Barbara Jean Blank Coba (née Blank; January 15, 1987),[5] known professionally as Barbie Blank and by her
ring nameKelly Kelly, is an American
professional wrestler and
model.
Blank has a background in gymnastics and cheerleading, and worked as a model for
Venus Swimwear and
Hawaiian Tropic. In 2006, Blank was signed to a contract by
WWE and, after training in
Ohio Valley Wrestling, she debuted on the
ECW brand in June 2006 as 'Kelly Kelly'. Primarily appearing in a non-wrestling role, she was a member of Extreme Exposé with
Layla and
Brooke Adams. Beginning in late 2007, she began participating in more wrestling matches, and unsuccessfully challenged for both the
WWE Divas Championship and the
WWE Women's Championship on multiple occasions. In June 2011, she won the WWE Divas Championship, commencing a four-month reign. She left WWE in 2012, but has since returned for occasional appearances and matches. On the Raw Reunion special on July 22, 2019, she pinned
Gerald Brisco to win the
WWE 24/7 Championship, becoming the first woman to win the title. She is a two-time champion in WWE.
Blank has also appeared on a number of television shows, and was a main cast member of the
reality television program WAGS. She made her film acting debut in Disturbing the Peace, which was released on January 17, 2020.
In 2006, while working as a
model, Blank was seen by
World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) official
John Laurinaitis, who was interested in signing her to a contract.[1] WWE contacted her modeling agency and invited her to their
developmental territory,
Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), for a tryout. Despite having no previous wrestling experience she was offered a contract, which she signed in May 2006.[4][1][9] Even after being called up to the main roster she continued to fly back and forth to OVW's base city
Louisville, Kentucky, once a week to work shows; first as a
ring announcer and
referee, then as a wrestler.[10] One of her first matches took place at the September 6 television tapings where she participated in a Women's
battle royal won by
ODB.[1][10] In late 2007, she also made an appearance in
Florida Championship Wrestling, WWE's new developmental territory.[4]
ECW and Extreme Exposé (2006–2008)
Blank debuted for the
ECWbrand as Kelly Kelly. Originally, she was to be named just 'Kelly', but her
ring name was expanded to 'Kelly Kelly' by WWE CEO
Vince McMahon.[11] She made her debut on the first episode of the weekly television program on June 13, 2006, becoming the youngest Diva on the WWE roster, aged 19.[2][12] Her
character, an
exhibitionist, was introduced performing a
striptease for the crowd.[9][12] The next week, while performing another striptease, Kelly was interrupted by her
on-screen boyfriend,
Mike Knox, who came to the stage and covered her with a towel before dragging her backstage.[9][13] Her stripping became a weekly segment known as Kelly's Exposé and usually followed the same routine; Kelly would dance and strip until she was stopped by Knox.[14][15] Knox began forcing Kelly to accompany him to ringside so he could keep an eye on her, making her his de factovalet.[14] As a result, she found herself involved in the
feud developing between Knox and his tag team partner
Test and the team of
Tommy Dreamer and
The Sandman. This included her being inadvertently hit with a cane by Sandman when Knox used her as a shield.[16] She made her ECW in-ring debut on the August 22, edition of ECW During an extreme bikini contest segment between
Torrie Wilson and herself, Test and Mike Knox interrupted the contest stopping Kelly before she had a chance to disrobe. Leading
Tommy Dreamer and
Sandman to come in through the crowd, Sandman took the mic and challenged Test, Knox and Kelly in a
six-personmixed tag team match.[17] Kelly, Knox and Test went on to lose to Dreamer, Sandman, and Wilson.[18]
Kelly and Knox progressed into a storyline with
CM Punk in September, in which Kelly developed a liking for Punk, flirting with him and watching his matches, and Knox became increasingly jealous.[19][20][21] This led to a match between Knox and Punk, during which Kelly cheered for Punk.[22][23] At
December to Dismember, Kelly and Knox faced
Ariel and
Kevin Thorn in a mixed tag team match, during which Knox refused to tag in before leaving her.[24] On the following episode of ECW, Kelly defeated Ariel with a
roll-up in her first singles match. Afterward, Knox made his way to the ring with flowers, but ended up performing his signature
swinging reverse STO on her, ending their relationship and giving her a scripted injury—removing her from television for six weeks.[1][25]
She returned on January 16, 2007, to announce she was newly single and bringing back Kelly's Exposé.[26] The following week, she joined forces with
Layla and
Brooke to form
Extreme Exposé.[27] The trio performed a weekly dance segment on ECW for the next several months.[4] On November 1, Brooke was released from her WWE contract, and Extreme Exposé dissolved as a group.[28] This left Kelly and Layla to enter an ongoing rivalry with more active wrestling roles.[9] On the October 29 episode of Raw, Kelly won a battle royal to earn a match against the
WWE Women's Champion,
Beth Phoenix. Kelly lost the match the following week on Raw.[29][30] Kelly continued to feud with Layla, and they were on opposite sides of a 10-Diva tag team match at
Survivor Series, which Kelly's team won.[1][31] In April 2008, Kelly was part of the losing team in a five-on-five Divas match at the
Backlash pay-per-view.[32]
Various storylines and championship pursuits (2008–2011)
In July, Kelly was moved to the Raw brand and debuted for the brand by teaming with
Mickie James to defeat Layla and
Jillian Hall.[33] She quickly became involved in a feud with Beth Phoenix, facing her on multiple occasions in both singles and tag team matches with a variety of partners, including Mickie James and
Candice Michelle.[4][34][35] In September, Kelly transitioned into a feud with Phoenix's ally, Jillian Hall.[36][37][38] At the
Survivor Series pay-per-view in November, Kelly was part of the victorious team in a five-on-five elimination match. During the match, she eliminated Victoria, before being eliminated by
Maryse.[39] The following month at the
Armageddon pay-per-view, Kelly teamed with
Maria,
Michelle McCool, and James in a winning effort against Hall, Maryse, Victoria, and
Natalya.[40]
On the May 18 episode of Raw, Kelly won a battle royal to become the number one contender to the
WWE Divas Championship.[41] The following week, she challenged Maryse for the championship and won by disqualification, with Maryse retaining the title.[42] Kelly lost a rematch by pinfall two weeks later on June 8.[43] In June, she competed in a
fatal four-way match to determine the number one contender, but the match was won by James.[44] Throughout the remainder of mid-2009, Kelly unsuccessfully competed in several number one contender matches.[45][46]
At the
Bragging Rights pay-per-view in October, Kelly,
Gail Kim, and
Melina comprised Team Raw, but lost to Team SmackDown (Phoenix, Natalya, and McCool).[47] The following month at the
Survivor Series pay-per-view, Kelly participated in a five-on-five elimination match, which her team won. She eliminated Layla before being eliminated by Phoenix.[48] In January 2010, Kelly participated in the tournament to determine a new Divas Champion, after Melina was forced to vacate the championship due to injury. She was eliminated by
Alicia Fox in the first round.[49] Throughout early 2010, Kelly was involved in several backstage segments with the
guest hosts of Raw.[4] At
WrestleMania XXVI, Kelly teamed with Phoenix, Kim, James, and
Eve Torres in a losing effort to McCool, Layla, Maryse, Fox, and
Vickie Guerrero.[50] The following night on Raw, the teams faced off in a rematch with the opposite result.[51] The following week, Kelly took part in a 10-Diva Dress To Impress battle royal, to determine the number one contender for Maryse's Divas Championship, but the match was won by Torres.[52]
During the
2010 WWE Draft on April 26, Kelly was drafted to the
SmackDown brand, making her the first drafted female wrestler on television.[53] She quickly began to feud with
LayCool (Michelle McCool and Layla), and gained an ally in
Tiffany.[54][55][56] After defeating both Layla and McCool in singles matches, she received another
WWE Women's Championship match at the
Money in the Bank pay-per-view in July, but was unsuccessful.[57][58][59] On August 31, Kelly announced that she would be a mentor on
season three of NXT, with
Naomi as her rookie.[60] Throughout the second half of 2010, Kelly continued to feud with LayCool, and gained an ally in Natalya in October.[61][62][63] In November, Kelly's NXT rookie, Naomi was named runner-up to the winner,
Kaitlyn during the season finale.[64]
On January 30, 2011, at the
Royal Rumble, Kelly prevented the Acting General Manager Vickie Guerrero from interfering in the
World Heavyweight Championship match between
Edge and
Dolph Ziggler.[65] On the following SmackDown, Kelly and Edge defeated LayCool and Ziggler in a two-on-three handicap match to retain Edge's World Heavyweight Championship. Afterward, Guerrero fired Kelly in storyline.[66] At the
Elimination Chamber pay-per-view later that month, Kelly was re-hired by SmackDown General Manager
Teddy Long, and made her return by attacking Guerrero. She was stopped by LayCool, who were in turn stopped by
Trish Stratus.[67] The next week, on SmackDown, Kelly and Edge defeated Guerrero and
Drew McIntyre in a mixed tag team match, causing Guerrero to be fired in storyline per the pre-match stipulation.[68]
Divas Champion (2011–2012)
On April 26, Kelly was drafted back to the Raw brand as part of the
2011 supplemental draft, where she received a
push and began feuding with
The Bella Twins.[69] On May 22 at the
Over the Limit pay-per-view, Kelly unsuccessfully challenged
Brie Bella for the WWE Divas Championship.[70] The following month, on the Power to the People special edition of Raw on June 20, Kelly won a fan vote to determine the challenger for the Divas Championship that night. Kelly went on to win her first WWE Divas Championship by defeating Brie Bella.[71][72] Her win later garnered her a
Slammy Award for Divalicious Moment of the Year.[73][74] At the
Money in the Bank pay-per-view in July, Kelly made her first title defense by defeating Bella in a rematch.[75] On August 1, Phoenix won a battle royal to become the number one contender to Kelly's championship, and afterward attacked Kelly to provoke a feud.[76] Kelly successfully defended her championship against Phoenix at both
SummerSlam and
Night of Champions.[77] Kelly lost the championship to Phoenix at
Hell in a Cell in October, ending her reign at 104 days.[78][79] In rematches on SmackDown and at
Tables, Ladders & Chairs, Kelly failed to regain the title.[80][81]
Kelly spent early 2012 participating in several tag team matches.[4] At
WrestleMania XXVIII in April, Kelly and Extra correspondent
Maria Menounos defeated Beth Phoenix and Eve in a tag team match.[82] In June, WWE granted Kelly a period of time off, and she returned on Raw on August 6, defeating Eve.[83][84] On September 28, 2012, Blank was released from her WWE contract.[85] In a December 2012 interview, Blank stated she needed time off to heal a neck injury, and had plans to model.[86]
Blank returned to WWE on February 13, 2017, by being featured in a backstage interview for WWE's official website during Raw.[89][90] She later appeared during
WrestleMania weekend, including at the Hall of Fame induction ceremony, and appeared on an episode of the
WWE Network exclusive Table for 3 alongside
Maryse and
Eve Torres.[91][92]
On January 22, 2018, Blank appeared at the Raw 25 Years special, being honored as one of the historic women of WWE.[93] A few days later, on January 28 at the
Royal Rumble event, Blank competed in the first
women's royal rumble match, where she entered at number 19, and was eliminated by
Nia Jax.[94] In October 2018, Blank participated in a battle royal at WWE's first all-female pay-per-view
WWE Evolution, in which she was eliminated by
Mandy Rose.[95]
On the January 7, 2022, episode of SmackDown, Blank was announced as a participant in the women's royal rumble match at the
namesake event.[101] In what was her third appearance at the Royal Rumble, she entered the match at number 4 and was quickly eliminated by
Sasha Banks.[102]
In August 2007, all three members of Extreme Exposé took part in a photo-shoot for FHM.[115] In 2011, Blank was ranked number 82 in Maxim's
Hot 100, being the first woman from WWE to appear on the cover of Maxim magazine.[116] Blank was later featured on both the front and back covers of Maxim in December 2011.[11] In 2012, Blank ranked number 38 in Maxim's
Hot 100.[117][118][119]
Blank made her acting debut on the January 30, 2017, episode of Days of Our Lives, appearing in a scene as a waitress who gives information to one of the show's main characters.[122] Her film debut came in 2020's Disturbing the Peace, as Amanda.
On August 16, 2020, Blank unveiled her new
YouTube channel which features
video blogs on her daily life.[123]
While training at OVW, Blank lived in
Kentucky.[7] Following this, Blank lived in
Tampa, Florida, prior to moving to
Miami. She then returned to living in Tampa in 2010.[2]
In February 2018, Blank's father Ron died.[134] In 2019, Blank founded a non-profit charity with Drs. Shawn Carbonell and Luzanne Otte named Cure
Glioblastoma, the same disease her father died from. The purpose of the charity is building awareness and solutions for brain cancer.[135]
On March 28, 2023, Blank announced that she was pregnant with her first child.[140] In April, she revealed she is expecting twins,[141] and she gave birth to them on September 10; son Jaxon Matthew and daughter Brooklyn Marie.[142]
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