Sol Ruca and Zaria were inseparable for more than a year as the two became familiar faces in WWE NXT.
But as Ruca began to rise into a top contender for championship gold in NXT, Zaria would miss a few opportunities to get a belt for herself. Ruca won the Women’s Speed Championship and the NXT Women’s North American Championship over the last year. As one competitor rises, one must sink and the duo, lovingly known as ZaRuca, would eventually break up.
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Zaria speared Ruca before her women’s championship match against Jacy Jayne in February, ending the team and sparking a feud that will culminate in an emotional match Saturday at Stand & Deliver – the biggest show of the year for NXT.
Ruca told Fox News Digital there were a few bittersweet feelings going into the match, just knowing what the two have been through together.
“Yeah, definitely. This match isn’t just a standard match. This is about us and our story – started off as best friends,” she said. “I mean, to be honest, I forced her to be my friend because she didn’t really want to be my friend to begin with, but yeah, it evolved and we accomplished a lot of really, really, cool things together. But somewhere along the way, jealousy got involved. And I can understand jealousy – it’s totally normal. Everyone deals with it. But I just can’t understand using that jealousy and letting it fester and turning into resentment and hate instead of using it to fuel your personal growth.
“And I’m not saying that I was perfect in this, but I’m not the one that speared my partner and hit that F5 on her championship opportunity. This is about jealousy. This is about resentment. Some people say I was selfish, and sure, maybe I was a little selfish. But this is us, and it’s not gonna be a standard match. It’s gonna have emotion. It’s gonna have energy and grit. And I mean, hopefully, I pull out the win, but she knows me really, really well and I know her really, really well so it can go either way. But I’m excited to hopefully just put this past us.”
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Ruca, who is usually the fan favorite, has began hearing boos from the crowd.
She admitted that she didn’t exactly see why she was on the receiving end of some of the jeers.
“Again, I don’t see how someone who’s just trying to keep going with their momentum can be the heel in this sort of situation,” she said. “It’s like having a friend and being like, ‘Hey you’re doing really well at your job. You need to stop because I want to do really well in my job.’ You know? I don’t know I don’t feel like that’s normal or healthy. So, I mean, sure, I could have taken the time to sit down with her and ask her about how she’s feeling with everything, but she’s quite hard-headed and she knows she’s not the best at communicating feelings in that type of way.
“I don’t think I’m necessarily in the wrong. I don’t think she … I mean, she kinda is in the wrong. I don’t know, I feel like it could go either way. Sure, I could have been a little bit selfish, but I would rather be selfish than someone who’s jealous of their best friend. That’s all I have to say about that.”
NXT Stand & Deliver will take place at The Factory in St. Louis, Missouri. The event will begin at 7 p.m. ET and can be seen on YouTube.
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