| Bonnie Maxon | |
|---|---|
Rain in July 2010 |
|
| Ring name(s) | Bonnie Masón (AAA)[1] Felony[2] Hope[3] (Ms.) Payton Banks[3] (Ms.) Payton Banks[4] Rain[3] Sensual Rain[5] |
| Billed height | 5 ft 5 in (1.65 m)[3] |
| Billed weight | 125 lb (57 kg; 8.9 st)[3] |
| Born | September 10, 1981 [6] St. Paul, MN[3] |
| Billed from | Saint Paul, Minnesota[3] |
| Trained by | Eddie Sharkey Horace the Psychopath[3] Lexie Fyfe[3] Gran Apache[3] |
| Debut | 2000[3] |
Bonnie Maxon (born September 10, 1981) is an American professional wrestler best known by her ring name Rain or as Payton Banks in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. She formerly tag teamed with partner Lacey to form The Minnesota Home-Wrecking Crew (a play on the name of the Minnesota Wrecking Crew), but following Lacey's retirement, she teamed with British wrestler Jetta to form The International Home Wrecking Crew.
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Maxon started working for a local promotion, Steel Domain Wrestling (SDW) in St. Paul, Minnesota. Later after gaining the experience of a wrestler she started working for various promotions in the Midwest, such as IWA Mid-South, Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW), NWA Midwest, Ring of Honor, Shimmer Women Athletes, and Women Extreme Wrestling under the ring name Rain.[3]
On November 6, 2005, Rain made her debut for Shimmer Women Athletes on the promotion's debut show, losing to Ariel.[3] She picked up her first victory in the promotion on Volume 3, which was taped on February 12, 2006, defeating Nikki Roxx.[3] On May 21 on Volume 6 the team of Rain and Lacey, known collectively as The Minnesota Home Wrecking Crew, made their Shimmer debut as a tag team, defeating Sara Del Rey and Mercedes Martinez.[3] After another tag team victory on Volume 8 against Cheerleader Melissa and MsChif,[3] Rain entered the Shimmer Championship tournament on Volume 11 on June 1, 2007, but was eliminated in the first round by Nikki Roxx.[3] The following day on Volume 13 the Minnesota Home Wrecking Crew suffered its first loss in a match against Del Rey and Roxx.[3] On October 13 Rain and Lacey were joined by Jetta, and together they formed the stable The International Home Wrecking Crew. In their debut match as a trio, they were defeated by Daizee Haze, MsChif and Eden Black.[3] On April 26, 2008, on Volume 18 Rain and Lacey were defeated by the team of Ashley Lane and Nevaeh.[3]
After Lacey's retirement, Rain and Jetta continued teaming together, and on Volume 21, taped on October 19, 2008, they entered a gauntlet match to determine the first ever Shimmer Tag Team Champions. The team entered the match fourth and eliminated Jennifer Blake and LuFisto, before being eliminated themselves by the eventual winners of the entire match, Ashley Lane and Nevaeh.[3] On Volume 23 Rain and Jetta faced Lane and Nevaeh in a two out of three falls for the tag team title. During the match Lacey debuted as Rain and Jetta's new manager and helped them score the first fall. Lane and Nevaeh came to back to even the score, after Lacey's second interference backfired. Jetta scored the deciding fall after using a chain given to her by Lacey. However, after referee Bryce Remsburg found out that Jetta had cheated to win, he restarted the match and in the end Lane and Nevaeh retained their gold.[7]
Maxon appeared as a "plant" on the October 18, 2007 edition of Impact! holding up a huge white sign with black letters reading off "President of Robert Roode FanClub". She continued to appear in the crowd with pro-Roode signs for the following two weeks. She was officially referenced to on the November 1 edition of Impact! by TNA announcers, where she also had a staredown with Roode's former valet Ms. Brooks. In the aftermath of a match on an edition of Impact!, after Ms. Brooks and Roode defeated Chris Harris and Gail Kim, Brooks was about to leave the ring when she attacked and started a cat fight with Maxon.[3] Following the altercation, she was seen from far distances all around the TNA Impact Zone. She was referred as Ms. Brooks's stalker by TNA commentators Don West and Mike Tenay.
She then appeared on the January 10, 2008 edition of Impact! and attacked Brooks.[3] Subsequently, Roode announced that she had been replaced by Maxon, under the new name (Ms.) Peyton Banks (later tweaked to Payton Banks), resulting in a feud with Brooks and a match at Against All Odds where Brooks came out on top.[3] At Destination X, Banks was part of the "Stand By Your Man" Strap match, where she was in the corner of Roode, and Brooks was in the corner of Booker T.[3] The match stipulation dictated that the loser of the match would have their valet whipped with a strap.[3] Booker T lost the match, and Banks whipped Brooks with the leather strap until Brooks was saved by Booker's wife, Sharmell.[3] At Lockdown, Booker T and Sharmell defeated Roode and Banks in a mixed tag team match when Sharmell pinned Banks with a roll-up.[3] After the match Roode verbally abused Banks in the ring. Roode then prepared to hit her, but instead left her alone in the ring.[3] After her program with Roode ended, she left TNA.
On August 21, 2009, at Verano de Escandalo, Rain made her debut for Asistencia, Asesoría y Administración (AAA) as a member of La Legión Extranjera, led by Konnan.[8] In the promotion she regularly teams with Jennifer Blade and Sexy Star as well as acting as the valet of Alex Koslov. At the 2010 Rey de Reyes show Rain, Christina Von Eerie and Sexy Star faced off against Cinthia Moreno, Mari and Faby Apache, a match which Moreno won for her team by pinning Sexy Star.[9] During a post Rey de Reyes interview Sexy Star claimed that the Apaches and Cintia Moreno were nothing but maids, which led to AAA booking a match between Cinthia Moreno, Faby and Mari Apache against Sexy Star, Rain and Jennifer Blade in a TripleMania XVIII match where the person pinned or submitted would have to be the winning team's slave for a month.[10] At TripleMania La Legión defeated Moreno and the Apaches, when Blade pinned Mari, thanks in part to the biased refereering by Hijo del Tirantes. Following the match Konnan ordered Mari Apache to begin her maid duty right away by cleaning up their dressing room. The stipulation expired on July 6, 2010.[11] Rain's contract with AAA expired on July 25, 2010.[12]
In early 2009 Maxon took part in the tapings of Wrestlicious, under the ring name Felony, which began airing in March 2010. She debuted on March 1 in the first episode teaming with Maria Toro and Bandita defeating the team of Cousin Cassie, Tyler Texas and Charlotte.[13] On the April 7 edition of Takedown, Felony was one of the last two girls along with Glory standing in a 20-girl over-the-top-rope "Hoedown Throwdown" battle royal to determine the top two contenders for the Wrestlicious Championship.[14] On the May 24 episode of Wrestlicious Takedown, Felony lost the Wrestlicious Championship match to Glory.[15]
Rain debuted in WSU in January 2009 with two victories over Rachel Summerlyn on separate DVD tapings in one night. She would go on to defeat Malia Hosaka at WSU's 2 year anniversary show. She went to the finals of WSU's 2009 J-Cup but lost to Angel Orsini in the finals. The following night she received her first WSU Championship shot in a three-way match involving Orsini and champion Mercedes Martinez in which Mercedes retained her title. Rain picked up a win over Nikki Roxx in June and in August, she teamed up with Orsini to challenge for the WSU tag team titles which they lost via DQ. Later that night on WSU's second DVD taping, the duo were successful against Nikki Roxx & Mercedes Martinez. Rain and Orsini's partnership would not last long and they would become enemies again. On October 3, 2009, Rain defeated Angel Orsini in an uncensored rules match.
Rain would go on to defeat Portia Perez to become the #1 contender to the WSU Championship. Rain would face Mercedes Martinez for the title in the main event of WSU's 3 year anniversary show in March 2010. Mercedes successfully defended her title against Rain, defeating her in an uncensored rules match on March 6, 2010. Rain would main event WSU's next show which was the first of two tapings in a loss to Awesome Kong. Rain would form her own alliance known as Rain's Army with Nikki Roxx and Jessicka Havok later in 2010. At WSU's first ever internet pay per view, Breaking Barries, Rain picked up an impressive victory over Jamilia Craft in just 3 minutes. The win garnered Rain another title shot on November 6, 2010. However, Mercedes was once again successful, defeating Rain this time in an I Quit match.
Rain's army would come to an end when Jessicka Havok turned on Rain and challenged her to a match which Havok won at WSU's 4 year anniversary show on March 5, 2011. From there, Rain would challenge for the WSU Spirit Championship at the Uncensored Rumble iPPV but came up short, losing to champion Sassy Stephanie. Rain would enter the Uncensored Rumble match but was eliminated by Amy Lee. Rain would turn to more of a fan-favorite after as she wrestled Serena Deeb at WSU's next event. Serena won the match but afterwards, they were both assaulted by tag team champions, the Boston Shore. Rain and Serena agreed to form a tag team to challenge for the titles but Serena ended up sidelined with a concussion leading Rain to call upon her longtime former tag team partner, Jetta, to reform the International Home Wrecking Crew.
In September, Rain won the WSU Spirit Championship, her first title win in WSU, by defeating Sassy Stephanie. However she would lose the championship later that very same night when she accepted an impromptu challenge from Jessicka Havok, who defeated her for the belt. On November 19, 2011 Rain and Jetta reformed the International Home Wrecking Crew but lost to the Boston Shore (Amber & Lexxus) in a tag titles match. Rain would later save Melina from a Boston Shore attack. Now, Rain is set to face Amber one on one in March 2012 at WSU's 5 year anniversary show.