Nia Jax’s online reputation and her backstage reputation may be two very different things.
Former WWE performer Kay Lee Ray, who wrestled as Alba Fyre before her recent release, offered a glowing account of Jax during a virtual signing for K&S WrestleFest. It might surprise fans given Jax’s polarizing perception, but Ray described the former Women’s Tag Team Champion as a genuine “locker room leader” who goes to bat for the other women backstage.
Ray recalled being thrown by Jax’s generosity in their very first encounter, back during her NXT debut.
It’s eventually our time to kind of chat over things and I was just like, ‘Okay, so what we doing?’ She just went, ‘I don’t know. You’re the vet. You tell me,’ and I was like, what? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I expected just to be told, go here and do this, do this, do this, and that was it but no, we got like way more than I thought.
That experience colored how she sees Jax’s standing in the women’s division now.
It’s mad now to think how experienced Nia is now. She is a locker room leader there and she does support a lot of the girls. Maybe sometimes we feel like we couldn’t speak up; she would always either get you to go say the right things or she just was always there to help.
Ray acknowledged the disconnect between that version of Jax and the one fans love to boo, suggesting some of the online heat is a role Jax happily plays into. The praise echoes recent comments from Tiffany Stratton, who also named Jax among the veterans younger talent lean on, painting a picture of a respected backstage presence regardless of how her on-screen character is received.
