Stephanie 'La Primera' Vaquer's WWE career marked by historic firsts

STEPHANIE VAQUER CLIMBED to the apical enactment arsenic the assemblage successful Indianapolis roseate to its feet. The Chilean prima had her sights acceptable connected rival Iyo Sky and the WWE Women's World Championship astatine Wrestlepalooza connected Sept. 20, her imagination wrong reach.

Moments later, she executed a flawless Spiral Tap connected her opponent, a high-risk determination that she made look effortless.

One. Two. Three. "La Primera" (The First) was a first-time champion -- erstwhile again. This time, the signifier was arsenic large arsenic it gets: WWE, the large leagues of nonrecreational wrestling. Vaquer celebrated the historical infinitesimal arsenic the archetypal South American pistillate to triumph a WWE championship, crowning a meteoric emergence of conscionable implicit a twelvemonth wrong the company.

"It was the champion [match] of my vocation truthful far, and the effect of the lucifer was the imagination of my life," Vaquer said successful Spanish during a caller interrogation connected ESPN's "Ahora o Nunca."

Vaquer made her televised debut successful NXT, WWE's developmental brand, successful October 2024, became the archetypal treble champion successful NXT successful March, past debuted connected the main WWE roster successful June, connected her mode to making much past astatine Wrestlepalooza successful September.

With 2 of the champion wrestlers successful the satellite putting connected a show, the lucifer against Sky earned a B+ people by ESPN.

"I'm arrogant due to the fact that it wasn't conscionable a lucifer for the astir important championship, it was against 1 of the champion successful the world, Iyo Sky, idiosyncratic I've admired for galore years," Vaquer said. "So, the information that I could vie for this rubric with her proved successful the ringing wherefore we are some among the champion successful the satellite close now."

Now comes an accidental for different first. Vaquer faces Tiffany Stratton, the WWE women's champion, successful a champion-versus-champion lucifer astatine Crown Jewel connected Saturday successful Perth, Australia (ESPN Unlimited, 8 a.m. ET).

And past she tin acceptable her sights connected adjacent year's WrestleMania -- and possibly different first.

HECTOR VAQUER ALVERA had ne'er seen his girl wrestle connected U.S. soil. In fact, helium had ne'er seen her wrestle successful idiosyncratic astatine all, not adjacent successful her autochthonal Chile, wherever she had her archetypal lucifer successful 2009. But his girl ever dreamed of the infinitesimal helium would beryllium determination to spot her scope the apical of nonrecreational wrestling.

At Wrestlepalooza, Vaquer fulfilled that dream. After defeating Sky, she instantly ran to her father, who was successful the beforehand row. Stephanie and Hector embraced successful an affectional infinitesimal for the full Indianapolis assemblage to enjoy. The caller champion handed her begetter the rubric belt, which helium proudly raised amid the fans' cheers.

"It was precise peculiar due to the fact that my dada is my No. 1 fan," Vaquer told ESPN. "He's the 1 who has supported maine from the opening and has ever been with me, the 1 who saw maine suffer, the 1 who listened to maine erstwhile I was 15 and told him, 'Dad, I privation to beryllium a nonrecreational wrestler.' He saw maine permission for different state astatine 19, helium saw maine conflict time aft day, helium saw maine neglect truthful galore times."

Vaquer said she bought a level summons for her begetter hardly a week earlier Wrestlepalooza, and that gave her much information to execute astatine a precocious level.

"I [told] myself, I'm not conscionable lone going to triumph and celebrate, I'm going to bring the loop to my dada and archer him, 'I did it, I did it,'" Vaquer told "Ahora o Nunca."

"So, having my dada there, seeing maine triumph aft truthful galore years of sacrifice, was a peculiar emotion for me, particularly due to the fact that it was besides his birthday."

WINNING THE TITLE astatine Wrestlepalooza represented yet different milestone successful the vocation of Vaquer. It was by nary means the archetypal clip she's made past successful the ring. As her "La Primera" nickname implies, Vaquer has already been the archetypal South American pistillate to marque her people crossed the wrestling world, from Japan's New Japan Pro-Wrestling promotion (NJPW) to Mexico's Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) to NXT. At each of those stops, she wore golden astir her waist. Then she made it to WWE, wherever she already has competed this twelvemonth successful the Royal Rumble and Money successful the Bank successful summation to Wrestlepalooza.

But however did Vaquer get the nickname "La Primera"?

"It was calved from a writer successful Mexico who wanted to present maine successful an interrogation and said, 'The archetypal South American successful Japan, the archetypal South American successful Mexico, the archetypal South American'... and helium said, 'in short, The First,'" Vaquer explained successful an interrogation with ESPN successful March. That was erstwhile "La Primera" became the archetypal pistillate to clasp the NXT Championship and the North American Women's Championship astatine the aforesaid time, aft defeating Giulia successful the main lawsuit of NXT: Roadblock astatine Madison Square Garden successful New York.

"I similar it due to the fact that acold from being a character, it's a reality. I mean, it's thing that has made its ...