Vaughan has said "I always wanted to be a wrestler since I was 12 years old. I was about 19 years old when I thought this could actually be a reality and when I was 24 I decided to pursue my dream."[3] She got her start in early 2011 where she would make appearances on the pheriphry of wrestling - ring announcing, acting as referee, selling tickets and merchandise.[1] She was also paired up with
Cody Deaner at NEO Wrestling, whom she acted as a manager for.[4] Vaughan received some early training from Derek Wylde, but conflicting schedules made it difficult to steadily train.[5] She made her in-ring debut in September 2011[1] against
Cherry Bomb;[6] that same month, she won an essay contest arranged by former pro-wrestler
Edge which has as its prize a scholarship for training at Squared Circle Training in Toronto.[4]
Independent circuit (2013–present)
Vaughan has made appearances with
Chikara, where she faced
Sara Del Rey twice.[4] She appeared at the April 2013
SHIMMER tapings, where she was part of a six-man tag team match on the first day of tapings.[7] The following day, she made her on camera appearance when she competed against Rhia O'Reilly in a match for SHIMMER Volume 56.[8]
In March 2017 Vaughan became the first Women's champion for Clash Wrestling,[22] though she lost it to
Nevaeh three months later.[23]
She was named by the website DivaDirt as one of "The Five to Watch" in 2012.[24]
On September 8, 2016, Vaughan, as Leah Von Dutch, was defeated by
Ember Moon at an NXT taping.
In September 2017, Vaughan announced she was taking a break from professional wrestling to "focus on other projects".[25]
Personal life
In addition to wrestling, she has also made an appearance in a music video by the band The Creekside Strays.[26][27] as well as one by
Joey Stylez.[28][29] She has a degree in Kinesiology from University of Windsor and an Esthetics diploma from Fanshawe College in London.
Championships and accomplishments
Von Dutch with the Xtreme Bombshell Wrestling's Bombshells Championship belt