When Jordynne Grace, with TNA Knockouts Championship in hand, marched down to the ring at the behest of Ava to become the next challenger for Roxanne Perez's NXT Women's Championship, it felt like a massive deal.
Sure, technically Grace has graced a WWE ring before, as she turned in a fantastic effort in the 2024 Royal Rumble alongside her good friend and fellow TNA Alumni Naomi, but this was the first time she appeared on one of the promotion's weekly television shows and over the course of the night landed her first-ever Premium Live Event singles match and an NXT TV match too, with Stevie Turner stepping up to presumably give the Knockout her first-ever WWE win.
Discussing how Grace's cameo came together in a special interview with Adrian Hernandez, Shawn Michaels revealed that, after being a long-time fan of the Knockouts Champion, he pressured Paul “Triple H” Levesque to give her a run in NXT in order to really give NXT fans something special.
“Right now, a lot of things are still being worked out internally. There are people above me that I leave to making those kinds of decisions. What I enjoy doing is what we did last night, which is having the opportunity to putting real surprises and real ‘Oh my God' moments back to WWE, wrestling, and NXT. That's what we had last night,” Shawn Michaels told Adrian Hernandez via Fightful. “I have been very public about being a fan of Jordynne Grace. I expressed to Hunter [Triple H] privately that I was very jealous that he had her for the Rumble. He owed me. We're thrilled to have her for Battleground and next week. This is going to be an epic event. To one up ourselves, which we always try to do, having TNA Knockouts Champion Jordynne Grace contend for the NXT Women's Championship, fighting Roxanne Perez, is going to be really big.”
You know HBK, eventually, Grace's contract in TNA will expire, and he will be afforded a chance to sign her away and make her an NXT Superstar full-time. Still, for now, it's nice to know that the HBK is not only a fan of wrestling outside of the WWE Universe – which isn't exactly news – but such a fan that he can flex his muscles to open the Forbidden Door every now and then to give fans a dream match.
Tiffany Stratton is excited for Jordynne Grace to wrestle in NXT.
Speaking of WWE Universe members who are incredibly excited to see Jordynne Grace break through the Forbidden Door to challenge Roxanne Perez for the NXT Women's Championship, Tiffany Stratton stopped by the Battleground Podcast to discuss the decision, letting fans know that she loves to see Paul Levesque, Shawn Michaels, and company produce dream matches for the fans and wrestlers alike.
“Yeah, I think it's so cool that we have people coming over from different promotions and stuff like that. I definitely feel like it brings more eyes on the company, for sure, but it also kind of broadens our roster,” Tiffany Stratton explained on Battleground via Fightful. “I feel like Roxanne Perez vs. Jordynne Grace is a match people have in their dream matches before, and they're both in separate companies and the fact that maybe the possibility is there to get other talents from different companies. I feel like opens up so many different dream match opportunities and stuff like that. So I think it's very cool.”
Asked who Stratton specifically likes to watch and would like to wrestle at some point in the future, “Tiffy Time” named two performers, both of whom currently work for AEW.
“I do love what Toni Storm is doing,” Stratton noted. “I respect so much of her in-ring work and as well as Deonna Purrazzo.”
Would it be cool to see Stratton go to war against “Timeless” Toni Storm or even Deonna Purrazzo, who both secured wins at Double or Nothing against Serena Deeb and Thunder Rosa, respectively? Most definitely, as Stratton is not only one of the better in-ring talents in the WWE Universe today but also a borderline lock to stick around in the promotion for a very long time, potentially the entirety of her wrestling career, depending on how long she wants to go. If a Forbidden Door situation is the only way Stratton can mix it up against the best of the best talents not currently under contract with WWE, well, then the promotion should get to it, as there are a few dream matches that many a fan would like to see.