Nia Jax

Fanene was born in Sydney, Australia and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii and San Diego,California She is the daughter of Joseph and Renate Fanene. She attended Palomar College in San Marcos, California, where she played college basketball. Prior to professional wrestling, Fanene was a plus-size model.

WWE

NXT (2014–2016)

Fanene was signed by WWE in early 2014 and was assigned to their developmental territory NXT, based at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. She made her in-ring debut on May 7, 2015 at an NXT house show under the ring name Zada, where she and Devin Taylor were defeated by Bayley and Carmella in a tag team match. In August, her ring name was changed to Nia Jax.

After a series of introductory vignettes throughout September, Jax made her debut on October 14 episode of NXT, defeating Evie in a singles match. Following her debut, Jax went on a winning streak, defeating various enhancement talents and NXT Diva Carmella, whilst establishing herself as a villainess. In November, Jax formed an alliance with Eva Marie, and started her first feud with Bayley over the NXT Women's Championship. Jax earned a title match on December 16 at NXT TakeOver: London, where she was unsuccessful in winning the title.

Jax at the WrestleMania 32 Axxess in April 2016

On January 27, 2016 episode of NXT, Jax returned to the ring after a month of inactivity due to a storyline injury, with a win over Liv Morgan. On February 10 episode of NXT, Jax assisted Eva Marie in an attack on Bayley and Carmella after their championship match, until Asuka made the save, which led to a tag team match on February 24 episode of NXT, where Jax and Marie scored the victory. On 25 May episode of NXT, Jax won a triple threat match over Alexa Bliss and Carmella to become the number one contender to Asuka's NXT Women's Championship. Jax received her title match on June 8 at NXT TakeOver: The End, but was unsuccessful in capturing the title. On July 20 episode of NXT, Jax was defeated by Bayley in what would be her last match in NXT.

Raw (2016–present)

After being drafted from NXT to the Raw brand as part of the 2016 WWE draft which took place on July 19, Jax made her main roster debut for the brand on July 25, where she defeated local competitor Britt Baker, and went on to start another streak by defeating multiple competitors. On September 5 episode of Raw, Jax had a backstage confrontation with Alicia Fox, resulting in a match between the two on September 12 episode of Raw, which would end in a no contest after Jax performed a spear on Fox through the ringside barricade. On September 25 at the Clash of Champions pre-show, Jax defeated Fox via pinfall. On October 31 episode of Raw, Jax defeated Bayley in singles competition after being announced as a participant for the Raw Women's team at the Survivor Series pay-per-view.

At the event on November 20, Jax was eliminated via submission by Becky Lynch, but Team Raw went on to defeat Team SmackDown in the traditional 5-on-5 Survivor Series elimination match. On December 19 episode of Raw, Jax attacked an injured Sasha Banks in the storyline, which would lead to Banks distracting and costing Jax during her number one contender's match against Bayley on January 2, 2017 episode of Raw. This would lead to a match between the two at the Royal Rumble pre-show on January 29, where Jax was victorious. On April 2 at WrestleMania 33, Jax competed in a four-way elimination match for the Raw Women's Championship, which was ultimately won by Bayley. On June 26 episode of Raw, Jax competed in a number one contender's gauntlet match for Alexa Bliss's Raw Women's Championship, eliminating Bayley, Mickie James, Dana Brooke and Emma consecutively, before being defeated by Banks via submission.

Jax made her WWE video game debut in WWE 2K17 as a pre-order playable character. On July 24, 2017, Jax was announced and confirmed for the seventh season of Total Divas.

Fanene is of Samoan and German ancestry, and a cousin of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. A fan of professional wrestling since her childhood, Fanene decided to pursue a career in wrestling after watching Johnson perform at WrestleMania XXVIII.

On August 2, 2014, Fanene and her aunt, Ata Maivia-Johnson (mother of Dwayne Johnson), were hit head-on in the latter's Cadillac Escalade by a drunk driver as they were driving home from a charity event in Clermont, Florida, which caused Fanene and Maivia-Johnson being hospitalized with injuries after the incident. The other driver involved was subsequently charged with driving under the influence.

• Finishing moves
  • Fireman's carry powerslam — 2016
  • Pop-up Samoan drop
  • Running somersault senton — 2017–present
  • Standing leg drop, sometimes while running or done repeatedly in succession
• Signature moves
  • Bearhug, sometimes while applying a hammerlock
  • Cobra clutch
  • Canadian backbreaker rack
  • Headbutt
  • Elbow drop, sometimes done repeatedly in succession
  • Hair-pull whip
  • Hip attack to a bent over opponent, sometimes with a face wash to a cornered opponent
  • Modified spinebuster
  • Running body avalanche to an oncoming or cornered opponent
  • Seated senton, sometimes connected to perform a straddle pin
  • Shoulderbreaker to an oncoming opponent
  • Tilt-a-whirl backbreaker
• Wrestlers managed
  • Eva Marie
• Nicknames
  • "The Hybrid Athlete"
  • "Wrecking Ball with a Million Dollar Smile"
• Entrance themes
  • "Force of Greatness" by CFO$ (NXT/WWE; October 14, 2015 – present)

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • Rookie of the Year (2016)
  • Ranked No. 23 of the top 50 female singles wrestlers in the PWI Female 50 in 2016