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Celebrating 34 years of Carmella
One of the real greats of the wrestling world, Leah Van Dale is celebrating her birthday on the 23rd of October. Although a lady never tells, we do - she's going to be 34 this year, and in those years she's achieved an awful lot. You'll know her best as Carmella, one of the most formidable women in wrestling. Currently signed to WWE, you can see her performing for the SmackDown brand. That's not all she's up to though. We're going to take a look back at all of her career highlights, as well as some of the incredible things she's achieved in her life outside of wrestling. Happy Birthday, Carmella, this is your life, so far.
How It All Began
As well as being a wrestler, Carmella is also a dancer. The two often go hand in hand, as they both require incredible gymnastic ability, as well as timing, poise and coordination. It's likely Carmella honed these skills during her time cheerleading, first for the New England Patriots and after that for the Los Angeles Lakers dance team. Her fighting skills we can probably put down to her father, who some super fans may know worked for the WWF as a jobber. He also taught mixed martial arts, passing on some of his skills to his daughter and helping her to become a second-generation WWE star.
Early Wrestling Career
It was June 2013 when she signed a contract with WWE, to go and work for NXT in Florida. She was given the role of a hairdresser for her debut show, which went well and led to her appearance a couple of weeks later at the WWE Performance Center. It was here that she asked to work as a wrestler in front of an audience, made her first ring appearance on October 16th and achieved her first win. The road on this show would not be as smooth for Carmella after that when Amore, Cassady and herself became sworn enemies with Blake and Murphy, leading to a string of crushing defeats. Not one to be put off easily, she continued fighting, suffering further setbacks, but making a notable win to become the number one contender for NXT Women's Champion. Unfortunately, this resulted with Bayley winning the deciding fight.
SmackDown Success
Next up came Carmela's SmackDown drafting, in mid-2016. She made her debut for them just a week later and was up against several of the brand's female wrestlers, before finally being interrupted by the renowned Eva Marie. It was a week later that she scored her first victory against Natalya. The very next day, however, her luck would turn, as when participating in a six-person tag team, Nikki Bella would pin Carmella and lose them the match. The following bout would start a feud between Carmella and Bella, which would become a key part of Carmella's storyline, only ending when in a "no disqualification" match, she was beaten again by Bella.
It wouldn't be until late 2017 that Carmella would start to achieve the results she deserved. She started an alliance with Natalya and Tamina that they called The Welcoming Committee. The three started a feud with another tag team and in the key Backlash match and emerged victorious. Her next victory would come at Money in the Bank, where she was declared the winner in two matches, having won and kept the briefcase. It would take her 287 days (still a record) to cash in the briefcase, which she achieved by winning the SmackDown Women's Championship for the very first time.
A Whole Load of Teams
The alliance between Carmella and Truth started off rocky, the two were in a feud before Carmella agreed to manage Truth. It would turn out to be a great decision as together the pair would qualify for the playoffs of the Mixed Match Challenge. It was here that they would defeat Jinder Mahal and Alicia Fox to snag both the number 30 spots for their Royal Rumble matches. Despite taking the Mixed Match Challenge, Carmella wouldn't win at Royal Rumble, but her management of Truth was going well. Under her instruction, he won the WWE 24/7 Championship, where she helped him escape various competitors. That was why it came as such a shock to fans when she rolled-up Truth to steal the 24/7 Championship from him. She'd hold it for 11 days, before madness broke out backstage and Marshmello stole it from her. Carmella wasn't going down without a fight though, and in the parking lot she regained what was rightfully hers.
Carmella The Untouchable
The gloves were off for Carmella's return
Nobody could've predicted her return to the ring in quite such style, but when SmackDown began publicizing a mystery woman arriving in the ring, nobody should've been surprised to see Carmella. The only difference being she now goes by Untouchable. It seemed as though the five-month break had done her no harm at all. She was straight back to wrestling, and although she didn't win for a while, that was all about to change for WrestleMania 37. Here she'd go up against the Riott Squad and beat them both. After that, it only made sense for her to enter the Queen's Crown Tournament, a first for the brand. The play went well for her. After Carmella's incredible defeat of Liv Morgan in the first round of the first-ever Queen's Crown Tournament, it's likely that the bookmakers will be putting her as favorite for the finals. If you want to do more than just watch then looking out for a free bet offer can be a good way to get in on the action without spending any money. It's easy to find deals like this online as they're regularly available from betting sites both recognized and new.
Making the Podcast
As well as her wrestling career, Carmella has been quite public about her relationship with fellow WWE star Corey Graves. Though Graves isn't a wrestler himself, he is a commentator, so knowing that they both had the gift of the gab, the two together decided to launch a podcast together. Though it's only been running for just over a year, the podcast, Bare With Us, already has a dedicated following. It deals with the difficulties that people can face in relationships, even making reference to some of the struggles the pair have faced in theirs. In a world where celebrities are so often very reserved about their private affairs, it's great for people to be able to listen to Carmella speak so candidly about her relationship.
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