Five-time NCAA All-America track and field athlete, Anna Keefer, is now known globally by WWE fans as “Adriana Rizzo,” but swapping the track for the turnbuckle has required more than just a name change. In this exclusive chat with M&F, Keefer reveals how both success and setbacks have informed her challenging journey in pro wrestling so far, and why she’s finally ready to breakout as the next star of the squared circle.
Who Is Adriana Rizzo?
Making her way from Albertville, MN, Anna Keefer was a titan of track and field, excelling at long jump, where she set a Minnesota state record of 20 feet and 1.25 inches (6.13 meters), In 2022, while representing the North Carolina Tar Heels, Keefer won the 2022 ACC Indoor Long Jump event with 21 feet and 6 inches (6.55 meters), setting a UNC record in the process. In addition, Keefer was also a record-breaking sprinter, earning personal bests of 11.29 seconds for 100 meters, and 22.83 seconds for the 200-meter event, but when World Wrestling Entertainment reached out and offered her a tryout, the Division I athlete’s life would change course drastically.
Track and Field’s Anna Keefer Becomes WWE’s Adriana Rizzo
When Keefer entered her 2022 tryout at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, her knowledge of pro wrestling pretty much extended to having heard of The Rock and John Cena, but a fellow athlete and friend, Jonah Niesenbaum, now known as “Cutler James,” was already on the WWE recruitment journey. He encouraged Keefer to take a new leap and go between the ropes for herself. “I didn’t know, physically, how much contact there really was,” she explained of her introduction to the mat. “The first two days of hitting the ropes, I had a huge welt. The stiffness of the ropes was shocking to me.”
Still, Keefer sucked it up and wowed officials so much that she not only signed a contract but also made her debut with WWE’s NXT brand that same year. But while wrestling at the promotion’s Performance Center, injury occurred when the rookie went to clothesline her opponent. To steady herself, the athlete had planted her foot on the ground, but the canvas bounced back in an awkward direction. “That’s when my Achilles tendon went,” she explains. Keefer would be forced to sit it out with an Achilles tendon rupture for around six months, training and then finally returning almost a year later in October 2023. That return soon presented an opportunity for Keefer to join the D’Angelo family stable, and she also picked up her official WWE name, “Adrianna Rizzo.”
]With her confidence now building, and fans getting on board with her charisma, Rizzo was beginning to make great strides, until the testing times returned.
The ACL Injury That Nearly Derailed Her WWE Career
Back at the WWE Performance Center, Rizzo picked her opponent up for a bodyslam, but her rival pushed down on her knee, bending the joint in the wrong direction. “I partially tore my ACL in that match,” she explains. Incredibly, the gutsy grappler would continue to wrestle, even flying through the air at the NXT Vengeance Day 2024 event, but after months of wearing a knee brace and focusing on rehab, the knee would finally give out during another training session, adding a torn meniscus and sprained MCL to her already injured ACL. “And this was all on the left side,” she tells M&F.
What Adriana Rizzo Learned During Her Time Away From the Ring
Rather than fade away from relevancy, however, Rizzo used her time on the bench to hone her craft in front of the camera, working on her promos and becoming an entertaining presenter. “It’s funny, at my tryout, I think somebody told me that they wrote down, ‘No Personality, No Character,’” shares the star. “But as soon as I had that Achilles injury, all I focused on was character.” Having studied media production at college, the Adriana Rizzo Instagram account soon became a great place to keep up with this athlete’s story. Creatively, the athlete also turned her hand to fashion, developing the Salt & Daughters label for vintage inspired swimwear that she models with her own mom and sister.
For Anna Keefer, the change of direction required to become Adriana Rizzo had proven to be a completely new road to navigate. “The medical staff, and all our hypothesis are that these injuries could be attributed to a lack of multidirectional work,” reveals the WWE Superstar. “I was very linear: run straight, jump straight, and that was for 12 years, basically.”
Keeping her passion for WWE alive at the Performance Center, Rizzo now uses the gym space to ace her angles. “We do lateral movements,” she says. “Reactive stuff like crossover runs.” Other drills at the WWE PC include coaches throwing balls at her while she is on the run. “Now, I’m reacting to these unorthodox things,” she explains of preparing her body for the rigours of the ring.
Can Adriana Rizzo Become WWE NXT’s Next Breakout Star?
The emphasis on multidirectional training has also served to improve Rizzo’s abilities in the ring. “When I started these lateral runs or changes of direction, I wasn’t as crisp,” reflects the tenacious athlete. “Now, I feel like I’m kind of good at this now!”
The progress continues for Adriana Rizzo, who made a triumphant return to the ring on July 24, 2026, during a live event with NXT. “I was just kind of neutral, and then a little nervous right before I went out,” shares Rizzo, who says that the trust she had in her opponent, Myka Lockwood, helped her to find her feet once the action got going.
Now, Rizzo is hoping to get more matches under her belt to sharpen her skills, ready for taking on the very best WWE Superstars like Chelsea Green or Rhea Ripley.“Chelsea Green, I think she’s a lot of fun both with her character and her personality,” says Rizzo. “Rhea Rupley has also been one of my favorites. She would be a really cool match to have.”
The road to championships is rarely a straight line but if anyone can break records at the finish line, it’s “Adriana Rizzo.”
WWE NXT airs on The CW in the United States, and via Netflix internationally.
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