Photo Gallery
Wrestler: Melina Perez
Birthday: March 9, 1979
Hometown: Los Angeles, California
Marital Status: Dating John Hennigan
Height & Weight: 5'4" - 122 lbs
Trained by: Jesse Hernandez (EWF), Ultimate University (UPW)
Debut: 2001
Previous Gimmicks: Kyra (EWF)
Finishing Move: California Dream/Kyrapractor (Sickle Hold). Extreme Makeover (Rope Climb Face Plant), Standing Split-Legged
Drop/Bulldog, Charging Spin out Face Plant
Favorite Moves:Kyranium Buster (Blockbuster), Divastator, The Hard Lariat, Bow & Arrow Submission, The Camel Clutch, Rope Hung Boston
Crab, Stacked Up Knee Drop from Middle Turnbuckle
Notable Feuds: Desire, Michelle McCool, Christy Hemme, Trish Stratus, Batista, Mexicool, Matt Hardy, Jillian Hall, Candice Michelle, Mickie James, Beth Phoenix, Santino Marella, Michelle McCool
Melina Nava Perez (born March 9, 1979), better known simply as Melina, is an American professional wrestler currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) wrestling on its Raw brand.
Pérez began her career as a model. She won a Miss California beauty contest and also modeled athletic wear for Nike. She decided to become a professional wrestler after talking to Empire Wrestling Federation (EWF) superstar Mike Henderson in 2000. Pérez started training at Jesse Hernandez's School of Hard Knocks in San Bernardino, California and made her professional debut in April 2002. Many EWF officials stated that she had the most natural ability of any woman who came through their school. In late 2002 Pérez auditioned for World Wrestling Entertainment's reality show Tough Enough III, making it through to the final twenty-one before being eliminated from the competition in the final cut of the first episode. After she was eliminated from the contest, trainer Al Snow pulled Pérez aside and encouraged her to keep trying to pursue her dream as a wrestler.
Pérez debuted in WWE's developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) in March 2004, being placed in an angle as John Hennigan's ex-girlfriend. The storyline had Matt Cappotelli introduce her to the ring as a way to taunt Hennigan. Melina, however, turned on Cappotelli and aligned herself with Hennigan, who later changed his ring name to Johnny Nitro. Soon after, Melina and Nitro began teaming with Joey Matthews, later known as Joey Mercury. The trio became known as MNM and on November 10, Melina managed Mercury and Nitro to win the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship. During her time in OVW, Melina, Nitro, and Steven Adkins came up with Melina's trademark split ring entrance.
Melina made her first Raw appearance on November 29, 2004, when Randy Orton was the guest General Manager and hosted a diva lingerie fashion show. She made another Raw appearance in December, participating in a limbo contest when Chris Jericho was General Manager for the night.
MNM made their debut in WWE as a villainous tag team on the April 14, 2005, edition of SmackDown!. The team interrupted the first ever Carlito's Cabana interview segment, where one half of the WWE Tag Team Champions, Rey Mysterio, was a guest. Melina insulted Mysterio and had Mercury and Nitro attack him, leading to MNM's in-ring debut the next week on SmackDown! in a title match. The team was booked to win the match against Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero, starting their first WWE Tag Team Title reign.
While managing the Tag Team Champions, Melina's character was developed to be more egotistical as she declared herself "the most-dominant Diva in WWE." She made her official WWE in-ring debut on June 30 against Michelle McCool and had her first pay-per-view match (a Bra and Panties match) at The Great American Bash against Torrie Wilson, winning both matches. Also at The Great American Bash, MNM dropped their championship to the Legion of Doom, prompting a new storyline where Melina hired Jillian Hall, a "fixer", to assist them. MNM regained the title on October 28 in a Fatal Four-Way tag team match. On the Eddie Guerrero Tribute Show Melina won an interpromotional Divas battle royal by eliminating Women's Champion Trish Stratus. The next week, MNM kayfabe kidnapped Stratus and Melina challenged her to a match for the Women's Championship. The two fought at Survivor Series, with Melina losing to Stratus after interference from Mickie James.
During this time, MNM was booked to defend their title against Rey Mysterio and the World Heavyweight Champion Batista. Melina was placed in an angle with her trying to make Batista call off the match by visiting him in his locker room and attempting to seduce him. The storyline had the two engage in sexual acts, after which he simply thanked her for the "warm-up" before leaving to take part in the match, where he and Mysterio defeated MNM for the title. The storyline played over to the next episode of SmackDown! when, before MNM invoked their rematch clause, Melina held a press conference in the ring where she claimed that Batista had sexually harassed her. During the tag team match, Mark Henry aided MNM in winning back the WWE Tag Team Championship. The angle with Henry continued into the next year. On the first SmackDown! of 2006, Melina announced that Henry was her personal protection against Batista. He accompanied her and aided the other members of MNM in matches against Batista and Mysterio.
At Judgment Day on May 21, 2006, MNM were booked to lose their Tag Team Championship to Paul London and Brian Kendrick. After the match, Melina and Nitro, as part of the storyline, attacked Mercury, blaming him for the loss. Later that night, Melina lost a singles match against Jillian Hall and after slapping General Manager Theodore Long in anger, she and Nitro were (kayfabe) fired from the SmackDown! brand. Off-screen, Nitro and Mercury did not get along, and WWE management decided to split the tag team and send Nitro and Melina to the Raw brand. Melina and Nitro made their way to Raw on May 29, with Nitro losing to WWE Champion John Cena. The following week, Melina faked a sprained ankle, allowing Nitro to roll-up Charlie Haas for his first Raw victory. Melina continued to manage Nitro during his successful hunt for the WWE Intercontinental Championship, while being involved in another storyline with Trish Stratus. The angle turned into a tag team feud when Carlito joined forces with Stratus to take on Melina and Nitro. At Saturday Night's Main Event on July 15, Melina and Nitro lost to Carlito and Stratus in a mixed tag team match.
After Melina's arrival on Raw, Mick Foley began to mention her in promos, playing on their real friendship mentioned in his WWE.com columns, and they soon formed an on-screen friendship. At SummerSlam, Melina was involved in Foley's "I Quit" match against Ric Flair when Flair threatened to hit her with a barbed wire baseball bat, causing Foley to quit the match to save her. The next night on Raw, the storyline had Vince McMahon order Foley to join the Kiss My Ass club. Foley did not care about saving his own career, but joined after Vince threatened Melina's job.[48] After begging Foley not to go through with it, Foley "joined the club" to save Melina's job, only to have her suddenly turn on him by delivering a low blow and kayfabe firing him at the behest of McMahon. This storyline was concocted by Foley to refresh the idea of the Kiss My Ass club. It was also around this time that Melina added another characteristic to her gimmick: screaming loudly at ringside while managing or in tag team action, which became known as the "primal scream."
On January 29, 2007, Melina became the number one contender for the WWE Women's Championship, and introduced her finisher from the independent circuit, the Kyrapractor, to WWE under the new name California Dream. On February 5, Melina lost a title match against Mickie James. The following week on Raw, Melina pinned James in a mixed tag team match and then challenged James again for the title. On February 19, as part of her first major singles push, Melina successfully pinned James to win the WWE Women's Championship. This made Melina the first woman of Mexican heritage to win the WWE Women's Championship. She then retained the title in a rematch during the first ever Women's Falls Count Anywhere match in WWE history.
In March, Melina was placed in an angle where she became jealous of SmackDown! Diva Ashley Massaro, who was receiving attention because of her appearance in Playboy. The angle had Melina claim in her blogs that no Playboy cover models were capable of fighting her. This resulted in scheduled matches against former Playboy cover girls Torrie Wilson and Candice Michelle, with both women losing to Melina. The storyline came to a close at WrestleMania 23, where Melina pinned Ashley in a Lumberjill match to retain her Women's Championship. After WrestleMania, Melina organized a photo op with the Women's Title belt in the ring but was interrupted by Mickie James, resulting in another storyline feud between the two Divas. On April 24, at a house show in Paris, France, Melina lost the Women's Championship in a Triple Threat match to James when James pinned Victoria, but on the orders of Jonathan Coachman she was entitled to a rematch on the same night, where she pinned James by putting her hands on the ropes to regain the title and become a two-time WWE Women's Champion.
On April 13, 2008, she appeared in an episode of Celebrity Fit Club Boot Camp along with Mickie James, Layla, and Kelly Kelly.
On May 7, Melina was defeated in a tag team match when she was pinned by Candice Michelle. Melina was scripted to lose to Candice in various tag team matches, as well as in non-title bouts over the next few weeks. At Vengeance, Melina dropped the Women's Championship to Candice and failed to recapture the title at The Great American Bash.
Melina, along with then-ally Beth Phoenix, defeated Maria and Ashley at WrestleMania XXIV. After Phoenix lost the Women's Championship to Mickie James, she began a feud with Phoenix after Pérez accidentally hit Phoenix with her boot in a lumberjill match against James. The following week on Raw, Phoenix walked out on Melina during a tag match against James and Maria when Melina accidentally bumped Phoenix off the apron. Melina was then attacked by Phoenix during a backstage segment following the match, leading to her turning face for the first time in her WWE career. At One Night Stand, Melina competed in a losing effort against Phoenix in the first ever Women's "I Quit" match. On June 23, 2008, Pérez injured her heel after falling from the turnbuckles during a tag team match with Mickie James against Natalya and Victoria.
Pérez made her in-ring return, ahead of schedule, at the November 13 Florida Championship Wrestling television taping, teaming with Gabe Tuft to defeat Jack Gabriel and Alicia Fox in a mixed tag team match. Pérez returned to WWE television on the November 24 edition of Raw as a face, teaming with former rivals Mickie James and Candice Michelle to defeat Phoenix, Jillian Hall, and Katie Lea Burchill, when Pérez pinned Burchill. She then made her in-ring singles return against Jillian the following week, and defeated her with her new The Last Call finisher. After the match however, Melina had stated her intentions to take the WWE Women's Championship away from Beth Phoenix.
On December 29, 2008, Melina won a six-woman battle royal, to become the number one contender to the Women's Championship. After the match, Melina and Phoenix engaged in a confrontation over a fan of Phoenix's named Rosa Mendes, who had pushed Melina. On January 25, 2009, Melina won her third WWE Women's Championship at the Royal Rumble by defeating Phoenix. She successfully defended her title against Phoenix numerous times over the course of the next few months.
On April 13, 2009 episode of Raw, Melina was drafted back to SmackDown as a part of the 2009 WWE Draft, thus making the WWE Women's Championship exclusive to the brand. Melina competed in her re-debut match for the brand and won, teaming with Gail Kim defeating Michelle McCool and Alicia Fox. When McCool was named as the No. 1 contender to the title, she started a feud with Melina. McCool then teamed with Alicia Fox and Layla to defeat Melina, Gail Kim and Eve Torres. McCool also attacked Melina after her victory over Fox on the June 19, 2009 episode of SmackDown. Melina then lost her Women's Championship to McCool at The Bash and failed to regain it at Night of Champions.
On October 12, Melina was traded back to the Raw brand in a tri-branded trade that was announced by the night's guest host Nancy O'Dell of Access Hollywood and went on to win the WWE Divas Championship from then-new WWE Divas Champion Jillian Hall, who had won the belt from Mickie James only a few minutes earlier. After defending the Championship in Jillian's contractual rematch, Melina went on to feud with new number one contender Alicia Fox, again successfully retaining her title. On December 29, at a WWE live event at the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester, New Hampshire, Melina tore her ACL during a six-woman tag team match; she relinquished the Divas Championship on January 4 due to her injury. Melina returned at a Florida Championship Wrestling house show on July 14, 2010 during a FCW Divas Bikini Contest, although she did not wrestle, she exchanged words with AJ Lee, the winner of the contest, who never participated in showing her bikini and slapped the host who proclaimed her the winner and then celebrated with the Divas afterward, even stripping down to her bikini.
Melina made her return on the August 2 episode of Raw, attacking WWE Divas Champion Alicia Fox after a six-woman tag team match in which she, Jillian Hall, and Tamina defeated Eve Torres, Gail Kim, and Natalya. At SummerSlam, Melina defeated Fox to capture the Divas Championship for the second time in her career. After the match she was attacked by Michelle McCool and WWE Women's Champion Layla. At the 900th episode of Raw, after winning a match, she was challenged by either Layla or McCool to a match at Night of Champions, to unify the WWE Women's and WWE Divas Championships. At Night of Champions, Melina dropped the Divas Championship to McCool after she was attacked by Layla during the match.
On the December 20 episode of Raw, Melina became the number one contender for the Divas Championship and turned into a villainess when she slapped Natalya, who had attempted to congratulate her following her victory. When the two fought for the Divas Championship on January 24, 2011 on Raw, Melina was defeated. On the August 1 episode of Raw, Perez participated in a #1 Contender's Divas Battle Royal which was won by Beth Phoenix. This was her final match with WWE as she was released later that week.
In November 2011, Perez wrestled her first match outside of WWE by defeating Lexxus at the Women Superstars Uncensored November 19 pay-per-view. Perez appeared on the World Wrestling Fan Xperience (WWFX) Champions Showcase Tour in Manila, Philippines on February 4, 2012, where she wrestled under her real name. On February 5, 2012 episode of WWFX, Melina defeated Jillian Hall.
Melina appeared at the Family Wrestling Entertainment (FWE) event, signing autographs and serving as Eric Young's valet as he became the new FWE Heavyweight Champion. At the Empire City Showdown, on August 20, Melina made her debut for FWE in a segment with Charlie and Jackie Haas. On April 28 edition of FWE Television, Melina was defeated by Winter with Lita as the special guest referee in a FWE Women's Championship match.
Melina debuted for Northeast Wrestling as a villainess on March 23, 2012, competing in a victorious effort against Velvet Sky in singles action. On the following day, the villainous Melina was defeated by Sky in a rematch.
From June 30 to July 2, 2012, Melina took part in World Wrestling Council's (WWC) Anniversario weekend in Puerto Rico. On the first two nights, she defeated Velvet Sky in singles matches, but on the final night, she and Davey Richards were defeated in a mixed tag team match by Sky and Xix Savant. It was her last wrestling match, then she referred to herself as a former pro wrestler.
Pérez is of Mexican heritage. She is also bilingual, as she can speak both English and Spanish fluently.
She was in a long term relationship with John Hennigan, whom she managed on-screen. The two met during their auditions for Tough Enough III. After their break up, Pérez was in a short-term relationship with wrestler Dave Batista. Batista claims that the duo began their relationship after his divorce from his wife. Unlike some of her fellow Divas, Pérez has been outspoken about her lack of interest in posing for Playboy magazine.
On June 19, 2015, after a three-year hiatus, Melina returned to the independent circuit at Maryland Championship Wrestling's Ladies Night event, serving as the villainous enforcer in the MCW Women's Championship main event match between Amber Rodriguez and Mickie James. During the match, the evil Melina attacked James, but was then attacked by guest referee Lisa Marie Varon, after which James won the title.
On August 5, 2015, Melina appeared as a villainess at Lucha Underground's Ultima Lucha; helping Johnny Mundo in his match against Alberto El Patron by hitting El Patron with his title belt while the referee was knocked down.
On October 16, 2015, Melina made her debut for Japanese promotion World Wonder Ring Stardom, during their first American tour in Covina, California. She teamed with Santana Garrett in a tag team match to defeat Hudson Envy and Thunder Rosa.
On June 20, 2016, Melina announced her official in-ring return at Southside Wrestling Entertainment (SWE), taking part at SWE's Queen of The Ring tournament.
On October 1, 2016, Perez made her official in-ring return in a tag team match at SWE Speed King 2016, teaming with Nixon Newell participating against the team of Alex Windsor and Kay Lee Ray. The match was declared a no contest.
On October 2, 2016, Melina entered the SWE Queen of the Ring tournament. She defeated Lana Austin and Viper to advance to the finals, when she defeated the Queen Of Southside champion Kay Lee Ray, winning the tournament and the championship at the process. At the same day, Melina wrestled SWE KirbyMania, in an eight-man tag team match. She teamed with Jessicka Havok, Leah Vaughan, and Nixon Newell, and successfully defeated the team of Alex Windsor, Kasey Owens, Kay Lee Ray and Viper.
On October 29, 2016, at SWE 6th Anniversary Show, Melina successfully defended her championship against Alex Windsor, Dahlia Black, Kay Lee Ray, Nixon Newell, and Ruby Summers in a six way match.
On November 5, 2016, Melina captured her first MCW Women's Championship, defeating Renee Michelle.
On November 12, 2016, Melina was the special guest referee during the What Culture Pro Wrestling Women's Championship between Kimber Lee and Nixon Newell at WCPW True Legacy.
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