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Raquel Gonzalez Talks About Getting Advice From Beth Phoenix

December 23, 2020 | Posted by Joseph Lee
Raquel Gonzalez NXT Takeover: WarGames

In an interview with Wrestling Inc, Raquel Gonzalez spoke about getting advice from Beth Phoenix, getting support for her work ethic and more. Here are highlights:

On her work ethic: “Something I’ve been keeping with since June and has made me very good coming into these matches and coming out of them. That is sticking to a strict lifting schedule. Sticking to a very strict diet. Something that is keeping my energy up, but is not making me feel like I’m lagging. Eating a lot of clean foods, hydrating regularly so that I’m not cramping up. I love to eat pickles because pickles are good for the cramps and are salty electrolytes, which can help after a match. I’m also regularly going to a recovery room, even here at the PC and rolling out, stretching, getting into an infrared sauna. Going in having someone help me stretch and do these massages because it’s so physical on the body. Things are going to hurt, but that is part of it. That’s okay. It’s about stretching it out and moving on to the next thing. I’m so lucky my apartment has a jacuzzi because the jacuzzi has really been helping me out too.”

On balancing her athleticism and size: “As a taller, bigger woman, I one hundred percent know I’m athletic and can do things that the other girls can do. But at the end of the day I don’t need to do [certain moves] because showing my athleticism I can show that by catching Ember Moon with a top rope Eclipse. I can do that by catching Rhea Ripley off the ring apron from a cannon ball and picking her backup and still running her in a barricade. Athleticism can be many things because in this world there are so many dynamics. An athlete is someone who goes out there, does their very best, works hard and sows the dynamic they bring to the performance. I think I’m doing it with my size, my ability. It has been something I’ve struggled with in the past just because i am so unique. Of course, as a woman growing up different it doesn’t do anything for confidence. Being in here at NXT and embracing that and owning that and looking to people like Beth Phoenix and Nia Jax, I know that my style is unique and I bring a different type of athleticism to the NXT women’s roster.”

On getting advice from Beth Phoenix: “She was here speaking to all of us. She was telling us to always go out there and own it and be who we are. She always gave me positive words of affirmation of when it came to my lifting and me changing my body and becoming something else. To know she sees that in me with the little time she has seen me really helped me build my confidence and boost how I feel about myself. Hearing her story too and what she was going through wrestling for Raw and SmackDown. It really resonates with me and makes me feel good to know someone has been through that and has made it. That reassures me that I too can make it to that point and that level Beth Phoenix reached.”

article topics :

Raquel Rodriguez, Joseph Lee