"I Fought Really Hard For Taya" - Franky Monet On Her WWE NXT Name

Franky Monet has revealed she fought to continue using Taya Valkyrie as her in-ring name upon signing with WWE.

La Wera Loca had been wrestling as Taya Valkryie for 10 years across multiple promotions, including IMPACT Wrestling and AAA, and she admitted to Wrestling Inc. she was saddened when she changed her in-ring name to Franky Monet.

"I fought really hard for Taya, but sometimes, it's time to evolve, and change and kind of make this new chapter in my career, and I feel like this was the time for it. It was a little bit sad at first because I felt like she died, but she's always a part of me. Franky is an evolution of Taya, definitely. Anybody who knows my career knows that this is just a natural transition into Franky Monet," she said.

Monet also revealed how she came up with her new name, adding: "The creative team allows us to come up with a bunch of names, and it's kind of just going back and forth. It's like naming a baby. You're gonna be remembering and being associated with this name for the rest of your life, so it has to be something that you really, really like, and so we went back and forth with different names. 'Franky', I've always liked for a girl. I really like unisex names for girls. I think that they're fun. They're different. It's definitely something that no one has really used on the pro wrestling platform before, other than Frankie Kazarian.

"I just really, really liked the name. I remember hearing the name for the first time in a movie, Stigmata. That was the first time I ever heard a girl being called Franky, and I remember many many, many years ago when I heard it, I thought it was really really cute. And Monet actually comes from the French artist. My dad is from Switzerland, so when we would travel to Europe a lot as a kid, we would always go to the art exhibits all over Europe.

"And I just always remember the Monet paintings and Salvador Dali exhibits, and so I thought it was important to have something artistic as part of my name because I do feel I am an artist and what I do every week is art, and self-expression, and sports entertainment and all these wonderful things. I felt that was just a nod to my life being brought up around the arts."

Since making her NXT debut in April, Monet has emerged victorious in two squash matches. She has also teased forming a faction with Aliyah and Jessi Kamea in recent weeks.