Taya Valkyrie Pitched A Darker Look & Feel Before Her WWE NXT Departure

Taya Valkyrie of IMPACT Wrestling recently spoke with Steve Fall of NBC Sports Boston about ideas she pitched to WWE that never ended up happening.

On February 14, 2021, it was reported that Taya signed a contract with WWE. On February 24, Valkyrie officially began working at the WWE Performance Center.

At NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver 2021, a vignette aired promoting Taya’s arrival to the brand with her new ring name revealed to be Franky Monet. On the May 25 episode of NXT, she made her in-ring debut by defeating Cora Jade. She would eventually join the Robert Stone Brand. On the September 28 episode of NXT 2.0, Raquel Gonzalez would defeat Franky Monet to retain the title.

On November 4, Franky Monet was released from her WWE contract as part of the seventh round of layoffs, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, that involved administrative staff, plant, and wrestlers.

When speaking with Steve Fall of NBC Sports Boston, Taya explained the process of pitching ideas backstage at NXT.

The current MLW World Women’s Featherweight Championship said:

“I feel like every kind of creative meeting, everyone like listens to you and stuff. If it comes to fruition is a whole other thing. But that’s just kind of the general. No one was ever like, ‘Oh my god, that idea’s stupid, or anything like that.’ It was never like that. It was always quite positive. But I mean, there’s just so many moving parts and so many people that it could be the creative team thinks, ‘Oh, that’s a really cool idea. But let’s put a twist on it.’ Or, you know, the top doesn’t like it at all, and then it never ends up even being spoken of again, you know. It just- it’s there’s so many moving parts in WWE. So it’s very, sometimes it’s very difficult to get your idea to even you know, get a proper look at.”

Taya then went on to share one of the ideas that she pitched at the end of her WWE tenure.

The AAA Reinas de Reinas champion said, “Well, towards the end, I was really wanting Taya, ugh, Taya- Frankie to be more serious. And I was really pushing to like, kind of have her be a little bit darker even staying as a heel. But I was, you know, pitching different colors for outfits and different vibes and kind of like kind of someone who loses themselves in the, you know, wanting to be champion or loses themselves as they’re trying to, you know, reach a level of perfection, kind of like the ballerina in Black Swan the movie. So, I was trying to kind of bring this kind of crazy, unhinged version of her through but unfortunately, that didn’t end up happening, but it is what it.”

Taya clarified that she was the one who picked the heavily criticized name Franky Monet.

The current MLW World Women’s Featherweight Championship and AAA Reinas de Reinas champion said, “Ah, contrary to popular belief, it was actually me that picked that name. And everybody seems to have a massive problem with it. And I’m just like, but I liked it.”

She continued by talking about the process of picking a name in WWE. She explained the lengthy process that she went through to end up with the name Franky Monet.

“Nobody- we- like it’s a long process. They give you lists of ideas, and they want to talk to you about your ideas and stuff. So, there’s a lot of names thrown around. But ultimately, that was the one that won. I like to sound different, be different. I never want to be put in a box or told to you know, don’t want to be called, you know, something that you would expect. So, I definitely went there and yeah, Franky was born.”

Taya Valkyrie is currently performing in IMPACT Wrestling, AAA, Major League Wrestling, the National Wrestling Alliance, and many others.

On the IMPACT Emergence Countdown show, Taya Valkyrie & Rosemary put their titles on the line against VXT (Deonna Purrazzo & Chelsea Green) in a losing effort.

Taya Valkyrie is set to compete against Kamille at NWA 74 on August 27 for the Women’s World Championship.

AAA also recently announced that Taya Valkyrie vs. Thunder Rosa will be taking place at Triplemania XXX Chapter 3 in Mexico City on October 15.

Watch Steve’s interview with Taya Valkyrie here: