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Drake Maverick has become synonymous with the 24/7 Championship ever since the title was introduced to WWE programming by Mick Foley in May 2019.
The 205 Live General Manager failed to claim the modern-day version of the Hardcore Championship on multiple occasions before he finally defeated R-Truth on the June 18 episode of SmackDown Live after disguising himself as Carmella.
Sadly for Maverick, he lost the title two days later when R-Truth crashed his wedding to Renee Michelle and quickly escaped from the ceremony as a six-time holder of the 24/7 Championship.
Since then, the relationship between WWE’s newest married couple has featured heavily on Raw and SmackDown Live, with Maverick even going against his new wife’s wishes to win the title for the second time just before their honeymoon.
Having previously played a bit-part role as the manager of AOP’s Akam & Rezar, Maverick is now flourishing in his new position as one of the most entertaining Superstars on the main roster, especially since his wife entered the storyline.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at five things that you might not know about Renee Michelle.
#5 Gillberg got her into the wrestling business
During the Monday Night Wars in the late 1990s, WWE mocked WCW by introducing their own version of the Goldberg character, Gillberg.
Unlike the destructive world champion that WCW had on their hands, WWE’s Gillberg was an undersized comedy act whose sole purpose was to make fun of the company’s fiercest competition.
Fast forward to 2012 and Gillberg, real name Duane Gill, approached Renee Michelle at the first wrestling event that she ever attended.
As she recalled in a 2016 interview with Jim Varsallone, Michelle was immediately hooked by the wrestling business.
“I never grew up watching it as a kid. I grew up doing martial arts since the age of four, so when my friends dragged me to my first wrestling show, I was approached… I was very sceptical about it but I tried it out and ever since then I’ve had the wrestling bug.”
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#4 She used to be a Rosebud
Before No Way Jose danced around the ring with various extras, independent wrestlers and future WWE Superstars, Adam Rose portrayed a similar gimmick in 2014-15 when he was accompanied to the ring by his Rosebuds.
At the time, the people behind the wacky costumes were relatively unknown. Now, however, it has come to light that several main-roster talents, including Becky Lynch and Braun Strowman, played the role of Rosebuds before they made their names in NXT and WWE.
Along with the likes of Lynch, Strowman, Zelina Vega, Simon Gotch and Nikki Cross, Renee Michelle made multiple appearances as a Rosebud during the first couple of years of her wrestling career in late 2014/early 2015.
One of her on-screen appearances came on a March 6 taping of WWE Superstars in 2015, where she can be seen reacting to Rose’s loss against Zack Ryder at the 01:57 mark of the video above.
#3 She entered the Mae Young Classic
The inaugural Mae Young Classic tournament took place in 2017 and featured current NXT/WWE Superstars including Bianca Belair, Candice LeRae, Dakota Kai, Kairi Sane, Lacey Evans, Mia Yim, Rhea Ripley, Sarah Logan, Shayna Baszler, Taynara Conti, Toni Storm, Vanessa Borne and Xia Li.
One of the most popular babyfaces heading into the competition, LeRae was only able to reach the quarter-final stage, where she lost to Baszler, while her journey to the final eight began with a first-round match against Renee Michelle.
Drake Maverick’s new wife mentioned in her pre-match video package that she wanted to prove that women can be just as good, or perhaps even better, than the men, and she claimed that she has the “charisma, sass, athleticism, determination and ambition” to achieve anything she wants.
Michelle went on to lose against LeRae in a match lasting 5 minutes and 36 seconds.
#2 She suffered a long-term injury in 2018
Renee Michelle competed for promotions including Maryland Championship Wrestling (MCW), East Coast Wrestling Association (ECWA), World Xtreme Wrestling (WXW) and Shine Wrestling before making her one and only WWE in-ring appearance in the 2017 Mae Young Classic.
Following her match against Candice LeRae, Drake Maverick’s wife continued to compete on the independent circuit against well-known female stars including Tessa Blanchard, Madison Rayne and Jordynne Grace.
However, she then required surgery in the summer of 2018 after tearing her ACL, MCL and meniscus, ruling her out for most of the next year.
Michelle has since recovered from knee surgery and she began training again in January 2019 at Team Vision Dojo in Florida.
It is not known when she plans to compete again following her injury, but she is currently being advertised for a meet and greet in Augusta, Georgia on Saturday, July 20.
#1 Her dream opponent is Asuka
Despite only signing with WWE in August 2015, Asuka has already cemented her status as one of the greatest female Superstars in the company’s history.
As well as being the winner of the first women’s Royal Rumble in January 2018, “The Empress of Tomorrow” held the NXT Women’s Championship for a record 523 days and put together an unprecedented undefeated streak of 914 days between October 2015 and April 2018.
Speaking in a 2016 interview with Jim Varsallone, Renee Michelle mentioned how Asuka and herself were both trained by separate tag team partners in Japan and she feels it would only be fitting if they faced each other in a match one day.
“If I ever have an opportunity to get to WWE, then of course. And what better way, my top woman who I would like to wrestle in WWE is definitely Asuka.”
