Kristina Laum (born November 23, 1976) is a Korean retired

professional wrestling 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 o ...

valet and manager in

Extreme Championship Wrestling HHG Corporation, doing business as Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), was a professional wrestling promotion and media company that was based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The promotion was founded in 1992 by Tod Gordon as National Wrest ...

and

World Championship Wrestling World Championship Wrestling, Inc. (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of Nation ...

. She used the names Kimona Wanalaya in ECW and Leia Meow in WCW.

Professional wrestling career

Extreme Championship Wrestling (1996)

Laum was asked by her friend

Raven A raven is any of several larger-bodied bird species of the genus ''Corvus''. These species do not form a single taxonomic group within the genus. There is no consistent distinction between "crows" and "ravens", common names which are assigned t ...

to go into professional wrestling while she was working as a go-go dancer at a club. She made her debut in

(ECW) on January 27, 1996 as Raven's new valet under the name Kimona Wanalaya (a play-on-words for "Come on, I wanna lay ya") and she managed Raven to win the

ECW World Heavyweight Championship The ECW World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship originally used in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and later, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was the original world title of the ECW ...

on the same night. According to the storyline, Raven used her to replace

Beulah McGillicutty Trisa Laughlin (née Hayes; born March 14, 1969) is an American author and retired professional wrestling valet, better known by her ring name, Beulah McGillicutty. She is best known for her appearances in Extreme Championship Wrestling from 1995 ...

, his former girlfriend and valet, who had announced that she was pregnant with

Tommy Dreamer Thomas James Laughlin (born February 13, 1971), is an American professional wrestler and promoter better known by the ring name Tommy Dreamer. He is signed to Impact Wrestling and is the owner and promoter of the House of Hardcore (HOH) promo ...

's child on January 7 at ECW's

House Party A house party is a type of party where people gather at the residence of the party's host. Organization A house party might be organized several months or just a few hours in advance. News of a party may be spread by personal invitations, ...

event. Wanalaya left Raven at

Massacre on Queens Boulevard Massacre on Queens Boulevard (sometimes written as Massacre on Queens Blvd) was a professional wrestling live event produced by Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) on April 13, 1996 in New York, USA. The event was held in the Lost Battalion Hal ...

on April 13 after he slapped her for remonstrating with him, causing her to vow revenge. On April 20, 1996 at

Hostile City Showdown Hostile City Showdown was a professional wrestling supercard event produced by Extreme Championship Wrestling HHG Corporation, doing business as Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), was a professional wrestling promotion and media company ...

Shane Douglas Troy Allan Martin (born November 21, 1964) is an American professional wrestler and promoter, better known by his ring name Shane Douglas. He is best known for his tenures in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), World Championship Wrestling (W ...

, with Kimona by his side, called out Dreamer to inform him that Beulah had been cheating on him. While Dreamer was wondering who the person could be, in which Douglas replied “it's not a he”, Kimona snatched the

microphone A microphone, colloquially called a mic or mike (), is a transducer that converts sound into an electrical signal. Microphones are used in many applications such as telephones, hearing aids, public address systems for concert halls and public ...

from Douglas's hand and shouted "It's me!" Moments later, Beulah made her way to the ring and she and Kimona shared a racy kiss and fell to the mat together before Dreamer decided to date both women. The segment is widely believed to be the first lesbian angle in a major wrestling promotion. A career highlight came when she danced atop the ECW Arena, a moment that was used to sell VHS copies of Extreme Warfare Vol. 2 until the promotion died.

Jersey All Pro Wrestling

Laum later left ECW and worked for

Jersey All Pro Wrestling Jersey All Pro Wrestling (JAPW) was an independent wrestling promotion based in New Jersey, United States. History 1997 Jersey All Pro Wrestling was an independent wrestling promotion that was founded by "Fat" Frank Iadeavia and Angel Surita ...

(JAPW) for a while as Kimona. While in JAPW, she wrestled

Missy Hyatt Melissa Ann Hiatt (born October 16, 1963), better known by her ring name, Missy Hyatt, is an American retired professional wrestling valet, commentator, and occasional professional wrestler. She is best known for her appearances with World Champ ...

in a series of mixed tag team matches and a steel cage match.

World Championship Wrestling (1999–2001)

She was signed by

(WCW) in 1999, and she eventually debuted alongside

Varsity Club The Varsity Club was a professional wrestling heel stable in the NWA's Jim Crockett Promotions and World Championship Wrestling (WCW). The stable was formed in 1987 and lasted until 1989. The stable was briefly resurrected in 1999–2000. History ...

( Kevin Sullivan,

Mike Rotunda Lawrence Michael Rotunda (born March 30, 1958) is an American retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling in the 1980s and 1990s under the ring names Mik ...

and

Rick Steiner Robert Rechsteiner (born March 9, 1961) is an American real estate broker and retired professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Rick Steiner. Steiner is best known for his tenure with World Championship Wrestling (WCW), where he was ...

) as the cheerleader, Leia Meow. This angle soon ended and she became the manager for the

Jung Dragons The Jung Dragons were a professional wrestling faction and tag team. Originally formed in World Championship Wrestling, the Dragons consisted of Kaz Hayashi, Yang and Jamie-San, and their manager Leia Meow. The Jung Dragons were notable for thei ...

( Jamie-San, Yun Yang, and

Kaz Hayashi is a Japanese professional wrestler known simply as . He is best known for his work in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), where in addition to being a wrestler for the promotion, he also served as the head booker for the company's junior heavyweight ...

), thus turning heel. She would interfere in matches with a flying bodypress off of the top rope onto their opponents. She also had a

dominatrix A dominatrix (; ) or femdom is a woman who takes the dominant role in BDSM activities. A dominatrix can be of any sexual orientation, but this does not necessarily limit the genders of her submissive partners. Dominatrices are known for inflic ...

gimmick A gimmick is a novel device or idea designed primarily to attract attention or increase appeal, often with little intrinsic value. When applied to retail marketing, it is a unique or quirky feature designed to make a product or service "stand ou ...

and carried a riding crop. She used it to attack Pamela Paulshock after Paulshock had won the "Miss WCW" contest that Meow participated in on September 25, 2000. She was then attacked by Midajah and had a brief rivalry with her leading to a fight on the following Thunder during

Mike Awesome Michael Lee Alfonso (January 24, 1965 – February 17, 2007) was an American professional wrestler. He was best known for his appearances with the American professional wrestling promotions Extreme Championship Wrestling, World Championship Wrestl ...

's ''Lava Lamp Lounge'' segment. She also had a short feud with

Tygress The Nitro Girls were a dance team in World Championship Wrestling. Their initial function was to dance and entertain the live crowds during commercial breaks. History The Nitro Girls were formed in 1997 by Kimberly Page at Eric Bischoff's reques ...

and threatened to cut her hair off. By the time WCW was sold to

Vince McMahon Vincent Kennedy McMahon (; born August 24, 1945) is an American media proprietor and retired professional wrestling promoter, executive, and performer. From 1982 to 2022, he served as the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of WWE, the w ...

, she had been fired from WCW along with the majority of the other on-air female talent due to roster cuts.

Independent circuit

She went to the

X Wrestling Federation The X Wrestling Federation (XWF) (later referred to as the Xcitement Wrestling Federation) was an American professional wrestling promotion that operated from 2001 to 2002. The previous number two and three American promotions, World Champions ...

(XWF) where she was known as Kris, a member of the X-Girls, a dance team that included

Gorgeous George George Raymond Wagner (March 23, 1915 – December 26, 1963) was an American professional wrestler known by his ring name Gorgeous George. In the United States, during the First Golden Age of Professional Wrestling in the 1940s–1950s, Gorgeou ...

and Chiquita Anderson of the

Nitro Girls The Nitro Girls were a dance team in World Championship Wrestling. Their initial function was to dance and entertain the live crowds during commercial breaks. History The Nitro Girls were formed in 1997 by Kimberly Page at Eric Bischoff's reque ...

. When XWF folded, Kristina retired from wrestling. On April 1, 2022 Kimona Wana-Laya made an appearance at ICW No Holds Barred 24 in Newark, New Jersey.

References

External links

Online World Wrestling Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Laum, Kristina 1976 births American female professional wrestlers South Korean female professional wrestlers LGBT characters in professional wrestling Living people Sportspeople from Seoul People from Maple Shade Township, New Jersey Professional wrestling dancers Professional wrestling managers and valets South Korean emigrants to the United States 21st-century American women