{"id":54860,"date":"2019-10-17T12:40:26","date_gmt":"2019-10-17T16:40:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonprowrestling.com\/?p=54860"},"modified":"2019-10-17T15:52:59","modified_gmt":"2019-10-17T19:52:59","slug":"bea-priestley-top-gaijin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2019\/10\/17\/bea-priestley-top-gaijin\/","title":{"rendered":"AEW On TNT: Bea Priestley, The Top Gaijin"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The women&#8217;s division in <strong>All Elite Wrestling (AEW)<\/strong> is stacked to say the least. Featuring some of the world&#8217;s best female performers from <strong>Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D<\/strong> to <strong>Awesome Kong<\/strong> to the current and inaugural AEW Women&#8217;s World Champion <strong>Riho<\/strong>. One of the other names in the division though is 23-year-old <strong>Bea Priestley<\/strong>. Having only debuted a few years ago, Bea has quickly made a name for herself around the world, becoming a household name for promotions in England, Japan, and now America.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Early Beginnings<\/strong><\/h3>\n<figure id=\"attachment_56099\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-56099\" style=\"width: 499px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-56099\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprowrestling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2019\/09\/Bea-With-Travis-Banks-e1571249637738.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"499\" height=\"400\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-56099\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: @BeaPriestley<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Bea didn&#8217;t hold around with her ambitions to become a professional wrestler, having her debut match at the young age of 14 years old after training at <strong>New Zealand Wide Pro Wrestling<\/strong> under the guidance of &#8220;The Kiwi Buzzsaw&#8221; <strong>Travis Banks<\/strong> before returning to England to train at the ProJo, the training facility operated by <strong>PROGRESS Wrestling<\/strong>. This was a fairly difficult point in Bea&#8217;s personal life though, as she was diagnosed with a brain tumour but thankfully, surgery was enough to have the tumour removed and she was able to return to in-ring competition. Upon returning to the United Kingdom, Priestley would compete for the likes of PROGRESS, <strong>International Pro Wrestling: United Kingdom (IPW: UK)<\/strong>, and <strong>Ironfist Wrestling<\/strong>, challenging for both the Ironfist Women&#8217;s Championship and the IPW: UK Women&#8217;s Championship along the way while also entering the fourth PROGRESS Natural Progression Series before being eliminated in the opening round by eventual winner <strong>Toni Storm<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"FREE MATCH! Jinny &amp; Elizabeth vs Pollyanna &amp; Toni Storm\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/YdpVF8Jahho?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Becoming Defiant<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-56101\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprowrestling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2019\/09\/Bea-Priestkey-Defiant-Womens-Champion-e1571250038744.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\"><\/p>\n<p>In the summer of 2016, Bea Priestley would her first of many appearances for <strong>Defiant Wrestling<\/strong> (then known as <strong>WhatCulture Pro Wrestling (WCPW)<\/strong>), starting up a rivalry opposite <strong>Nixon Newell<\/strong> (now <strong>Tegan Nox<\/strong> in <em><strong>NXT<\/strong><\/em>) that saw them compete in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=A0QDH6dW0zk\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Last Woman Standing Match<\/a> at <em><strong>Stacked<\/strong><\/em> 2016 to crown the first WCPW Women&#8217;s Champion. Although it would be The Girl With The Shiniest Wizard who became the champion, Bea would take the title hostage not long thereafter while a member of <strong>Pacitti Club<\/strong> alongside <strong>Will Ospreay<\/strong>, <strong>Paul Robinson<\/strong>, <strong>Scott Wainwright<\/strong>, <strong>Bully Ray<\/strong>, and then-general manager <strong>Adam Pacitti<\/strong>, and would win the title herself in February 2017 with the assistance of a debuting <strong>Viper<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Nixon Newell Defends Her Reclaimed Women&#039;s Title (WCPW Loaded #23.3)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_vO2bNXYIaM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Worldwide Sensation<\/strong><\/h3>\n<figure id=\"attachment_56098\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-56098\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-56098\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprowrestling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2019\/09\/Bea-Priestley-Kelly-Klein-Goddesses-Of-Stardom-Tag-League-e1571249477850.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"298\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-56098\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: rohwrestling.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Successful defenses would follow over <strong>Tessa Blanchard<\/strong> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=FSZD0cu0Rfc\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Kay Lee Ray<\/strong><\/a>, but Bea Priestley would lose the gold to KLR at WCPW&#8217;s one-year anniversary show <em><strong>Built to Destroy<\/strong><\/em> in June (Viper stepped in for Bea during the match due to injury). When she wasn&#8217;t defending the WCPW Women&#8217;s Championship, Priestley was competing up and down the UK, adding <strong>Pro Wrestling: EVE<\/strong>, <strong>Lucha Forever<\/strong>, <strong>Over The Top Wrestling (OTT)<\/strong>, and <strong>Revolution Pro Wrestling (RevPro)<\/strong> to her resume.<\/p>\n<p>It was also around this time though that Priestley started going on international tours, firstly jetting off to Australia for <strong>Southern Pro Wrestling (SPW)<\/strong>, <strong>PWA Black Label<\/strong> (where she unsuccessfully challenged for the PWWA Women&#8217;s Championship), and <strong>Melbourne City Wrestling (MCW)<\/strong>, before Bea headed to Japan for her first of many tours over there. Alongside three-time <strong>Ring of Honor (ROH)<\/strong> Women of Honor World Champion <strong>Kelly Klein<\/strong>, the pair won the 2017 Goddesses of Stardom Tag League for <strong>World Wonder Ring Stardom<\/strong>, defeating <strong>Chardonnay<\/strong> and <strong>Scarlett<\/strong> in the finals to end on a score of seven points.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Queen&#8217;s Quest<\/strong><\/h3>\n<figure id=\"attachment_44170\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-44170\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-44170\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprowrestling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2019\/04\/Queens-Quest-e1555325949211.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-44170\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: Stardom<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>A brief return to the UK saw Bea return to her usual promotions, but a return to Japan would see her join the <strong>Queen&#8217;s Quest<\/strong> stable. In singles action, she made it to the finals of the 2018 Cinderella Tournament after overcoming <strong>Session Moth Martina<\/strong> and <strong>Hazuki<\/strong>, but <strong>Momo Watanabe<\/strong> proved to be too much of a challenge for her in the finals. In the UK, Bea joined the roster for the 10-episode reboot of <strong>World of Sport Wrestling (WOS)<\/strong>, quickly starting up a rivalry against Kay Lee Ray over the WOS Women&#8217;s Championship, while she would also go on to become a two-time Defiant Women&#8217;s Championship after capturing the strap from <strong>Millie McKenzie<\/strong> at <em>Built to Destroy<\/em> 2018.<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=KmnI1o-htPw<\/p>\n<p>Following numerous shows around England and Australia, which included the debut of <strong>Queen&#8217;s Quest UK<\/strong> over in <strong>Frontline Wrestling<\/strong> and defending the Defiant Women&#8217;s Championship down under against <strong>Ricky South<\/strong> in one defence and then against <strong>Avary<\/strong> and <strong>Indi Hartwell<\/strong> in another defence, the time came for Priestley to return to her second home of Japan. She and Queen&#8217;s Quest ally Chardonnay lost to the team of Momo Watanabe and <strong>Utami Hayashishita<\/strong> in the finals of the 2018 Goddesses of Stardom Tag League, with another short return to the UK seeing her first losing the Defiant Women&#8217;s Championship to <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprowrestling.com\/2018\/12\/17\/andnew-kanji-wins-defiant-womens-championship\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Kanji<\/strong><\/a> and then winning the <strong>Fight Forever Wrestling (FFW)<\/strong> Women&#8217;s World Championship from Millie McKenzie. She teamed with Utami Hayashishita and Viper to win a Stardom trios tournament at the start of 2019, and would also enjoy a brief reign as the WOS Women&#8217;s Champion before losing the gold back to Viper in February.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Bea Is All Elite<\/strong><\/h3>\n<figure id=\"attachment_56097\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-56097\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-56097\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprowrestling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2019\/09\/Bea-Priestley-Is-All-Elite-e1571249296392.jpg\" alt=\"Bea Priestley\" width=\"600\" height=\"337\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-56097\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: @BeaPriestley<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The February 27th edition of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=yIKkAym4Wh0&amp;t=304s\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em><strong>Road to Double or Nothing<\/strong><\/em><\/a> revealed that Bea Priestley would be heading to All Elite Wrestling&#8217;s women&#8217;s division, but this didn&#8217;t stop her from touring with Stardom. Bea would lift her <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprowrestling.com\/2019\/05\/04\/andnew-bea-priestley-wins-world-of-stardom-championship\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">first taste<\/a> of Stardom gold in the form of the World of Stardom Championship, which she won by defeating <strong>Kagetsu<\/strong> in April. Her AEW debut came during <em><strong>The Buy In<\/strong><\/em> for July&#8217;s <em><strong>Fight For The Fallen<\/strong><\/em> event, teaming with <strong>Shoko Nakajima<\/strong> in a winning effort over Riho and Dr Britt Baker, D.M.D. Bea would enter the Stardom 5STAR Grand Prix, earning a total of 10 points with wins over <strong>Jamie Hayter<\/strong>, <strong>Natsuko Tora<\/strong>, <strong>Konami<\/strong>, and <strong>Andras Miyagi<\/strong>, but it would eventually be <strong>Hana Kimura<\/strong> who walked away the winner. Her AEW career continued when she entered the 2019 Women&#8217;s Casino Battle Royale during the <em><strong>All Out<\/strong> Buy In<\/em>, followed up by her official <em><strong>Dynamite<\/strong><\/em> debut on episode two as she teamed with the legendary <strong>Emi Sakura<\/strong> in a loss to Britt Baker and the inaugural Women&#8217;s World Champion Riho.<\/p>\n<p>While she may not be that prominent in AEW thus far, just you wait until Bea Priestley is fully unleashed on the women&#8217;s division. There may be no-one that can stop her. As long as she keeps using that curb stomp as a finisher, we could very well be looking at our next AEW Women&#8217;s World Champion.<\/p>\n<div class=\"td-post-content tagdiv-type\">\n<p>Stay tuned to the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/lwosonprowrestling.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Last Word on Pro Wrestling<\/a>\u00a0for 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.\u00a0 Be sure to subscribe to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fite.tv\/join\/aew-plus\/?v=1\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">AEW Plus on Fite TV<\/a> to watch AEW Dynamite every week.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The women&#8217;s division in All Elite Wrestling (AEW) is stacked to say the least. Featuring some of the world&#8217;s best female performers from Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D to Awesome Kong to the current and inaugural AEW Women&#8217;s World Champion Riho. One of the other names in the division though is 23-year-old Bea Priestley. Having only [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2567,"featured_media":56097,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4677,6],"tags":[4133,5730,1139,3911,2677,1514,3920,480,1730],"class_list":["post-54860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aew","category-north-america","tag-aew","tag-aew-dynamite","tag-kay-lee-ray","tag-all-elite-wrestling","tag-bea-priestley","tag-defiant-wrestling","tag-queens-quest","tag-stardom","tag-world-of-sport"],"modified_by":"Jamie Greer","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2567"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54860\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}