"NCAA Football 2003," the seventh installment in EA Sport's collegiate gridiron franchise, pulled double duty as that summer's nationwide dormitory must-have — and the University of Oregon's newfound recruiting pitch. Oregon quarterback and Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year Joey Harrington graced the cover in a futuristic black-chested, green-sleeved and yellow-traipsed uniform, an extension of the university's new strategy: to use all that Phil Knight Nike money and creativity to attract the nation's top athletes. They created the wildest apparel combinations, built up the best facilities, and formed their very own aesthetic, held strong in functional art pieces like the "Deep in the Woods" basketball court design at Knight Arena. These forward thinking ideals attracted athletes the world over, including the jarring gymnast with WWE's most impossible ender, new WWE Women's Intercontinental Champion Sol Ruca.

"[Oregon is known] for their academics as well!" Ruca retorts with a laugh.

With her first major WWE championship secured, Ruca is showcasing a new style for a new generation, and she has the fight — and the flight — to flip the wrestling world on its head.

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A graduate of Western Christian High School in Upland, California, part of the appeal of the University of Oregon for Ruca was the stark contrast between her high school of 300 students and Eugene's packed stadiums and next-gen facilities to build the best athletes. "I went to a really small high school, so I didn't really get that whole high-school experience of football games and whatnot," Ruca says. "So when I decided that I was going to search for a college to go to and start reaching out for scholarships and all that, University of Oregon … when I toured them, I mean, the facilities were absolutely incredible. And I feel like once I saw that, I was like, 'yeah, this is where I want to be.'"

In 2019, she helped her Oregon Ducks Acrobatics and Tumbling Team finish as NCATA National Title runner-ups, and won an individual National Title in the Open Pyramid event.

Weighing out her post-grad options, Ruca's next move presented itself in the rarest of ways: a parent telling their child that they should wrestle. "My crazy thing is my mom was out [eating] with my brother and my grandma, and wrestling was on the TV, WWE was on the TV. And my mom had made a comment like, 'Oh, [she] should do that.' And then a few days later I'm like calling my mom like, 'Hey, I guess I have a tryout at WWE.'"

The same way she sought out schools and scholarships for college, Ruca reached out to WWE, who immediately responded. And the same way that fateful Eugene campus tour guided her to her first real life-changing decision, Ruca's initial WWE tryout let her know immediately that this was her path. "Everyone [trying out] bought into this goal of like, 'This is what we want. Like, we're all here for a reason.' And everyone was so supportive, and I kind of missed that. Then also just going through the drills, it was probably one of the hardest things I've ever done in my entire life, but it was also so fun."

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Like any good recruiting trip, Ruca got to actually see game day as well. And getting to see what she'd be learning, in action, was the sticking point for her to make this her new passion. "They had the people that were on the independents do some matches at the end of the tryout," she recalls, "and being able to watch it there, in-person, I was like, 'Damn, this is kind of exactly what I wanted to do.' I just never knew that it was something I could do or even how to get into it.'"

For Ruca, the in-ring aspect of the job came quickly. In many ways, it was an extension of what she'd been doing most of her life. "I think that was because of gymnastics and also acrobatics and tumbling, because I got to work with other people [for the latter two], whereas gymnastics is a solo sport," she says. "Acrobatics is learning how to catch people, learning how to throw people, learning how to stay on time with someone."

What took a bit more time was understanding who she wanted to present, and how she'd find a way to be something fresh on a brand like NXT where standing out is paramount. Leaning into her Southern California roots, she developed the style and skills of Sol Ruca, a "Surfer" Sting meets Rob Van Dam persona with the former's beach pastiche and the latter's effortless athleticism. "[Sol Ruca] loves the beach. She loves surfing. She loves to expand her horizons and try new things," she says. "She's very laid back. She's very chill. However, if you mess with her, she's not afraid to step up and do what's necessary to put people in their place."

Everything looked so easy, most notably her mastery of the top rope. After missing a year early on with an ACL injury, Ruca came back in full force March 2024. Over the next year, she wowed crowds with her innovative moves, counters and the ability to just hang in the air before a top-rope splash or ringside dive. She highlighted the acrobatic action with the "Sol Snatcher," a springboard flipping cutter that stands out for its innovation and impact. From the top, the corner, the apron, anywhere, Ruca found new ways to blindside and batter her opponents all at once.

She flipped and finished her way to the WWE Women's Speed Championship, the NXT Women's North American Championship and a much-coveted spot on John Cena's "Last Time is Now" retirement show this past December. To date, she thinks that match against Bayley is the best on her résumé. "I talked to [Bayley] going into it about how big of a deal it was," Ruca says. "She was like, 'Hey, if I don't have [a] WrestleMania [match this year], this is the thing. Like, this is about as close as you can get to that.'

"It was really, really cool to be like the only women's match on that card, especially being someone from NXT against someone like Bayley, who is such a huge name and is well-known. It was absolutely incredible, and I was really, really honored to be that woman from NXT that came to represent."

Aside from the championships and challenges, Ruca also found the Lex Luger to her Sting, a promising powerhouse of a partner in Zaria, the South Australian bruiser with a mean look and even meaner streak. Partnering Zaria's physical intensity with Ruca's laid-back leaps in the ring — along with their "buddy cop" backstage bits — proved rewarding, as the two clicked on multiple levels. While the two split due to seemingly irreconcilable differences, Ruca credits her growth outside of the ring to her perfect stranger of a partner. "We've helped each other so much just, like, grow in general," she says.

"It was really cool to have such a different perspective and have such a difference between her and I. I think that's what made 'ZaRuca' work, was that we were so different, but we did have that common goal. … It's so much easier to bounce off things with like your best friend than someone that you may not talk to all the time or not get in the ring with all the time. So I think that whole experience, like, I'm so thankful for her. I'm so thankful that we were able to draw out this 'ZaRuca' thing for as long as we did, because we weren't supposed to tag at all. We were supposed to have like one or two matches, but people loved us, so we were together for a bit."

After losing a "Last Woman Standing" match to her former friend and feral foe, Ruca vaulted to the "WWE Raw" roster, losing her debut match to Women's Champion Liv Morgan after one final parting gift from her "ZaRuca" blood feud. Shorty thereafter, she found herself in the crosshairs of Women's Intercontinental Champion Becky Lynch, who took Ruca's contract signing as a personal affront. While still in its historical infancy, longtime WWE talents like Lynch, AJ Lee and Bayley have made the Intercontinental Title feel important right away with how fiercely they've fought for it and the lengths they've gone to protect it. So for Ruca, defeating Lynch for the title at WWE Clash in Italy came with both appreciation for what it's become and the challenge of helping to elevate it.

"Honestly, I'm honored, and I honestly just hope that I can do right by this title and prove that I do deserve to have this title," Ruca says.

"And I am just honored that I've come so far in a span of only four-ish years, so I'm just honored and I just want to do everyone proud. I want to do myself proud as well."

A half-decade after her collegiate days came to an end, the former Oregon Duck is doing right by her alma mater, with her unorthodox, loud outfits, forward-thinking offense and her gift of flight all honoring some of the unofficial tenets the university has leaned on in the past few decades. It's so rare to see things come so easily so quickly, but Ruca has the ability and focus to match style and substance. With a bright future and the baddest finisher around, the sky's only the limit if she aims that low.

"[Sol Ruca's] all about proving people wrong," she says. "That's exactly what [the championship] represents right now for me. I proved Becky wrong, I proved everyone else wrong that I'm just a rookie and that I'm not ready to be here, and here I am."