Jessica Black

Jessica Black (born May 3rd, 1992) is an Canadian professional wrestler currently working as a free agent. She currently resides in Toronto, Ontario. Jessica is notable for being a second-generation wrestler, as well as being one half of the first Tag Team Champions and the youngest, first female and final RISE Heavyweight Champion of Oregon-based wrestling promotion RISE Pro Wrestling, as well as a Television Champion in the EWC. She is also notable for having wrestled in the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan and Mexico, as well as across North America.

Early Life
Jessica Black was born Jessica Nicole Rosenberg in Ottawa, Ontario, and is of Jewish-German descent from her grandmother’s side. She was the youngest and only girl in her family, and growing up with seven older brothers and half-brothers led her to becoming something of a tomboy as she grew up. Her mother was absent for the most part and controlling--sometimes bordering on abusive--when she was around, which led Jessica to grow closer to her father, a professional wrestler who had worked across the globe until he retired to raise his sons and daughter. Growing up the daughter (and sister) of professional wrestlers instilled in her a love and a passion for the sport at an early age.

In 2010, because her father was unwilling to train her himself, Jessica was forced to find some other way to learn how to wrestle. She found it in a small professional wrestling school just outside of Toronto where she trained for six months, during which time she moved into a tiny studio apartment shared by six other wrestling students.

Early Career
Six months later, in the former half of 2011, Jessica made her wrestling debut. Her first match was in front of fifteen people sitting a bingo hall in Toronto for a now-defunct wrestling company based in the area. While she lost, Jessica didn’t take the loss to heart but instead took it as a learning experience, an opportunity to see what she did wrong and improve and because of that her next match, in front of a record breaking crowd of sixteen fans, was a resounding success.

One time during these early days, Jessica met the acquaintance of fellow Canadian wrestler Griffin Hawkins, after she was asked to fill in for a regular tag team partner who was unable to attend the match alongside him. After the match had concluded, so began what Jessica would later, and ironically, refer to as “a beautiful friendship.”

After eight months Jessica left the company and moved onto the next one that would have her. Then the next, and then the next, building up her skills and confidence until she slowly built up the persona of a brash, overly confident young woman whose talents were proportional to her ego. During this time, she would ask promoters to book her against opponents who were larger, or who were just as quick as she was, her logic being that she would look all the more impressive in her “audition” tapes whenever she moved onto the next, bigger promotion.

In May of 2014, Jessica was approached by Desmond Knight, CEO of Oregon-based wrestling promotion RISE Pro Wrestling (then known as Rise Wrestling) and offered her a job.

RISE Pro Wrestling (2014-2015)
On May 31st, Jessica made her debut with RISE Pro Wrestling in the Chiles Centre in Portland, Oregon. Her first match with the company was a successful one, soundly defeating John Blade (who also made his debut with RISE Pro) to a crowd of 2,500 people.

Jessica’s tenure in RISE Pro Wrestling was short lived, but impactful. While she did not join the company in time for the tournament to determine who would be the inaugural RISE Heavyweight Champion, she nonetheless impressed fans and her peers with her quickness, wrestling talents and her skill in ring psychology. Not to mention her brash attitude earned her more than a few fans during this time.

At Civil Warfare, June 10th 2014 at the Memorial Coliseum, Jessica was paired up with fellow RISE Pro roster member Skye Temple against The Hitmen--brothers Brent and Eric Armstrong-- to determine who would become the company’s inaugural Tag Team Champions. Ending the match with a double springboard moonsault, Temple hooked Eric’s leg and got the pinfall to become the first Tag Team Champions of the company.

Sadly, RISE Pro Wrestling closed its doors shortly after the event, leading Jessica to drift across promotions working as a free agent until Desmond Knight announced he was reopening his company and promptly rehired the majority of his old roster, Jessica included.

It was during this time when Jessica quickly became at odds with Zeek Williams, RISE Pro’s first RISE Heavyweight Champion over who was to be the company’s top dog, a situation which exacerbated over time. It boiled over when, at a taping of RISE Pro’s bi-weekly show Uprising, Jessica repeatedly clubbed Zeek over the head with an extendable police baton. And on his birthday, too.

On January 18th 2015 in Kennewick, Washington at the Insurrection pay-per-view, RISE Pro held it’s Insurrection pay-per-view. Jessica defeated Alicia Levine in her qualifying match in a tournament to see who would become the first RISE Heavyweight Champion of the resurgent company, and earned herself a spot in the main event to join Christopher Barrington III, Seth McCoy and Zeek Williams in a ladder match for the title, and after a gruelling match it was Jessica who emerged the victor.

Unfortunately, her success was not to last, as RISE Pro closed its doors yet again with Jessica having the (somewhat dubious) honour of being the company’s final RISE Heavyweight Champion.

Extreme Wrestling Corporation (2015)
Shortly after RISE Pro closed its doors for a second time, Jessica found work in President Mac’s Extreme Wrestling Corporation as a member of the Friday Night Rampage roster. Within just a few weeks of her time with the EWC, Jessica managed to land a title opportunity for the EWC Television Championship. Defeating her opponent at a taping of Rampage, Jessica managed to become the TV champion.

Her reign as champion, indeed her time with the EWC was extremely brief however, as personal tragedy interfered with her career. Before Jessica was set to face Griffin Hawkins for her first title defense, her father suffered a near-fatal heart attack. With her personal problems and thoughts of her father foremost in her mind, Jessica was completely distracted during her match with Hawkins, to which she lost her title after a two week reign.

Soon later, Jessica decided to leave the EWC in order to take care of her father while he recovered from his ordeal.

Free Agent (2016-Present)
Returning to professional wrestling in 2016, Jessica decided to travel and compete in promotions across the world. She began her tour in London, in a reasonably-sized indy promotion where she gained a cult following. Three months later she moved on to greener pastures and travelled to Germany, where she could put her fluency in German to use. After Germany, Jessica accepted a contract with an all-women’s company based in Japan, where she wrestled until the end of the year by which time she had proven to have been one of the most popular gaijin of the company.

In January of 2017, Jessica left Japan in order to accept a short-term contract she had been offered by Hernando Herrera, President of women’s lucha libre promotion Gran Campeonato de Luchadoras. She made her debut with the GCL in February 3rd, 2017 to a little over 14,000 in attendance at the Arena Mexico in Mexico City, to take part in a retirement match for famed luchadora La Estrella Escarlata, who requested to face Jessica personally. In a competition that lasted the full run of their thirty-minute time limit, the match was declared a draw, and concluded to a standing ovation.

Jessica stayed with the GCL, learning to adapt lucha-libre style to her technical moveset. During her time with the company, Jessica came at odds with Escarlata Jr. a protege of the retired La Estrella Escarlata, who wanted to be the one who faced her mentor in her final match. This growing rivalry finally came to blows on March 17th, when Escarlata Jr. interrupted Jessica while she was addressing the crowd, labelling the brash Canadian woman an insult to the spirit of lucha libre before jumping her.

After the attack, Jessica promptly stormed into Herrera’s office and demanded she fight Escarlata Jr. in her next match. Herrera refused, but recognised that a match between the two would mean a lot of money if handled correctly, so he did what he could to keep the fires between the two women burning.

The two wrestlers would be allowed to face one another in a match as part of the GCL’s anniversary show. On April 28th, two weeks before said show, Herrera announced a contract signing to be held, and that the match would be held under the tradition of Luchas de Apuestas. More specifically: mascaras contra cabellera, Escarlata Jr.’s mask versus Jessica’s hair. While Escarlata Jr. readily signed the contract, when it came to Jessica’s turn she merely lampshaded how contract signings usually devolve into brawls between two competitors and then suggested they got right on it before she leapt across the table and attacked her rival without warning.

On May 12th 2017, the night of the GCL’s anniversary show was met with excitement for the upcoming match between Jessica and Escarlata Jr. and after a gruelling match that lasted until the thirty minute time limit. After the bell had won, the referee was about to award the match and the victory to Escarlata Jr. but the luchadora demanded five more minutes to try and defeat Jessica in a more legitimate manner. The extra time was allowed, yet three minutes later it was Jessica who gained the win--and Escarlata’s mask--via submission.

One month later, Jessica was released early from her contract for unknown reasons and returned to working as a free agent.

Personal Life
While the persona of Jessica Black is brash and overconfident, the young woman who plays the role is a far more modest and humble person. Jessica is also the youngest sister of seven older brothers and half-brothers, all of whom are also wrestlers and until two years ago she was estranged from her father. The two have since reconciled after her father suffered a heart attack. She is also estranged from her mother for unknown reasons, but the relationship between them is more toxic and reconciliation between the two is unlikely.

While living and working on the road, Jessica made several friends during her career, namely: Roxi Johnson and her wife Keira, Griffin Hawkins, Ashley Chase, REINA Reiko and others.

Inside the ring and outside of it, Jessica has a reputation for being a prankster and a practical joker. A frequent victim of hers being Griffin Hawkins, who is often the subject of Jessica’s increasingly elaborate pranks.

She can speak fluent German, and thanks to her travels can also speak Japanese and Spanish to varying degrees.

She is Jewish, but despite being raised in a Jewish household she does not practice her faith.

She is also openly lesbian.

Wrestling Persona
Arrogant. Brash. The woman whose ego is second to none. Jessica projects an image of self-confidence gone overboard, to the point of being egotistical. From her first days as an awkward rookie, Jessica has since developed into a puckish rogue. But instead of being reviled as a heel, wrestling fans have been drawn to her free spirit and devil-may-care attitude, not to mention her idea of humour which often involved jokes made at the expense of her enemies.

Finishing Moves

 * Code Black - Octopus Hold
 * Fade to Black - Front Flip Piledriver, often after a float over

Signature Moves

 * KAMEHAMEHA!! - Double palm thrust to the chest.
 * Blackout - Springboard Pele Kick
 * Black Valentine - not a wrestling move, but rather a deep passionate kiss on her opponents lips used as a distraction, or while she’s pinning them. (She gets even more passionate about it if said opponent is female. The pervier wrestling fans love the impromptu mid-late match make-out session, too.)
 * Belly-to-Belly Suplex*
 * Double Knee Facebreaker
 * Cutter
 * Japanese Arm Drag
 * Knife Edge Chop (Wooooo!)
 * Enziguri
 * Discus Elbow Smash
 * Hurricanrana
 * Dragon Sleeper
 * Belly-to-Back Suplex*
 * Reverse Hurricanrana
 * One-Handed Bulldog
 * German Suplex*
 * Backstabber
 * Dropkick to back of head
 * Running Dropkick to knees
 * Flying Forearm Smash
 * Running High Knee
 * Flying Headscissors
 * Flying Lariat
 * Flying Double Knee Facebreaker
 * Springboard Dropkick
 * Springboard Moonsault
 * Plancha
 * Moonsault
 * Suicide Dive
 * Missile Dropkick
 * Arm Trap Crossface
 * Juji-gatame, sometimes with takedown
 * Standing Moonsault

* Used on opponents of roughly equal size.

Nicknames

 * JB
 * Lady Badass (often stylised as #LadyBadass)
 * The Woman whose Ego is Second to None
 * Canadian Strong Style (used in Japan)

Championship Titles

 * RISE Pro Tag Team Championship x1 (with Skye Temple)
 * RISE Pro Heavyweight Championship x1
 * EWC Television Championship x1

Entrance Theme
"Touch Me and I'll Break your Face" by Mick Gordon