Lauren Ann Williams (born September 13, 1981) is a Canadian professional wrestler, who is currently working for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where, under the ring name Angelina Love, she is a former two-time TNA Women’s Knockout Champion. She works outside of TNA under the ring name Angel Williams.

Professional Wrestling Career

Williams debuted in wrestling in 2000, working independent promotions around Canada. Her all-time favorite wrestler Shawn Michaels was her inspiration to get into wrestling. She was first a valet for various wrestlers such as Chris Sabin and Eric Young and then began to train under Rob Fuego to become a wrestler, as well. Williams briefly worked for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) in 2004, mainly wrestling on TNA Xplosion against Trinity. Williams also appeared on an episode of The Jenny Jones Show about former geeks turned into physical competitors. She also made an appearance on Kenny vs Spenny in the “Who is Strongest” episode (alongside fellow TNA Knockout Traci Brooks).

World Wrestling Entertainment (2004–2007)

She was working for promotions around America when World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) spotted her, and invited her to a tryout in June 2004. In November she trained at Ohio Valley Wrestling, and WWE signed her to a developmental contract in late 2004. She was assigned to wrestle and train in Deep South Wrestling (DSW), one of WWE’s developmental territories. Williams began managing Johnny Parisi in the summer of 2005. On September 8, 2005, Williams won her first match in Deep South by defeating Michelle McCool. On September 22, Williams was scheduled to wrestle against McCool, but Michelle never showed up. Instead Daisy Mae came out and challenged Williams. Williams was injured at the February 9, 2006 DSW TV Tapings, but she still managed to participate in the first ever Bikini Contest in DSW. She did not reveal her bikini because Palmer Cannon interrupted, which led to a match that featured him and Tommy Dreamer. During the match she could not physically get involved, so she walked backstage. On February 28, 2006, she underwent knee surgery in Birmingham, Alabama to repair her torn ACL. After almost seven months of rehab, she stepped back into the ring at a DSW TV taping. At the beginning of November 2006, Williams started managing The Gymini, but The Gymini were released from their contracts in January 2007. Williams then got in a feud with General Manager of DSW, Krissy Vaine, after she made Williams lose her matches due to distractions by other Deep South Divas. At one point Williams had enough and even attacked Vaine in her office. At the March 15, 2007 Deep South TV Tapings Williams aligned herself again with Vaine and was promoted the Co-GM of Deep South Wrestling.

When Deep South Wrestling shut down in April, Williams was moved to Ohio Valley Wrestling. Williams made her Ohio Valley Wrestling debut in a dark match at the May 16, 2007 television taping in Louisville, Kentucky, defeating Serena. She was released from her developmental contract one day later.

Independent Circuit (2007)

After being let go from her WWE developmental contract in May 2007, Williams resurfaced in Mexico’s Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA) promotion under the name Canadian Angel on June 10, 2007. She also appeared for independent promotions such as NWA: Extreme Canadian Championship Wrestling and Full Throttle Wrestling.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2007–2009)

In September 2007, she was contacted again by TNA to appear at their annual pay-per-view Bound for Glory, which was confirmed on the October 9 edition of TNA Today where she was interviewed by Jeremy Borash. At Bound For Glory, Williams participated in a 10 Knockout Gauntlet to crown the first TNA Women’s Champion. During the match, she was eliminated by Gail Kim and O.D.B., and the match was won in the end by Kim. At Genesis, Williams competed in a four-way match for the championship with Gail Kim retaining her title.

The Beautiful People (2007–2009)

Williams soon began competing under the ring name “Angelina Love” and formed a partnership with Velvet Sky, calling themselves “Velvet-Love Entertainment”, later changed to “The Beautiful People”. The duo defeated ODB and Roxxi Laveaux at Turning Point in a Knockouts Tag Team match. Love and Sky became villains on the March 13 edition of Impact by attacking Laveaux. Love also participated at Lockdown in the first ever “Queen of the Cage” match but was pinned by Laveaux.

Love was the runner-up in the Make Over battle royal-ladder match at Sacrifice. Love then cost Gail Kim a match against Awesome Kong, costing her the chance of winning the Knockout Title. The Beautiful People hired Moose to join their team to face off with the team of Laveaux, ODB and Kim at Slammiversary, but lost. Love then lost to Gail Kim at Victory Road in a singles match. At Hard Justice she teamed with Velvet Sky and Awesome Kong in a losing effort against Gail Kim, ODB and Taylor Wilde then unsuccessfully challenged Wilde at No Surrender for the Women’s Knockout Championship.

Knockout Champion and Release (2009)

Love earned another shot at the Women’s Knockout Championship at Lockdown, in a 3-Way Dance with Awesome Kong and Wilde. She won the match and the title after pinning Wilde. During the match she suffered a concussion while receiving a crossbody from Wilde. The following week, Awesome Kong interrupted her title celebration. In the following weeks, Kong destroyed Madison Rayne, Velvet Sky, and Cute Kip in Stretcher matches. At Sacrifice, Love retained her championship against Kong, and on the May 28 edition of Impact! she successfully defended her title against Sojournor Bolt. After the match she officially kicked Kip from the Beautiful People and was then assaulted by the debuting Tara. At Slammiversary Love successfully defended her title against Tara, before losing the title to her on the July 9, 2009 edition of Impact!. At Victory Road, however, Love controversially defeated Tara to win back the title, when Tara’s foot was on the bottom rope, which was unnoticed by ref Slick Johnson. At Hard Justice Love lost the Knockout title to ODB after Cody Deaner pinned Velvet Sky in a tag team match between the four. After the match, Love left the ring without Sky or Rayne, however in the following weeks, her relationship with Sky remained intact, with the duo cutting Rayne loose.

On September 3, 2009, Williams was released from TNA due to visa issues, while still a top draw in the women’s division. However on September 7, 2009, Williams posted a blog entry on her MySpace account stating that she would return to TNA Wrestling once the issues with her visa were sorted out. She continued appearing on Impact! for two more weeks due to the tapings being held before her release. In the episodes she and Velvet Sky advanced to the finals of the tournament for the TNA Knockout Tag Team Championship with help from Madison Rayne, whom they afterwards welcomed to return to the Beautiful People. Rayne would go on to replace Love in the finals for the Knockout Tag Team Championship.

Return to TNA Wrestling (2010–present)

On January 2, 2010, it was reported that Williams had re-signed with TNA. Williams, as Angelina Love, made her return on the January 14 edition of Impact!, appearing in the crowd and hugging Velvet Sky and Madison Rayne prior to their match with Awesome Kong and Hamada. However, after the match, Love turned face by attacking her former partners and Lacey Von Erich, her replacement in the group, seemingly angry about being replaced. She made her in-ring return the following week by defeating Madison Rayne, but was after the match triple teamed by the Beautiful People. On the February 4 edition of Impact! she was unsuccessful in her attempt to regain the Knockout Championship from Tara. On the March 8 edition of Impact! Love and Tara teamed up to challenge for the vacant Knockout Tag Team Championship, but were defeated by Rayne and Sky, after interference from Daffney, with whom Tara was involved in a feud. On the April 5 edition of Impact!, Love teamed with Tara, ODB, and Hamada to face the Beautiful People and Daffney in the first ever Lockbox elimination match, contested for four keys to four boxes containing prizes. Love won a key by eliminating Lacey Von Erich, and it was later revealed that her key opened the box, which contained the Knockout Championship, making her a three-time champion. At Lockdown Love lost the Knockout Championship to Madison Rayne, after she pinned Tara in a tag team steel cage match, where Love and Tara faced Rayne and Velvet Sky for both the Women’s Knockout Championship and the Knockout Tag Team Championship. After the match, Tara turned heel by attacking Love. At the April 20 tapings of Impact!, Williams partially tore her bicep and suffered ligament damage in her arm and is now expected to be out of action until May. On May 26 it was announced that Williams had been cleared to return to wrestling. When Love returned from her injury on the June 17 edition of Impact!, she vowed to reclaim the Knockouts title and stated that she would go through each member of the Beautiful People to do it. That night she faced Von Erich and got disqualified after dropping her with a DDT on a steel chair. The following week her match with Velvet Sky ended in similar fashion.

On July 11 at Victory Road, Love defeated Rayne via disqualification in a Title vs. Career match to win the Women’s Knockout Championship for the fourth time. Prior to the match it was announced that the title would change hands via disqualification, if either Velvet Sky or Lacey Von Erich interfered in the match. However, the title was returned to Rayne on the July 22 edition of Impact!, when it was declared that there was no proof that the person who had interfered in the match was either Sky or Von Erich. The following week Love defeated Sarita to once again become the number one contender to Rayne’s title. Two weeks later Love defeated Rayne, after a distraction from Velvet Sky, to win the Women’s Knockout Championship for the fifth time.

On the August 19 episode of Impact!, Love reunited with Velvet Sky, who accompanied her to the ring, when she successfully defended her Women’s Knockout Championship in a rematch against Rayne, who was with the mysterious biker woman. After the match Love and Sky were attacked by Rayne and the biker. Rayne’s mysterious ally was finally unmasked as Tara on the September 2 edition of Impact!, when the two of them defeated Love and Sky in their first match together in a year. Lacey Von Erich would join Love and Sky in the Beautiful People, after being saved by them from Rayne and Tara on the September 16 edition of Impact!. She, however, would leave the promotion two months later on November 11. On October 10 at Bound for Glory Love lost the Women’s Knockout Championship to Tara in a Four Corners match, which also included Velvet Sky and Madison Rayne and was refereed by Mickie James.

Storyline with Winter (2010–present)

On the October 21 episode of Impact! Love entered a storyline where a woman named Winter started appearing in mirrors, claiming to be her fan, though only Love was able to see her. After weeks of appearing only in front of Love, Winter was for the first time seen by the other people on the November 25 episode of Impact!, when she saved Love during a large backstage brawl. On the December 9 episode of Impact! Love and Sky entered a four–team tournament for the vacated Knockout Tag Team Championship, defeating Sarita and Daffney in their first round match. On the December 23 edition of Impact!, Winter replaced an injured Velvet Sky, who had been attacked by Sarita, in the tournament final and teamed with Love to defeat Madison Rayne and Tara for the TNA Knockout Tag Team Championship. On March 13, 2011, at Victory Road, Love and Winter lost the Knockout Tag Team Championship to Sarita and Rosita, after an interference by Velvet Sky backfired. On the March 24 edition of Impact!, Winter, seemingly having control over Love’s actions, prevented her from saving Sky from a beatdown at the hands of Sarita and Rosita. Love was kept under Winter’s spell with drinks of what she described as her medicine. On the April 7 edition of Impact!, Love turned on Sky during a Knockout Tag Team Championship match against Sarita and Rosita and left her to be pinned by the champions. On the April 28 edition of Impact!, Love defeated Sky via submission in a singles match, no-selling all of her opponent’s offense during the match. On the May 5 edition of Impact!, Sky gained a measure of revenge on her former partner, when she teamed with Kurt Angle in a handicap mixed tag team match, where they defeated Love, Winter and Jeff Jarrett. The feud between the former Beautiful People partners seemingly ended on the May 19 edition of Impact Wrestling, with Sky defeating Love and Winter in a handicap match. The following week Love attacked Mickie James, after she had defeated Winter in a singles match, setting up a match between the two for the TNA Women’s Knockout Championship at Slammiversary IX. Prior to the match at the pay-per-view, Love declined to take her medicine, saying that she no longer needed it as she now understood Winter. After failing in her attempt to win the title, both Love and Winter attacked James. On the June 23 edition of Impact Wrestling, Love helped Winter defeat James in a non-title Street Fight. On August 7 at Hardcore Justice, Love again helped Winter defeat James, this time to become the new Women’s Knockout Champion.

Source: Wikipedia

Foward | Refresh | Back