Nia Jax isn’t running away from the nepotism conversation surrounding her WWE career. In fact, she thinks having a famous wrestling family is pretty damn great — she just doesn’t want anyone pretending they did the actual work for her.
During her appearance on the Battleground Podcast, Jax was asked when she first felt like she had established an identity outside of The Rock and the Anoa’i family. She revealed that when she originally tried out for WWE, she actually tried to keep those family connections quiet because she wanted to see whether she could make it on her own merits.
“Yeah, I mean, I think it’s so, you know, when I first tried out, like, I tried not to let anybody know that I was related to, you know, The Rock and the big Samoan dynasty because I wanted to hopefully get through with my own merits.
But, you know, when I walked out at the men’s Rumble in, I think it was 2019, I was just like, ‘Oh, this is huge. This is me. I did this. Like, I got here, and this is incredible.’”
Jax has watched The Bloodline become one of WWE’s biggest stories, but she never felt like she needed to automatically become part of it just because of her family. She takes more pride in building something for herself in the women’s division.
“So, you know, every time I get in the ring, and it’s not, you know, like, I love what the guys are doing and The Bloodline. Like, how amazing is that? But me being able to, like, forge my own path and do my own thing is incredible without always having to be like, ‘Well, I need the guys to help me.’ Like, I get to do it. I get to add to the women’s division and make sure that I carve out my own legacy instead of having to always be like, ‘Okay, can you help me? I need a little assistance,’ you know?”
Of course, having The Rock and an entire wrestling dynasty in the family is going to bring up the nepotism question eventually. Jax isn’t offended by that conversation at all — she actually thinks nepotism can be a great thing and refuses to downplay what her family accomplished just to make her own journey look harder.
“Exactly. I mean, people always get upset, like, ‘Oh, nepotism.’ It’s like, well, nepotism is a great thing, you know what I mean? I’m not going to sit there and negate all the accomplishments my family has made in this business. Like, I get to be a part of it. It’s incredible.
And I’m not, like, I got an opportunity to try out just like everybody else does, and I made it. So there’s no reason for me not to be proud of my family and not to be proud of what they’ve accomplished.”
Jax also isn’t pretending those connections had nothing to do with getting her foot in the door. When people tell her she only got into WWE because of her family, her response is basically: yeah, obviously they helped — but they weren’t the ones taking bumps once she got there.
“And, you know, it’s funny because when I came into this business, it was a lot of people like, ‘Oh, you’re only here because of him. You’re only here because of that.’ It’s like, okay, yeah, duh. Of course I’m here because my family’s in it.
But I’m also doing it myself, and they’re not getting in the ring for me. They’re not traveling for me. They’re not getting injured for me. Like, these are all things that I’m going through and that I have to do and make my own path.
So I actually don’t mind it when I get the flack of, ‘Yeah, it’s because of your family.’ Yeah, I have an incredible family, and you would too if you were a part of this Bloodline.”
The conversation eventually expanded beyond Jax herself, with Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton brought up as examples of wrestling continuing through generations. Jax believes there really is an advantage to growing up around the business because wrestling families learn things about how the industry works long before they ever step inside a ring.
“It is. And, you know, it’s because it does get passed down generation to generation. You know, growing up, we watch it, and then we hear the behind-the-scenes and how it’s run and how you’re actually supposed to present yourself in the business. And so we know, we get the inside scoop growing up.”
She even joked that Becky Lynch and Seth Rollins could eventually continue that tradition themselves if their daughter ever decides wrestling is for her.
“So it definitely helps with the transition into the business. And then we have these, like, Becky and Seth. They’re creating their own little nepo baby if she ever wants to come in, you know what I mean? Like, if she ever wants to wrestle. Like, it just is what it is because this is an incredible business, and it’s built on generational families.”
Jax isn’t trying to rewrite her story and pretend her last name didn’t open a door. Her point is that getting through that door and surviving once you’re inside are two different things — and after years of traveling, wrestling and getting hurt herself, she isn’t interested in apologizing for the family she came from.
Do you agree with Nia Jax’s take that wrestling nepotism isn’t necessarily a bad thing? Let us know what you think in the comments.
This transcript was produced exclusively for Ringside News from the original recording. Republishing the transcription in full is prohibited. When using excerpts, provide prominent credit and a link to this article.
