Melanie Goranson (born January 7, 1987) 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 ...

, better known by her

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 ...

Melanie Cruise. She is best known for her appearances in

All Elite Wrestling All Elite Wrestling (AEW) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Jacksonville, Florida. It is considered the second largest wrestling promotion in the United States behind WWE. AEW is owned by Shahid Khan and his son Tony, w ...

(AEW), SHIMMER and POWW Entertainment. She currently performs for several

Northern United States The Northern United States, commonly referred to as the American North, the Northern States, or simply the North, is a geographical or historical region of the United States. History Early history Before the 19th century westward expansion, the "N ...

-based independent promotions and was the first Resistance Pro Wrestling Women's champion.

Personal life

Goranson is a native of

Elk Grove Village, Illinois Elk Grove Village is a village in Cook and DuPage counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. Per the 2020 census, the population was 32,812. Located northwest of Chicago along the Golden Corridor, the Village of Elk Grove Village was incorpor ...

. She has one child.

Early life

Born to James "Jim" Goranson and Wendy Goranson in Chicago, Goranson competed in track and basketball at Elk Grove High School in Illinois and competed on the track team at Western Illinois University, before starting her wrestling career. Her siblings are all athletes. Her brother Jim was an All-State football player for Elk Grove High School in Illinois, who went on to play college football at University of Illinois and Georgetown University. Her younger sister Danielle "Dani" Goranson was an All-State softball player for Elk Grove, going an impressive 83–17 with a 1.20 ERA and 284 strikeouts in four seasons
Dani
went on to play college softball at Michigan State University from 2013 to 2016. Her other sister Nikki played college softball at Robert Morris. Her brother Mike wrestled for the U.S. Marine Corps, where he served and earned a Purple Heart. Their father "Jim" Goranson coached softball at Regina Dominican High School in Wilmette, Illinois from 2011 to 2013 and 2017–18, and also coached softball at Oakton Community College for two seasons.

Career

POWW Entertainment (2008–2012)

Trained by Ruff Crossing, Jimmy Blaze and Scott Spade, she debuted for POWW on April 26, 2008. It was a tag team match teaming up with Kanoa to go against Traci Brooks and Chris Cairo. After she took part in a Triple Threat Match also including Mia Martinez and The Great Cheyenne, the eventual winner. Because Cheyenne won the match and didn't beat Cruise, they started a feud, eventually ending in Cruise beating Cheyenne in a best of three falls match. After that Melanie Cruise started another feud with Taylor Made, defeating her also in a Street Fight Match by landing The Cruise Control onto a garbage can. Melanie still competes for POWW in 2012 and is currently involved in a feud with Stacey Shadows

Shimmer Women Athletes

She made her first appearance for SHIMMER Women Athletes back on Volume 21 SPARKLE as she defeated

Cherry Bomb A cherry bomb (also known as a globe salute or kraft salute) is an approximately spherical exploding firework, roughly resembling a cherry in size and shape (with the fuse resembling the cherry's stem). Cherry bombs range in size from in diamet ...

in a Dark Match to win a future spot in the Main Roster. She made her DVD debut on Volume 23 where she was defeated by "The Scream Queen"

Daffney Shannon Claire Spruill (July 17, 1975 – September 1, 2021) was an American professional wrestler, wrestling manager and actress better known by her ring name Daffney. Daffney began her professional wrestling career in World Championship Wre ...

after her Daff Knees. She then aligned with Annie Social and Wesna Busic forming the Social Club. After missing Volume 24 she came back as part of Volume 25 losing to

Nikki Roxx Nicole Raczynski (born April 19, 1979) is an American former professional wrestler. She is best known for her tenure in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling under the ring names Roxxi Laveaux, The Voodoo Queen, and Roxxi. She is also known for her time ...

after a Barbie Crusher. Later in the night she took part in a Fatal 4 Way including Jennifer Blake,

Kellie Skater Callee Keating (born 30 September 1987) is a retired Australian professional wrestler best known by her ring name Kellie Skater. She has wrestled internationally, in Australia, Canada, Japan and the United States. She is perhaps best known for h ...

and eventual winner

Jessie McKay Jessica McKay (born 23 June 1989) is an Australian professional wrestler. She is best known for her time in WWE, where she performed under the ring name Billie Kay and for her time in Impact Wrestling, where she competed as Jessie McKay. In J ...

. On November 8 she teamed with Wesna Busic to defeat the Former SHIMMER Tag Team Champions Ashley Lane and Nevaeh. She continued her winning streak by defeating the debuting Kimberly Kash on Volume 28. Since her tag team partner Wesna Busic retired she started teaming up with her manager Annie Social and as part of the Volume 29 they lost a #1 Contender Tag Team Match against the team of Nikki Roxx and Portuguese Princess Ariel. Later that night however they scored their first victory as a team against Jessica James and

Rachel Summerlyn Rachel Childres (born July 1, 1986) is an American retired professional wrestler best known by her ring name Rachel Summerlyn. She wrestled for several independent wrestling promotions, most notably for Shimmer Women Athletes and IWA Mid-South. Sh ...

. On Volume 31 Melanie Cruise scored a huge win against

Allison Danger Cathy Allison Corino (born March 31, 1977) is a Canadian retired professional wrestler and professional wrestling manager, better known by her ring name, Allison Danger. Professional wrestling career Early career Corino's older brother Steve ...

thanks to the help of her manager Annie Social. In the after match the duo continued to attack Allison until Jennifer Blake made the save. As part of Volume 32 they lost a Tag Team Grudge Match against the Ultimate Punch (Jennifer and Allison).

Supreme Wrestling Entertainment

She made her debut with Supreme Wrestling Entertainment on May 25, 2011, in Rubicon, WI. She took on and defeated Nikki St. John. She had originally been scheduled to take on Taylor Made, but Melanie Cruise had "Made Sure" Taylor didn't make it to the show, so she was replaced by Nikki. Melanie Cruise and Nikki St. John once again squared off on July 4, 2011. This time Nikki St. John got the win. She once again returned to SWE on August 6, 2011, at the West Bend Harley-Davidson 65th Anniversary Bash in West Bend, WI in a losing effort against TNA Impact Wrestling Knockout Traci Brooks. On December 17, 2011, Taylor Made finally got her hands on Melanie Cruise, but Cruise took the victory. The feud between Melanie Cruise and Nikki St. John continued on July 4, 2012, where Melanie picked up another victory on Nikki. Then on September 1, 2012, in a shocking event, Nikki beat Melanie with help from the crafty Chazz Moretti. It was immediately announced that Nikki was the newest member of the Moretti Agency.

Global Force Wrestling (2015)

On July 9, 2015, Cruise made her debut for

Global Force Wrestling Global Force Wrestling was an American professional wrestling promotion founded in 2014 by Jeff Jarrett, the co-founder and former President of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (now known as Impact Wrestling), and his wife Karen Jarrett. It is ow ...

(GFW), unsuccessfully challenging

Santana Garrett Santana Garrett (born May 22, 1988) is an American professional wrestler, valet and model. She is currently signed to WWE, where she works as a coach at the Performance Center. During her career, Garrett has wrestled in many independent promotio ...

for the

NWA World Women's Championship The NWA World Women's Championship is a women's professional wrestling world championship created and promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). The title was first won by Mildred Burke in 193 ...

All Elite Wrestling (2019–2021)

Cruise made her

(AEW) debut on the December 4, 2019 episode of ''

Dynamite Dynamite is an explosive made of nitroglycerin, sorbents (such as powdered shells or clay), and Stabilizer (chemistry), stabilizers. It was invented by the Swedish people, Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel in Geesthacht, Northern Germa ...

''; joining the group of The Nightmare Collective, led by

Brandi Rhodes Brandi Alexis Runnels ( née Reed; born June 23, 1983), known professionally as Brandi Rhodes, is an American professional wrestler, ring announcer, model, businesswoman and television personality. She is known for her time as the former Chief ...

and including

Awesome Kong Kia Stevens (born September 4, 1977) is an American actress and retired professional wrestler. She is best known for her time with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA)/Impact Wrestling under the ring name Awesome Kong. She also worked with Ri ...

and

Dr. Luther Len Olson (born October 30, 1968), better known by the ring names Dr. Luther or simply Luther, is a Canadian professional wrestling, professional wrestler signed to All Elite Wrestling, where he is also a producer. He is also known for his appeara ...

. However, the angle was poorly received by fans and was dropped in February after Kong left the promotion to film GLOW.

Championships and accomplishments

* Allied Independent Wrestling Federations ** AIWF Women's Championship (1 time) * Cape Championship Wrestling ** CCW Women's 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. 25 of the best 50 female singles wrestlers in the ''

PWI Female 50 ''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 2012 *

Resistance Pro Wrestling The Resistance is an American professional wrestling promotion, formerly known as Resistance Pro Wrestling, founded by musician Billy Corgan, alongside brothers Jacques and Gabe Baron. The promotion holds monthly events around Chicago, attracting " ...

RPW Women's Championship The RPW Women's Championship is a women's professional wrestling championship in Resistance Pro Wrestling (RPW). The first holder of the title is Melanie Cruise, who won a gauntlet match Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "concept ...

(2 times) *

Rise Wrestling Rise Wrestling (stylized as RiSE Wrestling or RISE Wrestling and often referred to simply as RiSE) was an American, independent women's professional wrestling promotion. It airs events on Internet pay-per-view (iPPV by subscription) and hosts l ...

** Guardians of RISE Championship (1 time) – with Dust ** Rise Tag Team of the Year (2018) – with Dust

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cruise, Melanie 1987 births American female professional wrestlers Living people People from Elk Grove Village, Illinois Sportspeople from Illinois Professional wrestlers from Illinois 21st-century professional wrestlers