Recently, Chris Jericho interviewed NWA Women’s Champion Thunder Rosa on the Talk Is Jericho podcast and as the Demo God is one to do, he also let a little nugget slip about AEW’s latest signing as he seemingly let slip that 15-year veteran, Serena Deeb, was All Elite. Today, AEW confirmed the signing, announcing that Deeb would serve as both a mentor and performer in the young and growing women’s division for the company.
Welcome to the team…
Serena Deeb is #AllElite pic.twitter.com/dgS5v7tJYu— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) September 21, 2020
A longtime veteran of the industry having worked as both a wrestler and trainer in various companies an capacities, Serena Deeb began her career in 2005, with the OVW Wrestling School and coaches including Terry Taylor, Al Snow, Rip Rogers, Les Thatcher, Lance Storm, and others. Having grown up a wrestling fan, Deeb decided as a teenager that she was going to pursue her dream of becoming a professional wrestler. So, taking her own money, Deeb moved from her home in Virginia to Kentucky, where the OVW school was located, in order to begin her training. A year later, Deeb was well on her way, becoming one of OVW’s main fixtures. She also began to branch out, wrestling for several other promotions but most notably SHIMMER, where she helped build the company, wrestling on some of it’s earliest shows.
Meanwhile, in OVW, Serena Deeb quickly rose through the ranks, becoming the women’s champion in October 2006 and just the second-ever women’s champion in the promotion’s history. She only held the title for about a month in her first reign, but this was far from her only time with gold around her waist. Over the course of her four-plus years with OVW, Deeb won the women’s title a total of six times, which at the time, was the most ever. Still to this day, Deeb ranks as one of the most dominant women’s wrestlers in OVW history and is among the top-five in terms of total titles won. In many ways, Deeb helped build OVW’ women’s division as well, a division that has since produced such top women’s talents including Eve Torres, Beth Phoenix, Natalya, Mickie James, ODB, Ruby Riott, Taryn Terrell, Taeler Hendrix and more.
Continuing to wrestle for SHIMMER until 2013, Serena Deeb also picked up bookings for Ring of Honor, TNA, NWA and more. In 2009, after moving from OVW to Florida Championship Wrestling, Deeb finally made her WWE debut in a backstage segment. Shortly after, it was confirmed that she had signed a contract with the promotion. Deeb remained in FCW until 2010, making her WWE in-ring debut that year as a member of CM Punk’s Straight Edge Society. As part of her initiation with the group, Deeb shaved her head, something that she later said in interviews, “ended up being really, really great for my career.”
Serena Deeb remained with SES through August 2010, though she would only have one official televised match with the group and subsequently with WWE. She was released that summer, reportedly for failing to live out the straight edge persona in her real-life. This led to Deeb returning to SHIMMER the following year, where she wrestled a career-high eight matches with the company. Deeb also made her ROH and TNA returns in 2011 as well. Suffering a serious concussion that fall, Deeb took an indefinite hiatus away from wrestling, not returning to the indies until 18 months later, at which point she began wrestling regularly for Wrestling New Classic. Deeb remained on the indies until 2015, wrestling for SHINE, World Wrestling Network, Queens of Combat and more.
Your support is heard, felt, and appreciated. Thank you @AEWrestling for the platform to do what I love most in the world, and thank you to all who watched and enjoyed it. Can’t wait to do it again. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/fwwfzNtufJ
— Serena (@SerenaDeeb) September 3, 2020
In 2015, Serena Deeb seemingly retired from wrestling after a 10-year career. Though, she shocked many when in 2017, she returned to WWE, taking part in the inaugural Mae Young Classic. Deeb made it to the second round, in the process, winning her first match in five years. Following her appearance in the tournament, Deeb began working for WWE in a backstage capacity, specifically as a trainer/coach for the up-and-coming women’s wrestlers in the WWE Performance Center. Deeb remained in that position up until she was released earlier this year, one of the casualties of WWE’s Black Wednesday. But as they say, when one door closes, another one opens.
On the September 2nd edition of AEW Dynamite, Deeb wrestled her first match in nearly three years. But with all the time she spent in the ring training the NXT women’s wrestlers, there was no rust to shake off. Deeb looked like she hadn’t missed a step, and with Thunder Rosa, wrestled one of AEW’s best women’s matches this year. And it was that match, according to Jericho, where Deeb really impressed. With her background as both a trainer and wrestler as well as her veteran presence, Deeb is a perfect fit to help AEW build its budding women’s division. She is a great asset for the company and could be just what AEW needs to start turning their women’s division around.
Stay tuned to Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. You can catch AEW Dynamite Wednesday nights at 8 PM ET on TNT and AEW DARK Tuesday nights at 7 PM ET on YouTube.
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