When Damage CTRL made the rare appearance on WWE SmackDown to promote… their loss in the opening WarGames match at Survivor Series(?), it grew a huge reaction from the Buffalo fans in attendance, though maybe not in the way Bayley, Dakota Kai, and IYO SKY may have hoped. Fans cheered when Becky Lynch's name was evoked, they “what?” chanted the host of Ding Dong, Hello! and seemed desperate for someone, anyone, to come out and shut the trio up once and for all.
Fortunately, none other than Liv Morgan, who has been having a weird time since losing her SmackDown Women's Championship belt to Ronda Rousey at Extreme Rules, came out to give the people what they want. Unbothered by the number of people in the ring, Morgan ran down and did a decent enough job of evening the odds, taking out Kai and SKY outside the ring before dropping Bayley in the ring and going to town on the Fourth Horsewomen.
While the crowd seemed to love what Morgan brought to the table, she was quickly overpowered and in the end, was overpowered in a three-on-one beatdown in the middle of the ring.
Certainly, Morgan needed a hero to come out and even up the odds, and after Shozti and Raquel Rodriguez came out earlier in the show to help Emma after her own post-match beatdown at the hands of Shayna Baszler, it likely wasn't going to be those former NXT standouts. No, the NXT standout in question who came out to save Morgan was none other than Tegan Nox, Shotzi's former tag team partner, who is now sporting a very colorful hairdo. Nox ran wild, hitting her signature maneuver, the Shining Wizard – which she calls the “World's Shiniest Wizard” – and freeing up Morgan to procure a kendo stick and clear the ring once and for all.
Look, considering how many times Nox was mentioned during WarGames, it felt like only a matter of time before she would show up on WWE television one way or another. Still, it's always nice to see a performer get their old job back, especially when Nox believed that she was fired due to her lack of a character. Is purple and green hair a personality? Not necessarily, but hey, it's a start, right?
TEGAN NOX IS BACK!!!#SmackDown pic.twitter.com/jgyoY8W3O6
— WWE (@WWE) December 3, 2022
Tegan Nox has a good idea why she was fired by WWE.
Once her 90-day non-compete clause expired with WWE, Nox went on the Into The Danger Zone Podcast to talk about her experience in WWE and declared that she knew why she was being released from WWE in 2021, and it had basically nothing to do with budget cuts, as transcribed by Sportslumo.
“It’s a lot of different things. Everyone is walking on eggshells,” Nox said. “With all the releases happening, you kind of feel, ‘it could be me next.’ I just had this feeling where I wasn’t…not welcome, but as such wanted; I don’t fit the demographic that they’re looking for. I’m a five-foot-six blonde-brunette girl, covered in tattoos. Watching the product now, it’s very much Diva era, going back to it, I feel. I always felt like I was on the chopping block, even if I could wrestle.”
“I was not much of a personality or character enough for them to keep my job, which is weird. If they give me a character, I take it and run with it. I was always kept as the girl next door and I’m not the girl next door. Let me be me. I was me for six years before I got signed, let me do something like that. I always had the feeling that I’m not what they’re looking for. As soon as they split me and Shotzi up, I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m on the block next.’ We found out we switched brands as we were in the car going back to the hotel.”
Nox's assessment was correct; after she was drafted to RAW and Shotzi remained on SmackDown, the writing was on the wall that her act maybe wasn't long for the WWE Universe. Before she could even make an appearance on RAW, Nox was released from her contract and reverted to her indie name, Nixon Newell, though she never actually wrestled any indie dates, at least according to Cagematch. Still, with Nox back in WWE, she won't have to worry about the list of indie talents she mentioned wanted to wrestle elsewhere in the interview with Into The Danger Zone, unless, of course, they also make a return to WWE. Considering how quickly Paul “Triple H” Levesque is snatching up talent, nothing would be too surprising.
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