Sol Ruca Explains Story Behind Confusing WWE Tryout Offer For Invite To Fight In UFC

Sol Ruca’s path to WWE started with a random direct message.

And at first, she thought it was for UFC.

The rising WWE star recently reflected on how she first got connected with the company during an interview with KVAL News (see video below). Before becoming one of the standout young names in NXT and eventually making her way to the main roster, Ruca was living in Hawaii working as a full-time social media creator and online personal trainer.

That’s when WWE reached out.

“So I didn’t really know much about wrestling when I got here,” Ruca stated. “I was doing social media full-time, and I was an online personal trainer living in Hawaii when I got a DM from the WWE Recruit page, and they asked if I wanted to do a tryout.”

Her first reaction?

Confusion.

“Honestly, at first I thought it was the UFC and was like ‘I don’t know how to fight, I’m not gonna do that,’” she noted. “[I] did my research and was like ‘Okay, this is sick, I think I could do this’, might as well go on a tryout, if I don’t make it, it’s a cool story to tell people, and if I do, hell yeah, let’s do it.”

That tryout ultimately changed everything for the former gymnast.

Ruca explained that once she arrived at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, she immediately felt like she had found what had been missing since finishing her athletic career.

“So (they) flew me out to Orlando, I had my tryout at the Performance Center, and I absolutely loved it,” she stated. “Walking in, having the music blaring, and it was such a good team, and I had just graduated. I was an athlete my entire life, so I had like a year break from graduation until I got signed, and during that time I was like ‘this is what I’m missing, I miss this kind of teamwork and competitiveness’, and that’s kind of when I knew this is what I wanted to do.”

The 26-year-old scored a disqualification victory over Becky Lynch at WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event on May 23, and will now challenge her again at WWE Clash in Italy on May 31, this time with the WWE Women’s Intercontinental Championship on-the-line.

Make sure to join us here at WrestlingHeadlines.com on 5/31 for live WWE Clash In Italy 2026 Results coverage.