WWE’s Friday Night SmackDown will be live at Fort Worth’s Dickies Arena on Friday. One of the show’s up-and-coming stars, Raquel Rodriguez, stopped by Fox 4 to talk about growing up in a wrestling family in Texas and coming home to perform in front of her favorite crowd.
In an interview with Good Day, the 6-foot-tall powerhouse discussed her most notable asset, her back.
The NXT Women’s Champion and two-time NXT Women’s Tag Team Champion has a broad back that has been described as “so big you can screen a movie on it,” which Rodriguez has yet to try but says she will.
She is appreciative of the compliment.
“As girls and women, we lack confidence and we try to find things we love [about ourselves],” says Rodriguez. “I’ve learned to accept me and how I look, and I show it off.”
Rodriguez shows off her back a lot while in the ring, often wearing backless outfits that highlight her toned back muscles.
“A good strong back means you’re a strong athlete with a great foundation,” says Rodriguez. “I’m letting the world know, ‘Try and knock me over, this is a brick wall, and you’re not coming through.'”
Rodriguez is a second-generation wrestler from La Feria, Texas, in the Rio Grande Valley. She followed in the footsteps of her father, Rick Gonzales, who went by the name of “Desperado.”
Rodriguez is very proud of her heritage — she even named her finishing move the “Tejana Bomb” in honor of the Southern Texas area where she grew up.
“I want to be a good role model for young Tejana girls in South Texas with big dreams and aspirations. I want them to know you can do it and follow your dreams,” says Rodriguez.
WWE SmackDown starts at 6:45 p.m. on July 8. Tickets can be purchased through Ticketmaster. WWE will return to Dallas-Fort Worth in the fall with Monday Night Raw on Halloween.
WrestleMania, held at AT&T Stadium in April, broke a WWE attendance record with 156,352 fans from 53 countries and all 50 states attending the event. The Dallas Express reported that the WWE generated an estimated $200 million in revenue for Dallas.