On November 18, WWE made another round of releases with names like Hit Row, John Morrison, and Tegan Nox on the list.
Nox has had a whirlwind year, returning to television at NXT Great American Bash to continue her feud with Candice LeRae, who took her out of action with a knee injury in September 2020. Nox was immediately called up to WWE SmackDown where she formed a team with Shotzi. The team would defeat WWE Women's Tag Team Champions Natalya & Tamina multiple times, but never got a title shot before they were split in the 2021 WWE Draft.
Nox was drafted to Raw, but never appeared on television before her release.
One day later, Rhea Ripley sent out a tweet supporting Nox and saying that Nox saved her job on multiple occasions.
Speaking to Alex McCarthy of TalkSPORT, Ripley detailed exactly how Nox saved her job.
"Tegan is someone I hold very, very dear to my heart,” Ripley explained. “I know that I might have been a bit harsh on social media after the whole injury in the Mae Young Classic, but that whole time that I was posting those, I really did feel very bad because she really did help me through a lot. Tegan, she doesn’t understand how much I appreciate her and what she’s done for me. But there was a time at the Performance Center where my name was on the list to get fired and I’d only been there for a year. I don’t know why my name was on the list, I guess people just didn’t like me at the time. It is what it is – I changed their mind! But I was on the chopping block and I had a PC live match in front of all our peers and it was against Tegan. One of the guys found out I was on that list and he told her – he didn’t tell me because he knew I’d freak out – but he told her and was like ‘look, you’ve got to make Rhea look good because this might be her last match here otherwise.’ And that’s exactly what she did. Even though it was in front of our peers – and that’s the most terrifying time to have a match – she made me look like an absolute star. She took everything of mine and made me look so incredible that it got my name taken off that list. And that was just one of the times!"
Ripley continued, recalling the second time Tegan helped her.
“The other time was in the Mae Young Classic. She got injured and I really wish it didn’t happen, but if that didn’t happen, honestly – even though it sucked for her and I really wish it didn’t happen – that skyrocketed my career because no one believed in me before then. But because that happened, I was forced to go into that match with Io [Shirai] and we pulled off such a fantastic match people had to book me. They knew that I was a rising star. So she not only helped me on purpose, but she helped me by accident as well. I love Tegan so much and I’m so upset that she’s not here with me and I wish that we finally got to have another match on TV because it never got to happen. I felt so bad. After it happened and she got her surgery – her second surgery because she’d already done her other knee – after she’d got the surgery I took my dog over to her house because I knew that she loved dogs and I just let her play with my pup. I’m sorry, pet my dog!" she said with a laugh.
Before her release, Nox said her knee was doing well following her latest surgery. You can find her full comments by clicking here.
Ripley is set to compete in the women's five vs. five elimination match at WWE Survivor Series. Fightful will have live coverage of the event beginning at 7 p.m. ET. You can view the current lineup for the show by clicking here.