AEW Talent Helped Thea Hail Get Signed By WWE

Thea Hail was one of the shining lights of NXT’s ill-fated 2.0 era, and has continued to impress as the brand found it's groove again after reverting to the black and gold. However, it seems that Hail’s route into WWE was helped along by a member of All Elite Wrestling’s roster.

Hail was talking with the Pittsburgh City Paper, detailing her route into professional wrestling, and eventually into WWE:

“I quit gymnastics, I quit cheer. I had no clue what I wanted to do with my life, and I was just scrolling through Instagram, and I always follow[ed] WWE. I always thought it was amazing, but I never really thought it was a thing you could do. I saw this video of Rey Mysterio, and I just put my phone down, and went, ‘I'm doing that,’” said Hail.

Continuing, Hail noted how her dad helped her find a wrestling school in Pittsburgh, eventually getting a match with Thunder Rosa on AEW Dark, which in turn led to WWE:

“He [Hail’s dad] found me a training school in Pittsburgh called the Stronghold Training Center, and then that was combined with the Iron City Wrestling Academy, and I trained at both of those schools. I ended up landing a dark [non-televised] match for AEW after having a seminar with QT Marshall, and I wrestled Thunder Rosa, and she got me in contact with a recruiter from WWE,” said Hail.

Hail - as Nikita Knight - worked two matches for AEW in 2021, losing to Thunder Rosa on Dark in September, and later losing a Dark match against Julia Hart one month later.