Poor Impact Wrestling. They managed to shed a lot of the excess baggage of past regimes, clean up it’s act, get the business back on track and now another report that will surely enflame the Impact doomsayers. According to a report from Squared Circle Sirens, easily the most reliable news source of women’s wrestling on the internet, announced last night that Impact Knockout Laurel Van Ness requested her release from the company after the last set of tapings in Ottawa and it may be coming soon when details are finalized. And while many would claim that she was hardly being used of late, with her character drunkenly meandering through the crowds for most appearances, the news comes after capturing the vacant Knockouts Championship at the end of the tapings (the entire tournament on-going was filmed during those Ottawa tapings). Van Ness is scheduled to defend the title against former Champion Sienna this Sunday in Detroit for a Border City Wrestling show, in a match being taped for a future episode of Impact Wrestling. If the release is granted, it’s possible the title may switch hands as early as this Sunday.
Laurel Van Ness has been an indie star for years, originally trained by former WWE/WCW/ECW legend Lance Storm, and starting with Canada’s ECCW in 2014 under the name Jaida. A year after her indie debut, she was selected as part of the 2015 Tough Enough series as an injury replacement, competing under her real name, Chelsea Green, a name she still uses on the indie circuit. Shortly after the series ended, she was quickly signed by Impact Wrestling, despite interest from the WWE. She debuted in January of 2016 under the name Laurel Van Ness, as part of Maria Kanellis’ Queen’s Court faction, and was caught in a love story with Braxton Sutter, that ended with Sutter leaving her at the altar after declaring his love for (his real life wife) Allie instead. Since then, she’s been portraying a jilted bride character who’s been in a constant drunken stupor.
As Chelsea Green, she’s still managed to keep a separate identity from Laurel Van Ness, working for such promotions as SHIMMER, SHINE, Queens of Combat (QOC), WrestleCircus and even in Japan with Stardom, often teaming with Santana Garrett. With WWE still looking to expand it’s women’s division on both the main roster and in NXT, and with Green dating WWE Superstar Zack Ryder for the past year, Green could be looking to make a move to the WWE Universe, although that is purely speculation at this point. In what may or may not be related, she’s recently changed her Twitter name from ImpactLVN back to Chelsea Green.
