AEW News: Former NXT Superstar Gets Booked In Women’s Tag Team Cup

Three months after being released by WWE due to budget cuts, former NXT superstar Taynara Conti was recently booked as one of the participants in All Elite Wrestling’s Women’s Tag Team Cup.

As noted by Chris Jericho on his Saturday Night Special series on Facebook, the Brazilian wrestler teamed up with Anna Jay in a pre-taped match against Nyla Rose and Ariane Andrew, the latter of whom had competed in WWE in the mid-2010s under the ring name Cameron. The tournament is scheduled to begin airing on Monday night on AEW’s YouTube channel.

According to quotes published by WrestlingNews.co, Jericho said on this week’s Saturday Night Special that he was “really surprised” by how well Conti and Andrew wrestled, considering he wasn’t too familiar with the former’s work on NXT and the fact that the latter hadn’t been too active in the wrestling business in recent years. He also mentioned that the two other ladies are rather “green” in the ring, which added to his initial uncertainty as to whether the bout would be a good one or not.

“I watched this match, and all four girls just kicked a**. It was really good, way bigger, way better than I expected. I’m not saying that in a mean way either, they really impressed me, all of them and hopefully we’ll get to see more of them.”

In addition, Jericho noted that Diamante and Ivelisse will be among the other pairs fighting for the inaugural AEW Women’s Tag Team Championships. He also had positive things to say about the duo of Brandi Rhodes and Allie, who competed in another pre-taped contest.

As previously reported by The Inquisitr, Conti claimed in April to have been unhappy during her last few months in NXT, revealing in an interview that she no longer felt that she was growing as a performer on the black-and-gold brand. However, she admitted being shocked and upset over her former employer’s decision to let her go along with dozens of other wrestlers. As she explained, this move — as well as the ongoing coronavirus pandemic — left her with a lot of uncertainty regarding her employment prospects in the U.S. going forward.

Once her match airs, Conti will become part of a growing list of ex-WWE performers to debut for AEW in recent weeks. Matt Cardona, who was formerly known as Zack Ryder, made his first appearance for the promotion on the same Dynamite episode where Andrew was introduced as Rose’s partner for the tournament.