It looks like Taya Valkyrie is set to make her WWE NXT debut on the first episode after next week’s two-night “Takeover: Stand and Deliver” event.
Tonight’s Takeover go-home edition of NXT on the USA Network featured a series of vignettes where a Pomeranian dog was seen running through the Capitol Wrestling Center at the WWE Performance Center. The dog finally ran up to a woman in boots. The only part of the woman shown was her boots, but it said she would be coming on April 13, which is the first NXT episode to air in the new Tuesday night timeslot on the WWE Network. The final part of the vignette featured writing on the screen that said “Franky” will see us soon.
We noted earlier this month how WWE filed to trademark the “Franky Monet” name for general pro wrestling and sports entertainment use. It looks like this will be the name of the “Franky” teased in tonight’s promo.
Fans online noticed that the dog used in the vignette is Presley, one of the pets owned by Valkyrie and her husband, WWE RAW Superstar John Morrison. They have an Instagram account for both of their dogs, Presley and Bowie, at @the_pee_boyz. Taya has carried Presley at various wrestling shows in the past, including for a few Impact Wrestling appearances.
There is some online speculation that Valkyrie will use another name, and that the dog will go by the “Franky” name but that has not been confirmed, and it’s more likely that Valkyrie’s new ring name in NXT will be Franky Monet.
As seen below, WWE tweeted a screenshot from the April 13 teaser and indicated that Franky could be the name of the dog. They wrote, “How are we gonna wait that long? Franky stole our heart. [dog emoji][growing heart emoji] #WWENXT”
Valkyrie has re-tweeted several of the dog tweets from tonight’s show, and she also re-tweeted a USA Network tweet that teased her as the new character.
“If that’s who we think it is… @WWENXT is gonna be loca in April 13th. #WWENXT,” USA tweeted.
Valkyrie is a former Impact Knockouts Champion and a former three-time AAA Reina de Reinas Champion. She debuted for Impact in September 2017 and left in January of this year, leaving the company as the longest-reigning Knockouts Champion in history. Valkyrie signed with WWE in mid-February and reported to the WWE Performance Center to begin training in late February.
There is no word yet on what WWE has planned for Valkyrie, but stay tuned as we will keep you updated. Below are shots from the related vignettes on tonight’s show, along with recent photos of Taya and Presley:
Hey look it's a 🐶 !
…but why? #WWENXT pic.twitter.com/mzePmDpakz
— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) April 1, 2021
How did the 🐶 get into the CWC?! #WWENXT pic.twitter.com/bEhofXMUjT
— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) April 1, 2021
This 🐶 is already a legend. #WWENXT pic.twitter.com/hh1lTn44Dy
— WWE (@WWE) April 1, 2021
How are we gonna wait that long? Franky stole our heart. 🐶 💗 #WWENXT pic.twitter.com/MIlIjyG1V0
— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) April 1, 2021
If that’s who we think it is… @WWENXT is gonna be loca in April 13th.#WWENXT pic.twitter.com/BVhyfZWziA
— USA Network (@USA_Network) April 1, 2021
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