After making her return at spot two in the 2024 Royal Rumble, Naomi made the next step in officially returning to the WWE Universe on the fallout edition of SmackDown, officially signing on the dotted line with Nick Aldis to become the newest member of the Blue Brand… at least until Tiffany Stratton signed too a few minutes later.
Discussing what it was like to become a member of the SmackDown roster after spending 2023 wrestling in TNA in an appearance on the SmackDown LowDown, Naomi revealed just how excited she was to be back, noting that she's still on Cloud 9 after an incredible week back in the WWE Universe.
“It feels very special, magical, more exciting than anything I’ve ever done this far in my career thus far in my career,” Naomi told Byron Saxton via Fightful. “To have the opportunity to be back and return in such a way, I’m still on a high about it all. I’m still adjusting because there’s a lot of new faces, a lot that I don’t like, and also a lot that I remember and I do like. So yeah, I’m just getting reacquainted again and having an opportunity to come back, I’m ready and willing to work my way back up through the ranks and hopefully get myself back into the championship picture. But before I do any of that, I gotta glow.”
Regardless of how her last run in WWE ended, with Michael Cole publicly shaming her for walking out of the company alongside Mercedes Mone/Sasha Banks, Naomi followed the classic path forged by Drew McIntyre and Cody Rhodes before her and now returns joins SmackDown with an elevated profile and momentum at her back. If she plays her cards right, who knows, maybe Naomi could actually achieve her dream and become a Grand Slam Champion after all.
Naomi reflects on reuniting with Jordynne Grace at the Royal Rumble.
Before she landed on the Blue Brand as one of the newest members of SmackDown, Naomi stopped by The Bump to discuss her Royal Rumble experience and what it was like to reunite with Jordynne Grace, who took her TNA Knockouts Championship before leaving the promotion.
For Naomi, the moment was extra special, as it tied her past and presented together with a perfect bow.
“That was my favorite moment of the entire thing because Jordynne and I’s history over the last few months has just grown, and she is one of my favorite people to complete with,” Naomi shared via Fightful. “She is one of a kind, so to be able to share that moment with her, one of my sisters from TNA, and for us to go at it the way we did, like we do in TNA, but to be able to bring that to the WWE stage and to have the fans be receptive and understand what’s going on, that really got me because I’m not sure if everyone knew what I was doing in my journey while I was away at TNA. But from the reaction, everybody understood, and we were all connected in that moment, and that was cool. That’s one of the best moments I’ve ever experienced, and I love that I got to share that and do that with her, and also us represent for TNA.”
To her credit, Grace will remember her Royal Rumble moment with Naomi forever, too, as it made her first-ever WWE appearance all the more special, as she told in Steve Fall of Wrestling News.
“It was so special because we did the first re-branded TNA event, Hard to Kill,” Jordynne Grace shared via 411 Mania. “We did that in front of a sold-out crowd at the Palms in Vegas. And then we went from doing that to doing it at essentially — I believe it was sold out — a sold-out Tropicana [Field] in front of 50,000 people. So just to go from that to that, I mean, I don’t cry often, but I definitely teared up when we found out that we were going to be doing that together. She is an incredible person. She deserves the entire world.”
In WWE, sometimes outside storylines are brought onto RAW, SmackDown, or NXT to help strengthen connections or play on outside hype, with The OC a clear callback to AJ Styles' time leading the Bullet Club alongside Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows, one of just a few examples. But how often does WWE discuss how one performer took another promotion's top title off of another while not only addressing the brand by name but while one of the performers in question is still holding said title? Grace and Naomi's story might just be one of the most unique in WWE history, and as a result, it will serve as either an inflection point or a serious anomaly within the annals of the promotion's long and storied history.
Follow Us
Subscribe