The Diva Dirt team including the expert opinion of our newest team member, Krissy Vaine, has compiled our first annual Watch List. The Watch List gathers the five women, not currently at a national level, who we feel could be breakout stars in the industry in the future. The Watch List, we hope will be an annual event, as we scout new faces & new talents on a regular basis. The five women chosen for the Class of 2009, we feel, represent the brightest young prospects that could breakthrough within the next year or in the not too distant future.
ANGELA FONG
Age: 24
Hometown: Vancouver, BC Canada
Trained By: Steve Keirn and FCW staff
Currently under contract to WWE, Angela is working under developmental territory, Florida Championship Wrestling in Tampa, FL. Fong is perhaps the most unique female, developmental in quite some time — already well known amongst Internet fans and has created quite a following before even being called up to the main WWE roster. Since joining FCW in 2008, Fong has already been heavily praised for lending herself to the craft so quickly and was dubbed “the best worker in FCW.” Krissy says: “Angela is a fast learner & has nice outfits! She has lots of charisma, she’s athletic and ‘bendy’.”
More after the cut:
APRIL LEE
Age: 22
Hometown: Union City, new Jersey
Trained By: Jay Lethal, Mo Sexton, Azrieal
Another WWE developmental talent, April Lee makes the cut also. Previously known on the independent circuit as ‘Miss April’, Lee has been working since 2007 and the young talent has already tasted championship gold at the age of 22. Competing in female promotion, Women Superstars Uncensored, April won the company’s Tag Team Championship in February before vacating the titles after signing with WWE. In April, Lee and real life boyfriend, Jay Lethal won a tournament to be crowned the King & Queen of the Ring in WSU and a partner promotion. April is also a self-professed fan of three-time WWE Women’s Champion, Melina and now follows in her footsteps towards becoming a WWE Diva in her own right. Krissy says: “She looks like she could be Melina’s little sister. She connects with the fans.”
LENA YADA
Age: 30
Hometown: Los Angeles, California
Trained By: FCW staff, Jesse Hernandez
Despite being released from WWE last year, it’s post-WWE that Lena Yada is impressing the Watch List committee. Her dedication to wrestling despite being released, shows her desire to continue to be part of wrestling. Yada is currently taking independent bookings, including her first post-WWE match for our friends at ChickFight, earlier this year. It’s unexpected for a model-turned-Diva to continue on in wrestling after they are let go, but Lena is proving that there is life beyond the WWE. Working with Jesse Hernandez, who has helped train WWE Divas, Melina and Layla, Lena appears to be in good company considering one is a former Women’s Champion and the other shows continual growth in each match. We wouldn’t be surprised to see Yada re-signed by WWE if she continues to progress or even signed by TNA. Krissy says: “Only time will tell, but she’s a good looking girl. She perhaps needs to invest in ring gear rather than lingerie.”
MADISON EAGLES
Age: 28
Hometown: Sydney, Australia
Trained By: IWA Pro Wrestling in Australia
Considered one of the breakout stars of SHIMMER, Madison Eagles has turned heads with her performances as part of the ‘Pink Ladies’ with tag team partner, Jessie McKay. The duo made their SHIMMER debut on Volume 21 in the SHIMMER Tag Team Championship gauntlet match. Eagles, already an 8 year pro in native Australia, at one point received a tryout in Ohio Valley Wrestling — the former WWE developmental territory. In SHIMMER, she’s been pegged as a ‘one to watch’, most recently by SHIMMER co-founder Allison Danger. As well as her tag team work, Eagles is now seeing singles competition – competing against one of the industry’s best, Sara Del Rey a former SHIMMER Champion on Volume 23. Krissy says: “I like her, lots of charisma and confidence. One piece of advice would be to step up her look so that fans will remember her. The ability and confidence is there, her accent will be her biggest asset.”
NICOLE MATTHEWS
Age: 22
Hometown: Coquitlam, British Columbia Canada
Trained By: 22-year-old Nicole Matthews is perhaps best known for her tag team work with Portia Perez in SHIMMER’s Canadian Ninjas. Since debuting for SHIMMER in 2007, Matthews and Perez have wrestled as a collective unit as well as seen singles action including taking part in the SHIMMER Tag Team Championship tournament. At the taping for Volume 26, Matthews and Perez became only the second title-holders of that Tag Team Championship. At the tender age of 22, Matthews has also had breakout matches with veteran, Daizee Haze. The two competed to a 20-minute time limit on Volume 23, considered by the committee as one of the best matches on the DVD. The pair wrestled again on Volume 24 in a no time limit match. Like Eagles, Matthews is a tag team wrestler that is finding singles acclaim and has a bright future ahead. Krissy says: “Definitely potential there, she’s got a great foundation but just needs fine tuning. She should work on her femininity and posture in the ring.”
So that’s the 2009 edition of the Diva Dirt Watch List. Keep your eyes pealed, as will we, to see what the five ‘chosen ones’ do next! Can they be breakthrough stars? We’ll find out!
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14 Comments
Well if the Rumors are true i see Anglina Fong Taking over Lillian Garcia possition for the immediate future, it may not be in a wrestling role but she will lend her voice, charisma and damn good looks to the company. As for Lena Yada i do see her going back to WWE in the future possibly working on Smackdown, Big mistake by the wwe and unlike other cough (Candice Michelle), she is continueing her Wrestling career and not giving up on the sport. So i am hopeful i will see Lena Yada back on wwe maybe doing a Gail Kim thing interupting a Championship match. They let a good one go, but wwe isn’t stupid and when they figure out they made a mistake letting her go they will call her up back to the big leagues.
“She should work on her femininity and posture in the ring” GOD, I met my soulmate in Krissy Vaine, anyways, great choices!!
I agree that the SHIMMER ladies should look a bit more feminine and maybe add some uniqueness to their wardrobe, without looking like it’s from a Marvel comic book -looks at Madison- but both ladies are great in-ring workers and I expect great things!
April Lee is one of my personal favourites, I first started to watch her matches in 2007-2008 and her look caught my attention, not only that but her wrestling ability is really awesome!
I always loved Lena’s attitude, she enjoys every single thing of her life, she’s lovely, I recomend people to twitt with her, I heard her match with Von Eerie was average, but I think she can only get
better from here!
I always think of Angela as the new Mickie James -great, but overrated- I love Angela, she’s a great in-ring performer, but is she THAT good?! Her moveset is likeable and her attires to, let’s hope people don’t do the same thing they did with Mickie “OMG, she’s awesome!!!!”….”I’m tired of her…”, so yeah people don’t start calling people the next big things, you might get disapointed :P
“…wwe isn’t stupid…” Couldn’t disagree more…
i must say, i was VERY proud of Lena when she carried on her wrestling career after her wwe life, because like you said many models dont *cough* Candice Michelle *cough* also i highly doubt many divas would continue their careers that are in wwe now if fired, so for that i am proud of Lena. Also i am very excited for April to been seen on fcw television so i can watch her on youtube but from what i have seen she is good, also Angelais going to be such a star when she comes to wwe if she wrestles, i could see the fans connecting with her also she has some very interesting moves in her moveset so im excited for that!
As much as I would like to see Angela Fong work with Gail Kim I see Angela taking Gail’s place when Ms. Kim moves on. As for Lena WWE made a mistake … let’s see when and if they correct it.
Lol Yeah !! I love Lena and as a matter of fact I’m watching her match right now and she did WAYYYY better than I expected her to do, and I love her commitment to wrestling as well cause former models-turned divas like Joy Giovanni, Amy Weber, Rebecca DiPietro, Rochelle Lowen, and more recently Candice Michelle so her commitment is great. I also love April and I was watching her work every since she was with ACE and her matches against Alexa Thatcher were FUCKING great, then she got her 1st Champship really early in her career, then she got signed with WWE…….so I only see great things for her in the future !! And the same for Angela I loovve her and found her really atheletic because she caught onto wrestling quick cause she’s only been wrestling for a year and is probably miles ahead of the others divas down in FCW that have been their for a while, so I def. think those three deserve there spots on this list. As for Madison Eagles and Nicole Matthews, I don’t really watch SHIMMER but I have def. seen there names before and I heard nothing but great things about both of them.
Word is that TNA will be scouting for an Australian Knockout very soon. Madison Eagles needs to get her resume over there and book a tryout.
madison eagles is amazing. really impressed that shes on your list! as an aussie myself i cant wait to see what other things happen for her in the US.
The only one out of those women I like is Angela Fong, as she stands out. The others are all plain janes in the looks department, April Lee is a clone of Melina – we already have one Melina – she can not be duplicated. They look too similiar, I want to see women who stand out not blend in. I would’ve put Rachel Summerlynn who wrestled at the last SHIMMER shows and works for ACW in Texas on the list – she has worked matches with Daffney numerous times and is definitely one to watch.
i like this post alot
and i respect lena yada for going out and still wrestling after her release.
April Lee & Angela Fong are going to be awesome
i see wwe bring April up as melinas little sister who gets attacked by michelle mccool which would further the melina and mccool story line and re-egnite the fire between the 2 divas
and i hope WWE brings up angela fong as an announcer…
i also see Jemma Palmer(who i hope keeps the “Inferno” gimmick or the red firey hair) and Serena as big future stars…Liviana still needs alot of work as does Jenny Cash of Fifi-uugh WWE seems to be very high on Jenny comparing her to melina and mickie james…okay ill shut up now…lol
and i meant i dont want angela as an announcer my mistake
Liviana looks old and I really, really do not think she should end up in WWE. She has no charisma and a vacant look on her face a lot of the time. Once again, the one woman I like in developmental is Angela Fong. The rest I honestly don’t think stand out – April Lee and Jenny Cash look the same and look too much like the Bellas and Melina – too many women like them already. And Serena doesn’t have a nice figure and even with a nose job isn’t attractive enough. I thought Rachael Carr was stunning, cute and would make a great little, cute babyface – a little doll – but god knows what happened with her.
kerry246 looks dont matter but wrestling ability does serena and april are great wrestlers…so is angela fong
but i do agree that liviana is nothing too special….Yet timw will tell
and as for jenny i need to see more of her
I agree with kerry, as sad as it is to admit. Serena probably isn’t going to make it to television because she’s not a 10 or anywhere near it and looks are 90% of a woman’s value to the WWE. As long as you are able to show some aptitude for wrestling by picking up a few basics and are able to talk your way through a sentence without excessive ums and uhs or stuttering, you’re good to go as long as you’re stunningly attractive.