| Zoey Stark | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Theresa Serrano |
| Born | January 25, 1994 Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S. |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Lacey Ryan Serrano Zoey Stark [1] |
| Billed height | 5 ft 8 in (173 cm) |
| Billed weight | 140 lb (64 kg) [1] |
| Billed from | Las Vegas, Nevada |
| Trained by | Allison Danger Cheerleader Melissa Tom Howard [1] Derrick Hubbard Sinn Bodhi |
| Debut | June 8, 2013 [1] |
Theresa Serrano (born January 25, 1994) [2] is an American professional wrestler. She is signed to WWE, where she performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Zoey Stark and is a member of the Pure Fusion Collective stable. She is a former one-time NXT Women's Tag Team Champion.
On June 8, 2013, Serrano made her debut at Vendetta Pro Wrestling, losing to Hudson Envy. [3] On November 16, 2013, she entered under the ring name Lacey Ryan and won her first match against Larry Butabi. During this time, she also won the UCW-Zero Ultra-X Championship. She was able to keep this until January 25, 2014, when she lost it to The Durango Kid. On March 22, she wrestled her last wrestling match for the time being. Ryan celebrated her comeback on August 16, 2018. She wrestled a match against Thunder Rosa, but this ended in a no contest. On May 23, 2019, she wrestled a match against Alex Gracia under the ring name Serrano, which she was able to win. On September 29, she won the FSW Women's Championship, defeating Taya Valkyrie for the title. [4] Ryan held the title until November 20, 2020, when she lost it to Mazzerati. [5]
On January 20, 2021, it was announced that Serrano had signed a contract with WWE. [6] On the January 29 episode of 205 Live , Serrano, now renamed Zoey Stark, made her debut as Marina Shafir's tag team partner in the Women's Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournament, losing to Ember Moon and Shotzi Blackheart in the first round. [7] On the February 17 episode of NXT , she made her NXT debut, defeating Valentina Feroz. [8] On the February 24 episode of NXT , she lost to NXT Women's Champion Io Shirai in a non-title match. After the match, Shirai embraced Stark, establishing Stark as a face. At NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver, Stark defeated Toni Storm. [9] At The Great American Bash, Stark and Shirai defeated The Way (Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell) to win the NXT Women's Tag Team Championship. [10] They lost the titles to Toxic Attraction (Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne) at Halloween Havoc in a triple-threat tag team Scareway To Hell Ladder Match, also involving Indi Hartwell and Persia Pirotta. [11] On the November 2 episode of NXT, Stark was attacked backstage by Jayne and Dolin. This was used to write her off television as she suffered a legitimate knee injury (a torn ACL, MCL and meniscus) at Halloween Havoc which required surgery. [12] [13]
On the July 19, 2022, episode of NXT, Stark made her return from injury in the 20-Woman Battle Royal for the Number One Contendership for the NXT Women's Championship in a winning effort. [14] On the November 8 episode of NXT, Stark and Nikkita Lyons failed to win the NXT Women's Tag Team Championship from Kayden Carter and Katana Chance. After the match, Stark attacked Lyons, turning heel for the first time in her WWE career. [15] On January 28, 2023, Stark entered her first Royal Rumble match at #13 lasting 26:34, scoring no eliminations before being eliminated by Sonya Deville.
As part of the 2023 WWE Draft, Stark was drafted to the Raw brand. [16] On the May 8 episode of Raw, Stark made her main roster debut, defeating Nikki Cross. [17] At Night of Champions, Stark assisted Trish Stratus to defeat Becky Lynch, aligning with Stratus in the process. [18] On the June 5 episode of Raw, Stark defeated Natalya to qualify for the women's Money in the Bank ladder match. [19] At the Money in the Bank, Stark worked with Stratus throughout the namesake match to prevent Lynch from winning, including a failed attempt to restrain Lynch with handcuffs. Stratus, Stark and Lynch were defeated when Stark's former tag team partner Iyo Sky captured the Money in the Bank briefcase. [20] Stark, being accompanied by Stratus, wrestled her first main event match on the main roster on the August 28 episode of Raw in a falls count anywhere match against Lynch. Stark accidentally struck Stratus through a table, which allowed Lynch to put Stark through another table to win the match. [21] At Payback, Stark aided Stratus in the latter's steel cage match against Lynch in a failing effort. Stark then ended her alliance with Stratus when Stratus slapped and berated her after the match, which prompted Stark to attack Stratus in retaliation. [22] [23]
On the September 4 episode of Raw, Stark lost to Shayna Baszler by technical submission after passing out to Baszler's Kirifuda Clutch. After the match, Baszler gave praise to Stark's toughness. [24] In the following week, Stark ran out to save Baszler when Baszler was attacked by Chelsea Green and Piper Niven after Baszler's match with Green. [25] On the September 18 episode of Raw, Stark and Baszler teamed up for the first time to face Green and Niven, however the match ended in a no contest after Nia Jax interrupted match. [26] At Crown Jewel, Stark failed to win the Women's World Championship from Rhea Ripley in a fatal-five way match also involving Raquel Rodriguez, Nia Jax and Baszler, who Ripley pinned to retain the title. [27] On the following episode of Raw, Stark won a battle royal for a Women's World Championship match against Ripley at Survivor Series: WarGames on November 25 but failed to win the title. [28] [29] At Raw: Day 1 on January 1, 2024, Stark and Baszler defeated Tegan Nox and Natalya to become the #1 contenders for the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship. [30] In May, Stark competed in the Queen of the Ring tournament where she lost in the quarterfinals. [31] [32] On the July 8 episode of Raw, Stark and Baszler aligned themselves with the returning Sonya Deville after weeks of declining the latter's offer, calling themselves Pure Fusion Collective. [33] In December, Stark entered the tournament to crown the inaugural Women's Intercontinental Champion where she lost in the semifinals. [34] [35]
At Royal Rumble on February 1, 2025, Stark entered the namesake match at number 8, where she helped Baszler and Deville eliminate Maxxine Dupri, but she was eliminated by Bianca Belair and Naomi. [36]
Serrano, as Zoey Stark, made her video game debut as a playable character in WWE 2K23 . [37]
Serrano is in a long term relationship with professional wrestler, actor, and wrestling instructor Thomas Merrett Howard, who goes by the ring name Tom Howard. [38]