Faith Jefferies (born August 5, 1999) is an American professional wrestler,

taekwondo ''Taekwondo'', ''Tae Kwon Do'' or ''Taekwon-Do'' (; ko, 태권도/跆拳道 ) is a Korean form of martial arts involving punching and kicking techniques, with emphasis on head-height kicks, spinning jump kicks, and fast kicking techniques. T ...

practitioner, and musician. She is currently signed to

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

, where she performs on its

NXT NXT may refer to: Professional wrestling * ''WWE NXT'', a professional wrestling television program produced by WWE that began in 2010 ** NXT (WWE brand), WWE's Florida-based brand and former developmental territory * ''NXT UK'', the British spin- ...

brand under the ring name Nikkita Lyons. Jefferies has also wrestled for

Women of Wrestling WOW – Women of Wrestling, is an American women's professional wrestling promotion founded in 2000 by David McLane (who also founded Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling (GLOW)). WOW is based in Los Angeles, California, and is owned by McLane and Los ...

(WOW) as Faith the Lioness.

Early life

Jefferies was born in Las Vegas, Nevada and raised in Hollywood, California. She began practicing

Taekwondo ''Taekwondo'', ''Tae Kwon Do'' or ''Taekwon-Do'' (; ko, 태권도/跆拳道 ) is a Korean form of martial arts involving punching and kicking techniques, with emphasis on head-height kicks, spinning jump kicks, and fast kicking techniques. T ...

at the age of four, earning a black belt by the age of 8. She graduated from high school in early 2017.

Professional wrestling career

Women of Wrestling (2019–2021)

Shortly after graduating high school in 2017, Jefferies began professional wrestling training under

Selina Majors Selina Majors (born May 24, 1967), better known by her stage name Bambi, is an American professional wrestler. Professional wrestling career Early career Majors debuted as a professional wrestler in 1986 working for David McLane. She competed in ...

. She debuted for

under the ring name "Faith The Lioness". In summer 2021, Jefferies attended WWE's tryouts in Las Vegas, where she was offered a developmental contract.

WWE

NXT (2021–present)

After signing with WWE in late summer 2021, Jefferies' WWE debut was on the December 31, 2021 episode of ''

205 Live ''WWE 205 Live'' is an American professional wrestling streaming television program that was produced by WWE. It premiered on November 29, 2016, and ended on February 11, 2022. The show originally aired exclusively on the WWE Network until March ...

'', under the ring name Nikkita Lyons, losing to Amari Miller. She made her

debut on the February 22, 2022 episode, defeating Kayla Inlay. In April, Lyons entered into a feud with

Lash Legend Anriel Howard (born May 6, 1997) is an American professional wrestler currently signed to WWE where she performs on its NXT brand under the ring name Lash Legend. She is also a former college and professional ( WNBA) basketball player. Profess ...

, beating her on the April 5 and 26 episodes of ''

'' respectively. At

Spring Breakin' Spring Breakin' was a professional wrestling event produced by WWE. It was held primarily for wrestlers from the NXT brand division. Spring Breakin' aired as a special episode of '' NXT 2.0''. The television special took place on May 3, 2022, a ...

, she teamed with

Cora Jade Brianna Coda (born January 14, 2001) is an American professional wrestler. She is signed to WWE, performing on the NXT brand under the ring name Cora Jade, where she is a former NXT Women's Tag Team Champion. Before signing to WWE, she previous ...

to defeat Legend and

Natalya Natalya (russian: Наталья) is the Russian form of the female given name Natalia. The name Natasha (russian: link=no, Наташа), being originally a diminutive form of Natalya, became an independent name outside the Russian-speaking state ...

in a tag team match. On the May 10 episode of ''NXT'', Lyons participated in the NXT Women's Breakout Tournament, defeating Arianna Grace in the first round. On May 24, it was announced that Lyons was removed from the tournament due to an injury, revealing on her

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

account a day later that she suffered a partial

MCL The litre (international spelling) or liter (American English spelling) (SI symbols L and l, other symbol used: ℓ) is a metric unit of volume. It is equal to 1 cubic decimetre (dm3), 1000 cubic centimetres (cm3) or 0.001 cubic metre (m3) ...

tear and an MCL sprain. Lyons returned on the June 28 episode of ''NXT'', defeating

NXT Women's Champion The NXT Women's Championship is a women's professional wrestling championship created and promoted by the American promotion WWE. It is defended on the NXT brand division, the promotion's developmental territory. Introduced on April 5, 2013, th ...

Mandy Rose Amanda Rose Saccomanno (born July 18, 1990) is an American professional wrestler, television personality, and fitness and figure competitor. She is best known for her time in WWE, where she performed under the ring name Mandy Rose. Rose began ...

by disqualification. On the July 19 episode of ''NXT'', Lyons competed in a 20-woman

battle royal Battle royal (; also royale) traditionally refers to a fight involving many combatants that is fought until only one fighter remains standing, usually conducted under either boxing or wrestling rules. In recent times, the term has been used in a ...

to determine the number one contender for the NXT Women's Championship, eliminating

Kayden Carter Allyssa Lyn "Lacey" Lane (born May 20, 1988) is an American professional wrestler currently signed to WWE under the ring name Kayden Carter, performing on the NXT brand. She is a one-time NXT Women's Tag Team Champion with Katana Chance. Early l ...

and

Kiana James Kayla Klingensmith (' Inlay; born May 23, 1997), is an American professional wrestler. She is currently signed to WWE performing under the ring name Kiana James and is a former NXT Women's Tag Team Champion. Early life Inlay was born in Sioux ...

, but was eliminated by Tiffany Stratton. On the August 8 episode of ''

Raw Raw is an adjective usually describing: * Raw materials, basic materials from which products are manufactured or made * Raw food, uncooked food Raw or RAW may also refer to: Computing and electronics * .RAW, a proprietary mass spectrometry dat ...

'', it was announced that Lyons would be teaming with

Zoey Stark Theresa Serrano (born January 25, 1994) is an American professional wrestler. She is currently signed to WWE, where she performs on the NXT brand under the ring name Zoey Stark, and is a former NXT Women's Tag Team Champion. Professional wrestli ...

in a tournament to fill the

WWE Women's Tag Team Championship The WWE Women's Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling women's tag team championship created and promoted by the American promotion WWE. It is the only women's tag team championship for WWE's main roster, thus is defended across bot ...

that had been vacant since May. On the August 19 episode of ''

SmackDown ''WWE SmackDown'', also known as ''Friday Night SmackDown'' or simply ''SmackDown'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by WWE that as of currently airs live every Friday at 8 p.m. ET on Fox. Fox Deportes simulc ...

'', Lyons and her tag partner were removed from the tournament. Stark reportedly sustained a concussion days earlier in an

NXT Women's Championship The NXT Women's Championship is a women's professional wrestling championship created and promoted by the American promotion WWE. It is defended on the NXT brand division, the promotion's developmental territory. Introduced on April 5, 2013, th ...

match. It was soon also reported that WWE had pulled Jefferies from the tournament because Canada, where the first round matches would take place, didn't allow unvaccinated (COVID-19) foreigners into the country. On September 13 at the ''NXT 2.0 One Year Anniversary Show'', Lyons and Stark defeated James and Arianna Grace. On the November 8 episode of ''NXT'', Lyons and Stark failed to capture the

NXT Women's Tag Team Championship The NXT Women's Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling women's tag team championship created and promoted by the American promotion WWE. It is defended on the NXT brand division, the promotion's developmental territory. The current cha ...

from Carter and

Katana Chance Kacy Esther Catanzaro (born January 14, 1990) is an American professional wrestler, gymnast and athletics-based television personality. She is currently signed with WWE on the NXT brand under the ring name Katana Chance. She competed at ...

, and Lyons was taken out by Stark after the match. Lyons lost to Stark on the December 20 episode of NXT and was injured by

Blair Davenport Beatrice St. Clere Priestley (born 22 March 1996) is an English-New Zealand professional wrestler, best known by the ring name Bea Priestley. She is currently signed to WWE, where she performs on the NXT brand under the ring name Blair Davenpor ...

on the January 24 episode of NXT.

Other media

Jefferies made her

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

debut as a playable character in '' WWE 2K23''. She was also featured on the show ''One Mo’ Chance'' on the

Zeus Network Zeus is a subscription-based video streaming service launched on July 13, 2018. It was founded by social media personalities DeStorm Power, Amanda Cerny, King Bach, and television producer Lemuel Plummer, who serves as president and CEO. The serv ...

as “She-Raw.”

References

External links

* *
Faith Jefferies
at

Apple Music Apple Music is a music, audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users select music to stream to their device on-demand, or they can listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the Internet radio stations Apple M ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lyons, Nikkita 1999 births American female professional wrestlers American female taekwondo practitioners Living people Sportspeople from Las Vegas Professional wrestlers from Nevada 21st-century female professional wrestlers