Thea Hail

On March 17, 2022, Knisley was announced as one of the 14 recruits who reported to the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida.[1] One month later, on the April 8 episode of NXT Level Up, she made her in-ring debut under the ring name Thea Hail against Ivy Nile, which she lost.[3][10] During the May 31 episode of NXT 2.0, a vignette aired showing Hail graduating with a 4.0 GPA, and tossing away major university hats. She instead picked and donned a Chase University hat, officially aligning herself with the group for the first time.[11] On the June 17 episode of Level Up, Hail, with Duke Hudson and Bodhi Hayward accompanying her ringside, picked up her first victory, over Arianna Grace.[12] On the October 11 episode of NXT, Hail competed in her first match on the NXT brand against Kiana James. During the match, James' manager Mr. Stone interfered and cut a promo, which seen Hail hit him with a back body drop and stomp him out of the ring. James used Stone's distraction to her advantage, picking up the victory with a flatliner.[13]