Angelina Love
Angelina Love | |
---|---|
Born | [1] Toronto, Ontario, Canada[1] | September 13, 1981
Professional wrestling career | |
Ring name(s) | Angelina Love[2] Angel Williams[3] Canadian Angel[3] |
Billed height | 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)[4] |
Billed weight | 118 lb (54 kg)[4] |
Billed from | Toronto, Ontario, Canada Memphis, Tennessee |
Trained by | Rob "El Fuego" Etcheverria[1] Deep South Wrestling |
Debut | August 2000[1] |
Lauren Williams[5] (born September 13, 1981)[1] is a Canadian professional wrestler, who is currently working for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where, under the ring name Angelina Love, she is a former three-time TNA Women's Knockout Champion. She works outside of TNA under the ring name Angel Williams.
Professional wrestling career
Williams debuted in wrestling in 2000, working independent promotions around Canada. Her all-time favorite wrestler Shawn Michaels was her inspiration to get into wrestling. She was first a valet for various wrestlers such as Chris Sabin and Eric Young and then began to train under Rob Fuego to become a wrestler, as well.[1] Williams briefly worked for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) in 2004, mainly wrestling on TNA Xplosion against Trinity.[6]
World Wrestling Entertainment (2004–2007)
She was working for promotions around America when World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) spotted her, and invited her to a tryout in June 2004.[6] In November she trained at Ohio Valley Wrestling, and WWE signed her to a developmental contract in late 2004.[3][6] She was assigned to wrestle and train in Deep South Wrestling (DSW), one of WWE's developmental territories. Williams began managing Johnny Parisi in the summer of 2005.[3] On September 8, 2005, Williams won her first match in Deep South by defeating Michelle McCool.[3] On September 22, Williams was scheduled to wrestle against McCool, but Michelle never showed up.[3] Instead Daisy Mae came out and challenged Williams.[3] Williams was injured at the February 9, 2006 DSW TV Tapings, but she still managed to participate in the first ever Bikini Contest in DSW. She did not reveal her bikini because Palmer Cannon interrupted, which led to a match that featured him and Tommy Dreamer. During the match she could not physically get involved, so she walked backstage.[3] On February 28, 2006, she underwent knee surgery in Birmingham, Alabama to repair her torn ACL.[7] After almost seven months of rehab, she stepped back into the ring at a DSW TV taping.[3] At the beginning of November 2006, Williams started managing The Gymini, but The Gymini were released from their contracts in January 2007.[3] Williams then got in a feud with General Manager of DSW, Krissy Vaine, after she made Williams lose her matches due to distractions by other Deep South Divas.[3] At one point Williams had enough and even attacked Vaine in her office. At the March 15, 2007 Deep South TV Tapings Williams aligned herself again with Vaine and was promoted the Co-GM of Deep South Wrestling.
When Deep South Wrestling shut down in April, Williams was moved to Ohio Valley Wrestling. Williams made her Ohio Valley Wrestling debut in a dark match at the May 16, 2007 television taping in Louisville, Kentucky, defeating Serena.[8] She was released from her developmental contract one day later.
Independent circuit (2007)
After being let go from her WWE developmental contract in May 2007, Williams resurfaced in Mexico's Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA) promotion under the name Canadian Angel on June 10, 2007.[9] She also appeared for independent promotions such as NWA: Extreme Canadian Championship Wrestling and Full Throttle Wrestling.
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2007–2009)
In September 2007, she was contacted again by TNA to appear at their annual pay-per-view Bound for Glory, which was confirmed on the October 9 edition of TNA Today where she was interviewed by Jeremy Borash. At Bound For Glory, Williams participated in a 10 Knockout Gauntlet to crown the first TNA Women's Champion.[10] During the match, she was eliminated by Gail Kim and O.D.B., and the match was won in the end by Kim.[10] At Genesis, Williams competed in a four-way match for the championship with Gail Kim retaining her title.[11]
The Beautiful People (2007–2009)
Williams soon began competing under the ring name "Angelina Love" and formed a partnership with Velvet Sky, calling themselves "Velvet-Love Entertainment", later changed to "The Beautiful People". The duo defeated ODB and Roxxi Laveaux at Turning Point in a Knockouts Tag Team match.[12] Love and Sky became villains on the March 13 edition of Impact by attacking Laveaux. Love also participated at Lockdown in the first ever "Queen of the Cage" match but was pinned by Laveaux.[13]
Love was the runner-up in the Make Over battle royal-ladder match at Sacrifice.[14] Love then cost Gail Kim a match against Awesome Kong, costing her the chance of winning the Knockout Title. The Beautiful People hired Moose to join their team to face off with the team of Laveaux, ODB and Kim at Slammiversary, but lost.[15] Love then lost to Gail Kim at Victory Road in a singles match. At Hard Justice she teamed with Velvet Sky and Awesome Kong in a losing effort against Gail Kim, ODB and Taylor Wilde then unsuccessfully challenged Wilde at No Surrender for the Women's Knockout Championship.[16][17] In August 2008 and February 2009 Cute Kip and Madison Rayne joined Love and Sky as members of the Beautiful People.[18][19]
Knockout Champion and release (2009)
Love earned another shot at the Women's Knockout Championship at Lockdown, in a 3-Way Dance with Awesome Kong and Wilde. She won the match and the title after pinning Wilde. During the match she suffered a concussion while receiving a crossbody from Wilde.[20] The following week, Awesome Kong interrupted her title celebration.[3] In the following weeks, Kong destroyed Madison Rayne, Velvet Sky, and Cute Kip in Stretcher matches.[3] At Sacrifice, Love retained her championship against Kong, and on the May 28 edition of Impact! she successfully defended her title against Sojournor Bolt.[3] After the match she officially kicked Kip from the Beautiful People and was then assaulted by the debuting Tara.[3] At Slammiversary Love successfully defended her title against Tara, before losing the title to her on the July 9, 2009 edition of Impact!.[3] At Victory Road, however, Love controversially defeated Tara to win back the title, when Tara's foot was on the bottom rope, which was unnoticed by ref Slick Johnson.[3] At Hard Justice Love lost the Knockout title to ODB after Cody Deaner pinned Velvet Sky in a tag team match between the four.[3] After the match, Love left the ring without Sky or Rayne, however in the following weeks, her relationship with Sky remained intact, with the duo cutting Rayne loose.[3]
On September 3, 2009, Williams was released from TNA due to visa issues, while still a top draw in the women's division.[21] However on September 7, 2009, Williams posted a blog entry on her MySpace account stating that she would return to TNA Wrestling once the issues with her visa were sorted out.[22] She continued appearing on Impact! for two more weeks due to the tapings being held before her release. In the episodes she and Velvet Sky advanced to the finals of the tournament for the TNA Knockout Tag Team Championship with help from Madison Rayne, whom they afterwards welcomed to return to the Beautiful People.[23] Rayne would go on to replace Love in the finals for the Knockout Tag Team Championship.[24]
Return (2010–present)
On January 2, 2010, it was reported that Williams had re-signed with TNA.[25] Williams, as Angelina Love, made her return on the January 14 edition of Impact!, appearing in the crowd and hugging Velvet Sky and Madison Rayne prior to their match with Awesome Kong and Hamada. However, after the match, Love turned face by attacking her former partners and Lacey Von Erich, her replacement in the group, seemingly angry about being replaced.[26] She made her in-ring return the following week by defeating Rayne, however after the match she was triple teamed by the Beautiful People.[27] On the February 4 edition of Impact! she was unsuccessful in her attempt to regain the Knockout Championship from Tara.[28] On the March 8 edition of Impact! Love and Tara teamed up to challenge for the vacant Knockout Tag Team Championship, but were defeated by Rayne and Sky, after interference from Daffney, with whom Tara was involved in a feud.[29] On the April 5 edition of Impact!, Love teamed with Tara, ODB, and Hamada to face the Beautiful People and Daffney in the first ever Lockbox elimination match, contested for four keys to four boxes containing prizes. Love won a key by eliminating Lacey Von Erich, and it was later revealed that her key opened the box, which contained the Knockout Championship, making her a three-time champion.[30] At Lockdown Love lost the Knockout Championship to Madison Rayne, after she pinned Tara in a tag team steel cage match, where Love and Tara faced Rayne and Velvet Sky for both the Women's Knockout Championship and the Knockout Tag Team Championship.[31] After the match, Tara turned heel by attacking Love.[31] At the April 20 tapings of Impact!, Williams partially tore her bicep and suffered ligament damage in her arm and is now expected to be out of action until May.[32] On May 26 it was announced that Williams had been cleared to return to wrestling.[33]
Personal life
In late 2007, she began dating Jared Weeks, the lead singer of the band Saving Abel[34], but as of August 2008, the couple decided to split.[35]
Other media
Williams appeared on an episode of The Jenny Jones Show about former geeks turned into physical competitors.[7] She also made an appearance on Kenny vs Spenny in the "Who is the Strongest" episode (alongside fellow TNA Knockout Traci Brooks).[7] Williams had a role in the indie film entitled Good Intentions starring country music star LeAnn Rimes and Luke Perry.[36] She was also featured on MTV's Made alongside A.J. Styles, Taylor Wilde, and Velvet Sky.[37]
In wrestling
- Finishing moves
- Botox Injection (Bicycle kick)[38]
- Cramp[3] (Modified camel clutch) – DSW
- Lights Out[3] (Lifting reverse STO)
- Red Alert
- Signature moves
- Diving crossbody[3]
- Hurricanrana, sometimes to an oncoming opponent[3]
- Leg-feed enzuigiri
- Running springboard arm drag[3]
- Shoulder jawbreaker
- Snapmare followed by a running low-angle front dropkick to the opponent's face or back[3]
- Spear[26]
- Spinning wheel kick
- Tilt-a-whirl headscissors takedown[3]
- With Velvet Sky
- Finishing moves
- Makeover[2] (Russian legsweep (Sky) / Running bicycle kick (Love) combination)
- Signature moves
- Hollering Elbow (Double elbow drop, with theatrics)[39]
- Finishing moves
- Entrance themes
- "Papercut" by Linkin Park (Independent circuit)
- "Girlfriend" by Dale Oliver (TNA)
- "Angel on My Shoulder" by Dale Oliver (TNA)[41]
- "Lesson Zero Remix" by Dale Oliver (TNA)
Championships and accomplishments
- Impact Wrestling Federation
- Manager of the Year (2000)[3]
- Old School Pro Wrestling
- OSPW Women's Championship (1 time)[3]
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- PWI ranked her #2 of the best 50 female singles wrestlers in the PWI Female Top 50 in 2009[42]
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Altamura, Brian (2003-07-02). "Touched by Angel Williams". SLAM Sports!. Retrieved 2008-07-17.
- ^ a b "Angelina Love profile". Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. Retrieved 2009-03-28.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj "Angel Williams profile". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2008-08-18.
- ^ a b "Angel Williams profile". G.L.O.R.Y. Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-05-17.
- ^ "Lauren Williams at TV.com". tv.com. Retrieved 2008-08-15.
- ^ a b c Oliver, Greg (2004-12-22). "WWE deal pending for Angel Williams". SLAM! Sports. Retrieved 2009-01-21.
- ^ a b c Kamchen, Richard. "Slam! Sports Bio". SLAM Sports!. Retrieved 2010-01-05.
- ^ "May 16, 2007–OVW TV Tapings". Online World Of Wrestling. 2007-05-16. Retrieved 2009-01-21.
- ^ "Orton's Recent Behavior, Angel Williams Resurfaces, Last Minute WWE Changes". Retrieved 2007-06-24.
- ^ a b Sokol, Chris (2007-10-15). "Angle gets stung at Bound For Glory". SLAM Sports!. Retrieved 2009-01-21.
- ^ Sokol, Chris (2007-11-12). "Booker T the surprise, but Angle still champ after Genesis". SLAM Sports!. Retrieved 2009-01-21.
- ^ Sokol, Chris (2007-12-03). "Chaos rules at Turning Point". SLAM Sports!. Retrieved 2009-01-21.
- ^ Sokol, Chris (2008-04-13). "TNA Lockdown: Joe captures gold". SLAM Sports!. Retrieved 2009-01-21.
- ^ Sokol, Chris (2008-05-12). "TNA Sacrifice: Joe retains; LAX regains". SLAM Sports!. Retrieved 2009-01-21.
- ^ Waldman, Jon (2008-06-08). "Slammiversary: No gimmicks needed for thumbs up PPV". SLAM Sports!. Retrieved 2009-01-21.
- ^ Kapur, Bob (2008-07-13). "Main event mars Victory Road". SLAM Sports!. Retrieved 2009-01-21.
- ^ Clevett, Jason (2008-09-14). "No Surrender a bore". SLAM! Sports. Retrieved 2009-01-21.
- ^ Sokol, Chris (2008-08-15). "Impact: Styles wins gold". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2010-03-22.
- ^ Sokol, Chris coauthors= Sokol, Brian (2009-02-27). "Impact: The Mafia gets stung". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2010-03-23.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Williams, Lauren (2009-04-20). "Thank You's and Updates!". MySpace. Retrieved 2009-04-20.
- ^ Caldwell, James (2009-09-04). "TNA News: Top star in the TNA Knockouts division released". PWTorch. Retrieved 2009-09-04.
- ^ Klyzub, Michael (2009-09-07). "A Memo from Angel Williams aka Angelina Love's Agent". Angel Williams' MySpace. Retrieved 2009-09-07.
- ^ "Impact: Angle steps ahead of Morgan". SLAM! Sports. Retrieved 2009-09-19.
- ^ Caldwell, James (2009-09-20). "Caldwell's TNA No Surrender PPV Report 9/20: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of Kurt Angle vs. Sting vs. Matt Morgan vs. A.J. Styles". PWTorch. Retrieved 2009-11-30.
- ^ Martin, Adam (2010-01-02). "Former Knockout back with TNA". WrestleView. Retrieved 2010-01-03.
- ^ a b Wilkenfeld, Daniel (2010-01-14). "WILKENFELD'S TNA IMPACT REPORT 1/14: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of Spike TV broadcast". PWTorch. Retrieved 2010-01-15.
- ^ Wilkenfeld, Daniel (2010-01-21). "WILKENFELD'S TNA IMPACT REPORT 1/21: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of Spike TV broadcast". PWTorch. Retrieved 2010-01-22.
- ^ Wilkenfeld, Daniel (2010-02-04). "WILKENFELD'S TNA IMPACT REPORT 2/4: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of Spike TV broadcast". PWTorch. Retrieved 2010-02-09.
- ^ 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 2010-03-13.
- ^ Martin, Adam (2010-04-05). "Impact Results - 4/5/10". WrestleView. Retrieved 2010-04-06.
- ^ a b Caldwell, James (2010-04-18). "Caldwell's TNA Lockdown Results 4/18: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of PPV - Styles vs. The Pope, Team Hogan vs. Team Flair, Angle vs. Anderson". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2010-04-18.
- ^ Caldwell, James (2010-04-21). "TNA News: TNA Knockout Angelina Love injured - muscle tear, ligament damage". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2010-04-22.
- ^ Gerweck, Steve (2010-05-27). "News on Charlie Haas, Angelina Love and Daffney". WrestleView. Retrieved 2010-06-04.
- ^ "A music, wrestling love". Miami Herald. 2008-06-18. Retrieved 2008-06-19.
- ^ "Saving Abel - An Interview With Jared Weeks of Saving Abel". Tim Greirson. 2008-08-21. Retrieved 2009-06-07.
- ^ Chhibber, Ranjan (2009-05-18). "Angelina Love KOs stars in upcoming film". SLAM Sports!. Retrieved 2010-01-05.
- ^ Martin, Adam (2009-09-07). "Recap of AJ Styles on MTV's "Made"". WrestleView. Retrieved 2010-01-05.
- ^ "Impact Results 6/18/09". WrestleView. Retrieved 2009-08-06.
- ^ Martin, Adam (2009-02-06). "Impact Results - 2/5/09". WrestleView. Retrieved 2010-01-03.
- ^ Csonka, Larry (2007-04-03). "411's Deep South Wrestling Report 4.02.07". 411Mania. Retrieved 2010-01-03.
- ^ "Emergence". Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. Retrieved 2009-11-13.
- ^ Martin, Adam (2009-09-11). "PWI Top 50 Female Wrestlers list". WrestleView. Retrieved 2009-09-12.
- ^ "History Of The TNA Championship Titles". Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. Retrieved 2010-01-18.