Leva Bates

Leva Bates
Bates in October 2016
Birth name	Leva Bates[1]
Born	(1983-05-21) May 21, 1983[1] Madisonville, Kentucky, United States[2]
Residence	Orlando, Florida, United States[3]
Alma mater	Murray State University
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	Blue Pants Leva[4] Leva Bates[4]
Billed height	5 ft 2 in (1.57 m)[5]
Billed weight	115 lb (52 kg)[5]
Billed from	Gotham City, Florida[5] The Clearance Rack[3]
Trained by	Mark LoMonaco[5] Devon Hughes[5]
Debut	2006[5]

Leva Bates^[1] (born May 21, 1983)^[1] is an American professional wrestler.^[1][5] She is best known for her appearances with WWE in their developmental territory WWE NXT under the ring name Blue Pants. She is also known for her tenure on the independent circuit, most notably for Shimmer Women Athletes, under her real name.^[1]

Professional wrestling career

Early career (2006–2009)

Bates was trained at the Team 3D Academy under Devon Hughes and Mark LoMonaco, and made her professional wrestling debut in 2006.^[5] She spent the next three years wrestling primarily in the Southeastern United States, for promotions such as Southeastern Championship Wrestling (SCW) and Coastal Championship Wrestling. In SCW, she won the SCW Women's Championship on November 8, 2008, by defeating Betsy Ruth and Lexie Fyfe in a three-way match. She also appeared for World Xtreme Wrestling, beginning in 2009, wrestling against Betsy Ruth and Malia Hosaka, among others.^[1]

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2008, 2011, 2012, 2016)

Bates appeared on the May 28, 2008, episode of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's Impact!, accepting Awesome Kong's $25,000 challenge, which she would lose. She later had a try-out match for the company against Isis the Amazon in February 2011, but lost the match.^[1] In September 2012, Bates made a further appearance on Impact Wrestling, portraying a stagehand who helped the Aces & Eights faction abduct Sting and Hulk Hogan.^[6] Bates made a brief return to TNA Wrestling at the Knockouts Knockdown 4 pay-per-view as her cosplayer character losing a well received match to TNA Knockouts champion Jade.^[7]

Full Impact Pro (2008, 2013–2014)

Bates debuted in Full Impact Pro (FIP) in May 2008, when she and Rain defeated Portia Perez and Mimi in a tag team match. She returned five years later,^[1] as part of a Shine Wrestling showcase match against Solo Darling on August 9, 2013. She continued making appearances for FIP throughout 2013 and 2014, as the manager of Dos Ben Dejos (Jay Rios and Eddie Cruz), along with Mia Yim. She also made sporadic wrestling appearances for the company, usually against Darling or Su Yung.^[8]

Shimmer Women Athletes (2009–present)

Bates made her debut for Shimmer Women Athletes in 2009 at Volume 28, when she and Kimberly Kash lost a tag team match to Kacey Diamond and Sassy Stephie. She returned at the next show in 2010, defeating She Nay Nay in a dark match, before losing to Malia Hosaka on Volume 30. At Volumes 33 and 34, she lost to Allison Danger and Melanie Cruise respectively, before defeating Cat Power at Volume 36. Beginning at Volume 37 in March 2011, Bates formed a tag team with Allison Danger, known as Regeneration X. Over the next year, they defeated the teams of Jamilia Craft and Mia Yim, and Sassy Stephie and Nevaeh, but lost to Nikki Roxx and Ariel and The Knight Dynasty (Britani and Saraya Knight). On March 17, 2012, Regeneration X failed to win the Shimmer Tag Team Championship from Ayako Hamada and Ayumi Kurihara, and were unsuccessful again in a four-way match at Volume 48 the next day.^[1] In 2013, Bates returned to singles competition, and unsuccessfully challenged Cheerleader Melissa for the Shimmer Championship on October 19 at Volume 58.^[9] She spent the rest of 2013 and 2014 wrestling matches against Nikki Storm, Marti Belle, Veda Scott, and Jessicka Havok.^[1][9][10]

Shine Wrestling (2012–2014)

The Lucha Sisters (Bates, left, and Mia Yim) in November 2014.

Bates debuted in Shine Wrestling at their first event in July 2012. Initially a singles competitor, she faced Mercedes Martinez, Portia Perez, and Jessicka Havok, before having a series of matches with Kimberly, with the pair trading wins.^[1] This prompted at a Last Woman Standing match at Shine 7, which Bates won. After being attacked post-match by Kimberly,^[11] they faced off again at Shine 8 in a Fans Bring the Weapons I Quit match, which Kimberly won by referee stoppage.^[12] The feud ended at Shine 9, when Bates won an "Arkham Asylum" steel cage match.^[13] Bates then competed in the tournament to determine the inaugural Shine Champion. She defeated Taylor Made before losing to Mia Yim.^[14][15] This was followed by a feud with Nevaeh, which led to a hardcore match at Shine 15, in which Bates emerged victorious.^[1]

In February 2014, Bates teamed up with Mia Yim to enter the tournament to determine the inaugural Shine Tag Team Champions. Collectively known as the The Lucha Sisters, Bates and Yim defeated The Kimber Bombs (Cherry Bomb and Kimber Lee), and Jessie Belle Smothers and Sassy Stephie en route to the final, where they defeated Made in Sin (Taylor Made and Allysin Kay) to win the championships.^[16] They successfully defended the titles against Evie and Madison Eagles, and Candice LeRae and Ivelisse, before losing them to Legendary (Brandi Wine and Malia Hosaka) at Shine 20 on June 27, 2014.^[1][17][18] The Lucha Sisters failed to regain the championship in a rematch at Shine 21 in August.^[19]

WWE

NXT (2014–2015)

Bates made her debut in WWE's developmental territory on the October 16, 2014, episode of NXT, as an enhancement talent, losing to the debuting Carmella. She was introduced as "Blue Pants" by Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady because of her blue ring attire, and retained the name for her subsequent appearances.^[20] She returned at the NXT television tapings on October 23, losing again to Carmella; the match aired on November 27.^[21] Blue Pants earned her first victory on the January 1, 2015, episode of NXT, defeating Carmella in their third match.^[22] She made further appearances on the February 18, April 15, and June 10 episodes, losing to NXT Women's Champion Sasha Banks, Dana Brooke, and Emma respectively.^[23][24] Blue Pants made a surprise appearance at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn on August 22, managing The Vaudevillains (Aiden English and Simon Gotch), where they won the NXT Tag Team Championship. Blue Pants also had an altercation with Alexa Bliss during the match.^[25] Bliss would go on to defeat Blue Pants in a singles match on the September 2 episode of NXT.^[26]

Blue Pants made her final appearance on the December 2 episode of NXT, facing Nia Jax in a losing effort.^[27]

Personal life

Bates dressed as The Bride from Kill Bill in March 2014.

Bates has a degree in theater and radio/television production with a minor in dance from Murray State University. She works during the week as one of the entertainers at the Universal Orlando theme park.^[28]

Bates is known for her use of cosplay in her ring outfits; she regularly dresses as characters from movies, video games, and comic books.^[29]

In wrestling

• Finishing moves
  • Critical Confirmation (Double knee facebreaker)^[5]
  • Dinner to Go (Seated senton)^[1]
  • Superhero Kick (Superkick)^[5]
  • Pepsi Power Plunge (Avalanche double underhook facebuster)
• Signature moves
  • Back elbow, to an oncoming opponent^[26]
  • Bridging Northern Lights suplex^[26]
  • Big boot, to an opponent's midsection^[23]
  • Multiple pin variations
    • Backslide^[23]
    • Oklahoma roll^[23][30]
    • Schoolgirl^[30]
  • Multiple forearm clubs followed by a clothesline, with theatrics^[30]
  • Multiple shoulder striking spears, to an opponent's midsection^[26]
  • Multiple roundhouse kicks^[26][30][31]
• Wrestlers managed
  • Dos Ben Dejos (Jay Rios and Eddie Cruz)^[8]
  • The Vaudevillains^[25]
• Entrance themes
  • "The Price Is Right (Theme song)" version performed by Bill Morrissey^[3][32] (NXT; October 16, 2014 – September 22, 2015)
  • "Blue" by CFO$^[33] (NXT; December 2, 2015)

Championships and accomplishments

• Coastal Championship Wrestling
  • CCW Women's Championship (1 time, current)^[5]
• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • PWI ranked her 28 of the best 50 female singles wrestlers in the PWI Female 50 in 2015^[34]
• Shine Wrestling
  • Shine Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Mia Yim^[35]
• Southeastern Championship Wrestling
  • SCW Women's Championship (1 time)^[5]
• United States Championship Wrestling
  • USCW Women's Championship (1 time)^[5]
• Women Superstars Uncensored
  • WSU Spirit Championship (1 time)

References

External links

• Official website
• Leva Bates at the Internet Movie Database