Roxanne Perez Beats Lyra Valkyria to Win NXT Women's Title at Stand & Deliver 2024
Mike Chiari@@mikechiari
Featured Columnist IVApril 6, 2024
Roxanne Perez beat Lyra Valkyria at NXT Stand & Deliver on Saturday to become a two-time NXT women's champion.
Perez successfully got the champion to tap out in her Crossface submission. Valkyria tried to break the hold or get to the ropes to no avail. Once Perez kicked off the bottom rope to roll Valkyria back into the middle of the ring, it was academic.
WWE NXT @WWENXTROXY 2-TIME!<a href="https://twitter.com/roxanne_wwe?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@roxanne_wwe</a> is your NEW <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WWENXT?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WWENXT</a> Women's Champion!<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/StandAndDeliver?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#StandAndDeliver</a> <a href="https://t.co/kWmhkRfAzw">pic.twitter.com/kWmhkRfAzw</a>
Perez dropped the NXT women's title one year ago at Stand & Deliver in a six-way ladder match, and she was determined to get it back, going to great lengths in order to get another championship opportunity.
Roxanne finally got a chance to face Valkyria one-on-one at Vengeance Day in February, but an unexpected interruption occurred, as Women's Breakout Tournament winner Lola Vice cashed in her contract for a title match.
That made it into a Triple Threat, and Valkyria pinned Vice to retain, meaning Perez lost without taking the fall.
Perez's attitude had already been changing at that point, but after feeling like she had been cheated out of her title match on Vengeance Day, she developed a mean streak and didn't hesitate to beat down everyone in her path.
The Prodigy expressed her belief that she lost the title without ever getting beaten in the first place since she didn't have to be pinned or submitted in order for Indi to win the ladder match last year at Stand & Deliver.
That, coupled with what happened at Vengeance Day, made Roxanne vow to do anything she had to in order to get Lyra and NXT general manager Ava to give her another title shot.
Perez temporarily put Valkyria on the shelf by injuring her arm, and she subsequently beat Lyra's friend, Tatum Paxley, in a match on the March 19 episode of NXT by making her tap out to the crossface.
Roxanne cut a promo, imploring Lyra to hand the NXT women's title over, which prompted Valkyria to confront her. Since Lyra's arm was still in a sling, Perez was able to get the upper hand once again.
Later in the show, when Ava checked to see how Valkyria was doing, the Irish Superstar demanded that she be given a match against Perez at Stand & Deliver, and Ava obliged.
Roxanne finally got her chance at championship redemption at Stand & Deliver, and she made it count with the second NXT title win of her career.
Listen to Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot wrestling topics. Catch the latest episode in the player below.