.^[4] While living in California, Fanene was a model.

Professional wrestling career

WWE

NXT (2014–2016)

Fanene was signed by WWE in early 2014 and was assigned to their developmental territory, NXT, based at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida.^[4] She made her in-ring debut on May 7, 2015 at an NXT house show under the ring name Zada, where she and Devin Taylor were defeated by Bayley and Carmella.^[1] In August, her name was changed to Nia Jax.^[1][5]

After a series of introductory vignettes throughout September,^[6][7][8][9] Jax made her debut on the October 14 episode of NXT, defeating Evie.^[10] Following her debut, Jax went on a winning streak, defeating various enhancement talents and NXT Diva Carmella,^[11] whilst establishing herself as a villainess.^[12][13] In November, Jax formed an alliance with Eva Marie,^[11] and started her first rivalry, with Bayley, over the NXT Women's Championship.^[14][15][16] Jax earned a title match on December 16 at NXT TakeOver: London, where she was unsuccessful in winning the title.^[17]

On the January 27, 2016 episode of NXT, she returned to the ring after a month of inactivity due to a storyline injury, with a win over Liv Morgan.^[18] On the February 10 episode of NXT, Jax assisted Eva Marie in an attack on Carmella and Bayley after their championship match, until Asuka made the save,^[19][20] which led to a tag team match on the February 24 episode of NXT, where Jax and Marie scored the victory.^[21] On the May 25 episode of NXT, Jax won a triple threat match over Carmella and Alexa Bliss to become the number one contender to Asuka's NXT Women's Championship.^[22] Jax received her title match on June 8, at NXT TakeOver: The End, but was unsuccessful in capturing the title.^[23] On the July 20 episode of NXT, Jax was defeated by Bayley, in what would be her last match in NXT.^[24]

Raw (2016–present)

After being drafted from NXT to Raw as part of the 2016 WWE draft which took place on July 19,^[25][26] Jax made her main roster debut for the brand on July 25, where she defeated local competitor Britt Baker,^[27] and went on to start another streak by defeating multiple competitors.^[28][29] On the September 5 episode of Raw, Jax had a backstage confrontation with Alicia Fox,^[30] resulting in a match between the two on the September 12 episode of Raw, which would end in a no contest after Jax speared Fox through the ringside barricade.^[31] On September 25 at the Clash of Champions pay-per-view kick-off show, Jax defeated Fox.^[32] On the October 31 episode of Raw, Jax would defeat Bayley in singles competition after being announced as a participant for the Raw Women's team at the Survivor Series pay-per-view.^[33] At Survivor Series Nia Jax was eliminated via submission by Becky Lynch though Team Raw defeated Team SmackDown.

Other media

Jax made her WWE video game debut in WWE 2K17 as a pre-order playable character.^[34]

Personal life

Fanene is of Samoan and German ancestry,^[35] and a member of the famous Anoaʻi family. She is a cousin of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.^[4][36] A fan of professional wrestling since her childhood, Fanene decided to pursue a career in wrestling after watching Johnson perform at WrestleMania XXVIII.

On August 2, 2014, Fanene and her aunt, Ata Maivia-Johnson (mother of Dwayne Johnson), were hit head-on in the latter's Cadillac Escalade by a drunk driver as they were driving home from a charity event in Clermont, Florida. Fanene and Maivia-Johnson were hospitalized with injuries after the incident.^[37] The other driver involved was subsequently charged with driving under the influence.^[38]

In wrestling

• Finishing moves
  • Fireman's carry powerslam^[28][29] - 2016
  • Standing leg drop,^[12] sometimes while running or done repeatedly in succession^[13][18][21]
  • Pop-up Samoan drop^[16][13][17] - 2015 - present
• Signature moves
  • Bearhug,^[10][11] sometimes while applying a hammerlock^[21]
  • Cobra clutch^[17][18][21]
  • Canadian backbreaker rack^[12]
  • Headbutt^[11][13][21]
  • Elbow drop, sometimes done repeatedly in succession^[12][22][39]
  • Hair-pull whip^[16][18]
  • Hip attack to a bent over opponent^[10][11][13]
  • Modified spinebuster^[10][11][13]
  • Running body avalanche to an oncoming or cornered opponent^{[11][16][17][39]}
  • Shoulderbreaker to an oncoming opponent^[16][17][21]
  • Tilt-a-whirl backbreaker^[11]
• Entrance themes
  • "Force of Greatness" by CFO$ (NXT/WWE; October 14, 2015–present)^[40]

Championships & accomplishments

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • Ranked No. 23 of the top 50 female singles wrestlers in the PWI Female 50 in 2016^[41]

References

External links

• Nia Jax on WWE.com
• Nia Jax on Twitter
  
• Nia Jax's profile at Cagematch.net