Gemma Braddock

**Gemma Addison Braddock** (nee **Mandel**; born August 12, 1971), also known by her former ring name **Gemma Gold**, is an American retired professional wrestler, trainer, and former model. She is best known for her time in the now-defunct Millenium Wrestling Federation where she became a five-time MWF Women's Champion and a two-time MWF Tag Team Champion.

## Early Life

Mandel was raised in Milwaukee's Granville neighborhood the youngest of three children born to Gerry Mandel and Marlene Mandel (nee Adler). Both of her parents are of German ancestry. Both of her older brothers were amateur wrestlers at one time, and Mandel counts them as "major influences" on her. Braddock was highly competitive in track and field, making it as far as trials for the 1988 Summer Olympics. By this time, she was already backyard wrestling in her hometown, which she says didn't sit well with her parents. She graduated from Rufus King International High School in 1989 and subsequently turned down an athletic scholarship to the University of Wisconsin in order to pursue wrestling.

## Professional Wrestling Career

### **Early Career (1987 - 1991)**

At age sixteen, along with other teenagers and young adults from her neighborhood, Mandel became a fixture in backyard wrestling shows in downtown Milwaukee under the name **Gigi Gold**. Despite her lack of formal training, she also began working dates for a local promotion called Midwest Mayhem Wrestling (MMW), which then then-seventeen-year-old Mandel did under the guise of being eighteen. She cites the "underground" nature of the small promotion as the reason why she was able to get away with it. It wasn't until she graduated from high school that the promoters became aware of her true age. She re-debuted in May 1990, now going by the name **Gemma Gold**. She wrestled primarily on the Midwest independent circuit in the time that followed. By the end of the year, she was a mainstay in St. Louis-based Gateway Championship Wrestling (GCW).

### **Millenium Wrestling Federation (1994 - 2007)**

#### **The Sensational Six (1994 - 1996)**

Vega debuted on the April 12 episode of Overdrive, cementing herself as a face after confronting then-Women's Champion Andromeda following a match. The storyline eventually led to a title match between the two the following month at Death Sentence, where Andromeda retained after hitting Vega with a steel chair. A rematch was booked for the May 10 episode of Overdrive, which ended in a no-contest. She spent the rest of the year feuding with Andromeda, Robyn Greene, Katrina Lee, Stevie Sellers, and Mallory Shay. Dubbed "The Sensational Six" by fans and commentators, they were largely credited with ushering in a boom period for the women of the MWF and are recognized by many as the "founding mothers" of the company's women's division. It's said that their feuds and matches with one another "put more eyes on the product". They were placed in a much-hyped Six-Pack Challenge at Night of Immortals IX, where Vega won the championship for the first time. After a seven-month reign, she dropped the title to Lee in November at Full Metal Jacket. She received a rematch the following month at Last Stand but was unsuccessful in regaining the title. Vega the entered a brutal feud with Sellers, which is now regarded as one of the more physical feuds in mainstream North American women's wrestling. Hallmarks of the conflict included frequent backstage fights and confrontations on Overdrive. The feud was capped off with a Steel Cage match Point Of No Return in March, where Vega won. Immediately thereafter, she went on maternity leave.

#### **Team XX (1998 - 2000)**

Vega made a surprise return at Regality Rules, saving Shay from being jumped by Greene and Sellers. The two teams engaged in a short feud that lasted until Blackout the following month, where Vega and Shay were victorious in a tag team match. Now calling themselves Team XX, they proclaimed on the March 3 episode of Overdrive that they intended to become the first women's team to win the MWF Tag Team Championships. After failing in their first attempt against the then-titleholders, Team XX captured the titles at Night of Immortals XII for the first time.

#### **Women's Champion (2001 - 2007)**

After the Team XX break-up and feud, Vega continued to perform as a face. She went on to win the Women's Championship four additional times, breaking the record with her fifth. In mid-2004, she became one of the trainers at New England Wrestling, and worked with the majority of the women's trainees that came into the school. Vega was the final Women's Champion at the time of the MWF's closure at Critical Mass in September 2007.

## Personal Life

Gold married Ashton Braddock in 1996. They lived currently split their time between Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, and the Overbrook Farms neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They have two sons, twins Gage and Gavin (born 1997), who are both signed to developmental contracts with the Omega Wrestling Alliance. She is good friends with Kyle Lewis, Miss Manami, Claire Archer, and Evita Verano.

## In Wrestling

* **Finishing Moves**
	+ *Beauty Killer* (Fireman's carry bulldog)
	+ *Done & Dusted* (Inverted suplex stunner) -- adopted from Ashton Braddock
	+ *Shock Treatment* (Snap chokeslam)
* **Signature Moves**
	+ Belly-to-back suplex
	+ Cobra clutch slam
	+ Double-knee facebreaker to a rope-hung opponent
	+ Double-underhook mat slam
	+ Forearm smash
	+ Hammerlock guillotine choke
	+ Headlock driver
	+ Hotshot
	+ Inverted overdrive
	+ Lifting reverse STO
	+ Senton bomb
	+ Single-arm DDT
	+ Sitout suplex slam
	+ Sliding clothesline
	+ Spinning headlock elbow drop
	+ Swinging neckbreaker

* **Wrestlers Managed**
	+ Ashton Braddock

* **Entrance Themes**
	+ "Love Will Never Do (Without You)" by Janet Jackson (1990 - 1991)
	+ "Baby-Baby-Baby" by TLC (1992)
	+ "Queen of the Night" by Whitney Houston (1993 - 2000)
	+ "Spice Up Your Life" by Spice Girls (1998 - 2000; used as a member of Team XX)
	+ "Irresistible" by Jessica Simpson (2001 - 2007)
	+ "Summer Love" by Justin Timberlake (2008 - 2011)