Stephanie Vaquer: The New Face of the WWE

thepaper6
Nov 12
3 min read

By Francisca Lorca

Women’s sports have become a popular topic in media, and viewership has increased greatly in comparison to previous years. From basketball, soccer, and wrestling to the new upcoming Women’s Pro Baseball League, this new generation of women sports viewership has allowed the creation of different divisions to embark on a new journey.

When it comes to WWE’s women’s divisions, Stephanie Vaquer made history as the first South American woman to ever win a title — self-proclaiming the nickname of “La Primera” (“The First”) — on February 15^th, 2025. With a total of 4 WWE wins (NXT Women’s North American Championship, NXT Women’s Championship, Women’s World Championship, and the Women’s Crown Jewel Championship in Australia), this new face of the league represents hard work that pays off.

Vaquer’s journey was far from easy. From San Fernando, Chile, leaving her country at 19 years old to train in Mexico (due to a lack of professional wrestling training in Chile) and furthering her education in Japan, she has now adjusted to a new life in the United States. Maneuvering three different cultures while her career was taking off came with a set of challenges: learning new languages and wrestling styles, adjusting to new cultures, and missing her family back home. Currently a 32-year-old woman, it took Vaquer eleven years to achieve what once was a dream.

During her time in Mexico, she encountered a lack of support from the CMLL (Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre). As an immigrant and new member of the wrestling organization, she was on her own and felt that there wasn’t a sense of teamwork. However, she felt supported by her professor and mentor, Ricky Marvin. Thanks to him, she was able to find a job through one of his friends, a restaurant owner who let Vaquer work as a server and sleep in the kitchen when she didn’t have a place to live.

Since the restaurant’s bathroom didn’t have a shower, she would rent a room at a hotel close by and shower once a week. At the start of her career as an independent wrestler, she suffered from a triple nose fracture. In Vaquer’s words, "I remember very well the words of the person who did it, saying that foreigners were taking jobs away from Mexico," according to an interview for ESPN Deportes.

Once she arrived in the United States, her experience with the WWE was different from what she had ever experienced before. As reported by Milenio Deportes, Vaquer now works with “the best team [she’s] ever had in [her] life,” who are open to assist her when needed. “WWE has a great way of working, where everyone helps you. They have attentive doctors, coaches, writers, directors, and the press," she remarks.

Recognized mainly as a male sport, wrestling has shown the importance of Latina women's representation worldwide. Platforms as big as the WWE have allowed access for these new faces to be seen and empowered their voices by acknowledging the talent they carry with them. Some other examples of diversity and representation within this organization are Jade Cargill and Iyo Sky.

Jade Cargill is a black woman from Florida of Jamaican descent who signed with the WWE in September of 2023. Recently, she became the WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion. On the other hand, Iyo Sky is a Japanese wrestler who joined the WWE in 2018 and currently works under their Raw roster. As reported by Smackdown Hotel, she is a WWE Women's Triple Crown Champion and WWE Women's Grand Slam Champion.

Adding these women to their rosters has opened the door to people from different backgrounds, allowing them to showcase more representation in the wrestling world. The WWE is a big corporation with millions of views a year, not only popular in the United States, but in Latin America as well. By giving these spaces to women like Stephanie Vaquer, the WWE promotes a diversified industry where immigrants alike can see this sport as a possibility.

Francisca Lorca was born and raised in Chile and immigrated to the United States in 2015. She is a junior majoring in Political Science and Communications, with a concentration in journalism, and minoring in theatre. Francisca transferred to CCNY in the Spring of 2025, returning to college after ten years. She has also worked in catering and as a server for years before returning to college. While also being neurodivergent, Francisca is a mother who strives to serve as a role model for her daughter. Her interests include: investigative journalism and finding ways to support immigrant rights and uplift those with similar backgrounds and experiences, crocheting, reading plays, and theater.