Angelina Love

Lauren Richards (née Williams) (September 13, 1981) is a Canadian professional wrestler best known for her time with Impact Wrestling under the ring name Angelina Love, where she became a record-setting former six-time Knockouts Championship. Love is also a former one-time Knockouts Tag Team Champion with Winter.
==Professional wrestling career==
Williams debuted in wrestling in 2000, working independent promotions around Canada. Her all-time favorite wrestler Shawn Michaels was her inspiration to get into wrestling. She was first a valet for various wrestlers such as Chris Sabin and Eric Young and then began to train under Rob Fuego to become a wrestler, as well. Williams briefly worked for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) in 2004, mainly wrestling on TNA Xplosion against Trinity.
===World Wrestling Entertainment (2004–2007)===
She was working for promotions around America when World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) spotted her, and invited her to a tryout in June 2004. In November she trained at Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), and WWE signed her to a developmental contract in late 2004. She was assigned to wrestle and train in Deep South Wrestling (DSW), one of WWE's developmental territories. Williams began managing Johnny Parisi in the summer of 2005. On September 8, 2005, Williams won her first match in Deep South by defeating Michelle McCool. On September 22, Williams was scheduled to wrestle against McCool, but Michelle never showed up. Instead Daisy Mae came out and challenged Williams. Williams was injured at the February 9, 2006 DSW TV Tapings, but she still managed to participate in the first ever Bikini Contest in DSW. She did not reveal her bikini because Palmer Cannon interrupted, which led to a match that featured him and Tommy Dreamer. During the match she could not physically get involved, so she walked backstage. On February 28, 2006, she underwent knee surgery in Birmingham, Alabama to repair her torn ACL. After almost seven months of rehab, she stepped back into the ring at a DSW TV taping. At the beginning of November 2006, Williams started managing The Gymini, but The Gymini were released from their contracts in January 2007. Williams then got in a feud with General Manager of DSW, Krissy Vaine, after she made Williams lose her matches due to distractions by other Deep South Divas. At one point Williams had enough and even attacked Vaine in her office. At the March 15, 2007 Deep South TV Tapings Williams aligned herself again with Vaine and was promoted the Co-GM of Deep South Wrestling.
When Deep South Wrestling shut down in April, Williams was moved to Ohio Valley Wrestling. Williams made her Ohio Valley Wrestling debut in a dark match at the May 16, 2007 television taping in Louisville, Kentucky, defeating Serena. She was released from her developmental contract one day later.
===Independent circuit (2007)===
After being let go from her WWE developmental contract in May 2007, Williams resurfaced in Mexico's Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA) promotion under the name Canadian Angel on June 10, 2007. She also appeared for independent promotions such as NWA: Extreme Canadian Championship Wrestling and Full Throttle Wrestling.
===Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2007–2009)===
In September 2007, she was contacted again by TNA to appear at their annual pay-per-view Bound for Glory, which was confirmed on the October 9 edition of TNA Today where she was interviewed by Jeremy Borash. At Bound For Glory, Williams participated in a 10 Knockout Gauntlet to crown the first TNA Knockout's Champion. During the match, she was eliminated by Gail Kim and O.D.B., and the match was won in the end by Kim. At Genesis, Williams competed in a four-way match for the championship with Gail Kim retaining her title.
====The Beautiful People (2007–2009)====
Williams soon began competing under the ring name Angelina Love and formed a partnership with Velvet Sky, calling themselves "Velvet-Love Entertainment", later changed to The Beautiful People. The duo defeated ODB and Roxxi Laveaux at Turning Point in a Knockouts Tag Team match. Love and Sky became heels on the March 13 edition of Impact by attacking Laveaux. Love also participated at Lockdown in the first ever "Queen of the Cage" match but was pinned by Laveaux. Love was the runner-up in the Make Over battle royal-ladder match at Sacrifice. Love then cost Gail Kim a match against Awesome Kong, costing her the chance of winning the Knockout Title. The Beautiful People hired Moose to join their team to face off with the team of Laveaux, ODB and Kim at Slammiversary, but lost. Love then lost to Gail Kim at Victory Road in a singles match. At Hard Justice she teamed with Velvet Sky and Awesome Kong in a losing effort against Gail Kim, ODB and Taylor Wilde then unsuccessfully challenged Wilde at No Surrender for the Women's Knockout Championship. In August 2008 and February 2009 Cute Kip and Madison Rayne joined Love and Sky as members of the Beautiful People.
Love earned another shot at the Women's Knockout Championship at Lockdown, in a 3-Way Dance with Awesome Kong and Wilde. She won the match and the title after pinning Wilde. During the match she suffered a concussion while receiving a crossbody from Wilde. The following week, Awesome Kong interrupted her title celebration. In the following weeks, Kong destroyed Madison Rayne, Velvet Sky, and Cute Kip in Stretcher matches. At Sacrifice, Love retained her championship against Kong, and on the May 28 edition of Impact! she successfully defended her title against Sojournor Bolt. After the match she officially kicked Kip from the Beautiful People and was then assaulted by the debuting Tara. At Slammiversary, Love successfully defended her title against Tara, before losing the title to her on the July 9, 2009 edition of Impact!. At Victory Road, however, Love controversially defeated Tara to win back the title, when Tara's foot was on the bottom rope, which was unnoticed by ref Slick Johnson. At Hard Justice, Love lost the Knockout title to ODB after Cody Deaner pinned Velvet Sky in a tag team match between the four. After the match, Love left the ring without Sky or Rayne, however in the following weeks, her relationship with Sky remained intact, with the duo cutting Rayne loose. On September 3, 2009, Williams was released from TNA due to visa issues, while still a top draw in the women's division. However, on September 7, 2009, Williams posted a blog entry on her MySpace account stating that she would return to TNA Wrestling once the issues with her visa were sorted out. She continued appearing on Impact! for two more weeks due to the tapings being held before her release. In the episodes she and Velvet Sky advanced to the finals of the tournament for the TNA Knockout Tag Team Championship with help from Madison Rayne, whom they afterwards welcomed to return to the Beautiful People. Rayne would go on to replace Love in the finals for the Knockouts Tag Team Championship.
====Return to TNA and Face Turn (2010)====
On January 2, 2010, it was reported that Williams had re-signed with TNA. Williams, as Angelina Love, made her return on the January 14 edition of Impact!, appearing in the crowd and hugging Velvet Sky and Madison Rayne prior to their match with Awesome Kong and Hamada. However, after the match, Love turned face by attacking her former partners and Lacey Von Erich, her replacement in the group, seemingly angry about being replaced. She made her in-ring return the following week by defeating Rayne, however after the match she was triple teamed by the Beautiful People. On the February 4 edition of Impact! she was unsuccessful in her attempt to regain the Knockouts Championship from Tara. On the March 8 edition of Impact! Love and Tara teamed up to challenge for the vacant Knockouts Tag Team Championship, but were defeated by Rayne and Sky, after interference from Daffney, with whom Tara was involved in a feud.
On the April 5 edition of Impact!, Love teamed with Tara, ODB, and Hamada to face the Beautiful People and Daffney in the first ever Lockbox elimination match, contested for four keys to four boxes containing prizes. Love won a key by eliminating Lacey Von Erich, and it was later revealed that her key opened the box, which contained the Knockouts Championship, making her a three-time champion. After Love won the title, friction developed between her and Tara heading into their upcoming match against The Beautiful People, with Tara slowly turning into a heel. At Lockdown, Love lost the Knockouts Championship to Madison Rayne, after she pinned Tara in a tag team Steel Cage match for both the Knockouts Championship and the Knockouts Tag Team Championship. After the match, Love was attacked by the evil Tara, who turned heel in the process. At the April 20 tapings of Impact!, Williams partially tore her biceps and suffered ligament damage in her arm and was expected to be out of action until May. On May 26, it was announced that Williams had been cleared to return to wrestling.
When Love returned from her injury on the June 17 edition of Impact!, she vowed to reclaim the Knockouts title and stated that she would go through each member of the Beautiful People to do it. That night, she faced Von Erich and got disqualified after dropping her with a DDT on a steel chair. The following week, her match with Velvet Sky ended in similar fashion. On July 11 at Victory Road, Love defeated Rayne via disqualification in a Title vs. Career match to win the Knockouts Championship for the fourth time. Prior to the match. it was announced that the title would change hands via disqualification, if either Velvet Sky or Lacey Von Erich interfered in the match. However, the title was returned to Rayne on the July 22 edition of Impact!, when it was declared that there was no proof that the person who had interfered in the match was either Sky or Von Erich. The following week. Love defeated Sarita to once again become the number one contender to Rayne's title. Two weeks later, Love defeated Rayne, after a distraction from Velvet Sky, to win the Knockouts Championship for the fifth time. On the August 19 episode of Impact!, Love reunited with Velvet Sky, who accompanied her to the ring, when she successfully defended her Knockouts Championship in a rematch against Rayne, who was with the mysterious biker woman. After the match, Love and Sky were attacked by Rayne and the biker. Rayne's mysterious ally was finally unmasked as Tara on the September 2 edition of Impact!, when the two of them defeated Love and Sky in their first match together in a year. Lacey Von Erich would join Love and Sky in the Beautiful People, after being saved by them from Rayne and Tara on the September 16 edition of Impact!.
====Storyline with Winter (2010–2012)====
On the October 21 episode of Impact! Love entered a storyline where a woman named Winter started appearing in mirrors, claiming to be her fan, though only Love was able to see her. After weeks of appearing only in front of Love, Winter was for the first time seen by the other people on the November 25 episode of Impact!, when she saved Love during a large backstage brawl. On the December 9 episode of Impact! Love and Sky entered a four–team tournament for the vacated Knockouts Tag Team Championship, defeating Sarita and Daffney in their first round match. On the December 23 episode of Impact!, Winter replaced an injured Velvet Sky, who had been attacked by Sarita, in the tournament final and teamed with Love to defeat Madison Rayne and Tara for the TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championship.
On March 13, 2011, at Victory Road, Love and Winter lost the Knockouts Tag Team Championship to Sarita and Rosita, after an interference by Velvet Sky backfired. On the March 24 episode of Impact!, Winter, seemingly having control over Love's actions, prevented her from saving Sky from a beatdown at the hands of Sarita and Rosita. Love was kept under Winter's spell with drinks of what she described as her medicine. On the April 7 episode of Impact!, Love turned into a heel against Sky during a Knockouts Tag Team Championship match against Sarita and Rosita and left her to be pinned by the champions. On the April 28 episode of Impact!, Love defeated Sky via submission in a singles match, no-selling all of her opponent's offense during the match. On the May 5 episode of Impact!, Sky gained a measure of revenge on her former partner, when she teamed with Kurt Angle in a handicap mixed tag team match, where they defeated Love, Winter and Jeff Jarrett. The feud between the former Beautiful People partners seemingly ended on the May 19 episode of Impact Wrestling, with Sky defeating Love and Winter in a handicap match. On the following week, the evil Love attacked Mickie James, after she had defeated Winter in a singles match, setting up a match between the two for the TNA Women's Knockout Championship at Slammiversary IX. Prior to the match at the pay-per-view, Love declined to take her medicine, saying that she no longer needed it as she now understood Winter. After failing in her attempt to win the title, both Love and Winter attacked James. On the June 23 episode of Impact Wrestling, Love helped Winter defeat James in a non-title Street Fight. On August 7 at Hardcore Justice, Love again helped Winter defeat James, this time to become the new Women's Knockout Champion. On the September 15 episode of Impact Wrestling, Love failed to earn a shot at the title as she was defeated by Velvet Sky in a qualifying match. After being inactive for two months, Love returned on the January 19 episode of Impact Wrestling, challenging Eric Young to a match. Young won the match via disqualification, after Love kicked him in the groin. On the January 26 episode of Impact Wrestling, Love and Winter lost to ODB and Eric Young in a tag team match. On July 1, 2012, Williams announced on her Twitter page that she had been granted her release from TNA.
===Shine Wrestling (2013–2014)===
At SHINE Wrestling's SHINE 7 event on February 22, 2013, Angelina Love was announced as the newest member of the roster, but her debut was interrupted by the Valkyrie stable. At SHINE 8 on March 23, Love made her Shine in-ring debut; teaming with Mia Yim, Christina Von Eerie, and Amazing Kong in a losing effort against Valkyrie. Love was defeated at SHINE 9 by Valkyrie leader Rain in a SHINE Championship Tournament qualifying match, but she would defeat Rain in a rematch at SHINE 10. At SHINE 11 on July 12, Love was defeated by Ivelisse in one of the qualifying four way matches in the SHINE Championship Tournament, which also included Kong and Kimberly. At SHINE 12 on August 23, Love defeated the debuting Shanna. Love received a shot at the SHINE Championship at SHINE 13 on September 27, but she was defeated by Rain. Love defeated Taylor Made at SHINE 15 on December 13. At SHINE 16 on January 24, 2014, Love defeated Leah Von Dutch in singles action. At SHINE 17 on February 28, Love was defeated by Serena Deeb and was later attacked by Deeb and her Valkyrie cohorts.
===Return to TNA (2014–2016)===
On the March 13 edition of Impact Wrestling, Angelina Love made her return to TNA in a backstage segment with Jeremy Borash. Later in the program, Love asked Velvet Sky to join her and reunite The Beautiful People. On the following edition of Impact Wrestling, Velvet Sky agreed to rejoin her teammate. Love went on to call out Madison Rayne and attempted to recruit her back into the group, but Rayne refused the offer. Later in the evening, Love turned into a heel and attacked Rayne in a backstage segment. On the March 27 edition of Impact Wrestling, Love called out Sky again and explained her actions against Rayne, while demanding that Sky pick a side. Later in the evening, Love defeated Rayne in a non-title match after Sky turned heel and attacked Rayne during the match, officially reuniting the original heel incarnation of the stable. On the April 10 edition of Impact Wrestling, Love defeated Gail Kim, ODB, and Brittany to become the #1 Contender for the Knockouts Championship.
At Sacrifice on April 27, Love defeated Rayne to capture the Knockouts Championship for the sixth time, setting a new TNA record. Love retained the title against Brittany on the May 22 edition of Impact Wrestling in an Open Challenge match. Two weeks later, Love retained the title against Rayne in a rematch from Sacrifice. At Slammiversary, Love retained the Knockouts Championship against Gail Kim. Love lost the Knockouts Championship to Kim on the July 3 edition of Impact Wrestling, and failed to regain the title a week later in a four-way match that also included Madison Rayne and the heel-turned Brittany. Love would lose another championship four-way match to Kim on the August 14 edition of Impact Wrestling, with this match including Taryn Terrell and Love's partner Velvet Sky. After Love attacked Kim in an exclusive segment, she received another opportunity on the first Wednesday edition of Impact Wrestling on August 20, once again losing to Kim in a Last Knockout Standing Match.
The Beautiful People formed an alliance with The Bro Mans and regularly teamed with them. On the January 23, 2015 episode of Impact Wrestling, Velvet Sky retrieved a briefcase for Robbie E during the Feast or Fired match. The briefcase contained the "pink" slip and Sky was fired, effectively disbanding The Beautiful People in the process.
Love then separated from The Bro Mans after they disbanded in April 2015. On the TKO: Night of Knockouts special episode of Impact Wrestling on April 24, Love competed in a fatal four–way number one contender's match against Brooke, Gail Kim and Madison Rayne, which Brooke won. On the May 8 episode of Impact Wrestling, Velvet Sky returned to TNA and attacked Love. On the June 3 episode of Impact Wrestling, Love got Sky arrested by her security staff after she attacked Madison Rayne, while Love was arrested herself by event staff as Sky appeared as a fan, and was arrested for fan assault. On the June 24 episode of Impact Wrestling, Sky defeated Love to secure her spot on the roster.
On the September 2 episode of Impact Wrestling, Love and Madison Rayne came to the aid of Velvet Sky, who was being beaten down by The Dollhouse members Rebel, Jade and Marti Belle, turning face and reforming The Beautiful People in the process. The following week, The Beautiful People were attacked backstage by the Dollhouse, which resulted in Love breaking her arm in the storyline, writing her off television due to her legitimate pregnancy. On March 27, 2016, Williams revealed that her contract with TNA had expired during the pregnancy.
===Return to Independent circuit (2016)===
In the month of June 2016 Love competed in a triple threat match involving Rebel and Rok-C in which would win. On June 18, 2016 Love defeated Veda Scott in a singles match.
===Fourth return to TNA (2017)===
On January 8, 2017, during the tapings for TNA One Night Only: Rivals 2017, Love made her return to TNA, defeating Madison Rayne. Month later, on the February 9 episode of Impact Wrestling, Love appeared in the crowd and attacked Eddie Edwards' real–life wife, Alisha Edwards after her husband pulled the referee out of the ring and cost Edwards his match against Lashley. After the match, Richards and Love attacked Alisha and Eddie, with Love establishing herself as a heel.
===Ring of Honor (2019–2021)===
On June 28, Love made her ROH pay-per-view debut at Best In The World as one-half of the tag team The Allure with Mandy Leon, defeating Jenny Rose & Kelly Klein. She made her televised debut on the July 13 episode of ROH, during which she competed in a Women of Honor Championship Number 1 Contendership four-way match against Tasha Steelz, Jenny Rose and Stella Grey. She returned to pay-per-view on July 21 at Mass Hysteria, competing in a three-way match against Tasha Steelz and Karissa Rivera. On August 24 during Saturday Night At Center Stage, Love won her first singles match, defeating Sumie Sakai. The following night on August 25 at Honor For All, Love won a four-way defeating Damaris Dawkins, Jenny Rose and Sumie Sakai.
==Personal life==
In late 2007, she began dating Jared Weeks, the lead singer of the band Saving Abel, but as of August 2008, the couple decided to split. Williams has also dated fellow wrestlers Eric Young and Paul London. In April 2015, she and fellow TNA wrestler Davey Richards announced their engagement. They married in June 2015.
==Other media==
Williams appeared on an episode of The Jenny Jones Show about former geeks turned into physical competitors. She also made an appearance on Kenny vs Spenny in the "Who is the Strongest" episode (alongside fellow TNA Knockout Traci Brooks). Williams had a role in the indie film entitled Good Intentions starring country music star LeAnn Rimes and Luke Perry. She was also featured on MTV's Made alongside A.J. Styles, Taylor Wilde, and Velvet Sky.
==In wrestling==
* Finishing moves
**Botox Injection (Bicycle kick)
**Cramp (Modified camel clutch) – DSW
**Lights Out (Lifting reverse STO)
*Signature moves
**Diving crossbody
**Hurricanrana, sometimes to an oncoming opponent
**Leg-feed enzuigiri
**Running springboard arm drag
**Shoulder jawbreaker
**Snapmare followed by a running low-angle front dropkick to the opponent's face or back
**Spear
**Spinning wheel kick
**Tilt-a-whirl headscissors takedown
*With Velvet Sky
**Finishing moves
***Makeover (Russian legsweep (Sky) / Running bicycle kick (Love) combination)
**Signature moves
***Hollering Elbow (Double elbow drop, with theatrics)
*Wrestlers managed
**Texas Hell-Razors
**Derek Wylde
**The Gymini
**Prince Nana
**Johnny Parisi
**Jimmy Rave
**Palmer Canon
**Chris Sabin
**Simon Diamond
**Krissy Vaine
**Eric Young
**Velvet Sky
**Becky Bayless
**Cute Kip
**Madison Rayne
**Winter
*Nicknames
**"The Queen Diva" (DSW)
*Entrance themes
**"Papercut" by Linkin Park (Independent circuit)
**"Girlfriend" by Dale Oliver (TNA)
**"Angel on My Shoulder" by Dale Oliver (TNA)
==Championships and accomplishments==
*Impact Wrestling Federation
**Manager of the Year (2000)
*Old School Pro Wrestling
**OSPW Women's Championship (1 time)
*Pro Wrestling Illustrated
**PWI ranked her #16 in the 2008 PWI Top 50 Females
**PWI ranked her #2 in the 2009 PWI Top 50 Females
**PWI ranked her #2 in the 2010 PWI Top 50 Females
**PWI ranked her #12 in the 2011 PWI Top 50 Females
**PWI ranked her #31 in the 2012 PWI Top 50 Females
**PWI ranked her #6 in the 2014 PWI Top 50 Females
**PWI ranked her #30 in the 2015 PWI Top 50 Females
**PWI ranked her #53 in the 2019 PWI Top 100 Females
*Ring of Honor
**ROH Women of Honor Championship (1 time)
*Total Nonstop Action Wrestling
**TNA Women's Knockout Championship (6 times)
** TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Winter
** TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championship Tournament (2010) - with Winter
** Global Impact Tournament (2015) - Team International (The Great Sanada, Drew Galloway, The Great Muta, Tigre Uno, Magnus, Rockstar Spud, Khoya, Sonjay Dutt and Bram)
====Luchas de Apuestas====
Wager	Winner 	Loser 	Location 	Date 	Notes
Title	Angelina Love	Madison Rayne	Orlando, Florida	July 11, 2010	
==External links==
* Profile
* Profile
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