More has come out regarding the surprise NXT debut of Jordynne Grace
This past Tuesday, NXT fans were shocked to see current Jordynne Grace be named as the number one contender to Roxanne Perez’s NXT Women’s Championship, marking the TNA Knockouts Champion’s first WWE appearance since this January’s Royal Rumble, and more has now come out about how this came together.
A new report from Fightful Select indicated that, not only were viewers at home surprised by the emergence of Grace, but so was the NXT Women’s Champion herself, as Roxanne Perez was believed to be adamant that she find out her opponent at the same time as everyone else.
“Roxanne Perez was said to have legitimately been surprised, at her own urging. Those Sean Ross Sapp spoke to said that Perez was adamant that she wanted to be surprised by who the opponent would be, so when Jordynne Grace popped up on the show, it was a genuine reaction.”
-Fightful Select
With NXT Battleground coming up on June 7, Grace will first compete for the brand this Tuesday night when she is scheduled to take on Stevie Turner. On this, Fightful note that the agreement between Grace and NXT sees her make at least three appearances for the company in return for a six-figure sum.
“The NXT Battleground match is a part of an agreement between Grace and NXT that will see her make at least three appearances, including the two advertised matches and her appearance last night. NXT sources claim that Grace is making at least six figures for the appearances.”
-Fightful Select
Grace’s arrival on NXT will leave many wondering whether more crossover appearances are in the works. Fightful suggest that the door is very much open for more agreements between NXT and TNA despite Scott D’Amore’s departure from the company.
“We’re told that the door is very open for more NXT crossover with TNA. There were some that wondered if Scott D’Amore’s departure from TNA would close that, as he helped facilitate the Royal Rumble appearance on his way out. However, those we’ve spoken to in TNA say that the lines of communication have remained open.”
-Fightful Select
Expanding on this. PWInsider are reporting that there is a belief in WWE pertaining to potential NXT involvement at TNA’s Against All Odds and Slammiversary shows this year. Here, the Knockouts Champion could hold open challenges to facilitate outside names making crossover appearances.
“The belief in WWE is that there will be some sort of NXT involvement at TNA Against All Odds in Chicago, which will see Grace have an open challenge for the TNA Knockouts title and possibly Slammiversary in Montreal as well. Whether TNA can advertise that ahead of time remains to be seen. The hope within TNA was that the NXT connection would see a lift in ticket sales for upcoming events.”
-PWInsider
PWInsider then noted that the deal to send Jordynne Grace to NXT, which is believed to have been made a matter of weeks ago, was kept extremely quiet within TNA. It’s said that the creative team didn’t know and that the only people aware were Anthony Cicione and Ariel Shnerer.
“The Grace deal was kept extremely confidential within TNA, to the point that PWInsider.com is told that 99% of the staff were not aware of the deal. I am of the belief that TNA’s Creative Team was kept completely in the dark and that it’s likely that only TNA President Anthony Cicione and TNA Executive Producer Ariel Shnerer were involved, with Shnerer being the point person on the TNA end for making the deal.”
-PWInsider
Grace’s appearance on NXT this past week appears to be the first step in a deeper working relationship between the two companies, although it’s not yet clear as to who from WWE would be sent to make appearances in TNA as part of the deal.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on Jordynne Grace’s NXT appearances as soon as we hear more.
