Lara Grey (RLS CAS)

Grey at the UNION BDTH event.

**Hannah Ferguson-Ronningen** *(born 24th July 1990 in Liverpool, Merseyside)* is a professional wrestler currently signed to UNION Wrestling, where she performs under the name **Lara Grey**, and is the current and inaugural holder of the WOTU World Championship.

She is widely considered to be the biggest success of the UNION's own training school in Newcastle**1**, despite her original trainer severing ties with the promotion and offering her a placement in her native Mexico.**2**

## Career

### Training With Rebecca Marin (2014-2015)

Ferguson began training in late 2014 after being introduced to Wrestling upLOUD! roster member Rebecca Marin (known in that promotion as Angel) after their show in Liverpool. All in all, she trained with the Mexican in Holland for around six months before Marin agreed to become Head of Women's Division for the newly founded PWU (what later became UNION Wrestling).

Ferguson would transfer immediately to Newcastle to train with the UNION Academy under Marin and Adam Sharp (better known as The Maverick). Her performance was evaluated by staff, who were surprised how legit she looked despite still being relatively green.

Marin's exit from the promotion would lead to her being offered a placement in Mexico, which she rejected in favour of staying and training further with Sharp.

She would wrestle twice on very early PWU live shows in Newcastle, first as a gothic character known as **Dyr** and then as a more grungy, eclectic loudmouth called **Arabella** before her official debut in the UK&I Tour.**3**

### **UNION Wrestling, "Submission Imminent" (2015-2017)**

Ferguson would debut officially for the promotion as **Lara Grey**, a submission machine character utilising her large size and variety of submission grapples to win matches. She didn't win by pin-fall at all during this initial run, and was protected during any losses by some circumstance (such as Birdy dodging her Clothesline attempt, forcing her into the steel steps, in her first loss in the tourney to determine the first Women's Champion) out of her control.

She was, however, criticised during this time as having a fairly lacklustre and one-dimensional character, and was tasked by creative to find inspiration from somewhere to make the character more memorable.**4**

She began working with a voice coach during this time to develop a vocal style suited to her Scouse accent to make her promos better. This inadvertently lead to her current "through gritted teeth" style of talking on shows, which helps her portray a slightly unhinged character better.

She was heavily involved in the rising profile of the Women's Division following the move to the WWE Network in 2016, and began feuding with Women's World Champion Birdy in the run-up to PWU Money In The Bank 2017, where she would lose a Tables Match. This spurred her on to be even more ruthless, beating the promising Amy J at European Invasion 2017 in June before signalling her intention to win The UNION Wrestling Classic 2017's Women's Division Tournament.

### UNION Women's World Champion (2017-2018)

In July, she did win said tourney, and reignite her feud with champion Birdy going into the Open Challenge 2017 Live Event, where she would defeat the long-running champion to win her first Women's World Championship. She would continue the feud going forward, promising on the next Live From The Union show to give Birdy her rematch, and defeat her again., which she did at Heavy Metal 2017.

After winning the Female Superstar of the Year award at the end of the season SCI UNION Awards, Grey began the second season as a dominant champion feuding with newly signed superstar Amy J. This led to a shocking title loss to her at Uneasy Alliance 2017**5**, and even more shocking failed attempt to win it back at Deadly Weapons 2017, before the feud quietly petered out.

### Decline of UNION Wrestling & Departure (2018-2019)

UNION Wrestling's subsequent decline, brought on in part my the controversial departure of Mikey Ace**6**, caused friction for Grey. She felt conflicted backstage, but continued to perform as one of the biggest attractions of the promotion's women's division. She'd win the Women's Championship back from Amy J, but then chances to defend it shrank as the promotion downsized, eventually becoming live-only. In May 2019, Grey negotiated her release from the promotion.

### Indy scene (2019-2021)

Following her exit from UNION, Grey debuted at Fife Wrestling Kingdom as Bella Grey- a combination of the most recent name and the precursor Arabella- due to not owning the rights to her gimmick**7**. She'd also wrestle a few shows for Pro Wrestling Atom during this time. She'd win the FWK Queen's Championship from Zara in August 2019, at FWK Kicks Off!, losing the title in early 2020 to Janey Connolly.

She'd also wrestle at the 'Indy Wrestling Lives' shows in 2019 and 2020, to raise money for the whole of the alternative wrestling scene in Britain, usually against Miss Deeds or local performers. COVID-19 halted these shows in 2020. In 2021, Grey was one of the superstars UNION Wrestling referenced in regards to their potential reboot. Grey's only response was that she didn't consider "that bridge burned".**8**

In December 2021, in her hometown of Liverpool, she'd return to UNION Wrestling to cut a promo opening the show, proclaiming that she'd wrestle for the promotion again if anyone was on her level. Despite this, she didn't appear again until a surprise main event at the Nottingham show in February 2022, answering Sitara's open challenge and forcing her to tap out. She'd also be booked for a match at Midlands Pro Wrestling's Middle of the Road event in March 2022.

### UNION Wrestling full return (2022-*present*)

Grey would make a full return to UNION Wrestling at the March 2022 Bring Down The House event, at the UNION Arena in Sheffield, where she defeated Jackie Compton by submission to win the vacant WOTU World Championship. She'd team with Hubris against Virgil Baker and Compton on the first episode of UNION Charged in April 2022, with Hubris using Baker's injured neck to force him to tap out in the Nemesis Choke. She'd defeat pot-washer Dulcy Bravo in the first episode of UNION Unleashed's main event.

## In-Wrestling

### Signatures

**Hair-Pull Mat Slam** *2015-present*

Boston Crab *2015-2016, used as regular move after*

### Finishers

**Greyhug** *(Bearhug) 2015-present*

**Greyhug Slam** *(Bearhug into Kneeling Alabama Slam) 2016-present*

**Dragon Sleeper** *2015-2016, rarely used after*

### Nicknames

The Submission Sister

The Predator of the Women's Division

## Accomplishments

**Women's Division Tournament 2017** *Winner*

1x **UNION Wrestling Women's World Championship**

1x WOTU World Championship (2022)

## Trivia

* Ferguson-Ronningen's brother, Neal, is also a professional wrestler currently based in Liverpool who has appeared several times for Wrestling upLOUD! under his real name. He was apparently offered several try-outs for UNION Wrestling, but was unable or unwilling to attend.**9**
* Ferguson is married to fellow UNION Wrestling roster member Egil Ronningen, better known as Bane.**10**

## Behind-the-Scenes/Notes

1. In truth, she was just my favourite new CAW created specifically for UNION.
2. I had planned to use Angel in UNION, but I couldn't find a place in the storylines I'd written.
3. This is the case for many of my CAWs, where I have the face and body stats down but am torn between several looks and names.
4. This was actually a gripe I had about her being an underwhelming and shallow character, resolving to flesh her out more.
5. The title loss to Amy J was a complete accident that I ended up just rolling with.
6. Narrative explanation for my swap over to PRIZE, which actually happened due to my PS4 dying and switching to PC instead.
7. I decided it would make sense, narratively, to have the Lara Grey name owned by UNION, for some reason.
8. The bridge definitely isn't burned. If UNION ever comes back; Lara comes with it.
9. I did create the Neal Ferguson CAW in past games, most recently as Hace el Trabajo, a jobber in PRIZE.
10. Just a little narrative embellishment to help sell the CAWs as real people to get invested in.