As she heads into her NXT Women’s Championship match atop the WWE developmental brand’s first Netflix Premium Live Event, it's easy to forget that it looked like Vice would be given the keys to the castle early on.
Lola Vice always had aspirations of being some type of entertainer. She just wasn't sure exactly how she’d get there.
"Hogan Knows Best," the mid-2000s reality show starring the late Hulk Hogan, his then-wife Linda, and their two children, Nick and Brooke, was one of the early “using fame to get famous” programs of the era. Like the predecessor shows it was inspired by, a good portion of the series was based around Hogan, in storyline, trying to figure out how to get his kids into the entertainment world with minimal effort. But the obvious flaw was that they weren’t going to — or even aiming to — become famous in anything relative to the field that got them to the dance. They were just going to be somebody’s kids, in something unrelated, who somehow made it.
But Vice had a different strategy: She’d work her way into the limelight with a set of skills her family helped her develop over the years — beating people up and looking good doing it. Now, the former MMA fighter is finding the right balance between where she’s been and where she can go, in hopes of winning her first pro-wrestling championship Saturday at NXT No Mercy 2025 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
As she heads into her NXT Women’s Championship match atop the WWE developmental brand’s first Netflix Premium Live Event, it's easy to forget that it looked like Vice would be given the keys to the castle early on. After signing with WWE in the fall of 2023, Vice earned her first shot at the title by winning the Women’s NXT Breakout Tournament, akin to the main roster’s King and Queen of the Ring tournaments. Past Breakout Tournament winners Carmelo Hayes and Roxanne Perez are now WWE main-roster mainstays, and its most recent winner, Oba Femi, is defending his NXT Men’s Championship against No. 1 contender Ricky Saints on Saturday. Out of the past four winners, Vice is the only one yet to hold a title in NXT, but she feels more prepared than ever to change that.
“It's funny, because I look back and I remember in those moments, I thought I was ready," she tells Uncrowned, "but it's more because I just believe in myself. But now — and it's not just about my in-ring ability — I just feel like mentally I'm a completely different person.”
MMA fighters changing careers and finding legitimate success over the past 30 years of pro wrestling has seen heavenly highs and a monster’s lair of lows. Where talents like Ken Shamrock parlayed their skills and reputations into long, storied wrestling careers, most of those who chose wrestling after MMA seemed to burn out or never catch on at all. That might be why Vice, only 27 years old, may be able to do this long term. For her, MMA was a viable career and a long-held lifestyle, but it was never the end goal.
“The truth is that since I was a little girl, I've always known I was going to end up being an entertainer," she says. "My father used to do the fight stunt scenes in movies, and he introduced me to martial arts. I went into MMA to get a platform for the WWE to recognize me one day."
Uncrowned’s Chuck Mindenhall once wrote about “Bellator’s most battle-tested debutante,” the daughter of a taekwondo instructor who became a fourth dan master herself at the age of 18. But that wasn't her only experience on an elevated stage, as Vice's mother ensured she participated in ballet, piano and ice skating as well. She struck out on her own and joined MMA's heralded American Top Team, earning a 4-1 record over her five Bellator bouts. Last fighting on November 2021, Vice won by split decision and attended her initial WWE tryout several months later, on the same the week of WrestleMania 38.
Vice planned on plying her chosen trade a bit longer, building up wins and attention, but in her case, WWE sought to do more of the molding than it had with past performers.
“I just thought they were going to call me way later on in my career when I was 30 years old, like Ronda [Rousey] was," she says. "I didn't think they were going to call me so soon. But when I did get offered this opportunity to go see wrestling and check it out and get some type of a tryout, I just thought of it as a once-in-a-lifetime-opportunity. And being the first of my culture is something very important to do here.”
Born and raised in Miami, Vice — whose real name is Valerie Loureda — wears both the city and her Cuban American heritage on her sleeve. She’s looking to join Cody Rhodes as the only other person of Cuban heritage to capture WWE gold. While Rhodes' style and presentation embodies more of his father Dusty’s southern charm mixed with his own corporate team-captain style, Vice has always leaned into the music, dance and pronounced pastels of Miami, even borrowing her stage surname from the hit '80s drama based on her hometown. But now, it’s not just waving the city’s flag. It’s showcasing why Miami’s Little Havana section lit a fire under her, and who she’s fighting so hard for. “I feel like when I first came into the WWE, being a fighter was my only identity, and I wasn't happy doing anything else. And my career was the only focus of my life," she says.
"My family, obviously, is always important to me, but I wasn't happy [with] myself, right? So that was my full identity. But now, three years later in the WWE, I've really grown here as a woman. I have balance in my life between my personal life and my career. I have fun now. I enjoy my life. The successes in my career don't define my happiness anymore. … Everybody has a sad story, but I think [the show choosing to explain] my culture, where I'm from and my family's crazy — this is who I am.”
As tough as she is, Vice has always seemed to have equally tough women around her.
Outside of her father, who parlayed his martial arts acumen into not only teaching but also stunt work in feature films, Vice’s mother and sisters also trained in taekwondo, with her youngest sister reaching fourth dan master status at 11 years old. Now, navigating the world of wrestling, she’s gotten help from veterans and peers alike on her path toward her newfound success. In 2024, NXT Underground — a remix of the pandemic-era "Raw" segment and liberally borrowing from "Bloodsport's" open ring and almost-anything-goes aesthetic — pit Vice against ring veteran and master trainer Natalya Neidhart in its first match of its kind. As she learned more and more about pro wrestling specifically, it offered Vice a chance to incorporate the MMA training that helped her get noticed in the first place.
“I was just grateful that Shawn [Michaels] trusted me with being the first female on a show to have a match like that," she says. "The men had only done it, the woman had never done it. And it was a lot of responsibility. But it also challenged me as a martial artist to be creative, and to mix both of the worlds.
"That gave me confidence at that time, in a way, because I was able to add my own Lola touch to it. And I had a great producer, Fit [Finlay] for those matches. And Natty, we spoke about it, and I don't even think she really knew what we were getting into. And then when that match actually came, we're hitting each other — it brought out the intensity between us, and I think that's what it was, intensity. But it challenged me to be a creative martial artist. That's one of my favorite moments.”
Vice competed in — and won — two more NXT Underground matches, defeating fellow MMA fighter turned WWE wrestler Shayna Bazsler, and WWE Performance Center product Jadia Parker.
While learning the in-ring psychology and aligning that with her MMA prowess, Vice got the chance to work on the showmanship aspect of wrestling in one of its most kinetic environments: Mexico’s AAA promotion. With the famed lucha organization now under WWE’s umbrella, younger talents like Vice and Dominik Mysterio have been given the chance to perform in front of AAA’s vast, enthusiastic audience, but also to lean into the less-structured environment, which isn't directly tied into what they may be doing on WWE programming.
“I remember my first show there … it's completely sold out, and it's at least 12,000 people there," she says. "I was like, ‘Whoa, this is insane.’ But I'm also the type of person that performs better with a bigger crowd, so it's so fun for me to go over there and also be able to hear the crowd, and be in the moment and learn from that. It's just a completely different story that I've been able to bring [from] that into NXT.“
Vice found herself alongside — and across from — fan-favorite acts like Mr. Iguana, getting to mix in the right amount of fun with her ferocious fight game. Even then, she’s working hard to adapt to AAA's in-ring style, earning her a new nickname in her NXT circle. “There's a joke in class where they call me ‘Lucha’ Lola, because I don't do flips or anything like that," she says. "But now I actually work in lucha, so I've had to adapt to that. Actually, my friends like Sol [Ruca] and Kalani [Jordan] have actually been training me in the acrobat part of this, because we all push each other. And then I help them with their striking — I tell them when a strike looks like s*** or it doesn't. We try to feed off each other and make each other better. I think that's the magic that we have in the women's division on the show right now.”
No Mercy will be Vice’s third attempt at winning the NXT Women’s Championship, but it’s the one she’s most prepared for. Champion Jacy Jane, flanked by former Women’s North American Champion Fallon Henley, currently stand in the way of Vice’s gamble to jump from MMA to WWE finally paying off. Between learning the game and gradually opening up to the crowd, it’s preparation more than promise that Vice is counting on to carry her across this latest finish line.
“Everyone says they're ready, but I think it's evident, and I think everyone recognizes the growth I've had this year," she says. "I've been one of the most consistent, reliable and durable talents that they have on the show. I've been working two shows these past months at the same time, all these big [Premium Live Events]. I give everything 100% I have. I'm representing the company in AAA, and this year, more than ever, you could see my growth. You could see that I'm ready and I'm more confident than ever. I know that this is what I was born to do in my life.”
Category: General Sports
