| Vanessa Kraven | |
|---|---|
| Ring name(s) | Vanessa Kraven |
| Billed height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) |
| Billed weight | 190 lb (86 kg) |
| Born | February 10, 1982 Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| Trained by | Ron Hutchinson Zaquary Springate III |
| Debut | April 2004 |
| Website | Vanessa Kraven on Myspace |
Vanessa Kraven (born February 10, 1982) is a Canadian professional wrestler who competes in North American independent promotions including Blood Sweat and Ears, Elite Wrestling Revolution, IWA Mid-South, the International Wrestling Syndicate and Northern Championship Wrestling. She has also made several trips to Japan and has competed in the Japanese joshi promotions Kyoko Inoue's NEO Japan Ladies, JWP Project, Pro Wrestling WAVE, JDStar/Kakutobi and Emi Sakura's Ice Ribbon.
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A native of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, a residential district in Montreal, Kraven became interested in professional wrestling at an early age and later as a teenager during the so-called "Attitude Era". After graduating from hairdressing school in 2002, she began training at Sully's Gym under Ron Hutchinson in Toronto and later under Zaquary Springate III in the United States[1] before eventually making her professional debut in April 2004.[2]
Prior to her debut, she also trained at the NCW wrestling school on the advice of wrestling radio personality Brian The Guppie and independent wrestler Franky The Mobster. She soon became a mainstay in NCW. At the end of the year at ChallengeMania, she was introduced as "Vanessa Kraven" with a goth in-ring persona and appeared with her kayfabe half-brother James Kraven as an ally and bodyguard.[1] She continue to appear as a valet with Kraven, most notably, at the Night of the Blizzard supercard where James Kraven and Stalker faced brothers Adib and Sidi Mansour on the undercard.[3]
She worked for various independent promotions during her early career, mainly throughout Quebec and Ontario, and was the last Northern Championship Wrestling Women's Champion which she held from early-2005 until August 2006 when NCW's women's division was disbanded for lack of female competition. She was also the only Women's Champion of the internet-based promotion, Battle Angels, to be undefeated in competition. Soon after leaving NCW, Kraven made her Japan debut for the NEO Japan Ladies promotion in August 2006. Appearing for the Wrestle Expo in Tokyo, she was unsuccessful in gaining a victory against NEO Japan Ladies champion Yoshiko Tamura during NEO's World Women's Wrestling Classic (WWWC) World Cup Tournament.[2]
Between 2005 and 2006, she was seen working for Ontario's Blood Sweat and Ears promotion and, in Montreal, for the International Wrestling Syndicate and the Association de Lutte Feminine, an all women's wrestling promotion. In January 2005, she was scheduled to appear at the inaugural show for the Montreal Wrestling Organization at the Gauntlet Centre in the St. Vicent-Marie church. Due to illness however, she was unable to attend and comic Dollar Bill volunteered to take her place against Moonlight, another female wrestler. Despite outside interference from T-Unit and French Fly, Moonlight pinned him for the victory. At that same show, Gino Brito was honored for his contributions to Canadian professional wrestling and awarded a special plaque by Don Paysan.[4] At the May 28 IWS supercard, Scarred For Life, Kraven defeated El Generico and Beef Wellington in a mixed tag team match with Kid Kamikaze.[2]
In early-2006, she had a brief stint in IWA Mid-South and, on April 1, she and Daizee Haze lost to Mickie Knuckles and MsChif in a Four-Women Elimination Tag Team Match for the NWA Midwest Women's Championship when Mickie Knuckles pinned Kraven.[5][6] The show was held at the Park District Recreational Center in Midlothian, Illinois. At the inaugural Queen of the Death Match tournament in November 2006, Kraven was eliminated by Rachel Putski in a thumbtack death match during the quarterfinals. She and LuFisto attacked Mickie Knuckles moments after defeating Mayumi Ozaki in the tournament finals.[7][8]
On September 22, 2007, Kraven took part in a 3-way mixed tag team match teaming with Twiggy against Justin White and Tommasino and SLI 2007 (Fred la Merveille & Kenny the Bastard) at a Montreal BSE show.[9] That same year, she teamed with SeXXXy Eddy in a mixed tag team match against Kacey Diamond and Exess at the ALF's first annual Sherri Martel Memorial Cup tournament.[10]
On January 26, 2008, she and Twiggy lost in a mixed tag team match against 2.0 (Jagged and Shane Matthews) when she was pinned by both opponents at the IWS supercard Praise the Violence held at Le Medley in Montreal.[11] She had been enlisted by Twiggy in his feud against Jagged and Shane Matthews when they cost him a match against IWS Heavyweight Champion PCP Crazy F’N Manny.[12] On July 11, she faced Jamie D at the ALF supercard Declaration D'Independance in Montreal.[13]
In May, 2010, she completed another tour of Japan as Vanessa the Mountain, working 3 shows for NEO and 1 show for JWP.