Kelly Klein (born January 28, 1986) is an American former

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 ...

. She is best known for her time in

Ring of Honor Ring of Honor (ROH) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Jacksonville, Florida. The promotion was founded by Rob Feinstein on February 23, 2002, and was operated by Cary Silkin from 2004 until 2011; the promotion was subs ...

(ROH), where she was a record three-time and the final Women of Honor World Champion.

Professional wrestling career

Ring of Honor (2015–2019)

Klein made her debut at

(ROH) on October 24, 2015, at Night 2 of the Glory By Honor XIV event in

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 137,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Dayton metro ...

, defeating Ray Lyn in one minute via

submission Deference (also called submission or passivity) is the condition of submitting to the espoused, legitimate influence of one's superior or superiors. Deference implies a yielding or submitting to the judgment of a recognized superior, out of re ...

. Klein made her televised debut on the June 26, 2016, episode of ''

Ring of Honor Wrestling ''Ring of Honor Wrestling'' (also known as ''ROH Honor Club TV'', and often shortened as ''ROH Wrestling TV'', ''ROH TV'', ''ROH TV on HonorClub'', or ''ROH on HonorClub'') is an American professional wrestling television series produced by Rin ...

'', from

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

. In the main event of the first ever episode of ''

Women of Honor Women of Honor is a term used by Ring of Honor (ROH) to refer to its women's division and to the promotion's female talent. The term is applied universally to wrestlers, backstage interviewers, and managers/valets. History of women in Ring of ...

'', she defeated

Taeler Hendrix Taeler Conrad-Mellen (born June 7, 1989), is an American retired Professional wrestling, professional wrestler and Manager (professional wrestling), valet, better known by the ring name Taeler Hendrix. She is best known for her time in Ring of Ho ...

via submission. On the December 14, 2016, episode of ''Ring of Honor Wrestling'', the second WOH special, she faced

ODB ODB may refer to: People * Ol' Dirty Bastard (1968–2004), American rapper and founding member of the Wu-Tang Clan * ODB (wrestler) (born 1978), Stage name of American professional wrestler Jessica Kresa * Original David Baker (born 1972), a monik ...

in a winning effort when ODB passed out to Klein's submission. As a heel, she went on an undefeated streak in ROH until it was ended by Karen Q with help from

Deonna Purrazzo Deonna Lynn Purrazzo (born June 10, 1994) is an American professional wrestler. She is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW). Purrazzo began training in December 2012, and then started wrestling in various independent promotions the following y ...

during an event in May 2017. This led to a triple threat match in July in the 3rd ''Women of Honor'' event, which Karen Q also ended up winning. Klein later defeated Purrazzo in another singles match on the July 29 tapings, with the win coming after Karen Q turned heel and attacked Purrazzo. In 2018 Kelly Klein entered the inaugural ROH

Women of Honor Championship The Women of Honor World Championship was a women's professional wrestling championship created and promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion Ring of Honor (ROH). History At Final Battle, December 15, 2017, it was announced th ...

tournament but on April 7, 2018 at

Supercard of Honor XII Supercard of Honor XII was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by American promotion Ring of Honor (ROH), which took place Saturday, April 7, 2018, at the UNO Lakefront Arena in New Orleans, Louisiana. Wrestlers from New Japan Pr ...

lost to

Sumie Sakai is a Japanese retired professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist. She is best known for her extensive tenure in Ring of Honor (ROH), where she was the inaugural and longest reigning Women of Honor Champion. Early life As a young w ...

in the finals.

ROH Women of Honor World Championship reigns (2018–2019)

At the 2018

Final Battle Final Battle is a professional wrestling event, held annually by the Ring of Honor promotion. The event was initially held in 2002. It is held in December, and is the promotion's last show of the calendar year. The 2009 edition of the show was ...

event, Klein won the

Women of Honor World Championship The Women of Honor World Championship was a women's professional wrestling championship created and promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion Ring of Honor (ROH). History At Final Battle, December 15, 2017, it was announced tha ...

for the first time, where she defeated the champion Sumie Sakai in a

Four Corner Survival match Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "gimmick matches" in the jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick matches are more common than others and are often used to advance or conclude a storyline. ...

, which also involved

Madison Rayne Ashley Nichole Lomberger (née Simmons; born February 5, 1986) is an American professional wrestler signed to All Elite Wrestling under the ring name Madison Rayne, where she is also a coach for the women's division. She is best known for her t ...

and Karen Q. At Night 2 of Bound By Honor on February 10, 2019, she lost the title to

Mayu Iwatani (born February 19, 1993) is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently signed to Dream Star Fighting Marigold, where she is the current Marigold Super Fly Champion in her first reign. She is best known for her tenure with World Wonder Ring Sta ...

, ending her reign at 58 days. Klein regained the championship on April 6, 2019 at ROH's Madison Square Garden debut, the

G1 Supercard G1 Supercard was a professional wrestling supershow co-produced by the American Ring of Honor (ROH) and Japanese New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotions. It was the 13th annual Supercard of Honor event and took place on April 6, 2019, at Madis ...

, and shook hands with Iwatani afterwards, turning face in the process. Klein was attacked afterwards by the debuting

Velvet Sky Jamie Lynn Szantyr (born June 2, 1981) is an United States, American color commentator and retired Professional wrestling, professional wrestler best known for her time with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) and the National Wrestling Allian ...

and

Angelina Love Lauren Williams (born September 13, 1981) is a Canadian retired professional wrestler. She is best known for her time in TNA/Impact Wrestling under the ring name Angelina Love. She is signed with the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). Between ...

, who were joined by Mandy Leon (The trio as The Allure.), with Leon turning heel by attacking Klein from behind. On September 27, 2019 at Death Before Dishonor XVII Kelly Klein lost the ROH Women of Honor Championship to Angelina Love. On October 12, 2019 at Glory By Honor XVII Kelly Klein regained the ROH Women of Honor World Championship from Angelina Love. Making Klein the first & only women to hold the ROH Women of Honor World Championship 2 & 3 times.

Injury & ROH departure (2019)

On November 22, 2019, it was revealed that Klein would be let go by ROH whilst recovering from

post-concussion syndrome Post-concussion syndrome (PCS), also known as persisting symptoms after concussion, is a set of symptoms that may continue for weeks, months, or years after a concussion. PCS is medically classified as a mild traumatic brain injury (TBI). About ...

and while still being the reigning Women of Honor World Champion. She previously spoke out against the company on

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

for refusing to pay her a living wage and ROH not having a concussion protocol and not allowing her time off to heal from

injury Injury is physiological damage to the living tissue of any organism, whether in humans, in other animals, or in plants. Injuries can be caused in many ways, including mechanically with penetration by sharp objects such as teeth or with ...

. It was these comments that reportedly led to ROH deciding not to renew her contract.

World Wonder Ring Stardom (2017–2018)

On October 14, 2017, Klein made her debut for the

World Wonder Ring Stardom , is a Japanese ''joshi puroresu'' or women's professional wrestling professional wrestling promotion, promotion based in Nakano, Tokyo, Japan. Stardom was founded in September 2010 by former All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW) co-producer Ross ...

promotion by entering the Goddesses of Stardom Tag League tournament. She ended up winning the tournament along with

Bea Priestley Beatrice St. Claire Terry (née Priestley, born 22 March 1996) is an English-New Zealander professional wrestler. She is a freelancer, performing for various promotions such as New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). She previously performed in WWE und ...

. Following the tournament, Klein and Bea unsuccessfully challenged Oedo Tai (

Hana Kimura was a Japanese professional wrestler. She worked for Japanese promotions such as World Wonder Ring Stardom and Wrestle-1, in addition to making appearances for foreign companies such as Ring of Honor, Pro-Wrestling: EVE, and some independent pro ...

and

Kagetsu (born on June 24, 1992), better known by his ring name , is a Japanese retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his time in Stardom, JWP, Sendai Girls and various independent promotions. Professional wrestling career Independe ...

) for the

Goddesses of Stardom Championship The is a women's professional wrestling tag team Championship (professional wrestling), championship created and promoted by the World Wonder Ring Stardom professional wrestling promotion, promotion. Title history On August 2, 2011, Stardom hel ...

. In August and September 2018, Klein competed in the Blue Stars block of the 2018 5 Star Grand Prix, in which she scored a total of eight points.

Championships and accomplishments

*Covey Promotions **CP Women's Championship (3 times) *EMERGE Wrestling **EMERGE Women's Championship (1 time) *Mega Championship Wrestling **MEGA Fighting Spirit Championship (1 time) *''

Pro Wrestling Illustrated ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publishing Group. The maga ...

'' **Ranked No. 29 of the top 100 female singles wrestlers in the ''

PWI Women's 100 ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publishing Group. The maga ...

'' in 2019 *

( 3 times, final) *Vicious Outcast Wrestling **VOW Vixen's Championship (1 time) *

Goddesses of Stardom Tag League The is a professional wrestling round-robin tag team tournament held annually by the Japanese professional wrestling promotion World Wonder Ring Stardom. It was created in 2011. The Goddesses of Stardom Tag League are held under a multi-point ...

(2017) – with

Notes

References

External links

Kelly Klein
at Cagematch.net {{DEFAULTSORT:Klein, Kelly 1986 births Living people Professional wrestlers from St. Louis American female professional wrestlers Professional wrestlers from Missouri 21st-century American women 20th-century American women 21st-century female professional wrestlers 21st-century American professional wrestlers Women of Honor World Champions Goddesses of Stardom Tag League winners