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Awesome Kong

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This article is about the currently active female wrestler. For the previous wrestler known as Awesome Kong, see Colossal Kongs.
Kia Stevens
Born (1977-09-04) September 4, 1977 (age 47)[1]
Carson, California[2]
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Amazing Kong[1]
Awesome Kong[1]
Margaret[1]
Billed height5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)[3]
Billed weight272 lb (123 kg)
[3]
Billed fromTokyo, Japan[3]
Trained bySchool of Hard Knocks[4]
DebutOctober 20, 2002[1][4]

Kia Michelle Stevens[1] (born September 4, 1977), better known by her ring names Amazing Kong and Awesome Kong, is an American independent professional wrestler, best known for her work in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). She is currently working for Shimmer Women Athletes, National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), and various independent promotions in the United States and Japan.

She began her professional wrestling career in 2002 after appearing on a reality television show. In Japan, she held both the WWWA World Heavyweight Championship and the AWA Superstars of Wrestling World Women's Champion. In addition, she teamed with Aja Kong as the team Double Kong, holding numerous tag team championships. After returning to the United States, she held the NWA World Women's Championship once in 2007, trading it with MsChif. In 2006 and 2007, she also appeared in several matches for the all-female wrestling promotion Shimmer. In October 2007, she joined TNA, immediately feuding with Gail Kim over the newly created TNA Women's Knockout Championship. In addition, Kong was joined by manager Raisha Saeed. She left TNA in March 2010. In TNA, Kong was a two-time Knockout Champion and one half of the TNA Knockout Tag Team Champions with partner Hamada.

Professional wrestling career

Training and Japanese promotions (2002–2007)

In 2002, Stevens appeared on the Discovery Health Body Challenge as a contestant trying to lose weight in hopes of becoming a professional wrestler.[5] Afterward, Stevens trained at the School of Hard Knocks out of San Bernardino, California.[4] Soon, she was able to have her first professional match in the Empire Wrestling Federation.[4]

Stevens continued training in Japan in the women's wrestling promotion, All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW), debuting as Amazing Kong in October 2002.[4] The ring name was an invention of Masatsugu Matsunaga, who needed a replacement for Japanese female wrestler Aja Kong in several matches.[6] Stevens, as Kong, worked for multiple women's promotions in Japan, and she defeated Ayako Hamada for the WWWA World Heavyweight Championship in late 2004.[4] Later, Stevens cited Hamada as one of her favorite opponents.[6] She also formed a tag team named Double Kong with Aja Kong, and the two women held several tag team championships, including the predominantely male Hustle Super Tag Team Championship, using the ring names Margaret and Erika.[4][7] In early 2007, Kong also won the AWA Superstars of Wrestling World Women's Champion in Tokyo, Japan.[4]

American independents (2006–present)

On May 5, 2007, she defeated MsChif for the NWA World Women's Championship, but Kong lost the title back to MsChif approximately one year later.[4] The following month, Kong competed at the IPW:UK produced Chickfight 9, winning an eight-woman tournament.[8]

Throughout 2006 and 2007, Kong also competed in nine of the fifteen Shimmer Women Athletes events released on DVD. On October 13, 2007, Kong got her first Shimmer Championship title shot against Sara Del Rey, losing when she did not answer the referee's ten-count. On May 3, 2008 she teamed with Del Rey against Ashley Lane and Nevaeh in a Shimmer Tag Team Championship match, losing by disqualification. On November 8, 2009, at the tapings of Volume 27 Kong and LuFisto went to a double count out so both of them were declared #1 contenders at the Shimmer Championship.[9] Later that same night on Volume 28, Kong suffered her first pinfall loss in Shimmer, after being pinned by MsChif in a 3-way elimination match, which also included LuFisto.[9]

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2007–2010)

Kong (right) and Raisha Saeed (left)

Stevens debuted on the October 11, 2007 edition of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA)'s Impact! as a villainous character, defeating Gail Kim.[4] At Bound for Glory, Stevens—billed as Awesome Kong—participated in a 10-Knockout Gauntlet match to crown the first TNA Women's Knockout Champion, but she was eliminated by the combined effort of Angelina Love, ODB and Gail Kim.[10] Two months later at Turning Point, she lost a Women's Knockout Championship match to Kim via disqualification.[11] At Final Resolution in January 2008, Kong was defeated by Kim in a No Disqualification match for the Women's Knockout Championship.[4] Later that week, however, on the January 10 episode of Impact!, Kong defeated Kim to win the Women's Knockout Championship with an unknown woman wearing a burkha accompanying her to the ring, later named Raisha Saeed.[4] At Lockdown, Kong and Saeed teamed up for the first time, losing a tag team match to Kim and ODB.[12]

The Kongtourage

On the May 8 episode of Impact!, Kong issued a $25,000 dollar challenge to any females in the Impact! audience (actually planted wrestlers), defeated her opponents week after week.[4] Kong then defeated challenger Taylor Wilde, who after two unsuccessful attempts, defeated Kong on July 10 to win the $25,000 Challenge and the Women's Knockout Championship.[4][13] Kong then failed to regain the championship from Wilde during a rematch at Victory Road.[14] On the live October 23 edition of Impact Kong defeated Wilde to become a two-time Knockout Champion.[4] Two weeks later, Rhaka Khan turned on Wilde, who had been her tag team partner, and aligned herself with Kong and Saeed.[15] The alliance of Kong, Saeed, and Khan—with the later addition of Sojourner Bolt—became known as The Kongtourage.[16] At Turning Point, Kong and Saeed were defeated in a tag team match by Wilde and her partner Roxxi.[17] Months later, Bolt and Khan left the Kongtourage when Bolt became the number one contender to Kong's championship.[18][19] Kong retained her title against Bolt at Destination X.[20]

On the March 26 edition of Impact! Kong and Saeed were defeated by The Beautiful People (Angelina Love and Velvet Sky), and after the match The Beautiful People tried to cut Kong's hair.[21] They accomplished the task on the April 16 episode of Impact!, and Kong became a fan favorite by attempting to retaliate.[4] At Lockdown, Kong lost the title to Love in a 3-Way Six Sides of Steel match, which also involved Taylor Wilde.[4] After losing the title, Kong defeated Love's allies Sky, Madison Rayne and Cute Kip in separate Stretcher matches.[4] Love also defeated Kong at their title rematch at Sacrifice.[4]

In August 2009 Kong and Saeed entered the tournament to crown the first TNA Knockout Tag Team Champions. In the first round of the tournament, the team was able to defeat The Main Event Mafia (Traci Brooks and Sharmell), after Saeed blind tagged Kong and pinned Brooks, much to Kong's dismay.[22] Three weeks later they were eliminated from the tournament at the hands of the eventual winners of the whole tournament, Taylor Wilde and Sarita, when Wilde pinned Saeed.[23] Subsequently, Kong began rivalries with Tara and Knockout Champion ODB. At Bound for Glory, Saeed inadvertently cost Kong the Knockout Championship while interfering in a match between Kong, Tara, and ODB.[24] On the following edition of Impact! Kong defeated her now former manager and afterwards powerbombed her through the entrance stage.[25] After interfering in two of Tara's matches, Kong and Tara wrestled at Turning Point in a Six Sides of Steel match, which Tara won.[26]

On the December 17 edition of Impact! Kong formed a tag team with Hamada as they won a three-way non-title match against The Beautiful People (Madison Rayne and Velvet Sky) and the TNA Knockout Tag Team Champions Taylor Wilde and Sarita, when Kong pinned Rayne.[27] On the January 4, 2010, live, three-hour, Monday night edition of Impact! Kong and Hamada defeated Sarita and Wilde to win the TNA Knockout Tag Team Championship.[28]

On January 19, 2010, Bubba the Love Sponge claimed on his radio show that Awesome Kong had legitimately (not apart of a storyline) attacked him, while backstage for the tapings of TNA Impact! the previous day, due to his negative comments concerning the Haiti earthquake relief project. Kong, who had been a driving force in the wrestling community in raising funds for Haiti, was reportedly sent home from the tapings following the altercation.[29] On January 19, 2010, Stevens reportedly asked for her release from TNA.[30] After she refused to take part in TNA's January 2010 tour of the United Kingdom, the company suspended her.[31] The following month, Stevens filed a lawsuit against Bubba for an alleged threatening phone call.[32] She was reportedly released from TNA on March 1, 2010.[33] On the March 8 edition of Impact! Kong and Hamada were stripped of the Knockout Tag Team titles after allegedly failing to defend them in 30 days,[34] even though in fact the team defended the titles just 21 days prior against Madison Rayne and Velvet Sky.[35] TNA later released a statement claiming that Stevens had requested her release due to personal reasons.[36] Stevens later revealed that she had asked for her release due to monetary issues and recent changes to TNA management.[37]

Personal life

Stevens grew up in Carson, California and has a younger brother.[2] Prior to becoming a professional wrestler, she was employed as a social worker.[5] She also owned a business that put vending machines in several high schools.[2] Stevens's family and friends helped her fund her career in wrestling, when she went to train in Japan.[2] She is also an investor in Nu Skin Enterprises, a line of skin and nutritional products.[2] Stevens is currently dating Dan "Freight Train" Ouellette.[2]

In wrestling

Kong executing a diving splash on Tyler Black at a NWA Midwest event

Championships and accomplishments

Awesome Kong in May 2008
  • Ladies Legend Pro Wrestling
    • LLPW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Aja Kong[1]
  • NEO Ladies Pro Wrestling
    • NEO Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Matsuo Haruka (1), and Kyoko Kimura (1)[1]
  • Pro Wrestling WORLD-1
    • WORLD-1 Women's Championship (1 time)[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "Profile on Online World of Wrestling". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-08-17.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Oliver, Greg (May 3, 2010). "Awesome Kong believes in herself". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2010-05-03.
  3. ^ a b c d e f "Shimmer Roster". Shimmer Women Athletes. Retrieved 2009-11-11.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Oliver, Greg (October 12, 2009). "Awesome Kong". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2010-01-03.
  5. ^ a b Champagne, Christine. "Television Reviews for Discovery Health Body Challenge". Out.com. Retrieved 2008-04-30.
  6. ^ a b "About Me". AwesomeKong.com. Retrieved 2010-01-05.
  7. ^ a b "2006年6月17日 ハッスル・エイド 2006" (in Japanese). Hustle. Retrieved 2009-09-11.
  8. ^ a b "ChickFight 9 Quick Results from UK". ChickFight. June 17, 2007. Retrieved 2010-01-03.
  9. ^ a b Csonka, Larry (2009-11-09). "SHIMMER Vol. 27 and 28 DVD Taping Results". 411Mania. Retrieved 2009-11-09.
  10. ^ Sokol, Chris (October 15, 2007). "Angle gets stung at Bound For Glory". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2010-01-03.
  11. ^ Sokol, Chris (December 3, 2007). "Chaos rules at Turning Point". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2010-01-03.
  12. ^ Sokol, Chris (April 18, 2008). "TNA Lockdown: Joe captures gold". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2010-01-03.
  13. ^ Oliver, Greg (July 9, 2009). "Taylor Wilde". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2010-01-04.
  14. ^ Kapur, Bob (July 18, 2008). "Main event mars Victory Road". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2010-01-04.
  15. ^ Sokol, Chris (November 7, 2008). "Impact: Steiner tops Joe going into Turning Point". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2010-01-04.
  16. ^ Sokol, Bryan and Chris (January 30, 2009). "Impact: Main Event Mafia's in charge". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2010-01-04.
  17. ^ Sokol, Bryan and Chris (November 14, 2008). "Turning Point: Mafia gains momentum". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2010-01-14.
  18. ^ Sokol, Bryan and Chris (February 20, 2009). "Impact: Mafia Melee". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2010-01-04.
  19. ^ Sokol, Bryan and Chris (February 27, 2009). "Impact: The Mafia gets stung". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2010-01-04.
  20. ^ Sokol, Bryan and Chris (April 9, 2009). "The TNA Destination X disaster". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2010-01-04.
  21. ^ Sokol, Bryan and Chris (March 27, 2009). "Impact: Captain Joe". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2010-01-14.
  22. ^ Keller, Wade (2009-08-28). "Keller's TNA Impact report 8/27: Results, star ratings, thoughts, observations, nitpicks, quotebook". PWTorch.com. Retrieved 2010-01-05.
  23. ^ Sokol, Chris (2009-09-18). "Impact: Angle steps ahead of Morgan". SLAM! Sports: Wrestling. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2010-01-05. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthor= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  24. ^ Tylwalk, Nick (October 22, 2009). "Sting loses but doesn't retire, capping off night of ups and downs at Bound for Glory". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2010-01-04.
  25. ^ Wilkenfeld, Daniel (2009-10-22). "WILKENFELD'S TNA IMPACT REPORT 10/22: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of Spike TV broadcast". PWTorch. Retrieved 2009-10-23.
  26. ^ Tylwalk, Nick (November 21, 2009). "Two superb matches highlight surprisingly straightforward Turning Point". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2010-01-04.
  27. ^ Boutwell, Josh (2009-12-18). "Impact Results - 12/17/09". WrestleView. Retrieved 2010-01-01.
  28. ^ a b c Tylwalk, Nick (January 5, 2010). "Impact: Hogan and friends arrive, but Angle and Styles steal the show". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2010-01-05.
  29. ^ "Kong sent home by TNA after fight last night". Wrestling Observer. 2010-01-19. Retrieved 2010-01-19.
  30. ^ Gerweck, Steve (2010-01-21). "TNA Knockout gives notice". Wrestling Observer. WrestleView. Retrieved 2010-01-22.
  31. ^ Martin, Adam (2010-02-12). "Report: TNA suspends a Knockout". WrestleView. Retrieved 2010-02-13.
  32. ^ Brown, Karina (2010-02-25). "Wrestler Accuses 'Love Sponge' of Hate Call". Courthouse News Service. Retrieved 2010-02-26.
  33. ^ Gerweck, Steve (2010-03-02). "TNA Knockout done with TNA?". WrestleView. Retrieved 2010-03-01.
  34. ^ Keller, Wade (2010-03-08). "TNA IMPACT RESULTS 3/8: Keller's live ongoing report covering the historic beginning of Monday Night War II". PWTorch. Retrieved 2010-03-09.
  35. ^ Martin, Adam (2010-02-16). "SPOILERS: 2/15 TNA Impact tapings". WrestleView. Retrieved 2010-03-09.
  36. ^ "A Statement Regarding Awesome Kong". Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. Retrieved 2010-03-22.
  37. ^ Caldwell, James (2010-04-30). "TNA News: Awesome Kong interview - why she left TNA, pay discrepancy, unhappy with changes; talks Bubba, ROH, WWE". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2010-05-03.
  38. ^ Droste, Ryan (2008-06-09). "Slammiversary PPV Results - 6/8 - Southaven, MS (KOTM, AJ & Angle)". WrestleView. Retrieved 2010-03-02.
  39. ^ Keller, Wade (2009-08-28). "Keller's TNA Impact report 8/27: Results, star ratings, thoughts, observations, nitpicks, quotebook". PWTorch. Retrieved 2010-03-02.
  40. ^ Wiswell, John. "Awesome Kong interview recap". Wrestling Observer. Retrieved 2009-11-14.
  41. ^ Boutwell, Josh (2008-10-23). "Impact Results - 10/23/08 - Las Vegas, NV (Live in HD)". WrestleView. Retrieved 2010-01-06.
  42. ^ a b Boutwell, Josh (2009-04-30). "Impact Results - 4/30/09". WrestleView. Retrieved 2010-01-06.
  43. ^ Caldwell, James (2008-05-15). "CALDWELL'S TNA IMPACT REPORT 5/13: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of Spike TV show". PWTorch. Retrieved 2010-01-06.
  44. ^ Martin, Adam (2009-07-19). "Victory Road PPV Results - 7/19/09". WrestleView. Retrieved 2010-01-06.
  45. ^ "TNA Knocked Out DVD Soundtrack". Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. Retrieved 2010-05-06.
  46. ^ "The PWI Female 50 Rankings: Who Is The Top Women's Wrestler In The World?". PWPix.net. 2008-09-18. Retrieved 2008-09-19.
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