As announced by Adam Pearce on social media on Friday night, former NXT Women’s Champion Stephanie Vaquer has been officially drafted to WWE Raw.
With Vaquer’s seven month spell on NXT coming to an end, attention will turn to potential new arrivals on the brand to fill her shoes.
Here are eight potential replacements for Stephanie Vaquer in WWE NXT.
8. Mariah May
While Stephanie Vaquer officially joining the Raw roster was huge news on Friday, undoubtedly the biggest story of the day was the AEW departure of Mariah May.
After being removed from the AEW roster page, it was reported that May was heading to WWE soon, as has been rumored to be the case in the months that have followed her last match at AEW Revolution in March.
While May is reportedly viewed as becoming a major part of the WWE women’s roster going forward, the company may opt to debut her in NXT first, much like they did with Vaquer and Giulia in 2024.
As proven by Vaquer and Giulia’s runs in NXT, May’s time on Tuesday nights could be kept brief – simply serving as her introduction to the WWE fanbase.
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7. Britt Baker
From one former AEW Women’s World Champion to another now, and Britt Baker is one of the stars on Tony Khan’s roster that has vanished from television without much word as to why.
After missing the better part of a year of action due to health issues, Baker made her big return to AEW back in June 2024 – immediately feuding with Mercedes Mone before an eventual match at All In London 2024.
Baker made only a few more appearances after the match, last competing on TV in November, with little update on her status ever since.
While it has been reported that Baker still has a while left on her AEW deal, we have seen stars exit contracts early in 2025 already, and if this did happen you can expect speculation to mount towards a potential move to WWE, with The Doctor slotting in as the new face of the NXT women’s division.
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6. The Tonga Twins
After officially exiting WOW in Spring 2024, Taahine Tonga & TalaVou Tonga – formerly known as Kaoz & Kona – recently made their return to in-ring action, competing at NWA’s Crockett Cup event.
While it remains to be seen what they do next, there has been speculation that the team – collectively known as The Tonga Twins – could find there way into the WWE system.
Both Taahine & Talavou were pictured at the WWE Performance Center following their WOW exits last year, fuelling speculation that a move could be made for them.
While there has been no movement on that front as far as we know, The Tonga Twins remain a promising act that WWE may take a look at in the future for NXT, especially given the lack of women’s tag teams in the company now.
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5. Zayda Steel
The first-ever signee announced to the WWE ID program – 21 year old Zayda Steel is someone many fans are keeping an eye on as a potential star of the future in the company.
Despite only debuting in 2022, Steel is already making her way around some of the top independent promotions across the United States – as well as Japan’s Marigold, where she competed over 20 times last year.
With an impressive portfolio building, Steel has also appeared on WWE Evolve – making up a part of The Vanity Project faction alongside Swipe Right, Bryce Donovan and Jackson Drake.
While not technically locked down with WWE yet, it seems very likely that we see Steel play a role in NXT’s women’s division at some point soon.
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4. Saraya (Paige)
She may have legendary status in WWE for her work in the 2010s as Paige, Saraya would make for an exciting arrival in NXT to fill the void of Stephanie Vaquer.
Given that Saraya was the first-ever NXT Women’s Champion, returning to the company on the same brand she began her WWE journey would be poetic to say the least.
Reclaiming the prize that she helped legitimise back in 2013 would bring things full circle for Saraya, even if that’s as far as her tenure in NXT goes.
Either way Saraya is someone many fans are hoping to see make a return to WWE at some point soon, even if its not to compete on a week-to-week basis, and NXT could be where she gets her feet wet in the company once again.
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3. Kamille
Before signing with AEW in early 2024, it was reported that WWE had interest in bringing Kamille into the company following her record-breaking 812 day run as NWA World Women’s Champion.
While Kamille’s AEW future had a lot of promise, it has now been six months since we last saw her on television – leaving her status and future in the company uncertain.
Despite there not being any reports suggesting an AEW exit is near, the longer she remains away from the fold its inevitable that speculation will mount.
Considering WWE’s past interest, it seems plausible that “The Brickhouse” could still wind up signing with the company if she exits AEW, and NXT specifically is a brand that Kamille could potentially dominate for a long, long time should she make that move.
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2. Kylie Rae
Kylie Rae is another WWE ID prospect that could potentially fill the shoes of Stephanie Vaquer as NXTs’ new top female babyface.
Unlike Zayda Steel however, Rae has almost a decade of experience under her belt, and would likely be more qualified to make the jump up to NXT TV in the coming months.
With experience competing on TV for AEW and TNA Wrestling among other notable promotions, Rae is someone many fans are already familiar with and the NXT audience would no doubt embrace her arrival.
Of all the WWE ID prospects, Rae has long been fans’ pick to earn that contract first – so her future is certainly one to keep an eye on.
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1. Tyra Mae Steel
Having just recently came out on top in the finals of the first season of WWE LFG, the future of Tyra Mae Steele seems bright to say the least.
Not only is Steele the winner of WWE LFG, but she is also an Olympic gold medal winning wrestler – only the third WWE star to ever hold that honor.
While that doesn’t guarantee success – as seen by Gable Steveson’s WWE tenure – Steele is showing promise that makes her a star to watch in WWE over the next few years.
Given her accolades and age of 32, don’t expect WWE to wait long before giving her a big push on NXT. With men’s WWE LFG season one winner Jasper Troy already feuding with NXT Champion Oba Femi, expect a similar trajectory for Steele when she re-debuts on Tuesday nights.
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