New TNA Wrestling signee Zoey Serrano (formerly known as Zoey Stark in WWE) has offered a candid assessment of WWE’s developmental pipeline, pushing back against the common belief that NXT fully equips talent for the main roster.
Serrano made her name in WWE as a former NXT Women’s Tag Team Champion before transitioning to WWE RAW. Now embarking on a new chapter in TNA Wrestling, Serrano shared her perspective on the stark operational differences between Tuesday nights and the main roster ecosystem.
“A Whole Different Ball Game”
Appearing on Busted Open Radio alongside host Bully Ray, Serrano was asked whether NXT—long heralded as the premier training ground for future WWE headliners—actually prepares talent to succeed on RAW or SmackDown.
Serrano expressed skepticism, explaining that the high level of hand-holding in NXT disappears completely once a wrestler makes the jump to main roster television.
“I don’t think so [NXT prepares wrestlers for the main roster]. I personally don’t think it is. I would love to say it does, but it’s just a whole different ball game when you’re up there [on the main roster],” Serrano admitted.
The Shift From Step-By-Step Guidance To “Sink Or Swim”
Serrano detailed the structural differences in how matches and promos are put together between NXT officials and main roster management, pointing out that NXT talent rely heavily on explicit instruction from coaches like Shawn Michaels, Matt Bloom, and Johnny Russo.
“You don’t have people telling you exactly what you’re going to do in every single moment of … when I was in NXT and I had a problem, you would sit there in the ring with [Johnny] Russo and Shawn [Michaels] and [Matt] Bloom, and they would say, ‘Okay, say it like this or do it like that,’ and give you different ideas of how to portray it. Same thing with your match. You’re going through it A to Z. You know, everything that’s going to happen,” she said.
Once a performer is called up to RAW or SmackDown, however, that safety net disappears entirely.
“When you go up to the main roster, you don’t have that opportunity. It’s just kind of like sink or swim, kid. Let’s figure it out as you go,” Serrano added.
Having recently made her TNA Wrestling debut, Serrano is taking that experience into a new environment where she looks to establish herself among the top stars of the Knockouts division.
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