| Kelly Kelly | |
|---|---|
 Blank after making her return to WWE in 2020. | |
| Birth name | Barbara Jean Blank |
| Born | January 15, 1987 (age 36) Jacksonville, Florida |
| Resides | Manhattan Beach, California |
| Partner | Jake Anderson |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Barbie Blank Kelly Kelly |
| Billed height | 5 ft 5 in (1.65 m) |
| Billed weight | 108 lb (49 kg) |
| Billed from | Jacksonville, Florida |
| Trained by | Ohio Valley Wrestling |
| Debut | June 13, 2006 |
Barbara Jean Blank (born January 15, 1987) is an American model and professional wrestler, currently signed with WWE where she performs on the Raw brand.
Blank has a background in gymnastics and cheerleading. She studied broadcast journalism, hoping to become a television anchor, and worked as a model for Venus Swimwear and Hawaiian Tropic. In 2006, Blank was signed to a contract by WWE and sent to Ohio Valley Wrestling, a WWE developmental territory.
She debuted on the ECW brand in June 2006 as 'Kelly Kelly', with the character of an exhibitionist and performing a striptease. She continued her stripteases, in a segment known as Kelly's Exposé, weekly on ECW, and also became the valet of her on-screen boyfriend Mike Knox. The following year, she formed Extreme Exposé with Layla and Brooke Adams, and the trio performed a regular dance segment on ECW. They later became involved in a storyline with The Miz, which led to the dissolution of the group.
Kelly then began participating in more wrestling matches, and was moved to the Raw brand in 2009 where she was involved in a real life affair with John Cena which was later incorporated into a storyline also involving Chris Jericho. Throughout the next year, she unsuccessfully challenged for the WWE Women's Championship on several occasions, before moving to SmackDown in early 2010. There she challenged for the WWE Divas Championship on several different occasions including at Royal Rumble, only to come up short each time. Despite the aforementioned affair with Cena, Kelly continued her tumultuous on and off relationship with Chris Jericho until 2013.
Kelly would then return to singles competition before briefly teaming up and forming an alliance with Danielle Moinet. She would later sporadically appear on Smackdown here and there over the next few months in order for her to recover from a few injuries that she had sustained and being burnt out along with dealing with a few personal issues. Kelly would return to Smackdown from her hiatus at the end of July.
Professional wrestling career[]
World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE (2006–2014)[]
Developmental territories (2006–2008)[]
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. As a result, WWE contacted her modeling agency and invited her to their developmental territory, Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), for a try-out. Despite having no previous wrestling experience she was offered a multi-year contract, which she signed in May 2006. 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. One of her first matches took place at the September 6 OVW TV tapings where she participated in a Women's battle royal won by ODB. On March 24, 2007, at an OVW House Show, Kelly teamed up with Maryse, Victoria, Serena Deeb and ODB to defeat Beth Phoenix, Katie Lea Burchill, Milena Roucka, Roni and Melody to claim her first victory.
Kelly made her debut for Florida Championship Wrestling on the October 8 episode of FCW Television, where she teamed up with Wesley Holiday in a winning effort defeating Alicia Fox and Roucka in a divas-tag-team match. Kelly made her singles debut on the October 9 episode of FCW Television, where she defeated Wesley Holiday. On an episode of FCW television she made an appearance hosting a twist contest which ended in a no contest. She made various appearances in FCW till the end of 2008.
Debut and storyline with John Cena (2009)[]
After being moved up to Raw Kelly started a storyline where she was the on-screen boyfriend of then WWE Champion Chris Jericho. Jericho would abuse and ridicule her every chance he got which garnered the attention of John Cena. It was when assumed that Kelly was pregnant with Jericho's child, later being revealed that she wasn't pregnant at all. This resulted in Cena consoling Kelly and being around her a lot more, which then led to both Jericho and Cena's wife Stephanie McMahon becoming suspicious of their relationship with one another. Both denied any kind of sexual relationship between the two, however neither Jericho or Stephanie believed it with Stephanie continuing to nag her husband about it to the point where Cena and Kelly did end up having an affair, a one-night stand together. Stephanie would leave John after finding out as the feud between Jericho and Cena really picked up when Cena defeated Jericho for the WWE Championship, before later losing it back to Jericho at Survivor Series which proved to be the end of the rivalry. Kelly would go on to win the Slammy Award for Slut of the Year as well as Diva of the Year.
Smackdown and various feuds (2010–2013)[]
Info here
Various storylines and brand switches (2013–2014)[]
On the July 27 episode of Smackdown Kelly returned and was involved in a brief backstage segment with Jake Anderson where they broke character revealing their real life marriage on-screen as Kelly had showed up to surprise him, this led to Anderson angrily forcing the cameras away from them.
Part-time and sporadic appearances (2014–2020)[]
Info here
Return to Raw (2020–present)[]
In September 2020, Blank would make a full-time return to WWE signing a new multi-year contract and would be making her return on the Raw brand.
Other media[]
In April 2007, Kelly, along with Ashley Massaro, Layla El, Brooke Adams, Torrie Wilson, and Maryse Ouellet, appeared in a music video for the Timbaland song "Throw It on Me" (featuring The Hives). On April 11, 2008, Blank along with Mickie James, Melina Perez, and Layla El appeared in an episode of Celebrity Fit Club: Boot Camp as trainers. Six days later, she appeared as the "Soccerette" on the British football show Soccer AM. She appeared a second time on Soccer AM in 2009. On June 14, 2011 Kelly and The Bella Twins appeared on an episode of The Price is Right.
In August 2007, all three members of Extreme Exposé also took part in a photo-shoot for FHM Online. In 2011, Blank was ranked number 82 in Maxim's Hot 100. Blank was later featured on the both the front and back covers of Maxim in December 2011. In 2012, Blank ranked number 38 in Maxim's Hot 100.
Personal life[]
Blank with boyfriend Mason Alvarez attending a movie premiere in July 2020.
From 2009 to 2011, Blank was in a relationship with WWE Superstar, Justin Gabriel (Paul Lloyd). Their relationship ended when Blank began dating professional hockey player Sheldon Souray whilst still in a relationship with Lloyd; a relationship that wouldn't last very long.
After dating fellow wrestler Chris Jericho on and off for about a year; Blank began dating WWE Superstar, Jake Anderson on January 16, 2013. In late February 2013 she and Anderson purchased a home together in Malibu, California for $2 million. The couple secretly wed on March 4, 2013 at Villa Sancti Di Bella Vista in Malibu, California. However 11 days later, it was revealed that Blank had filed for divorce citing "irreconcilable differences". Anderson later filed his response on March 18, 2013. The two have since managed to rekindle their romance and are once again in a relationship, having called off the divorce. The two plan on renewing their wedding vows at an unknown date. This wouldn't last long as Anderson filed for divorce on August 24, 2013, once again citing "irreconcilable differences". The divorce was finalized in January 2014.
In November 2014, it was revealed that Blank was dating fellow professional wrestler John Cena. The two would later break up. It was revealed in September 2020 that Blank was currently dating fellow wrestler Mason Wolfe after the two met at a Wrestling convention during WrestleMania weekend and began dating a few weeks later. It was revealed in January 2024 that Blank and Jake Anderson were once again in a relationship together after having previously been married to one another ten years prior. Shortly afterwards the couple revealed that Blank was pregnant and expecting twins.
In wrestling[]
- Finishing moves
- K2 (Leg drop bulldog, sometimes preceded by stepping off the back of an opponent on all fours)
- Signature moves
- Kelly Killer (Handspring back elbow smash)
- Hanging figure four necklock
- Hurricanrana pin
- One handed bulldog
- Sitout facebuster
- Stink face
- Corner foot choke
- Tilt-a-whirl headscissors takedown
- Multiple pinning variations
- Thesz press followed by multiple punches
- Diving crossbody
- Rope-aided backflip into an arm drag
- Springboard arm drag
- Entrance themes
- "Chelsea" by STEFY (OVW)
- "Don’t Stop" by WWE production theme (2006; Used for one night)
- "Holla" by Desiree Jackson (2006–2008)
- "Holla (2nd Remix)" by Desiree Jackson (2008–present)
Championships and accomplishments[]
- World Wrestling Entertainment
- Slammy Award for Diva of the Year (2009)
- Slammy Award for Slut of the Year (2009)
- WWE Divas Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Ashley Massaro