5-time NCAA All-America observe and area athlete, Anna Keefer, is now identified globally by WWE followers as “Adriana Rizzo,” however swapping the observe for the turnbuckle has required greater than only a title change. On this unique chat with M&F, Keefer reveals how each success and setbacks have knowledgeable her difficult journey in professional wrestling to this point, and why she’s lastly able to breakout as the subsequent star of the squared circle.
Who Is Adriana Rizzo?
Making her manner from Albertville, MN, Anna Keefer was a titan of observe and area, excelling at lengthy soar, the place she set a Minnesota state document of 20 toes and 1.25 inches (6.13 meters), In 2022, whereas representing the North Carolina Tar Heels, Keefer received the 2022 ACC Indoor Lengthy Bounce occasion with 21 toes and 6 inches (6.55 meters), setting a UNC document within the course of. As well as, Keefer was additionally a record-breaking sprinter, incomes private bests of 11.29 seconds for 100 meters, and 22.83 seconds for the 200-meter occasion, however when World Wrestling Leisure reached out and supplied her a tryout, the Division I athlete’s life would change course drastically.
Monitor and Discipline’s Anna Keefer Turns into WWE’s Adriana Rizzo
When Keefer entered her 2022 tryout on the WWE Efficiency Heart in Orlando, her information of professional wrestling just about prolonged to having heard of The Rock and John Cena, however a fellow athlete and good friend, Jonah Niesenbaum, now often known as “Cutler James,” was already on the WWE recruitment journey. He inspired Keefer to take a brand new leap and go between the ropes for herself. “I didn’t know, bodily, how a lot contact there actually was,” she defined of her introduction to the mat. “The primary two days of hitting the ropes, I had an enormous welt. The stiffness of the ropes was surprising to me.”
Nonetheless, Keefer sucked it up and wowed officers a lot that she not solely signed a contract but in addition made her debut with WWE’s NXT model that very same 12 months. However whereas wrestling on the promotion’s Efficiency Heart, harm occurred when the rookie went to clothesline her opponent. To regular herself, the athlete had planted her foot on the bottom, however the canvas bounced again in an ungainly route. “That’s when my Achilles tendon went,” she explains. Keefer can be pressured to sit down it out with an Achilles tendon rupture for round six months, coaching after which lastly returning nearly a 12 months later in October 2023. That return quickly introduced a possibility for Keefer to affix the D’Angelo household steady, and he or she additionally picked up her official WWE title, “Adrianna Rizzo.”
]Together with her confidence now constructing, and followers getting on board together with her charisma, Rizzo was starting to make nice strides, till the testing instances returned.
The ACL Damage That Almost Derailed Her WWE Profession
Again on the WWE Efficiency Heart, Rizzo picked her opponent up for a bodyslam, however her rival pushed down on her knee, bending the joint within the flawed route. “I partially tore my ACL in that match,” she explains. Extremely, the gutsy grappler would proceed to wrestle, even flying by way of the air on the NXT Vengeance Day 2024 occasion, however after months of sporting a knee brace and specializing in rehab, the knee would lastly give out throughout one other coaching session, including a torn meniscus and sprained MCL to her already injured ACL. “And this was all on the left facet,” she tells M&F.
What Adriana Rizzo Discovered Throughout Her Time Away From the Ring
Moderately than fade away from relevancy, nevertheless, Rizzo used her time on the bench to hone her craft in entrance of the digicam, engaged on her promos and changing into an entertaining presenter. “It’s humorous, at my tryout, I feel any individual instructed me that they wrote down, ‘No Character, No Character,’” shares the star. “However as quickly as I had that Achilles harm, all I centered on was character.” Having studied media manufacturing at school, the Adriana Rizzo Instagram account quickly grew to become a terrific place to maintain up with this athlete’s story. Creatively, the athlete additionally turned her hand to trend, growing the Salt & Daughters label for classic impressed swimwear that she fashions together with her personal mother and sister.
For Anna Keefer, the change of route required to grow to be Adriana Rizzo had confirmed to be a totally new street to navigate. “The medical employees, and all our speculation are that these accidents may very well be attributed to an absence of multidirectional work,” reveals the WWE Celebrity. “I used to be very linear: run straight, soar straight, and that was for 12 years, principally.”
Holding her ardour for WWE alive on the Efficiency Heart, Rizzo now makes use of the health club house to ace her angles. “We do lateral actions,” she says. “Reactive stuff like crossover runs.” Different drills on the WWE PC embody coaches throwing balls at her whereas she is on the run. “Now, I’m reacting to those unorthodox issues,” she explains of getting ready her physique for the rigours of the ring.
Can Adriana Rizzo Change into WWE NXT’s Subsequent Breakout Star?
The emphasis on multidirectional coaching has additionally served to enhance Rizzo’s talents within the ring. “Once I began these lateral runs or modifications of route, I wasn’t as crisp,” displays the tenacious athlete. “Now, I really feel like I’m type of good at this now!”
The progress continues for Adriana Rizzo, who made a triumphant return to the ring on July 24, 2026, throughout a reside occasion with NXT. “I used to be simply type of impartial, after which just a little nervous proper earlier than I went out,” shares Rizzo, who says that the belief she had in her opponent, Myka Lockwood, helped her to seek out her toes as soon as the motion obtained going.
Now, Rizzo is hoping to get extra matches below her belt to sharpen her expertise, prepared for taking over the easiest WWE Superstars like Chelsea Inexperienced or Rhea Ripley.“Chelsea Inexperienced, I feel she’s plenty of enjoyable each together with her character and her character,” says Rizzo. “Rhea Rupley has additionally been considered one of my favorites. She can be a extremely cool match to have.”
The street to championships isn’t a straight line but when anybody can break data on the end line, it’s “Adriana Rizzo.”
WWE NXT airs on The CW in the USA, and through Netflix internationally.
To observe Adriana Rizzo on Instagram, click on right here.