Lina Fanene

Savelina Fanene (born May 29, 1984) is an Australian-born American professional wrestler. She is best known for her time in WWE, where she performed under the ring name Nia Jax from 2014 to 2021 and became a one-time Raw Women's Champion and two-time Women's Tag Team Champion (both times with Shayna Baszler).

Early life

Savelina Fanene was born in Sydney on May 29, 1984, and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. She is of German and Samoan descent, and is a cousin of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as her father Joseph was a first cousin of Johnson's grandfather Peter Maivia. She later lived in San Diego, California, and attended Carlsbad High School. She attended Palomar College in San Marcos, California, where she played college basketball, and graduated from Cal State San Marcos with a marketing degree in 2005. Prior to professional wrestling, she worked as a plus-size model.

Professional wrestling career

WWE (2014–2021)

NXT (2014–2016)

Fanene was signed by WWE in early 2014 and was assigned to their developmental territory NXT, based at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. She made her in-ring debut on May 7, 2015, at an NXT house show under the ring name Zada, teaming with Devin Taylor in a defeat to Bayley and Carmella in a tag team match. In August, her ring name was changed to Nia Jax.

After a series of introductory vignettes throughout September, Jax made her debut on October 14 episode of ''NXT'', defeating Evie in a singles match. Following her debut, she was shown slowly turning villainous while going on a winning streak, defeating various enhancement talents and NXT Diva Carmella. In November, Jax formed an alliance with Eva Marie and started her first feud with Bayley over the NXT Women's Championship, cementing Jax's heel persona. Jax earned a title match on December 16 at NXT TakeOver: London, but she was unsuccessful in winning the title.

On the January 27, 2016 episode of ''NXT'', Jax returned to the ring after a month of inactivity due to a storyline injury with a win over Liv Morgan. On the February 10 episode of ''NXT'', Jax assisted Marie in an attack on Bayley and Carmella after their championship match until Asuka made the save, which led to a tag team match on the February 24 episode of ''NXT'', where Jax and Marie scored the victory. On the May 25 episode of ''NXT'', Jax won a triple threat match over Alexa Bliss and Carmella to become the number one contender to Asuka's NXT Women's Championship. On June 8, Jax lost her title match at NXT TakeOver: The End. On July 20 episode of ''NXT'', Jax was defeated by Bayley. On December 28 episode of NXT, Jax lost to Asuka for the NXT Women's Championship in her last match in NXT.

Main roster beginnings (2016–2018)

Shortly after being drafted from NXT to the Raw brand as part of the 2016 WWE draft, which took place on July 19, 2016, Jax started a winning streak against various competitors. In September, Jax was placed in her first feud with Alicia Fox, which led to a match between the two on the September 12 episode of ''Raw'' that ended in a no contest after she performed a spear on Fox through the ringside barricade. In a rematch between the two that took place at the Clash of Champions pre-show on September 25, Jax defeated Fox via pinfall. On November 20 at Survivor Series, Jax was a part of Team Raw in a five-on-five elimination tag team match and was eliminated via submission by Becky Lynch.

In December, Jax started a feud with her mentor Sasha Banks, whom she injured as part of the storyline. This led to two matches between the two, where Jax was first victorious at the Royal Rumble pre-show on January 29, 2017, but lost on March 5 at Fastlane. On April 3 at WrestleMania 33, Jax competed in a fatal four-way elimination match against Banks, Bayley and Charlotte Flair for the Raw Women's Championship, but she was eliminated first. On the June 26 episode of ''Raw'', Jax competed in a gauntlet match to determine a number one contender for Alexa Bliss's Raw Women's Championship, eliminating Bayley, Mickie James, Dana Brooke and Emma consecutively before being defeated by Banks. On September 24 at No Mercy, Jax took part of a fatal five-way match for the Raw Women's Championship, but she failed to win the title. On November 19 at Survivor Series, Jax once again was a part of Team Raw in a five-on-five elimination tag team match from which she was eliminated by countout.

Starting from December 4 episode of ''Raw'', Jax was placed in an on-screen relationship with then WWE Cruiserweight Champion Enzo Amore, which was dropped when Amore was released from the WWE in January 2018. On January 28 at the Royal Rumble, Jax participated in the first women's royal rumble match where she entered at number 22 and eliminated Jacqueline, Kelly Kelly, Ruby Riott and Naomi before being eliminated by six women. Throughout January and February, Jax started a feud with the undefeated Asuka, whom she failed to defeat on February 25 at Elimination Chamber and a week later on ''Raw''.

Raw Women's Champion and alliance with Tamina (2018–2019)

In March, Jax turned face after being insulted and betrayed by former best friend, Raw Women's Champion Alexa Bliss, who body shamed her and made fun of her personality. This led to a title match between the two on April 8, 2018, at WrestleMania 34, where she won the match to capture the Raw Women's Championship, marking the first title win of her career. In a rematch between the two, that took place a month later at Backlash on May 6, Jax went onto defeat Bliss and retain her title. In May, Jax started a feud with Ronda Rousey whom she challenged to a title match at Money in the Bank pay-per-view. During that feud, Jax briefly returned to her villainous theatrics. At Money in the Bank, on June 17, Jax lost her championship back to Bliss, who interfered in her match and attacked both Jax and Rousey, cashing in her Money in the Bank contract (which she won earlier that night). A month later, on July 15, Jax invoked her rematch clause at Extreme Rules, but was unsuccessful in regaining the title in an extreme rules match.

After a short hiatus due to a minor injury, Jax returned on the September 17 episode of ''Raw'' as the mystery tag team partner of Ember Moon, with the two going on to defeat Alicia Fox and Mickie James. One month later, on October 28, at the WWE Evolution pay-per-view, Jax eliminated Moon as she won a battle royal to earn a future women's championship match. On the November 5 episode of ''Raw'', shortly after defeating Moon in a singles match, Jax once again turned heel as she aligned herself with Tamina (with whom she had multiple confrontations the past few weeks, forming the Samoan Slaughterhouse) and attacked Moon. On November 18, at Survivor Series, Jax was the sole survivor for Team Raw against Team SmackDown in an interbrand women's traditional five-on-five tag team elimination match. The following month, on December 16, at the TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs event, Jax failed to regain the Raw Women's Championship from Rousey.

On January 27, 2019, at the Royal Rumble event, Jax competed in the women's Royal Rumble match, entering at number 29 and lasting for over 11 minutes before she herself was eliminated by the eventual winner Becky Lynch. Later that night, Jax made history as she became the first person to ever compete in two Royal Rumble matches on the same night and the fourth woman to ever compete in a men's Royal Rumble match, after she attacked R-Truth and took his number 30 spot. Despite eliminating Mustafa Ali, Jax was ganged up by Dolph Ziggler, Rey Mysterio and Randy Orton with their finishers, before being eliminated by Mysterio. On February 17, 2019, Jax and Tamina competed in a six-team Elimination Chamber match at the namesake pay-per-view to determine the inaugural holders of the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship, where they eliminated two teams before they themselves were eliminated. In April, at WrestleMania 35, Jax and Tamina took part of a fatal four-way match for the Women's Tag Team Championship, however, the match was won by The IIconics (Billie Kay and Peyton Royce). Shortly after, Jax underwent surgery to repair tears on the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in both of her knees, which was expected to sideline her from in-ring competition for at least nine months.

Teaming with Shayna Baszler (2020–2021)

Jax returned from injury on the April 6, 2020 episode of ''Raw'', defeating Deonna Purrazzo in a squash match. On the May 25 episode of ''Raw'', Jax defeated Charlotte Flair and Natalya in a triple threat match to challenge Asuka for the Raw Women's Championship at Backlash. At Backlash, Jax and Asuka wrestled to a double countout, therefore Asuka retained the title. The next night on ''Raw'', Jax challenged Asuka again for the title. During the match, Jax became upset with the referee and pushed him down. The referee was going to disqualify Jax, however, Asuka rolled up the distracted Jax for a fast count to retain the title.

In August, she was paired with Shayna Baszler, defeating the WWE Women's Tag Team Champions Bayley and Sasha Banks at Payback to win the title. They lost the title at TLC against the team of Asuka and Charlotte Flair. At Royal Rumble on January 31, 2021, Baszler and Jax defeated Asuka and Flair to became record-tying two-time WWE Women's Tag Team Champions. During their second reign as tag team champions, they had simultaneous feuds with the teams of Naomi and Lana, Mandy Rose and Dana Brooke, and Natalya and Tamina. They defended the title against all of them on different occasions but were victorious in every bout.

At WrestleMania 37, Jax and Baszler retained the tag team championship against Natalya and Tamina. On the May 14 episode of ''SmackDown'', they lost the title to Natalya and Tamina, ending their second reign at 103 days. On the September 20 episode of ''Raw'', her alliance with Shayna Baszler ended when she was attacked by Baszler after their match against each other. Baszler destroyed her arm by stomping on it while wedged in the steel steps, leaving Jax shrieking and crying while being attended to. After the team disbanded, she asked WWE for time off to take care of her mental health, but on November 4, Jax was released from her WWE contract.

Professional wrestling style, persona, and reception

Jax was nicknamed "The Irresistible Force" during her time in WWE. She used a Samoan drop named the ''Annihilator'' as a finisher.

Jax received increasing criticism over the years for reports of her being an "unsafe worker". In November 2018, she accidentally punched Becky Lynch in the face during an episode of ''Raw'' and gave Lynch a broken nose, lacerated face, and concussion. In May 2020, Kairi Sane suffered a cut on her head during a match against Jax after Jax threw her onto the ringside steel steps. Wrestling promoter and manager Jim Cornette attributed incidents involving Jax to her size and suggested that she "can hurt people whether she knows it or not", while fellow professional wrestler Deonna Purrazzo stated that she had "never walked away hurt" after wrestling Jax.

Other media

As Nia Jax, Fanene is a playable character in the WWE video games ''WWE 2K17'', '' WWE 2K18'', ''WWE 2K19'', '' WWE 2K20'', ''WWE 2K22'', and ''WWE 2K Battlegrounds''.

In July 2017, Jax joined the cast of the reality television series '' Total Divas'' beginning in its seventh season.

In August 2017, rapper Magneto Dayo released a song dedicated to her titled "Nia Jax".

Personal life

On August 2, 2014, Fanene and her aunt Ata Maivia-Johnson (the mother of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson), were hospitalized after being hit head-on by a drunk driver in Clermont, Florida. The driver was subsequently charged with driving under the influence.

Championships and accomplishments

* '' Pro Wrestling Illustrated''
** Rookie of the Year (2016)
** Ranked No. 8 of the top 50 female singles wrestlers in the ''PWI Female 100'' in 2018
** Ranked No. 30 of the top 150 female wrestlers in the '' PWI Women's 150'' in 2021
** Ranked No. 24 of the top 50 Tag Teams in the ''PWI Tag Team 50'' in 2021- with Shayna Baszler
* '' Sports Illustrated''
** Ranked No. 12 in the top 30 female wrestlers in 2018
* '' Rolling Stone''
** Most Overdue Yet-to-Be Title Holder of the Year (2017)
* WWE
** WWE Raw Women's Championship ( 1 time)
** WWE Women's Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Shayna Baszler

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Jax, Nia
1984 births
American female models
American female professional wrestlers
Australian female professional wrestlers
American professional wrestlers of Samoan descent
Living people
Professional wrestlers from Hawaii
Sportspeople from Sydney
Sportswomen from New South Wales
American people of German descent
American people of Samoan descent
21st-century American women
21st-century professional wrestlers
WWE Raw Women's Champions
WWE Women's Tag Team Champions