TMZSports.com
Lola Vice is making her NXT singles debut Tuesday night, the first match in what the MMA fighter turned pro wrestler says will be an epic career.
How epic? Lola tells TMZ Sports she will one day be considered the greatest wrestler of all time!
“I am going to be the best Superstar in the history of the WWE,” Vice told us flat-out.
Big statement, and obviously it’s objective … but, if there is a consensus, Hulk Hogan, The Rock, The Undertaker, and Ric Flair are often at the very top of the greatest wrestlers list.
If you’re not familiar with Vice’s story, it’s pretty cool … Valerie Loureda (government name) was an MMA fighter in one of the top promotions, Bellator. She amassed a 4-1 record pro record. Her last MMA fight was in November 2021.
As promising as her mixed martial arts career was, Valerie decided to go in a different direction last year … trying out in front of WWE executives (and taking in WrestleMania as a fan). That weekend changed her life … and Lola Vice was born.
“In that moment I got goosebumps when I went to that WrestleMania, and I saw this for the first time, and I spoke to Triple H and everyone, and I just knew it was for me. And, I’m just so grateful for this opportunity. A lot of people would kill to be in the position I am right now and I will never take that for granted.”
Fast forward to today, September 19, 2023 … and Vice is set to make her NXT singles debut vs. Roxanne Perez on USA Network, and she’s ecstatic!
“I’m just so excited for the past year and a half that I signed here, I’ve been working so hard, I started from scratch. I’ve been proving to myself the martial artist and entertainer that I know I am, and tonight I get to kind of prove that to the world,” Lola told us.
With UFC and WWE merging, we asked Lola if she had any advice for MMA fighters looking to make a similar transition. She offered a word of caution.
“As an MMA fighter, I always thought, ‘How hard could this be?’ Right? This is way harder than MMA.”