By Nick Talbot, Staff writer | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2025-01-22 14:52:44
由生成式人工智能翻译，译文内容可能不准确或不完整，以原文为准。
2024年12月2日，华盛顿州埃弗里特，在风的使者体育馆举行的周一晚RAW节目中，拉奎尔·罗德里格斯与紫雷(IYO SKY)对战。
维多利亚·冈萨雷斯(Victoria González)和她的父亲达成了一项协议——先上大学。
只有这样，她才能成为一名职业摔跤手。
即使在冈萨雷斯完成学位后，她的父亲，这位曾在南德克萨斯州以“飞毛腿冈萨雷斯”(Speedy González)或“亡命之徒里克·冈萨雷斯”(Rick ‘Desperado’ González)之名在独立摔跤界摸爬滚打多年的老将，仍然犹豫不决。
“我爸爸希望我已经忘了这件事，但我没有，”曾在德克萨斯农工大学金斯维尔分校和萨姆休斯顿州立大学打过大学篮球的罗德里格斯说道。“那天晚上，当我说我想从事摔跤时，他告诉我，‘我给你两年时间，我会带你去，我们一起去，我会确保你和值得我信赖的人一起训练。我们给你两年时间。如果你在这两年内进入WWE，你就可以继续下去。但两年后，我希望你继续你的生活。’”
在里奥格兰德河谷的哈林根、圣罗莎、拉费里亚和伊达尔戈长大的罗德里格斯，时不时地会在圣安东尼奥和她父亲的朋友一起训练。
然而，她经常往返于亨茨维尔和圣安东尼奥之间，每隔一个周末就穿越整个州，只为找到一个可以训练的擂台。2016年10月25日，在她从萨姆休斯顿州立大学毕业不到两年后，罗德里格斯与WWE签约。
本周六，她和WWE将在圣安东尼奥的弗罗斯特银行中心参加周六晚的主赛。
但这其中的旅程可谓一路艰辛。
她经历了多次更名——从蕾娜·冈萨雷斯(Reina Gonzalez)到拉奎尔·冈萨雷斯(Raquel Gonzalez)，再到现在的拉奎尔·罗德里格斯——她不断尝试新的终结技和出场音乐，试图在这个世界上最大的职业摔跤联盟中找到自己的位置。
2025年1月6日，加利福尼亚州英格尔伍德，拉奎尔·罗德里格斯、丽芙·摩根(Liv Morgan)和多米尼克·密斯提里欧(Dominik Mysterio)在Netflix的WWE周一晚RAW节目洛杉矶首映式上走向擂台。
然而，没有什么比她过去一年所经历的更加艰难。
在2023年底——在WWE旗下发展品牌NXT效力六年之后——罗德里格斯开始在周一晚RAW节目中崭露头角。
然而，一年前，这看起来是不可能的。2024年1月1日，一位医生诊断她患有肥大细胞活化综合征，这是一种体内肥大细胞过度反应，释放过量化学物质（如组胺）的疾病，会导致各种症状，包括潮红、肿胀、腹泻、腹痛、瘙痒，有时甚至过敏性休克。
罗德里格斯不知道是什么原因引起的。
她只知道这导致她的眉毛脱落。她知道她无法停止抓挠。
而且她不知道是什么让情况变得更糟。
最糟糕的是，她不知道如何让情况好转。
她缺席了六周的比赛，然后试图在二月份的付费直播赛事——铁笼密室淘汰赛中复出，该赛事定于在澳大利亚珀斯举行。
“去年这个时候，我非常困惑，后来当我看到一些好转时，我想，‘好吧，也许我知道是怎么回事了，我觉得它正在好转，’”罗德里格斯说道。“我回到了工作岗位，我获得了参加铁笼密室淘汰赛的资格，那天晚上，在RAW节目上，我化了妆。我不知道是因为化妆，还是因为复出太快，马上就坐飞机，但在去澳大利亚参加铁笼密室淘汰赛的路上，我的脸肿了。”
“我告诉自己，‘我已经一路飞到这里来了。我来了。我要上场表演，我要去那里，我要参加铁笼密室淘汰赛，如果这意味着我不能化妆，那好吧，我就不能化妆。’”
当时，罗德里格斯并不觉得她是在发表声明。
“我很难接受很多人把它看作是，‘哦，你素颜上场真是太勇敢了，太坚强了’，而对我来说，这就像，我别无选择，”她说道。“我觉得自己完全失败了。我觉得我只是让事情变得更糟了，也许我只是让发生在我身上的任何事情都更加愤怒了，现在它会带着复仇之心卷土重来。”
她之后又七个月没有踏上WWE的擂台。然而，在整个痛苦的过程中，她每周都会向WWE汇报最新情况，希望她能尽早回归——即使医生仍在寻找正式的诊断结果。
“我做了很多血液检查，显然是为了检测狼疮之类的自身免疫性疾病。我的肥大细胞活化综合征检测结果呈阴性，”罗德里格斯说道。“也许我患有某种形式的这种疾病……我仍然不知道我是否得到了真正的诊断，但这就像全身湿疹。
“这绝对是可怕的。我觉得自己就像恐怖电影里的怪物，正在分崩离析。”
最终，罗德里格斯选择了一条更全面的治疗路线。她专注于健康饮食、服用草药、保证睡眠和冥想。
“说实话，这花了很多时间，因为你必须慢慢地康复。你必须从内部治愈……没有一天我是像，‘哦，我想我好了。我痊愈了，我没事了，’”罗德里格斯说道。“这是几周的时间里，我感觉，‘好吧，我可以做到这一点。’我感觉舒服到可以尝试其他事情了。我对我的皮肤状况感觉好多了。接受它是一小块，但现在它只在我的手臂上了。”
当她看到眉毛重新长出来的时候，她知道她准备好回归了。当她回归时，她重新加入了她的老搭档丽芙·摩根。与她上次与摩根搭档，两次获得女子双打冠军不同，这次她们将扮演反派——坏人。
摩根是WWE女子冠军，而罗德里格斯将成为她的保镖。
2024年12月9日，堪萨斯州威奇托，在英特拉斯特银行体育馆举行的周一晚RAW节目中，丽芙·摩根拿着她的女子世界冠军腰带，与拉奎尔·罗德里格斯一起出场。
“丽芙也一直在关心我，确保我过得好，”罗德里格斯说道。“我为她所取得的一切成就感到无比自豪，她正在成为一名超级巨星。对我来说，没有比这更好的回归方式了。我喜欢这样。我喜欢扮演反派拉奎尔。我喜欢和审判日(Judgment Day)开玩笑……这真的是一件非常幸运的事情。我很高兴能走到今天这一步。”
然而，最重要的是，她为能重新回到摔跤界，并让她的父亲感到骄傲而自豪。
“我告诉他，‘你知道，这不仅仅是为了我，也是为了我们，’”罗德里格斯说道。“这也是我父亲的梦想，他不得不放弃这个梦想，来照顾我和我姐姐，确保我们受到良好的教育，确保我们得到支持。
“我只是希望我能继续把我父亲为我放弃的一切都回报给他。”
点击查看原文：WWE superstar, Texas native Raquel Rodriguez overcome odds
WWE superstar, Texas native Raquel Rodriguez overcome odds
Raquel Rodriguez in action against IYO SKY during Monday Night RAW at Angel of the Winds Arena on December 2, 2024 in Everett, Washington.
Victoria González made a deal with her father — college first.
Then and only then could she become a professional wrestler.
Even After Gonzalez finished her degree, her father, who spent years on the independent wrestling scene under the names Speedy González or Rick ‘Desperado’ González across South Texas, was hesitant.
“My dad was hoping I forgot, but I didn’t forget,” said Gonzalez, who played college basketball at Texas A&M-Kingsville and Sam Houston State. “He told me that night when I said I wanted to pursue wrestling, ‘I’ll give you two years, and I’ll take you, and we’ll go together, and we’ll make sure that you’re training with people that I can trust. We’ll give you two years. If you make it to WWE in those two years, you can continue on. But after those two years, I want you to just move on with your life.’”
González, who grew up in the Rio Grande Valley living in Harlingen, Santa Rosa, La Feria and Hidalgo, trained with her father’s friend in San Antonio from time to time.
Often, though, she’d drive back and forth from Huntsville, traversing the state every other weekend to find a ring to train in. On Oct. 25, 2016 – less than two years after she graduated from Sam Houston State — González signed with the WWE.
Saturday, she and the WWE will be in San Antonio on Saturday at the Frost Bank Center for Saturday Night’s Main Event.
But it’s been a journey to get there.
She’s had multiple name changes — from Reina Gonzalez to Raquel Gonzalez to now, Raquel Rodriguez — testing new finishing moves and entrance music as she tried to find her place within the largest pro wrestling promotion in the world.
Raquel Rodriguez, Liv Morgan and Dominik Mysterio make their way to the ring at Netflix’s LA Premiere of WWE Monday Night RAW at Intuit Dome on January 6, 2025 in Inglewood, California.
Nothing, though, was as tough as what she endured over the past year.
At the end of 2023 — after six years with WWE’s developmental brand NXT — Rodriguez was beginning to establish herself as a force on the Monday Night Raw roster.
A year ago, though, that did not look possible. On Jan. 1, 2024, a doctor diagnosed her with mast cell activation syndrome, a condition where mast cells in the body become overly reactive, releasing excessive amounts of chemicals like histamine, leading to a variety of symptoms including flushing, swelling, diarrhea, abdominal pain, itching, and sometimes even anaphylaxis.
Rodriguez had no idea what was causing it.
She just knew it caused her eyebrows to fall off. She knew she couldn’t stop scratching.
And she had no idea what was making it worse.
Worst of all, she no idea how to make it better.
She missed six weeks of performing before trying to return at February’s premium live event, the Elimination Chamber, which was set to take place in Perth, Australia.
“I was very confused at this time last year, and then when I did see some improvement, I thought, ‘OK, maybe I know what’s going on, and I feel like it’s getting better,’” Rodriguez said. “I came back to work, and I qualified for the Elimination Chamber, and that night, on Raw, I did wear makeup. And I don’t know if it was the makeup or maybe just the coming back so quickly and the jumping on the plane right away, but on the way to Australia for Chamber, my face blew up.”
“I told myself. ‘I flew all the way out here. I came up here. I’m going to perform, I’m going to go out there, and I’m going to do Elimination Chamber, and if that means I can’t wear makeup, well, I can’t wear makeup.”
Rodriguez, at the time, didn’t feel like she was making a statement.
“It was hard for me to accept that a lot of people were looking at it like, ‘Oh, you’re so brave and you’re so strong for going out there without makeup,’ when, for me, it was like, I had no choice,” she said. “I felt like a complete failure. I felt like I had just made it worse, and maybe I just made whatever was happening to me even angrier, and now it’s going to come back with a vengeance.”
She didn’t get in a WWE ring again for another seven months. Throughout the ordeal, though, she sent weekly updates back to WWE, hoping that she could return sooner than later – even as doctors still searched for an official diagnosis.
“I did lots of blood work, obviously to test for autoimmune diseases like Lupus and all those things. I didn’t test positive for mast cell activation syndrome,” Rodriguez said. “Maybe I had some form of it. … I still don’t really know if I came down with a true diagnosis, but it was like full body eczema.
“It was absolutely horrible. I felt like I was a monster in a horror movie, just like falling apart.”
Eventually, Rodriguez chose to go a more holistic route. She focused on eating better, taking herbs, getting sleep and meditating.
“Honestly, that took a lot of time, because you have to heal slowly. You have to heal internally. … There wasn’t one day that I was like, ‘Oh, I think I’m good. I’m healed, I’m fine,’” Rodriguez said. “It was weeks of me feeling like, ‘OK, I can do this.’ I’m feeling comfortable enough to try something else. I’m feeling better about the way my skin is looking. Accepting that it’s a small patch, but it’s just on my arm now.”
Once she saw her eyebrows growing back in, she knew she was ready to return. When she did, she rejoined her old tag team partner, Liv Morgan. And unlike her last run with Morgan, when they were the two-time women’s tag team champions, this time they would be the heels — the bad guys.
Morgan was the WWE women’s champion, and Rodriguez was going to be her muscle.
Liv Morgan takes her Women’s World Championship belt and walks out with Raquel Rodriguez during Monday Night RAW at Intrust Bank Arena on December 9, 2024 in Wichita, Kansas.
“Liv was always checking up on me, too, making sure I was doing good,” Rodriguez said. “I was just so proud of everything she was accomplishing and just becoming this mega superstar. It couldn’t have been a better scenario for me to come back into. I love it. I love getting to be bad guy Raquel. I love getting to joke around with the Judgment Day. … It’s really been an absolute blessing. I’m just so happy to be on the other side of things.”
More than anything, though, she’s proud to be back wrestling and making her father proud.
“I tell him, ‘You know, this isn’t just for me, this is for us,’” Rodriguez said. “This was also my father’s dream, and he had to give up that dream to be there for my sister and I, to make sure that we were being raised right, to make sure that we were being supported.
“And I just hope that I can continue to give to my dad everything that he’s given up for me.”
By Nick Talbot, Staff writer, via San Antonio Express-News