In January 2012, WWE brought a “Smackdown” TV show taping to Laredo, Texas, and 10-year-old Roxanne Perez couldn’t wait.

This would be her first live WWE experience in her hometown. She loved to watch the women’s wrestlers, especially AJ Lee who, like Perez, was small, Latina and portrayed as a tomboy.

That night, Perez left disappointed. The only women’s match on the two-hour show, Tamina vs. Natalya, lasted 55 seconds. The main-event clash between Daniel Bryan and the Big Show featured Lee at ringside, but she was taken out on a stretcher after Big Show accidentally ran into her.

“I remember I was so excited to see the women, but then there was only one match, and it was less than 2 minutes,” said Perez, now 24. “Everybody was leaving to get popcorn. And I was like, no. I want to be a part of this one day, but I don’t want it to be like this. I feel like we can be so much more.”

Perez set out to do just that, and today, the Orlando resident is one of WWE’s biggest superstars. She has won multiple championships, she’s a vital part of the Judgment Day faction and she’s wrestled more matches in 2025 than almost anyone — most of them a lot longer than a minute.

Perez will be in attendance when “Monday Night Raw” comes to the Kia Center this Monday (Dec. 29), a card airing live on Netflix.

Just as a young Perez emulated Lee, now the 5-foot-1 Perez herself has young fans looking up to her.

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“I’ve had little girls come up to me and cry,” said Perez, whose real name is Carla Gonzalez. “That is pretty surreal because I remember how much that meant to me as a kid. You don’t realize how much it actually influences young kids to see a representation of themselves on the screen. (When I have rough moments) I just remind myself of the bigger picture, all these young girls and boys who may one day achieve all their dreams just because that one person told them it was possible, and that one person showed them it was possible.”

Another big step happened just this month when WWE’s Bayley hosted a three-day training camp for independent women’s wrestlers in Orlando called Lodestone. Several WWE superstars, including Perez, helped out at the camp.

“(The trainees) were about 20 women from all over the world,” Perez said. “And just the energy in that room, all these women fighting to be a part of WWE or wherever they choose to go, it was just really inspiring to be surrounded by that again.”

Perez debuted at age 17 under the name Rok-C, and soon made a name for herself as one of the best in-ring performers on the independent circuit, winning the Ring of Honor world title in 2021 and challenging for the AAA world title on an Impact Wrestling event. She signed with WWE in early 2022, moved to Central Florida and wrestled in Orlando-based NXT until earlier this year.

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She credits her time in NXT with adding to her confidence as a performer outside the ring.

“I really feel like I could wrestle in my sleep,” Perez said. “If someone told me to just go out there right now and figure something out, I can do that, but I’ve always struggled a little more with talking and with promos. I’ve definitely gotten a lot better at those because in NXT, I was constantly getting in-ring promos by myself, page-long promos that I had to sit and memorize all day, then go out and perform. That’s when I was really trying to find my voice.”

Working with the Judgment Day faction along with Finn Balor, JD McDonagh, Dominik Mysterio and tag-team partner Raquel Rodriguez has taken things to another level, she said.

“I didn’t know too much about ad-libs and being natural and kind of play with the stuff we’re given in these backstage (segments). But I’ve really gotten to see the way they work beyond the piece of paper that has our lines on it. Watching how they work has influenced me a lot.”

During four years living in Central Florida, Perez has found her favorite places (Las Carretas in Winter Park or any of a number of breakfast spots) but the travel of this year has kept her away quite a bit, so she’s happy for a “home game” of sorts for Monday Night Raw.”

“There are times when the travel is a lot, when you’re home one day or no days a week,” Perez said. “When you have a family home and a dog, it does get kind of hard. But when I’m experiencing the things I get to experience, meeting the fans I get to meet, I’m living the dream that I’ve always dreamt of living, so honestly, it’s so worth it.”

jreddick@orlandosentinel.com