Anna Jenny Sjödin (née Thunell; August 2, 1985) is a Swedish

professional wrestler Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to real-life wrest ...

and submission grappler. She was trained in professional wrestling in several schools across

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

and

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

and has spent most of her career working there for promotions such as Fightstar Sports Entertainment (FSE), Futureshock Wrestling (FSW) and Pro-Wrestling: EVE, where she is a former one-time Pro-Wrestling: EVE Champion. Sjödin is also an accomplished submission grappler, having won a gold medal in Ground Control's 2010 no-gi tournament and silver medals in Grapplers Quest's advanced division and North American Grappling Association's (NAGA) European Championships that same year.

Professional wrestling career

Sjödin first became interested in

professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...

at the age of seventeen, after seeing the Gaea Girls

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

on Japanese ''

joshi puroresu is a Japanese term used for professional wrestling in and outside of Japan. The term comes from the Japanese pronunciation of , which in Japanese is abbreviated to “puro” ( - “pro”) & “resu” ( - an abbreviation of “wrestling”). ...

'', after which she began following the

All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling , nicknamed Zenjo (全女: 全 meaning "All", 女 meaning "Woman") was a ''joshi puroresu'' (women's professional wrestling) professional wrestling promotion, promotion established in 1968 by Takashi Matsunaga and his brothers. The group held the ...

(AJW) promotion. Having trained

amateur wrestling Amateur wrestling is a variant of wrestling practiced at Olympic Games, Olympic, Collegiate wrestling, collegiate, Scholastic wrestling, scholastic, and other levels. There are two international wrestling styles performed at the Olympic Games, fr ...

with Skönsbergs brottningsklubb, Sjödin moved to

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

in April 2007 to begin training professional wrestling under Fergal Devitt, Paul Tracey, Phil Boyd and Peter Farrell with NWA Ireland. She made her debut on July 7, 2007, facing one of her trainers, Phil Boyd, at a Spanish Wrestling Association (SWA) event in

Segovia Segovia ( , , ) is a city in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the Province of Segovia. Segovia is located in the Meseta central, Inner Pl ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. During the next years, Sjödin worked for several

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

promotions in countries such as

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, Ireland,

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

and her native

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. In March 2008, Sjödin took part in the American Wrestling Rampage (AWR) promotion's tour of Ireland, along with several former

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...

wrestlers. During the tour, Sjödin had a five match series with

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wrestler

Alpha Female Marie Kristin Gabert (June 4, 1982) is a German Professional wrestling, professional wrestler and former professional Powerlifting, powerlifter, strongwoman, Bodybuilding, bodybuilder, and Mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist under the names A ...

, which she won 3–2. In the beginning of 2009, she moved to

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, England to continue her training under the likes of Jon Ryan, Paul Tracey, Psycho Steve and

Zack Sabre Jr. Lucas James Uggles Eatwell (born 24 July 1987), known by his ring name and its abbreviated form ZSJ, is an English-born professional wrestler. He is signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). In NJPW, he is the second and current leader of the ...

with NWA UK Hammerlock and The Wrestling Factory. While training in Manchester, Sjödin began incorporating more

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting combat sport, sport based on strike (attack), striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. In the early 20th century, various inter-s ...

and

grappling Grappling is a fighting technique based on throws, trips, sweeps, clinch fighting, ground fighting and submission holds. Grappling contests often involve takedowns and ground control, and may end when a contestant concedes defeat. Shou ...

based offense into her in-ring style. On May 8, 2010, Sjödin took part in Pro-Wrestling: EVE's inaugural event in

Sudbury, Suffolk Sudbury (, ) is a market town and civil parish in the south west of Suffolk, England, on the River Stour near the Essex border, north-east of London. It is the largest town in the Babergh local government district and part of the South Suf ...

, England, losing to April Davids in the opening match. The match marked the launching of EVE's "Catch Division", where matches could only be won by submission or referee stoppage. Sjödin avenged her loss against Davids on October 16, 2010. Sjödin then formed the villainous European Empire

stable A stable is a building in which working animals are kept, especially horses or oxen. The building is usually divided into stalls, and may include storage for equipment and feed. Styles There are many different types of stables in use tod ...

with Davids,

Nikki Storm Nicola Glencross (born 21 April 1989) is a Scottish professional wrestler. She is signed to WWE where she performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Nikki Cross and is a member of The Wyatt Sicks faction. In WWE, she is a former one- ...

and Shanna, under the leadership of Jetta, while also starting a storyline rivalry with Britani Knight, which led to a trilogy of singles matches between the two. After both wrestlers had managed to win one of the matches, Sjödin defeated Knight in the third match on June 4, 2011, to become the second Pro-Wrestling: EVE Champion. After failing to become the inaugural Nordic Women's Champion, losing to Finnish wrestler Aurora Flame, following outside interference from Miss Mina, Sjödin challenged Flame to a rematch, where she agreed to put her Pro-Wrestling: EVE Championship also on the line. On August 13, 2011, Sjödin defeated Flame to retain her title and win the Nordic Women's Championship. On October 8, Sjödin defeated April Davids in a rubber match to retain the Pro-Wrestling: EVE Championship. The following night, Sjödin successfully defended the title against one of her idols,

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

wrestler Emi Sakura, in a match that was broadcast on

Ice Ribbon is a ''joshi puroresu'' (women's professional wrestling) professional wrestling promotion, promotion established in 2006 by Emi Sakura, after her split with Gatokunyan. History Ice Ribbon was founded by Emi Sakura, a professional wrestler wh ...

's 19 O'Clock Girls ProWrestling program on

Ustream IBM Watson Media (formerly Ustream and IBM Cloud Video) is an American virtual events platform company which is a division of IBM. Prior to the IBM acquisition, it had more than 180 employees across San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Budapest office ...

. After a reign of 302 days and eight successful title defenses, Sjödin lost the Pro-Wrestling: EVE Championship to the Alpha Female on April 4, 2011. On August 25, 2012, Sjödin unsuccessfully challenged April Davids for Futureshock Wrestling's (FSW) Women's Championship.

Grappling career

After moving to Manchester in 2009, Sjödin also began training Brazilian jiu-jitsu,

submission grappling Submission wrestling, also known as submission grappling, submission fighting, or simply grappling, is a martial art and combat sport that focuses on ground fighting and submission techniques. It is a hybrid discipline that incorporates eleme ...

and mixed martial arts under

Rosi Sexton Rosemary Ann Sexton (born 16 July 1977) is a British politician, mathematician, sports therapist, osteopath, and former mixed martial artist. Sexton obtained a degree in mathematics from the University of Cambridge in 1998, before later obta ...

at the Fighting Fit Martial Arts Centre. On May 23, 2010, she won the gold medal in the female division of Ground Control's no-gi grappling tournament. As a result of her win, Sjödin earned herself a trip to

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to take part in the Grapplers Quest tournament. After taking the silver medal in the – division, Sjödin finished off her 2010 with another silver medal at the North American Grappling Association's European Championships in

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Personal life

Sjödin is a former member of the

Sundsvall Sundsvall () is a city and the seat of Sundsvall Municipality in Västernorrland County, Sweden. It has a population of 58,807 as of 2020; more than 95,000 live in the municipal area. It is Sweden's 21st largest city by population. Old town i ...

city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough counc ...

as a representative of the Liberal People's Party. She has a degree in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

. In 2013, Sjödin began working as a columnist for the Body Confidential website. In a column on October 17, 2013, Sjödin revealed she was six months pregnant. On January 17, 2014, Sjödin announced she had given birth.

Championships and accomplishments

Professional wrestling

* Fight Club Finland ** Nordic Women's Championship (1 time) * Pro-Wrestling: EVE ** Pro-Wrestling: EVE Championship ( 1 time)

Submission grappling

* Grapplers Quest ** Women's Advanced No-Gi 120–139.9 lbs Division Silver Medal (2010) * Ground Control ** Female Division Gold Medal (2010) *

North American Grappling Association North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is ...

** European Championship Silver Medal (2010)

References

External links

*
Roasted Sweet Potatoes blogFight Club Finland profile

NWA UK Hammerlock profilePro-Wrestling: EVE profileSouthside Wrestling Entertainment profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sjodin, Jenny 1985 births 21st-century female professional wrestlers Living people Liberals (Sweden) politicians People from Hudiksvall Swedish practitioners of Brazilian jiu-jitsu Swedish female professional wrestlers Swedish female sport wrestlers Pro-Wrestling: EVE Champions 21st-century Swedish sportswomen