Kelly Gazidis (RLS CAS)

Gazidis at a UNION show in 2022

**Kelly Gazidis** *(born 11th March 1999 in Shoreditch, London)*  is an English professional wrestler currently signed to UNION Wrestling, where she has spent her entire career.

She is the first graduate from UNION's own FireForged Academy, and referred to generally as their first "home-grown" talent.**1**

## Career

### UNION Wrestling (2017-*present*)

Gazidis was confirmed as being in the first round of trainees at UNION's own FireForged Academy in early-2017, and was quickly fast-tracked due to her studious nature and willingness to listen to her trainers, being taken under the wing of Jackie Compton after little more than month. She was quickly noticed by Eddie Hamer, and several of the senior members of the roster, and began being promoted in October 2017, touted to make her debut not long after.**2**

Some members of the fanbase, as well as pundits in the wider alternative wrestling scene, criticised both UNION for throwing Gazidis in at the deep end, and Gazidis herself for being "green". Gazidis responded that they hadn't even seen her wrestle yet, and were going with the narrative they wanted.**3**

She made her debut, against her trainer Compton, on the debut episode of UNION Live, opening the show and winning. Compton later revealed that the two changed the result on-the-fly after a better than expected response to Gazidis' solid match work.**4**

She was, given her young age and rookie status, used only sparingly on programming over the next few months, more often appearing pre-show doing dark matches, though she did appear again on Live in December, taking part in a Women's Division Battle Royal won by Sitara. Her final appearance before UNION began downsizing was a third Live appearance in January 2018, where she defeated Jubilee by submission.

After downsizing, Gazidis became more prominent, especially once the roster began shrinking, and when the promotion returned largely to it's live touring roots, she and Jubilee began a long feud based on that Live match. It was during this time that Gazidis turned heel for the first time, becoming an entitled, arrogant villain who believed her home-grown status made her superior. The COVID-19 pandemic would eventually force UNION to go on hiatus, with Gazidis continuing to train an hone her craft while locked down in 2020.

She'd return to active competition when UNION did, in 2021, though the worsening pandemic again forced plans to change. She defeated Sarah Fenix at the UNION Return Show in November 2021, attacking her opponent before the bell could ring. She'd do much the same at the Touchdown '22 show in January 2022, attacking a returning Elsa before the bell and picking up another win.

## In-Wrestling

### Signatures

Running Headbutt 2

Knee Drop 16 (17, outside of ring)

### Finishers

Spitebuster *(Spinebuster 21)*

Labyrinth Lock *(Butterfly Lock 2)*

## Trivia

* Gazidis' status as the first superstar to be considered "home-grown" is disputed by some areas of the ReVerse, with Lara Grey considered to be a valid claimant to the title. However, Grey actually began training under Rebecca "Angel" Marin *before* either of them joined UNION Wrestling, so while UNION is arguably where she made her name, she wasn't "made" there in the same way Gazidis was.**5**
* She is a fan of the Wasps Rugby Football Club.**6**

## Behind-the-Scenes

1. The out-of-narrative definition of "home-grown", in this case, isn't totally UNION-specific; Gazidis was the first CAS I have ever created who's makeup contained no elements of created wrestlers from other wrestling video game series'.
2. I liked how she turned out, in truth, and escalated my plans for her.
3. Narrative embellishment, as I think it would be a criticism were this to happen IRL.
4. Not really, though, the result was an accident due to me not paying enough attention...
5. Grey *was* initially the first CAS with no non-WWE 2K influence... but elements of characters from MDickie games were added retroactively.
6. Added primarily because I'd added favourite *football* teams for other CASs, but never seemingly rugby...