Faith Marie Jefferies (born August 5, 1999) is an American professional wrestler, taekwondo practitioner, and musician.[2] She is signed to WWE, where she performs on its NXTbrand with the ring name Nikkita Lyons. Jefferies has also worked for Women of Wrestling (WOW) as Faith the Lioness.[3]
Jefferies was born in Las Vegas, Nevada and raised in Hollywood, California. She began practicing Taekwondo at the age of four,[3] earning a black belt by the age of 8.[2] She graduated from high school in early 2017.[3]
Shortly after graduating high school in 2017, Jefferies began professional wrestling training under Selina Majors. She debuted for Women of Wrestling under the ring name Faith The Lioness.[2] In summer 2021, Jefferies attended WWE's tryout in Las Vegas, where she was offered a developmental contract.[4]
After signing with WWE in late summer 2021, Jefferies' WWE debut was on the December 31, 2021 episode of 205 Live, under the ring name Nikkita Lyons, losing to Amari Miller.[5] She made her NXT debut on the February 22, 2022 episode, defeating Kayla Inlay.[6] In April, Lyons entered into a feud with Lash Legend, beating her on the April 5 and 26 episodes of NXT respectively.[7][8] At Spring Breakin', she teamed with Cora Jade to defeat Legend and Natalya in a tag team match.[9] On the May 10 episode of NXT, Lyons participated in the NXT Women's Breakout Tournament, defeating Arianna Grace in the first round.[10] On May 24, it was announced that Lyons was removed from the tournament due to an injury, revealing on her Instagram account a day later that she suffered a partial MCL tear and an MCL sprain.[11][12] Lyons returned on the June 28 episode of NXT, defeating NXT Women's ChampionMandy Rose by disqualification.[13]
On the July 19 episode of NXT, Lyons competed in a 20-woman battle royal to determine the number one contender for the NXT Women's Championship, eliminating Kayden Carter and Kiana James, but was eliminated by Tiffany Stratton.[14] On the August 8 episode of Raw, it was announced that Lyons would be teaming with Zoey Stark in a tournament to fill the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship that had been vacant since May.[15] On the August 19 episode of SmackDown, Lyons and her tag partner were removed from the tournament due to Stark reportedly sustaining a concussion days earlier in an NXT Women's Championship match. On September 13 at the NXT 2.0 One Year Anniversary Show, Lyons and Stark defeated James and Grace.[16] On the November 8 episode of NXT, Lyons and Stark failed to capture the NXT Women's Tag Team Championship from Carter and Katana Chance, and Lyons was taken out by Stark after the match.[17] Lyons lost to Stark on the December 20 episode of NXT and was injured by Blair Davenport on the January 24, 2023 episode of NXT. Lyons returned to NXT on the December 5 episode, attacking Davenport. On the December 12 episode, she made her return to the ring after a near year-long absence in a tag team match with Lyra Valkyria, facing Blair Davenport & Cora Jade, where her and Valkyria failed to win. In March 2024, Lyons was revealed to have suffered another injury.[18] She returned to in-ring action at a NXT house show in Davenport, Florida, on September 27[19][20] and returned to NXT on the October 15 episode, defeating Lola Vice after interference from Jaida Parker showing signs of a heel turn.[21] On the October 29 episode of NXT, Lyons turned heel for the first time in her career, as she was revealed as Rizzo's attacker following Lyons' defeat against Kelani Jordan.[22]