Kelly Klein (born January 28, 1986), is an American

professional wrestler Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

who is currently a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

. She is best known for her time in

Ring of Honor Ring of Honor (ROH) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Jacksonville, Florida. The promotion was founded by Rob Feinstein on February 23, 2002, and was operated by Cary Silkin from 2004 until 2011, when the promotion was so ...

, where she was a record three-time Women of Honor World Champion.

Professional wrestling career

Ring of Honor (2015–2019)

Klein made her debut at

(ROH) on October 24, 2015, at Night 2 of the

Glory By Honor XIV Glory By Honor XIV was a two night, two city professional wrestling event produced by the U.S.-based wrestling promotion Ring of Honor, and the 14th Glory By Honor. The first night of the event took place on October 23, 2015 at the Wing's Event Ce ...

event in Dayton, Ohio, defeating Ray Lyn in one minute via submission. Klein made her televised debut on the June 26, 2016, episode of ''Ring of Honor Wrestling'', from Nashville, Tennessee. In the main event of the first ever episode of ''Women of Honor'', she defeated

Taeler Hendrix Taeler Conrad-Mellen is an American professional wrestler and valet, better known by the ring name Taeler Hendrix. She is best known for her work in Ring of Honor (ROH). Starting her career in 2007, she spent her first years working on the indep ...

via submission. On the December 14, 2016, episode of ''Ring of Honor Wrestling'', the second WOH special, she faced

ODB ODB may refer to: People * Ol' Dirty Bastard (1968–2004), American rapper and founding member of the Wu-Tang Clan * ODB (wrestler) (born 1978), Stage name of American professional wrestler Jessica Kresa * Original David Baker (born 1972), a monik ...

in a winning effort when ODB passed out to Klein's submission. As a heel, she went on an undefeated streak in ROH until it was ended by

Karen Q Karen Yu (born January 18, 1992) is an American professional wrestler. She is currently signed to the promotion WWE, where she performs on the NXT brand under the ring name Wendy Choo. She is also known for her appearances with Ring of Honor and ...

with help from

Deonna Purrazzo Deonna Purrazzo (born June 10, 1994) is an American professional wrestler currently signed to Impact Wrestling, where she is a former two-time Impact Knockouts World Champion and a former Impact Knockouts World Tag Team Champion. She also appea ...

during an event in May 2017. This led to a triple threat match in July in the 3rd

Women of Honor Women of Honor is a term used by Ring of Honor (ROH) to refer to its female talent. The term is applied universally to wrestlers, backstage interviewers, and managers/valets. Promotion and History of Women in ROH (pt.1) Early years and par ...

event, which Karen Q also ended up winning. Klein later defeated Purrazzo in another singles match on the July 29 tapings, with the win coming after Karen Q turned heel and attacked Purrazzo. At the 2018

Final Battle Final Battle is a professional wrestling event, held annually by the Ring of Honor promotion. The event was initially held in 2002, and is traditionally ROH's last show in the calendar year. The 2009 edition of the show was ROH's first internet ...

event, Klein won the

Women of Honor World Championship The Women of Honor World Championship was a women's professional wrestling championship created and promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion Ring of Honor (ROH). History At Final Battle, December 15, 2017, it was announced that ...

for the first time, where she defeated the champion

Sumie Sakai is a Japanese professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist. She is best known for her extensive tenure in Ring of Honor, where she was the inaugural and longest reigning Women of Honor Champion. Early life As a young woman, Sakai p ...

in a Four Corner Survival match, which also involved

Madison Rayne Ashley Nichole Lomberger (née Simmons; born February 5, 1986) is an American professional wrestler currently signed to All Elite Wrestling under the ring name Madison Rayne, where she is also the coach of the women's division. She is best known ...

and Karen Q. At Night 2 of

Bound By Honor ''Blood In Blood Out'' (also known as ''Bound by Honor'' and ''Blood In Blood Out: Bound By Honor'') is a 1993 American epic crime drama film directed by Taylor Hackford that has become a cult-classic film with a cult following among the Mexic ...

on February 10, 2019, she lost the title to

Mayu Iwatani (born February 19, 1993) is a Japanese professional wrestler currently signed to World Wonder Ring Stardom. Since making her debut in January 2011, she became a two-time World of Stardom Champion, two-time Wonder of Stardom Champion, one-tim ...

, ending her reign at 58 days. Klein regained the championship on April 6, 2019 at ROH's Madison Square Garden debut, the

G1 Supercard G1 Supercard was a professional wrestling supershow co-produced by the American Ring of Honor (ROH) and Japanese New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotions. It was the 13th annual Supercard of Honor event and took place on April 6, 2019, at Madis ...

, and shook hands with Iwatani afterwards, turning face in the process. Klein was attacked afterwards by the debuting

Velvet Sky Jamie Lynn Szantyr (born June 2, 1981) is an American color commentator and retired professional wrestler, currently signed to NWA. She is best known for her time in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) under the ring name Velvet Sky. She is a ...

and

Angelina Love Lauren Williams (born September 13, 1981) is a Canadian professional wrestler She is best known for her time in TNA/Impact Wrestling under the ring name Angelina Love. She is currently signed with National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). Between ROH ...

, who were joined by

Mandy Leon Amanda Leon (born March 3, 1992) is an American professional wrestler, where she is one half of tag team The Allure. Leon has also worked as a model, actress, and dancer. Early life Leon was born in Brooklyn, New York but grew up in both Lanc ...

, with Leon turning heel by attacking Klein from behind. On November 22, 2019, it was revealed that Klein would be let go by ROH whilst recovering from

post-concussion syndrome Post-concussion syndrome (PCS) is a set of symptoms that may continue for weeks, months, or a year or more after a concussion – medically classified as a so-called mild traumatic brain injury (TBI). About 34 to 35% of people with concussi ...

and while still being the reigning Women of Honor World Champion. She previously spoke out against the company on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

for refusing to pay her a

living wage A living wage is defined as the minimum income necessary for a worker to meet their basic needs. This is not the same as a subsistence wage, which refers to a biological minimum, or a solidarity wage, which refers to a minimum wage tracking labor ...

and ROH not having a concussion protocol and not allowing her time off to heal from injury. It was these comments that reportedly led to ROH deciding not to renew her contract.

World Wonder Ring Stardom (2017–2018)

On October 14, 2017, Klein made her debut for the

World Wonder Ring Stardom World Wonder Ring Stardom (スターダム女子プロレス), often referred to simply as Stardom (stylized as ST★RDOM), is a Japanese '' joshi puroresu'' or women's professional wrestling promotion based in Tokyo, Japan. Stardom was founded i ...

promotion by entering the Goddesses of Stardom Tag League tournament. She ended up winning the tournament along with

Bea Priestley Beatrice St. Clere Priestley (born 22 March 1996) is an English-New Zealand professional wrestler, best known by the ring name Bea Priestley. She is currently signed to WWE, where she performs on the NXT brand under the ring name Blair Davenpor ...

. Following the tournament, Klein and Bea unsuccessfully challenged Oedo Tai (

Hana Kimura was a Japanese joshi puroresu professional wrestler. She worked for native companies in her country such as World Wonder Ring Stardom from 2016 to 2020, and Wrestle-1, in addition to having made appearances for foreign companies such as Ring of H ...

and

Kagetsu (born on June 24, 1992), better known by his ring name , is a Japanese retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his time in Stardom, JWP, Sendai Girls and various independent promotions. Professional wrestling career Independe ...

) for the

Goddess of Stardom Championship The is a professional wrestling tag team Championship (professional wrestling), championship owned by the World Wonder Ring Stardom professional wrestling promotion, promotion. Title history On August 2, 2011, Stardom held a press conference t ...

Championships and accomplishments

*Covey Promotions **CP Women's Championship (3 times) *EMERGE Wrestling **EMERGE Women's Championship (1 time) *Mega Championship Wrestling **MEGA Fighting Spirit Championship (1 time) *''

Pro Wrestling Illustrated ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American internationally sold professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publish ...

'' **Ranked No. 29 of the top 100 female singles wrestlers in the ''

PWI Women's 100 ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American internationally sold professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publis ...

'' in 2019 *

(3 times) *Vicious Outcast Wrestling **VOW Vixen's Championship (1 time) *

Goddesses of Stardom Tag League The is a professional wrestling round-robin tag team tournament held annually by the Japanese professional wrestling promotion World Wonder Ring Stardom. It was created in 2011. The Goddesses of Stardom Tag League are held under a multi-point ...

(2017) – with

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Klein, Kelly 1986 births Living people People from St. Louis American female professional wrestlers Professional wrestlers from Missouri 21st-century American women 20th-century American women 21st-century professional wrestlers Women of Honor World Champions