Kris Hernandez (born August 12, 1984) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

retired

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 ...

, best known by the

ring name A ring name is a type of stage name used by an athlete such as a professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, or boxer whose real name is considered unattractive, dull, difficult to pronounce or spell, amusing for the wrong reasons, or projecting ...

Kris Wolf. She wrestled for

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 ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, where she is a former

High Speed Champion The is a women's professional wrestling Championship (professional wrestling), championship owned by the World Wonder Ring Stardom professional wrestling promotion, promotion. The title was originally created on May 5, 2009, in the NEO Japan Lad ...

, as well as a founding member of the

Oedo Tai (Stylized OEDotai, also known as "Oedo Corps" in Japanese) is a villanous professional wrestling stable, currently performing in the Japanese professional wrestling promotion World Wonder Ring Stardom, and formerly in the Professional wrestling ...

stable. She has also wrestled for

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 ...

, Alternative Wrestling Show (AWS),

Westside Xtreme Wrestling Westside Xtreme Wrestling, commonly shortened to wXw, is a German professional wrestling promotion based in Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia. wXw has been one of the leading professional wrestling promotions in Germany, and most of its event ...

(wXw) and Pro Wrestling: EVE. On February 6, 2019, Hernandez announced on her YouTube channel that she would be performing her final tour with Stardom in the upcoming weeks, and retiring due to concussion issues throughout her career. Originally working as a freelance photographer in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, California, Hernandez wanted to become a wrestler after living a year and a half in Japan and seeing a Stardom match on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

. She was trained by

Fuka Kakimoto is a Japanese retired professional wrestler, mixed martial artist and model better known simply as (pronounced and sometimes transliterated as "Fuuka"). She was trained by JDStar as part of the promotion's "Athtress" program and made her debut ...

Io Shirai is a Japanese professional wrestler currently signed to WWE, where she performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Iyo Sky (stylized in all caps). She is a member of Damage CTRL and one-half of the current WWE Women's Tag Team Champions with ...

and

Nanae Takahashi (born December 23, 1978) is a Japanese professional wrestler and the founder of Seadlinnng. She has wrestled for prominent Japanese promotions All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Sun, and is a two-time women's world champion in maj ...

, and debuted August 10, 2014, in a three-way match with Reo Hazuki and Koguma.

Professional wrestling career

World Wonder Ring Stardom (2014–2018)

On August 10, 2014, Wolf had her debut match for

in a losing effort against Reo Hazuki and Koguma in a

three-way match Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "concept" or "gimmick matches" in the jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick matches are more common than others and are often used to advance or conclude a ...

. She won her first title, the

High Speed Championship The is a women's professional wrestling championship owned by the World Wonder Ring Stardom promotion. The title was originally created on May 5, 2009, in the NEO Japan Ladies Pro-Wrestling promotion, where Natsuki☆Taiyo defeated Ray to beco ...

, by defeating

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-time ...

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 ...

in a three-way match on February 23, 2017. She lost the title to Shanna on July 16. On December 2, Wolf won the Alternative Wrestling Show (AWS) Women's World Championship, defeating

Nicole Savoy Nicole Savoy is an American retired professional wrestler. She has performed in Shimmer Women Athletes, where she was the longest reigning Shimmer Champion. Early life Savoy is trained in Muay Thai and jujutsu. Professional wrestling caree ...

. Wolf left World Wonder Ring Stardom on March 25, 2018.

Independent circuit (2018–2019)

After leaving Stardom, Wolf competed regularly for independent promotions in the U.K., Ireland, mainland Europe and North America. On February 6, 2019, she announced her retirement from wrestling due to severe concussion issues throughout her career, and announced she would do a final tour in the upcoming future. She had her final match on April 26, 2019.

Other Media

Hernandez has a YouTube account, where she uploads infrequently. She also streams infrequently on Twitch. Hernandez appeared in the documentary series "The Wrestlers", which was originally broadcast on

Viceland Viceland (stylized in all caps), and Vice TV in the United States, are brands used for television channels owned and programmed by Vice Media. Viceland launched on February 29, 2016, with two branded cable channels; the American version (rebra ...

in 2019.

Personal life

Hernandez is originally from

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, Illinois, and is of Filipino descent. She spent most of her childhood and teenage years in New Jersey, where she and her sister were raised by her mother. After moving out at the age of 18, she eventually settled in San Francisco, California. She relocated to

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, Japan, where she lived for six years, after the breakup of a long term relationship; she originally visited Japan just as a retreat and fell in love with the country after spending twenty days cycling through the Japanese countryside. She worked as an English teacher in Tokyo for a year and a half, until somebody suggested that she should consider doing ''joshi puroresu'' after she was having second thoughts about her career; this led her to finding a Stardom match on YouTube and signing up to train at the promotion. On 1 August 2018, Hernandez announced that she had created a Patreon account. She uploads new content to her Patreon account on a regular basis. In January 2019, Hernandez, in-character as Kris Wolf, announced her marriage to her partner. Hernandez currently lives with her partner in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

, Norway.

Championships and accomplishments

*Alternative Wrestling Show **AWS Women's World 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. 28 of the top 100 female wrestlers in the ''

PWI Female 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 2018 *

( 1 time)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wolf, Kris 1984 births Living people Sportspeople from Chicago American female professional wrestlers Professional wrestlers from Illinois Expatriate professional wrestlers in Japan Masked wrestlers American professional wrestlers of Filipino descent Filipino female professional wrestlers LGBT professional wrestlers American LGBT sportspeople LGBT people from Illinois 21st-century American women 21st-century professional wrestlers High Speed Champions