Bea Priestley

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Bea Priestley
Birth nameBeatrice St. Clere Priestley[1]
Born (1996-03-22) 22 March 1996 (age 25)
Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England[2]
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Amy St. Clere
Bea Priestley
Beatrice Priestley
Blair Davenport
Tammy Leigh
Billed height170 cm (5 ft 7 in)[3]
Billed weight68 kg (150 lb)[4]
Billed fromWellington, New Zealand[4]
Trained byTravis Banks[2]
Debut2012[5]

Beatrice St. Clere Priestley[1] (born 22 March 1996) is an English-New Zealander professional wrestler, best known by the ring name Bea Priestley. She is currently signed to WWE, where she performs on the NXT UK brand under the ring name Blair Davenport. From 2017 until 2021, she wrestled for World Wonder Ring Stardom and she also made appearances in New Japan Pro-Wrestling serving as Will Ospreay’s Valet.

She is also known for her appearances in All Elite Wrestling, World of Sport Wrestling, Defiant Wrestling, and Progress Wrestling.

Professional wrestling career[]

Early career[]

Priestley began training at New Zealand Wide Pro Wrestling's developmental facility under Travis Banks, and debuted for the company as Amy St. Clere when she was 16 years old. After four years, during which time she also wrestled for Impact Pro Wrestling as Beatrice Priestley and the Hughes Academy as Tammy Leigh, Priestley moved to London, England, to further her career, training in Progress Wrestling's developmental program 'The Projo.'[6]

Progress Wrestling (2016–2019)[]

Priestley made her debut for Progress Wrestling on 13 March 2016, being defeated by Elizabeth.[7] In December 2016, Priestley participated in the tournament to crown the first ever Progress Women's Champion where Priestley lost to the eventual winner Toni Storm.[8] Throughout the year of 2017 and 2018, Priestley would mainly compete in six-man tag team matches and even feuding with Millie McKenzie.

What Culture Pro Wrestling / Defiant Wrestling (2016–2019)[]

Priestley debuted for What Culture Pro Wrestling (WCPW) on 27 July at Loaded #5, losing to Nixon Newell,[9] but she defeated Newell the following day.[10] On 24 August Priestley and Newell faced off once again, this time in a Last Woman Standing match to crown the first ever WCPW Women's Champion, won by Newell.[11] Priestley unsuccessfully challenged Newell once again at Loaded #19, this time by disqualification.[12] After the match, Priestley's Pacitti Club stablemates The Swords of Essex put Newell out of action and Priestley stole her title, declaring herself "the true Women's Champion". Priestley lost her stolen WCPW Women's Championship to the returning Newell at WCPW True Destiny in February, who had replaced Tessa Blanchard in the match. One day later Priestley regained the WCPW Women's Championship, defeating Nixon Newell in a No Disqualification match.[13][14]

On 16 June 2017 Priestley was unable to compete, and her replacement Viper lost the title by pinfall to Kay Lee Ray.[15] After that, Priestley would feud with Viper until the last episode of Loaded, where Priestley defeated Viper to end the feud.[16] On 17 June 2018 Priestley defeated Millie McKenzie to regain the Defiant Women's Championship.[17] On 3 December 2018 Priestley lost the title to Kanji in a Gauntlet match involving Kay Lee Ray, Lana Austin, Little Miss Roxxy, and Millie McKenzie.[18]

World Wonder Ring Stardom (2017–2021)[]

On 14 October 2017 Priestley made her debut for the World Wonder Ring Stardom promotion by entering the Goddesses of Stardom Tag League tournament.[19] Days before the final of the tournament Priestley unsuccessfully challenged Toni Storm for the SWA World and World of Stardom Championship in Stardom event in Taiwan.[20] She ended up winning the tournament along with Kelly Klein.[21] Following the tournament, Priestley and Klein unsuccessfully challenged Oedo Tai (Hana Kimura and Kagetsu) for the Goddess of Stardom Championship.[22] In her six month stay in Stardom, Priestley made it to the finals of the 2018 Cinderella Tournament, before losing to the eventual winner Momo Watanabe.

On 4 May 2019, at Golden Week Stars 2019 Queen's Quest Produce, Priestley defeated Kagetsu for the World of Stardom Championship.[23]

In January 2020, Priestley paired with Oedo Tai member Jamie Hayter to capture the Goddess of Stardom Championship, the first foreign tag team to hold the championships. She would later join the villainous Oedo Tai faction after betraying Queen's Quest stable-mate Momo Watanabe.[24] On 20 July 2020, Stardom stripped the tag titles from Priestley and Hayter, as the duo could not defend the titles in Japan due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Priestley made her return to the company on September 19, where she attacked Saya Iida in her match against Natsuko Tora, and later attacked Momo Watanabe and Utami Hayashishita.[25] On October 3 at Yokohama Cinderella, Priestley defeated Watanabe to win the vacant SWA World Championship.

World of Sport (2018–2019)[]

At the 5 May 2018 tapings of the newly-revived World of Sport Wrestling, Priestley failed to win the vacant WOS Women's Championship in a three-way match against Kay Lee Ray and Viper.[26] She unsuccessfully challenged Ray for the title on subsequent episodes in a battle royal[27] and a singles match against Ray after being attacked by Viper.[28] On 19 January 2019, on a WOS house show tour, Priestley won the title in a singles match when she successfully pinned Viper.[29] On 2 February 2019 Priestley lost the title to Viper after that she left the promotion.

All Elite Wrestling (2019–2020)[]

On 22 January 2019 it was reported that Priestley was close to signing a contract with All Elite Wrestling (AEW) after turning down a WWE contract.[30] It was announced on the edition of 27 February 2019 of "Road To Double Or Nothing" that Priestley would be joining the company, and would be making her debut at Fight for the Fallen on 13 July 2019,[31] where she would team with Shoko Nakajima to defeat Britt Baker and Riho. She entered an on-screen feud with Britt Baker after legitimately concussing Baker after kicking her in the back of the head- which was her first offensive move barely 3 seconds into her participation in the match. Ending their feud, where Baker openly referred to Priestley as “un-professional”, Priestley eventually lost the conclusive singles match of this feud to Baker at Full Gear.[32] Priestley appeared on the 11 December 2019 edition of Dark, where she was defeated by "the Alien" Kris Statlander.[33]

On the 11 March 2020 episode of Dynamite, Priestley returned and teamed with AEW Women’s Champion Nyla Rose to defeat the team of Hikaru Shida and Kris Statlander. After the match she attacked Nyla Rose and called her shot at the AEW Women’s Championship.[34] Priestley was released from AEW on 13 August 2020 due to being unable to travel from her home in Japan due to restrictions from COVID-19.[35]

New Japan Pro-Wrestling (2020–2021)[]

On October 16, 2020, Priestley made her debut appearance in New Japan Pro-Wrestling, where she interfered in her boyfriend Will Ospreay's match against Kazuchika Okada in the G1 Climax.[36]

WWE (2021–present)[]

On June 24, 2021, it was reported that Priestley signed a contract with WWE, where a vignette aired promoting Priestley's arrival to NXT UK with her new ring name revealed to be Blair Davenport.[37] Davenport would score a winning streak over several opponents such as Xia Brookside, Nina Samuels, Emilia McKenzie and many more until she seized an opportunity to challenge Meiko Satomura for the NXT UK Women's Championship. On the January 6 episode of NXT UK, Davenport failed to capture the title from Satomura, marking her first loss in NXT UK.

Personal life[]

Priestley was diagnosed with a brain tumour when she was 14 years old. She underwent surgery to remove it at 18 years old.[38] Since 2017,[39] Priestley has been in a relationship with fellow professional wrestler Will Ospreay.[40][41][42] In 2019, the couple revealed they were planning on moving to Japan due to both of their wrestling schedules there.[30]

Championships and accomplishments[]

References[]

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  2. ^ a b "Bea Priestley « Wrestlers Database « CAGEMATCH – The Internet Wrestling Database". Cagematch.net. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
  3. ^ reserved, Copyright (c) 2014株式会社スターダム, All rights. "ビー・プレストリー".
  4. ^ a b "BEA PRIESTLEY". Retrieved 2 April 2019.
  5. ^ "Bea Priestley". Retrieved 26 April 2019.
  6. ^ Knox, Caylon. "WNS Interview with Bea Priestley: Pro Wrestler/Brain Tumor Survivor". Wrestling News Source. Retrieved 22 April 2017.
  7. ^ "ENDVR:15". cagematch.net.
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  10. ^ "WCPW Loaded #7 « Events Database « CAGEMATCH - The Internet Wrestling Database". www.cagematch.net. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
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  21. ^ a b "Kelly Klein and Bea Priestly win Goddess of Stardom Tag Team Tournament". Ring of Honor. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  22. ^ Wilson, Kevin (10 December 2017). "Stardom Best Of The Goddesses on 11/19/17 Review". 411MANIA.
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  24. ^ Richards, Alex (19 January 2020). "Stardom 9th Anniversary: Title Change, Betrayal, Syuri & Sareee".
  25. ^ "9/19 STARDOM 5STAR GRAND PRIX report: The finals of the 9th Grand Prix tournament with a winner crowned and the return of a former world champ". 21 September 2020. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
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  28. ^ "WOS Wrestling Results (9/22/18): 16-Man Battle Royal, WOS Women's Championship Match, And Moose Debuts | Fightful Wrestling". www.fightful.com. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
  29. ^ "Viper Loses WOS Women's Championship To Bea Priestley At WOS Wrestling's Newport, Wales Show | Fightful Wrestling". www.fightful.com. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
  30. ^ a b Beltrán, William (26 January 2019). "Bea Priestley le dice no a WWE y firma con AEW". Superluchas (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 April 2019.
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  32. ^ "NoDQ.com - AEW Full Gear: Bea Priestley vs. Britt Baker". nodq.com. Archived from the original on 27 February 2020. Retrieved 15 September 2020.
  33. ^ "List of Bea Priestley appearances in AEW".
  34. ^ AEW Staff (11 March 2020). "AEW DYNAMITE Results March 11, 2020". all elite wrestling.com. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
  35. ^ Middleton, Marc (13 August 2020). "AEW Releases Jimmy Havoc And Bea Priestley". WrestlingInc.com.
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  38. ^ "Twitter". mobile.twitter.com. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
  39. ^ "The Week In British Wrestling: Lucha Forever overcomes a venue change". WON/F4W - WWE news, Pro Wrestling News, WWE Results, UFC News, UFC results. 15 June 2017. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
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  48. ^ Richards, Alex. "Stardom 9th Anniversary: Title Change, Betrayal, Syuri & Sareee". Last Word On Pro Wrestling. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
  49. ^ Richards, Alex (3 October 2020). "Stardom Yokohama Cinderella 2020 News Roundup". Last Word on Pro Wrestling. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
  50. ^ 『スターダムアワード2020』の受賞者発表！. World Wonder Ring Stardom (in Japanese). 31 January 2021. Retrieved 31 January 2021.

External links[]

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