| Živilė Raudonienė | |
|---|---|
| Ring name(s) | Aksana[1] Olga[2] |
| Billed height | 5 ft 5 in (1.65 m)[3] |
| Billed weight | 128 lb (58 kg)[4] |
| Born | April 29, 1982 [4][5] Alytus, Lithuanian SSR[4] |
| Resides | Tampa, Florida[2] |
| Billed from | Alytus, Lithuania[3] |
| Trained by | FCW Staff[2] |
| Debut | October 5th, 2009[2] |
Živilė Raudonienė (born April 29, 1982)[2][5] is a Lithuanian fitness model, bodybuilder and professional wrestler. She is signed to WWE, performing on their SmackDown brand under the ring name Aksana, and is training in Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), WWE's developmental territory. Raudonienė won three medals in Bodybuilding Amateur World Championships (2 silver, 1 bronze).[6]
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Raudonienė worked as a successful bodybuilder, fitness model and personal trainer and she won the 2009 IFBB Arnold Classic Contest and has competed in numerous other bodybuilding contests.[4] Raudonienė has been working out since the year 1996 in her home of Lithuania and after a year she entered her first fitness contest. At the age of 17 she was the youngest participant in the 1999 IFBB European Fitness Championships.[7]
On October 5, 2009, it was reported that WWE had signed Raudonienė to a developmental contract with WWE and was training at Florida Championship Wrestling their developmental facility in Florida.[8] Raudonienė made her FCW debut under the ring name "Olga" at a FCW house show in a Divas Halloween Costume contest on October 29, 2009.[9] The following month, her ring name was changed to Aksana, and she began to manage Eli Cottonwood.[9] She was also involved in a storyline where she was kidnapped by Sweet Papi Sanchez.[9]
Aksana made her in ring debut at an FCW house show on January 15, 2010 when she teamed with AJ Lee, Savannah, and Eve Torres to defeat Serena Mancini, Naomi Night, Courtney Taylor, and Liviana.[10] She began appearing on The Abraham Washington Show, Abraham Washington's in-ring talk show segment, where she acted as his sidekick.[10] She continued to wrestle as well, appearing in several multi-Diva tag team matches.[10] On April 15, 2010 Aksana teamed with Hunico and Tito Nieves in a mixed tag team match, defeating The Usos and Tamina.[10] When it was announced that there would be a creation of the FCW Divas Championship, Aksana competed in a tournament to determine the inaugural champion, only to be defeated in the first round by Serena at the April 29, 2010 television tapings.[10] She also briefly managed Johnny Curtis in the months of April and May.[10] In July, Aksana competed in several bikini contests against the other FCW Divas, winning one on July 8, 2011.[10] The following month, she began hosting The Aksana Show, a spin-off of The Abraham Washington Show, having guests including Mason Ryan, FCW Florida Tag Team Champions Johnny Curtis and Derrick Bateman, Maxine, Rosa Mendes and FCW Divas Champion Naomi Knight.[10]
At the February 3, 2011 television tapings, Aksana defeated Rosa Mendes to become the new Queen of FCW.[11] Aksana later joined the new villainous group formed by FCW General Manager Maxine with FCW Florida Heavyweight Champion Lucky Cannon, FCW Divas Champion AJ, and Damien Sandow.[12][13] At the April 7, 2011 television tapings, Aksana defeated AJ to win the FCW Divas Championship for the first time after interference from Maxine.[14] Her victory made her the first Diva to hold the Queen of FCW title and FCW Divas Championship simultaneously.[12] On September 1, 2011 television tapings, Aksana lost the FCW Divas Championship to Audrey Marie.[15]
On August 31, 2010 it was announced that Raudonienė would be part of the third season of NXT, under the ring name of Aksana, with Goldust as her storyline mentor.[16] She appeared on the first episode of the season on September 7, 2010 where she teamed with Goldust in a loss to A.J. and Primo in a mixed tag team match.[17] The following week, she lost to Jamie Keyes in a singles match.[18] On the September 21, 2010 episode of NXT, Aksana began a storyline where she was having problems with her visa and was facing deportation from the United States.[19] On the October 5, 2010 episode of NXT, Aksana won a challenge for the first time by winning the mechanical bull riding contest, before defeating Maxine in a match.[20] The following week, Goldust proposed marriage to Aksana so she could stay in the United States, which she accepted.[21] On the November 2, 2010 edition of NXT, Goldust and Aksana's wedding took place. As Goldust was about to plant a kiss on his new wife, Aksana slapped him and walked off, turning heel in the process.[22]
The following Monday on Raw Aksana stole Goldust's Million Dollar Championship, which he had stolen from Ted DiBiase.[23] The next night on NXT, Goldust confronted his wife about their wedding. Aksana, now holding the Million Dollar Championship, revealed to Goldust that she never loved him, and only married him to stay in the country as if she returned to Lithuania she'd be beaten with shovels.[24][25] Goldust responded by putting Aksana in a match with Naomi, in which she lost.[26] The following week on Raw, Goldust took back the Million Dollar Championship from Aksana with help from Kelly Kelly and Dusty Rhodes, and gave it back to Ted DiBiase, Sr.[27] The next night on the November 16, 2010 episode of NXT, Aksana was eliminated from the competition.[28] She returned on the season finale on November 30, 2010 where she teamed with Alicia Fox and Maxine in a loss to A.J. and The Bella Twins.[29]
Aksana made her official WWE debut on August 5th, 2011 as a member of the SmackDown roster, as a face, where she introduced herself to General Manager Theodore Long in a backstage segment and continuing on backstage segments with Long for over the course of months. On the August 22nd, 2011 edition of Raw, Aksana appeared backstage with several other Superstars and Divas congratulating Kofi Kingston and Evan Bourne (now known as "Air Boom") on winning the WWE Tag Team Championship. Four days later on SmackDown, Aksana had another backstage segment, where she invited the WWE Universe to "turn her on" to the following Tuesday's live edition of SmackDown, continuing the sexual innuendos of the previous weeks. On the August 30th, 2011 edition of SmackDown, Aksana served as the guest ring announcer for a Divas Tag Team Match between The Divas of Doom (Beth Phoenix and Natalya) and Alicia Fox and Kelly Kelly.
On the September 23rd, 2011 edition of SmackDown, Aksana appeared alongside the entire SmackDown roster during the opening segment involving John Laurinaitis, Mark Henry, Triple H, and Christian. On the October 3rd, 2011 edition of Raw, Aksana, along with most of the WWE roster, gave Triple H a vote of no confidence in his role as Chief Operating Officer of the WWE, and walked out of the show. The following edition of Raw, in a WWE.com Exlcusive, Aksana was seen with the rest of the fifty-five disgruntled WWE employees in a solidarity rally before Raw aired. On the October 28th, 2011 edition of SmackDown, Aksana appeared backstage with Theodore Long for the first time in over a month, this time interrupting his conversation with Hornswoggle. On the October 31st, 2011 edition of Raw, Aksana competed in her first match on the main roster, which was a Divas Halloween Costume battle royal match to become the number one contender for the WWE Divas Championship at the 2011 Survivor Series pay-per-view. However, she was unsuccessful in becoming the number one contender after being eliminated by The Bella Twins. At the Survivor Series 2011 pay-per-view, Aksana participated as one of the lumberjills in the WWE Divas Championship match between Beth Phoenix and Eve Torres.
At the conclusion of the 2011 Tribute to the Troops special, Aksana joined the rest of the WWE roster in greeting the fans in attendance. On the December 28th, 2011 edition of NXT, Aksana appeared in a backstage segment with Maxine. Aksana showed Maxine a text supposedly sent by Derrick Bateman to Theodore Long's phone, which read that he while he couldn't wait to become a SmackDown Superstar, he wanted Maxine to stay on NXT. When Maxine asked Aksana if Johnny Curtis put her up to it, Aksana replied that she was only trying to help.
Raudonienė has previously lived in New York City, and now lives in Tampa, Florida. She was born in Alytus, Lithuania and raised in a small family. Before wrestling she was a successful professional bodybuilder. [2]