Blake Monroe Reveals Why She Wanted To Make Her WWE Debut In NXT (Exclusive)

Blake Monroe is a champion many times over for a variety of different pro wrestling promotions around the world.

Monroe began her career as Mariah May and had impactful runs for Stardom and AEW prior to joining WWE. She held the world championship in AEW and anchored the most famous women's feud in company history opposite Toni Storm, so it was reasonable to believe she might skip the WWE developmental territory, NXT, upon joining the company.

That isn't what Monroe wanted. In an exclusive interview with The Takedown on SI that drops in full on Friday, Monroe said that working on the WWE main roster was never in the cards right out of the gate. Monroe said she wanted the NXT training experience, while building her brand up.

"It was always NXT," Monroe said. "There was never really a conversation of this or that. I anticipated going to NXT. There were a lot of reasons I was interested in WWE, but one of the main things is I wanted to train. I wrestled all over the world, and when I was in Japan I trained at the dojo, like two times a week. We wrestled twice a week. So for me, I found it very difficult to not be training. It's really good for my mindset, and it helps me be the best I can be. So, I really wanted to go to NXT."

"I know people are hungry for me to go to the main roster and I love that. And I will be on the main roster, but I'm coming in and I'm looking at a Rhea Ripley, a Bianca Belair, all these women with so much TV equity and so much star power. Why would I go straight to the main roster? Why wouldn't I go to NXT? NXT has 700,000 viewers. Why wouldn't I get in front of that audience? Why wouldn't I build my brand? Build Blake Monroe, build The Glamour."

Blake Monroe is ready for NXT Vengeance Day on Saturday night

In the interview, Monroe also openly discussed a variety of different topics including the creation of her gimmick, the reality of working for WWE right now, and her NXT Vengeance Day opponent, Jaida Parker.

Parker and Monroe have been feuding for weeks and that feud will to a head this weekend at NXT Vengeance Day. Other announced matches for that show on Saturday night include Joe Hendry vs. Ricky Saints for the NXT Championship, Lola Vice vs. Kelani Jordan in an NXT Underground Match, and Izzi Dame vs. Tatum Paxley for the NXT Women's North American Championship.

Check out our full conversation with Blake Monroe when it drops Friday morning here on The Takedown on SI.