Kelly Kelly

Barbara Blank Coba (born Barbara Jean Blank; January 15, 1987), known professionally as Barbie Blank and by her ring name Kelly Kelly, is an American professional wrestler and model.

Blank has a background in gymnastics and cheerleading, and worked as a model for Venus Swimwear and Hawaiian Tropic.

Barbara Jean Blank was born on January 15, 1987, in Jacksonville, Florida, to a Jewish father and Christian mother.

She was a fan of professional wrestling as a child, and cites Stone Cold Steve Austin as her favorite wrestler.

While growing up, she participated in gymnastics for ten years, before she was forced to quit due to an injury.

She later took up cheerleading.

She attended University Christian School and graduated from Englewood High School.

She then attended Florida Community College at Jacksonville, where she studied broadcast journalism, hoping to become a television anchor.

She was also a Hawaiian Tropic and Venus Swimwear bikini model before she entered professional wrestling.

In 2006, Blank was signed to a contract by WWE and, after training in Ohio Valley Wrestling, she debuted on the ECW brand in June 2006 as 'Kelly Kelly'.

Primarily appearing in a non-wrestling role, she was a member of Extreme Exposé with Layla and Brooke Adams.

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.

WWE contacted her modeling agency and invited her to their developmental territory, Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), for a tryout.

Despite having no previous wrestling experience she was offered a 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 television tapings where she participated in a Women's battle royal won by ODB.

She made her debut on the first episode of the weekly television program on June 13, 2006, becoming the youngest Diva on the WWE roster, aged 19.

Her character, an exhibitionist, was introduced performing a striptease for the crowd.

The next week, while performing another striptease, Kelly was interrupted by her on-screen boyfriend, Mike Knox, who came to the stage and covered her with a towel before dragging her backstage.

Her stripping became a weekly segment known as Kelly's Exposé and usually followed the same routine; Kelly would dance and strip until she was stopped by Knox.

Knox began forcing Kelly to accompany him to ringside so he could keep an eye on her, making her his de facto valet.

As a result, she found herself involved in the feud developing between Knox and his tag team partner Test and the team of Tommy Dreamer and The Sandman.

This included her being inadvertently hit with a cane by Sandman when Knox used her as a shield.

She made her ECW in-ring debut on the August 22, edition of ECW During an extreme bikini contest segment between Torrie Wilson and herself, Test and Mike Knox interrupted the contest stopping Kelly before she had a chance to disrobe.

Leading Tommy Dreamer and Sandman to come in through the crowd, Sandman took the mic and challenged Test, Knox and Kelly in a six-person mixed tag team match.

Kelly, Knox and Test went on to lose to Dreamer, Sandman, and Wilson.

Kelly and Knox progressed into a storyline with CM Punk in September, in which Kelly developed a liking for Punk, flirting with him and watching his matches, and Knox became increasingly jealous.

This led to a match between Knox and Punk, during which Kelly cheered for Punk.

At December to Dismember, Kelly and Knox faced Ariel and Kevin Thorn in a mixed tag team match, during which Knox refused to tag in before leaving her.

On the following episode of ECW, Kelly defeated Ariel with a roll-up in her first singles match.

Beginning in late 2007, she began participating in more wrestling matches, and unsuccessfully challenged for both the WWE Divas Championship and the WWE Women's Championship on multiple occasions.

In late 2007, she also made an appearance in Florida Championship Wrestling, WWE's new developmental territory.

Blank debuted for the ECW brand as Kelly Kelly.

Originally, she was to be named just 'Kelly', but her ring name was expanded to 'Kelly Kelly' by WWE CEO Vince McMahon.

In June 2011, she won the WWE Divas Championship, commencing a four-month reign.

She left WWE in 2012, but has since returned for occasional appearances and matches.

On the Raw Reunion special on July 22, 2019, she pinned Gerald Brisco to win the WWE 24/7 Championship, becoming the first woman to win the title.

She is a two-time champion in WWE.

Blank has also appeared on a number of television shows, and was a main cast member of the reality television program WAGS.

She made her film acting debut in Disturbing the Peace, which was released on January 17, 2020.