Bonnie Maxon

Bonnie Maxon (September 10, 1981) is an American professional wrestler best known by her ring names Rain and Payton Banks. She formerly tag teamed with partner Lacey to form The Minnesota Home Wrecking Crew (a play on the name of the Minnesota Wrecking Crew), but following Lacey's retirement, she teamed with British wrestler Jetta to form The International Home Wrecking Crew. Rain also competed in Shine Wrestling, where is she once reigned as the first ever SHINE Champion.
==Professional wrestling career==
===Early career===
Maxon started working for a local promotion, Steel Domain Wrestling (SDW) in St. Paul, Minnesota. Later after gaining the experience of a wrestler she started working for various promotions in the Midwest, such as IWA Mid-South, Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW), NWA Midwest, Ring of Honor, Shimmer Women Athletes, and Women Extreme Wrestling under the ring name Rain.
===Shimmer Women Athletes (2005–2009)===
On November 6, 2005, Rain made her debut for Shimmer Women Athletes on the promotion's debut show, losing to Ariel. She picked up her first victory in the promotion on Volume 3, which was taped on February 12, 2006, defeating Nikki Roxx. On May 21 on Volume 6 the team of Rain and Lacey, known collectively as The Minnesota Home Wrecking Crew, made their Shimmer debut as a tag team, defeating Sara Del Rey and Mercedes Martinez. After another tag team victory on Volume 8 against Cheerleader Melissa and MsChif, Rain entered the Shimmer Championship tournament on Volume 11 on June 1, 2007, but was eliminated in the first round by Nikki Roxx. The following day on Volume 13 the Minnesota Home Wrecking Crew suffered its first loss in a match against Del Rey and Roxx. On October 13 Rain and Lacey were joined by Jetta, and together they formed the stable The International Home Wrecking Crew. In their debut match as a trio, they were defeated by Daizee Haze, MsChif and Eden Black. On April 26, 2008, on Volume 18 Rain and Lacey were defeated by the team of Ashley Lane and Nevaeh.
After Lacey's retirement, Rain and Jetta continued teaming together, and on Volume 21, taped on October 19, 2008, they entered a gauntlet match to determine the first ever Shimmer Tag Team Champions. The team entered the match fourth and eliminated Jennifer Blake and LuFisto, before being eliminated themselves by the eventual winners of the entire match, Ashley Lane and Nevaeh. On Volume 23 Rain and Jetta faced Lane and Nevaeh in a two out of three falls for the tag team title. During the match Lacey debuted as Rain and Jetta's new manager and helped them score the first fall. Lane and Nevaeh came to back to even the score, after Lacey's second interference backfired. Jetta scored the deciding fall after using a chain given to her by Lacey. However, after referee Bryce Remsburg found out that Jetta had cheated to win, he restarted the match and in the end Lane and Nevaeh retained their gold.
===Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2007–2008)===
Maxon appeared as a "plant" on the October 18, 2007 edition of Impact! holding up a huge white sign with black letters reading off "President of Robert Roode FanClub". She continued to appear in the crowd with pro-Roode signs for the following two weeks. She was officially referenced to on the November 1 edition of Impact! by TNA announcers, where she also had a staredown with Roode's former valet Ms. Brooks. In the aftermath of a match on an edition of Impact!, after Ms. Brooks and Roode defeated Chris Harris and Gail Kim, Brooks was about to leave the ring when she attacked and started a cat fight with Maxon. Following the altercation, she was seen from far distances all around the TNA Impact Zone. She was referred as Ms. Brooks's stalker by TNA commentators Don West and Mike Tenay.
She then appeared on the January 10, 2008 edition of Impact! and attacked Brooks. Subsequently, Roode announced that she had been replaced by Maxon, under the new name (Ms.) Peyton Banks (later tweaked to Payton Banks), resulting in a feud with Brooks and a match at Against All Odds where Brooks came out on top. At Destination X, Banks was part of the "Stand By Your Man" Strap match, where she was in the corner of Roode, and Brooks was in the corner of Booker T. The match stipulation dictated that the loser of the match would have their valet whipped with a strap. Booker T lost the match, and Banks whipped Brooks with the leather strap until Brooks was saved by Booker's wife, Sharmell. At Lockdown, Booker T and Sharmell defeated Roode and Banks in a mixed tag team match when Sharmell pinned Banks with a roll-up. After the match Roode verbally abused Banks in the ring. Roode then prepared to hit her, but instead left her alone in the ring. After her program with Roode ended, she left TNA.
===Asistencia, Asesoría y Administración (2009–2010)===
On August 21, 2009, at Verano de Escandalo, Rain made her debut for Asistencia, Asesoría y Administración (AAA) as a member of La Legión Extranjera, led by Konnan. In the promotion she regularly teams with Jennifer Blade and Sexy Star as well as acting as the valet of Alex Koslov. At the 2010 Rey de Reyes show Rain, Christina Von Eerie and Sexy Star faced off against Cinthia Moreno, Mari and Faby Apache, a match which Moreno won for her team by pinning Sexy Star. During a post Rey de Reyes interview Sexy Star claimed that the Apaches and Cintia Moreno were nothing but maids, which led to AAA booking a match between Cinthia Moreno, Faby and Mari Apache against Sexy Star, Rain and Jennifer Blade in a TripleMania XVIII match where the person pinned or submitted would have to be the winning team's slave for a month. At TripleMania La Legión defeated Moreno and the Apaches, when Blade pinned Mari, thanks in part to the biased refereering by Hijo del Tirantes. Following the match Konnan ordered Mari Apache to begin her maid duty right away by cleaning up their dressing room. The stipulation expired on July 6, 2010. Rain's contract with AAA expired on July 25, 2010.
===Wrestlicious (2009–2010)===
In early 2009 Maxon took part in the tapings of Wrestlicious, under the ring name Felony, which began airing in March 2010. She debuted on March 1 in the first episode teaming with Maria Toro and Bandita defeating the team of Cousin Cassie, Tyler Texas and Charlotte On the April 7 edition of Takedown, Felony was one of the last two girls along with Glory standing in a 20-girl over-the-top-rope "Hoedown Throwdown" battle royal to determine the top two contenders for the Wrestlicious Championship. On the May 24 episode of Wrestlicious Takedown, Felony lost the Wrestlicious Championship match to Glory.
===Shine Wrestling (2012-2014)===
Rain debuted for Shine Wrestling, a new women's wrestling promotion, on July 20, 2012, and defeated Nikki Roxx at the first show. She defeated Santana Garrett at SHINE 2 on August 17, but suffered her first loss at SHINE 3 on September 21 to Jazz via submission in a #1 Contender's Match for the SHIMMER Championship. At SHINE 4 on October 19, Rain defeated Christina Von Eerie and later caused Jazz to lose to Saraya Knight in the main event. As a result, Rain would team up with Mercedes Martinez at SHINE 5 on November 16 in a losing effort against Jazz and Amazing Kong.
Rain suffered a legit broken wrist and was unable to compete at SHINE 6, but she did get involved in the show's main event; costing Kong her match against Mercedes Martinez. That same night, Rain formed the stable known as Valkyrie, which she leads and consists of Allysin Kay, Ivelisse, Taylor Made, and April Hunter. Rain picked up a DQ victory over Kong at SHINE 7 on February 22 and led Valkyrie to victory against Kong, Von Eerie, Mia Yim, and the debuting Angelina Love at SHINE 8. Rain defeated Love at SHINE 9 to qualify for the SHINE Championship Tournament, but she lost to Love at SHINE 10 a month later in a rematch. It was her first lost since forming Valkyrie.
On July 12, 2013, Rain defeated LuFisto in the first round of the SHINE Championship Tournament at SHINE 11, and defeated Jessicka Havok in the semifinals via countout after Saraya Knight attacked Havok outside the ring. Rain defeated Mia Yim in the finals to become the inaugural SHINE Champion. At SHINE 12 on August 23, Rain had her first successful title defense against Havok, and she retained the title again at SHINE 13 on September 27 against Angelina Love. At SHINE 14 on October 25, Rain successfully defended the SHINE Championship against Hiroyo Matsumoto. and was told after the match that she would have to defend the title against Amazing Kong at SHINE 15. At the event on December 13, Rain successfully defended her title against Amazing Kong in what was billed as her retirement match. However, after the match, she announced that she was not retiring after all and would continue to defend the title in 2014. She was later informed by Shine VP Lexie Fyfe that her Valkyrie cohort, Ivelisse, would be the #1 Contender for her title at SHINE 16.
On January 24, 2014, Rain lost the SHINE Championship to Ivelisse. After the match, she ousted Ivelisse from Valkyrie and, along with her cohorts, attacked her in the ring. After the event, Rain officially announced her retirement from wrestling.
=== Return from retirement ===
Rain came out of retirement in late 2017 beginning with wrestling matches in Ring of Honor's Women of Honor division.
==Personal life==
She is currently in school and works a full-time job but still finds time to take part in wrestling independent shows. By her own admittance on her Yahoo Groups site, Rain says she is a vegetarian. She's also quite the dog lover as both her Yahoo Group and MySpace page feature pictures of her Doberman Pincher, Jordan and a new puppy named Collin which is a Pug she recently adopted. In the past, Maxon also had three ferrets named Que, Tye, and Butthead.
According to the movie Unscarred, Maxon is the ex-girlfriend of retired wrestler Nick Mondo.
When not wrestling, she enjoys hanging out with friends and eating out at her favorite restaurants. In keeping with her vegetarianism, she recommended one of her favorite restaurants, Babani's, a Kurdish restaurant in St. Paul, to one of her fans on her site.
In 2007, she (along with Lacey, O.D.B., SoCal Val, Daffney, and other female indy wrestlers) joined the website Wrestling Vixxxens.
==Wrestling facts==
*Finishing and signature moves
:*Acid Rain
:*Rain Drop
*Nicknames
:*"The Dollar Whore"
*Tag teams and stables
:*Minnesota Home Wrecking Crew - with Lacey
:*International Home Wrecking Crew - with Jetta
:*Valkyrie - with Ivelisse, Allysin Kay, Taylor Made, and April Hunter
*Wrestlers managed
:*Robert Roode (TNA) (2008)
:*Kenny King
:*Jason Blade
:*Chasyn Rance
:*Sal Rinauro
:*Jimmy Jacobs
:*Tyler Black
:*Alex Koslov
*Wrestlers trained
:*Allison Wonderland
*Theme music
:*"Celebrity Skin" by Hole (IWA MS, SHIMMER)
:*"Red Eye Fly" by Ouija Radio (SHIMMER)
==Championships & accomplishments==
*SHINE Wrestling
**SHINE Championship (1 time)
* Women Superstars Uncensored
** WSU Spirit Championship (1 time)
*Pro Wrestling Illustrated
:*PWI ranked her #26 in the 2009 PWI Top 50 Females
:*PWI ranked her #27 in the 2010 PWI Top 50 Females
:*PWI ranked her #16 in the 2013 PWI Top 50 Females
==See also==
*Bonnie Maxon's Image gallery
==External links==
*Bonnie Maxon Official Myspace
*Bonnie Maxon profile at CAGEMATCH.net
* Profile
pt:Rain
zh:Payton Banks
Category:American wrestlers
Category:Female wrestlers
Category:ChickFight alumni
Category:Chikara Pro Wrestling alumni
Category:IWA Mid-South alumni
Category:Jersey All Pro Wrestling alumni
Category:Ring of Honor alumni
Category:Total Nonstop Action Wrestling alumni
Category:1981 births
Category:Minnesota wrestlers
Category:SHINE Wrestling alumni
Category:Women Superstars Uncensored alumni
Category:SHIMMER Women Athletes alumni
Category:2000 debuts
Category:Managers and valets
Category:SHINE Champions
Category:WSU Spirit Champions
Category:Living people
Category:Full Impact Pro alumni
Category:Asistencia Asesoría y Administración alumni
Category:New England Female Wrestling alumni