| Jazz | |
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Jazz in April 2010 |
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| Ring name(s) | Jazz Jazzmine |
| Billed height | 5 ft 4 in (1.63 m)[1] |
| Billed weight | 148 lb (67 kg) |
| Born | August 27, 1973 |
| Resides | Lafayette, Louisiana[2] |
| Billed from | New Orleans, Louisiana[1] |
| Trained by | Rod Price[3] |
| Debut | 1998 |
Carlene Denise Moore-Begnaud (born August 27, 1973) is an American professional wrestler, currently signed to Women Superstars Uncensored under the ring name Jazz. She is best known for her tenure in Extreme Championship Wrestling, and in World Wrestling Federation / Entertainment, where she was a two time Women's Champion.[4]
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After dropping out of college, Begnaud was approached about starting a career as a professional wrestler and joined a wrestling school in Louisiana.[3] She was originally inspired to be a wrestler when she saw Jacqueline Moore perform.[2] Begnaud trained with Rod Price for six to eight months,[3] and she later made her professional wrestling debut in a match against Moore.[3]
Using the name Jazzmine, she later joined Extreme Championship Wrestling as a part of an alliance called the Impact Players, which included wrestlers such as Jason Knight, Lance Storm, and Justin Credible.[5] She later began a feud with Jason and defeated him at Heat Wave in 1999.[3] She appeared on a random basis before leaving the company before ECW was shut down due to bankruptcy.[6]
In late 2001, the World Wrestling Federation expressed interest in Begnaud, and she was sent to Ohio Valley Wrestling for six months to train.[7] Now wrestling as Jazz, she signed a two-year contract with the WWF. She made her formal debut in the company at the Survivor Series in a Six-Pack Challenge match for the Women's Championship, which had been vacated by Chyna after her departure from the company.[8] Ultimately, Trish Stratus came away with the victory and the championship that night after Stratus pinned Ivory. Jazz then entered a feud with Stratus after she attacked both her and Molly Holly, after Stratus retained her title. This led to her facing Stratus at the 2002 Royal Rumble for the Championship, but failed to do so. However on February 4, 2002 edition of Raw Jazz won her first Women's Championship.[7][9] On May 6, 2002, the World Wrestling Federation was renamed to World Wrestling Entertainment, subsequently renaming the title to the WWE Women's Championship. As a result, Jazz became the last woman to hold the Women's Title under the WWF banner and the first to hold it under the WWE banner. Her feud with Stratus went on for several months with Jazz making successful title defenses against Stratus, and Ivory. Due to a torn ACL in her knee, however, Jazz dropped the title back to Stratus in a Hardcore-Rules match on the May 13, 2002 edition of Raw, which also involved Bubba Ray Dudley and Steven Richards.[7][10]
Jazz returned in early 2003 and involved herself in the feud between Stratus and Victoria. She immediately took out Stratus and dominated in matches against Molly Holly and Jacqueline. She competed in a triple threat match at WrestleMania XIX against Stratus and then Champion Victoria, but Stratus walked away with the title. During this time, she took on the managerial services of Theodore Long, which led to another Women's Championship reign after defeating Stratus at Backlash.[11] She had another successful title defence at the Judgement Day in a Fatal Four-Way Match involving Jacqueline, Stratus and Victoria. However, she lost the title in a battle royal to Gail Kim on June 30.[12][13] In reality, she had a chipped and dislocated shoulder and needed several weeks to rehabilitate.[2] She returned from injury in early 2004,[2] but was used sparingly. Later that year, she became manager and valet for her real-life husband Rodney Mack. She was released from WWE in November 2004 due to the creative department's lack of ideas for her character.[3][7]
From January 16, 2005 she started working on the independent circuit and appeared at the unofficial ECW reunion show, Hardcore Homecoming. In late 2005, Jazz and Rodney Mack opened Dirtysouth Championship Wrestling, an independent promotion based in Louisiana. Jazz also performed in Women's Extreme Wrestling, where she won the company's World Heavyweight Championship in May 2005 in a Fatal Four M'enage Quatro match against Angel Orsini, Mercedes Martinez, and Simply Luscious when the previous champion, Tai "Killer Weed", was forced to relinquish the title due to an injury. While still WEW champion, on June 24, 2005, Jazz defeated April Hunter to win the NWA Cyberspace Women's Championship.
In 2006, Jazz and Mack were forced to rename DCW to Downsouth Championship Wrestling due to copyright issues. Soon after the promotion's name change, Jazz won her promotion's Louisiana State Championship. Later that month on June 24, she participated in ChickFight V and debuted in All Pro Wrestling.[14]
In mid-2006, Begnaud was one of several Extreme Championship Wrestling alumni contracted to compete in WWE's new version of the promotion.[15] Jazz made her first appearance as part of the new ECW during the WWE vs. ECW Head to Head show on June 7, where she faced then-Women's Champion Mickie James in a losing effort.[16] Jazz, however, did not continue an on-screen role in the brand and only made a few appearances at ECW house shows before returning to ECW in September. She stayed under contract with WWE until January 18, 2007 when she, along with her husband and several other wrestlers, were released by WWE.[15]
In May 2007, Jazz and Rodney Mack were booked by the Queens of Chaos promotion in France. In late 2009, Jazz debuted for Women Superstars Uncensored in New Jersey, defeating Angel Orsini. She is still with the company, wrestling on the Third Year Anniversary show against Amber O'Neal. She continued to compete with the company and with National Wrestling Superstars, where she teamed with former ECW star Balls Mahoney in a tournament. In 2010, Jazz won WSU's third Uncensored Rumble to earn a shot at Mercedes Martinez's WSU Championship. Mercedes defeated Jazz in the main event of WSU's inaugural internet pay-per-view, "Breaking Barriers", on November 5, 2010. Jazz was defeated by Alicia at WSU's 4 year anniversary show on March 5, 2011. However, later that same night, she offered herself as the mystery partner of WSU Tag Team Champion Marti Belle, whose partner, Tina San Antonio, was injured in the week prior. Marti Belle and Jazz defeated Amy Lee and Cindy Rogers and The Soul Sisters (Jana and Latasha) to become the "new" WSU Tag Team Champions, giving Jazz her first Tag Team Championships. Jazz, Belle, & Tina would be able to defend the belts under the "Freebird rule" where any 2 of the three could compete. Marti & Tina would lose the belts before Jazz was able to have a defense. Jazz was scheduled for a rematch but had to pull out due to personal reasons.
In high school, Carlene played basketball.[7] She also had a basketball scholarship in college until a knee injury ended her basketball career.[2][3] She later dropped out of college to work.[3]
Carlene is married to Rodney Begnaud, who also competed as Rodney Mack in WWE.[7] They live together in Lafayette, Louisiana on 25 acres (100,000 m2) of land.[2][3] The couple welcomed twin girls named Summer and Skye in November 2008.[17]
She owns a fitness gym, which according to her is to "keep [the youth] off the streets and keep them positive."[7] She also runs a wrestling school with her husband called The Dog Pound.[18]
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