Xia Li Credits WWE NXT With Making Her Who She Is, Says It Feels Like Family

In an interview with Fansided, Xia Li spoke about her time learning wrestling in WWE NXT and said being on the brand felt like family. Here are highlights:

On not knowing about going to the main roster until she saw it on TV: “Actually, I found out while I was eating at home. I just hear my phone go beep, beep, beep and there were many messages. I’m thinking, ‘What just happened? Why is it so busy? Oh, I got drafted!’ That’s how I found out. Before that, I was having some dark matches at SmackDown, so I know that’s the test. My friends told me about [doing dark matches]. If they move me up, that’d be great. If not, I’m happy with what I’m doing in NXT, so I’m okay with both because I believe one day if that happens, I will be there [no matter what].”

On her vignettes before her debut: “They asked about my background and about my family, so I told them my story. That vignette is a real story about my real life. I’m really happy they put my real story on TV and there’s a lot of feeling there. When they [aired] it, I cried. If I have that feeling, they will have that same feeling. Also, I had a dream, like a superhero dream, when I was a child, so this is kind of my dream come true with a superhero dream on TV. I’m very happy that they have this whole package for me and they did an amazing job. I’m surprised they did this whole package for me. I didn’t know. I found out at the same time as you. When it came up, I’m sitting in the back like, ‘Oh my god, so good!’ They did an amazing job. I really appreciate that.”

On her time in NXT: “I’m very happy with what I did in NXT because I didn’t have any wrestling experience before I came here. All the stuff I learned from here, I learned from every coach like Triple H and Shawn Michaels. Every coach at the PC taught me a lot and helped me a lot. Without them, there’s no Xia. NXT makes me feel like family. I moved here, so it’s hard to go back to China, especially during the pandemic, so my coworkers and my coaches are my family here. They teach me a lot, they help me a lot, so I’m very thankful for that. My heart is still in NXT and I’m very excited about my future on SmackDown.”