Hot on the heels of Tatum Paxley debuting her new finisher, The Psycho Trap on the October 6th edition of NXT Level Up, the 26-year-old Texas-born former Cheerleader and Bodybuilder has recently found her stride in NXT portraying an awesome heel persona.
Signing with WWE Developmental in August 2021, Tatum eventually made her TV debut where she teamed with Ivy Nile to defeat Fallon Henley & Kayla Inlay. Tatum has trained with Sara Del Rey.
One week after making her NXT Level Up debut, Paxley appeared on live NXT where she teamed once again with Ivy Nile in a losing effort against the team of Kacy Catanzaro (aka Katana Chance) & Kayden Carter, most notably, this match was in the first round of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. Paxley featured again in singles competition on NXT Level Up with one win and one defeat, beating Kiana James in the process.
On the 19th of April 2022, Paxley returned to live television and faced future WWE Hall of Fame Natalya in an extremely competitive match, unfortunately, Paxley lost the match but gained a wealth of experience which she has clearly carried forward from that moment.
In May 2022, Tatum was announced as part of the Women’s Breakout Tournament but fell at the first hurdle against Lash Legend, Paxley was my pick to win the tournament back then. Over the months that followed, Paxley was featured heavily on Tuesday nights and her confidence was visibly growing. Facing the likes of Alba Fyre & picking up a win against Kayden Carter in the process.
In August of 2022, the team of Tatum Paxley & Ivy Nile were involved in a fatal four-way match for the NXT Tag Team Championships, a match where Kayden Carter & Katana Chance won the gold. During the end of 2022, NXT hit the road where they held several house shows in which Paxley was heavily featured in both Singles and Tag matches with notable matches against both Indi Hartwell & Cora Jade.
2023 started hot for Paxley, picking up a win working alongside Diamond Mine in a mixed tag team match where they defeated Brooks Jensen, Josh Briggs, Fallon Henley & Kiana James. In January 2023, Tatum was featured heavily each week on NXT TV & at live shows, mostly teaming with Ivy Nile. In February, She faced Lyra Valkyria in what I believe to be Paxley’s best showing to date but ultimately led to defeat on NXT Level Up.
It was in March 2023 when Tatum eventually turned heel on Ivy Nile, after another tag team defeat this time in a number one contenders match, the two stars feuded for a few weeks but it was ultimately Ivy Nile who stood tall to end the feud and start the singles push for Paxley.
The Future is Bright for Tatum Paxley
Since losing to Roxanne Perez in June of 2023 on NXT, we have only seen Tatum compete on house shows and Level Up, it was clearly time to refresh and return to the drawing board but as I mentioned at the top of this piece, Paxley has now debuted a new finishing maneuver – called The Psycho Trap and picked up a much-needed win as she teamed with Izzi Dame defeating Kelani Jordan & Valentina Feroz. I am a huge fan of this team, so hopefully we will see a lot more of this in the near future.
I am now looking forward to a serious push for Tatum Paxley as we head into 2024 and hopefully more opportunities on Tuesday nights. Paxley has all of the attributes to succeed on Tuesday nights and that NXT Women’s title would look pretty around her waist. I anticipate a truly breakout year in 2025 and a title push before gracing the main roster in 2026.
Be sure to support Tatum by grabbing her new t-shirt over at