Savelina Fanene (born May 29, 1984) is an Australian professional wrestler. She is signed to WWE where she performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Nia Jax ( NYE-yə).
Fanene signed to WWE in early 2014 and was first assigned to the developmental brand NXT. She debuted in May 2015 under the ring name Zada, which was changed to Nia Jax in August that year. As part of the 2016 WWE Draft, she was promoted to the main roster. Fanene was released from her WWE contract in November 2021, but after a brief appearance at the Royal Rumble in January 2023, she re-signed with the company, making her return in September.
Early life
Savelina Fanene was born in Sydney, Australia on May 29, 1984, and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. She is of German and Samoan descent, and is the second cousin once removed of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as her father Joseph was Johnson's grandfather Peter Maivia’s cousin. She later lived in San Diego, California, and attended Carlsbad High School. She attended Palomar College in San Marcos, California, where she played college basketball, and graduated from Cal State San Marcos with a marketing degree in 2005. Prior to professional wrestling, she worked as a plus-size model.
WWE
NXT (2014–2016)
Jax was signed by WWE in early 2014 and was assigned to their developmental territory NXT, based at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. She made her in-ring debut on May 7, 2015, at an NXT house show under the ring name Zada teaming with Devin Taylor in a defeat to Bayley and Carmella in a tag team match. In August, her ring name was changed to Nia Jax.
After a series of introductory vignettes throughout September, Jax made her debut on October 14 episode of NXT defeating Evie in a singles match. Following her debut, she was shown slowly turning heel while going on a winning streak, defeating various enhancement talents and NXT Diva Carmella. In November, Jax formed an alliance with Eva Marie and started her first feud with Bayley over the NXT Women's Championship, cementing her heel status. Jax earned a title match on December 16 at NXT TakeOver: London, yet she was unsuccessful in winning the title.
On the January 27, 2016, episode of NXT, Jax returned to the ring after a month of inactivity due to a storyline injury with a win over Liv Morgan. On the February 10 episode of NXT, Jax assisted Marie in an attack on Bayley and Carmella after their championship match until Asuka made the save that led to a tag team match on the February 24 episode of NXT where Jax and Marie scored the victory. On the May 25 episode of NXT, Jax won a triple threat match over Alexa Bliss and Carmella to become the number one contender to Asuka's NXT Women's Championship. On June 8, Jax lost her title match at NXT TakeOver: The End. On July 20 episode of NXT, Jax was defeated by Bayley. On December 28 episode of NXT, Jax lost to Asuka for the NXT Women's Championship in her last match in NXT.
Main roster beginnings (2016–2018)
Shortly after being drafted from NXT to the Raw brand as part of the 2016 WWE draft, which took place on July 19, 2016, Jax started a winning streak against various competitors. In September, Jax was placed in her first feud with Alicia Fox, which led to a match between the two on the September 12 episode of Raw that ended in a no contest after she performed a spear on Fox through the ringside barricade. In a rematch between the two that took place at the Clash of Champions pre-show on September 25, Jax defeated Fox via pinfall. On November 20 at Survivor Series, Jax was a part of Team Raw in a five-on-five elimination tag team match and was eliminated via submission by Becky Lynch.
In December, Jax started a feud with her mentor Sasha Banks, whom she injured as part of the storyline. This led to two matches between the two, where Jax was first victorious at the Royal Rumble pre-show on January 29, 2017, but lost on March 5 at Fastlane. On April 3 at WrestleMania 33, Jax competed in a fatal four-way elimination match against Banks, Bayley and Charlotte Flair for the Raw Women's Championship, but she was eliminated first. On the June 26 episode of Raw, Jax competed in a gauntlet match to determine a number one contender for Alexa Bliss's Raw Women's Championship, eliminating Bayley, Mickie James, Dana Brooke and Emma consecutively before being defeated by Banks. On September 24 at No Mercy, Jax took part of a fatal five-way match for the Raw Women's Championship, but she failed to win the title. On November 19 at Survivor Series, Jax once again was a part of Team Raw in a five-on-five elimination tag team match from which she was eliminated by countout.
Starting from December 4 episode of Raw, Jax was placed in an on-screen relationship with then WWE Cruiserweight Champion Enzo Amore, which was dropped when Amore was released from the WWE in January 2018. On January 28 at the Royal Rumble, Jax participated in the first women's royal rumble match where she entered at number 22 and eliminated Jacqueline, Kelly Kelly, Ruby Riott and Naomi before being eliminated by six women. Throughout January and February, Jax started a feud with the undefeated Asuka, whom she failed to defeat on February 25 at Elimination Chamber and a week later on Raw.
Raw Women's Champion and alliance with Tamina (2018–2019)
In March, Jax turned face after being insulted and betrayed by former best friend, Raw Women's Champion Alexa Bliss, who body shamed her and made fun of her personality. This led to a title match between the two on April 8, 2018, at WrestleMania 34, where she won the match to capture the Raw Women's Championship, marking the first title win of her career. In a rematch between the two, that took place a month later at Backlash on May 6, Jax went on to defeat Bliss and retain her title. In May, Jax started a feud with Ronda Rousey whom she challenged to a title match at Money in the Bank pay-per-view. During that feud, Jax briefly returned to her villainous theatrics. At Money in the Bank, on June 17, Jax lost her championship back to Bliss, who interfered in her match and attacked both Jax and Rousey, cashing in her Money in the Bank contract (which she won earlier that night). A month later, on July 15, Jax invoked her rematch clause at Extreme Rules, but was unsuccessful in regaining the title in an extreme rules match.
After a short hiatus due to a minor injury, Jax returned on the September 17 episode of Raw as the mystery tag team partner of Ember Moon, with the two going on to defeat Alicia Fox and Mickie James. One month later, on October 28, at the WWE Evolution pay-per-view, Jax eliminated Moon as she won a battle royal to earn a future women's championship match. On the November 5 episode of Raw, shortly after defeating Moon in a singles match, Jax once again turned heel as she aligned herself with Tamina (with whom she had multiple confrontations the past few weeks, forming the Samoan Slaughterhouse) and attacked Moon. On November 18, at Survivor Series, Jax was the sole survivor for Team Raw against Team SmackDown in an interbrand women's traditional five-on-five tag team elimination match. The following month, on December 16, at the TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs event, Jax failed to regain the Raw Women's Championship from Rousey.
On January 27, 2019, at the Royal Rumble event, Jax competed in the women's Royal Rumble match, entering at number 29 and lasting for over 11 minutes before she herself was eliminated by the eventual winner Becky Lynch. Later that night, Jax made history as she became the first person to ever compete in two Royal Rumble matches on the same night and the fourth woman to ever compete in a men's Royal Rumble match, after she attacked R-Truth and took his number 30 spot. Despite eliminating Mustafa Ali, Jax was ganged up by Dolph Ziggler, Rey Mysterio and Randy Orton with their finishers, before being eliminated by Mysterio. On February 17, 2019, Jax and Tamina competed in a six-team…