Alexa Bliss


Alexis Kaufman is an American professional wrestler signed to WWE, where she performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Alexa Bliss.
In May 2013, Bliss signed a contract with WWE and was assigned to their Performance Center and developmental brand NXT. She made her main roster debut on the SmackDown brand in July 2016, later becoming a two-time SmackDown Women's Champion and the first woman to hold the title twice. She was transferred to the Raw brand in April 2017 and would go on to become a three-time Raw Women's Champion, with her initial reign making her the first woman to have won both the Raw and SmackDown Women's titles. She and Nikki Cross are also the first two-time Women's Tag Team Champions in WWE history, making Bliss the second Women's Triple Crown Champion. In 2018, she became the winner of both the second women's Money in the Bank ladder match and first women's Elimination Chamber match.

Early life

Alexis Kaufman was born on August 9, 1991, in Columbus, Ohio. She has been involved in sports since the age of five, competing in track, kickboxing, softball, and gymnastics. She was also a cheerleader at Hilliard Davidson High School and reached Division I status at the University of Akron. She spent time in competitive fitness competitions, and has competed in the Arnold Classic. At the age of 15, she suffered from a life-threatening eating disorder, but turning to fitness competitions helped her overcome it.

Professional wrestling career

WWE

NXT (2013–2016)

Kaufman was signed by WWE in May 2013 and reported to WWE's developmental territory NXT. On the July 24 episode of NXT, she made her first televised appearance, congratulating the inaugural NXT Women's Champion Paige. In August, she was added to WWE.com's NXT roster page and assigned the ring name Alexa Bliss. She acted as an unnamed ring announcer for the November 20 episode of NXT. Her first televised appearance on the main roster came at WrestleMania XXX on April 6, 2014, when she played a part in Triple H's entrance. She made her televised in-ring debut on the May 8 episode of NXT, playing a glitter fairy gimmick, competing in a tournament for the vacant NXT Women's Championship. She defeated former Divas Champion Alicia Fox in the first round, but lost to Charlotte in the semi-finals.
After a hiatus due to a legitimate injury, Bliss returned on the March 11, 2015 episode of NXT, where she defeated Carmella. The following week on NXT, she defeated NXT Women's Champion Sasha Banks by countout in a non-title match, which led to Bliss being granted a title match against Banks on the March 25 episode of NXT, which she lost. On the May 13 episode of NXT, Bliss defeated Carmella after the NXT Tag Team Champions Buddy Murphy and Wesley Blake set up a distraction. On May 20 at, Bliss helped Blake and Murphy retain the NXT Tag Team Championship against Colin Cassady and Enzo Amore, forming an alliance with them and turning into a villainess character in the process. On the July 29 episode of NXT, Bliss helped Blake and Murphy retain the NXT Tag Team Championship against The Vaudevillains and slapped both English and Gotch after the match. The Vaudevillians were granted a rematch for the NXT Tag Team Championship against Blake and Murphy at on August 22, which they won after Blue Pants stopped Bliss from providing a distraction during the match. This led to a match between the two, where Bliss would go on to defeat Blue Pants in a singles match on the September 2 episode of NXT.
Throughout October and November, Bliss was involved in a feud with Bayley over the NXT Women's Championship. The two faced off in the main event on the November 18 episode of NXT, where Bliss was unsuccessful in capturing the title. On the January 13, 2016 episode of NXT, Bliss competed in a number one contender's battle royal, but lost. On May 18 episode of NXT, Bliss and Blake abandoned Murphy, officially disbanding the trio. On the May 25 episode of NXT, Bliss competed in a triple threat match against Carmella and Nia Jax to determine the number one contender to Asuka's NXT Women's Championship, which was won by Jax. On the August 17 episode of NXT, Bliss competed in a tag team match along with Daria Berenato and Mandy Rose, in which they were defeated by Carmella, Liv Morgan and Nikki Glencross in what would be also her last match in NXT.

SmackDown Women's Champion (2016–2017)

On July 19, Bliss was drafted to the SmackDown brand as part of the 2016 WWE draft. She made her main roster debut on the July 26 episode of SmackDown Live in a segment involving the brand's women's division. Bliss achieved her first victory on the main roster by defeating Becky Lynch on the August 9 episode of SmackDown Live. On August 21 at SummerSlam, she teamed with Natalya and Nikki Bella in a winning effort against Lynch, Carmella and Naomi. On September 11 at Backlash, Bliss competed in a six-pack elimination challenge to determine the inaugural SmackDown Women's Champion, in which she was unsuccessful and was won by Becky Lynch.
On the September 13 episode of SmackDown Live, Bliss won a fatal five-way match to earn a title match against Lynch at No Mercy on October 9. However, due to Lynch suffering a legitimate injury, the match was rescheduled for the November 8 episode of SmackDown, where Lynch successfully defended the title against Bliss. Bliss participated in the Raw vs. SmackDown Women's elimination tag team match at Survivor Series on November 20, where her team lost the match. On December 4 at, Bliss defeated Lynch in a tables match to become the new SmackDown Women's Champion.
On the January 17, 2017 episode of SmackDown Live, Bliss successfully defended her title against Lynch in a steel cage match following an interference by the returning Mickie James, who aligned herself with Bliss. On February 12, Bliss dropped the title to Naomi at Elimination Chamber. On the February 21 episode of SmackDown Live, Bliss defeated Lynch to capture the title for the second time after Naomi was forced to vacate the title due to injury, becoming the first two-time SmackDown Women's Champion. Bliss' partnership with Mickie James dissolved shortly after and the two would face off in a match on SmackDown Live, with James defeating Bliss. On April 2, Bliss lost the title to Naomi in a six-pack challenge also involving Carmella, James, Lynch and Natalya at WrestleMania 33. Bliss and Naomi faced off in a rematch on April 4 episode of SmackDown Live, where Bliss was once again defeated.

Raw Women's Champion (2017–2018)

On the April 10, 2017 episode of Raw, Bliss was drafted to the Raw brand as part of the Superstar Shake-up, confronting Raw Women's Champion Bayley. Week later, Bliss won a fatal four-way match to become the number one contender for the title. At Payback, on April 30, Bliss defeated Bayley to become the new Raw Women's Champion, becoming the first woman to win the Raw and SmackDown Women's Championships in the process. In a rematch between the two, which took place on June 4 at Extreme Rules, Bliss retained her title over Bayley in a kendo stick-on-a-pole match. Bliss then started a feud with Sasha Banks, whom she defeated on July 9 at Great Balls of Fire via count-out before losing the title to Banks on August 20 at SummerSlam, ending her reign at 112 days. She regained the title eight days later on Raw.
Bliss went to defend her title on September 24 at No Mercy in a fatal five-way match against Bayley, Nia Jax, Emma, and Sasha Banks. Bliss was then confronted the following night on Raw by Mickie James due to remarks Bliss made about her. At, Bliss defeated James to retain the title, and did so again on the October 30 episode of Raw.
On February 25, 2018, at Elimination Chamber, Bliss won the inaugural women's elimination chamber match, after she successfully retaining her title. In parallel to her activities as a singles wrestler, she took a part of the Mixed Match Challenge tournament with Braun Strowman as her partner, and the duo was able to qualify to the semi-finals of the tournament, where they were defeated by the eventual winners Asuka and The Miz. On April 8 at WrestleMania 34, Bliss lost the title to Nia Jax, ending her reign at 223 days. On May 6 at Backlash, Bliss invoked her rematch clause and challenged Nia Jax for the title, however, she was unsuccessful and suffered a shoulder injury during the match.
Shortly after losing the title, in mid-May, Bliss won a triple threat match against Bayley and Mickie James to earn a spot at the Money in the Bank ladder match, which she would go on to win at the event on June 17. That same night, Bliss cashed in her contract on Nia Jax and defeated her, after attacking both Jax and Ronda Rousey, winning the Raw Women's Championship for a third time. This made her the first woman, and third wrestler overall, to cash-in the Money in the Bank contract the same night after winning it. At Extreme Rules, Bliss retained the championship against Jax in the inaugural women's extreme rules match, thereby ending their feud. At SummerSlam, on August 19, Bliss lost the championship to Ronda Rousey, ending her reign at 63 days. She failed to regain the title in a rematch at Hell in a Cell the following month.

Limited in-ring competition and hosting roles (2018–2019)

In October, Bliss and Mickie James started a feud with WWE Hall of Famers Trish Stratus and Lita, which eventually led to the announcement of a tag team match between the two duos at WWE Evolution, the first ever all women's pay-per-view. Just three days before the event, however, on October 25, it was announced that Bliss was pulled off the match due to a concussion she suffered during her match with Ronda at Hell in a Cell and she was replaced by Alicia Fox. During that time it was also revealed that Bliss would be taking time off from in-ring competition to heal from various injuries that she had sustained.
A few weeks later, Bliss was announced as the team captain of Team Raw in a non-wrestling role for the traditional interbrand women's five-on-five tag team elimination match at the Survivor Series event, in which they were victorious. The following night, on the November 18 episode of Raw, Bliss was named the new head of the Raw women's division by Acting Raw General Manager Baron Corbin. In December, Bliss' role as well as those of other authority figures on Raw and SmackDown Live were removed after the McMahon family announced they were taking charge again.
On January 7, 2019, Bliss debuted an interview segment titled "A Moment of Bliss", where she interviewed various guests as the segment's host. On January 27, at the Royal Rumble, after a nearly five month in-ring hiatus, Bliss competed in her first women's Royal Rumble match, lasting 12 minutes and eliminating Ember Moon and Sonya Deville before she was eliminated by Bayley and Carmella. In April, Bliss hosted the WrestleMania 35 event. The following night on Raw, Bliss defeated Bayley in her first singles match since her hiatus from in-ring competition in late 2018. At The Shield's Final Chapter event, Bliss teamed up with Lacey Evans to defeat Dana Brooke and Nikki Cross in a dark match. Shortly thereafter, Bliss was announced as a participant of the annual Money in the Bank ladder match at the namesake pay-per-view. However, she was not medically cleared to compete in time for the event and therefore removed from the match.

Partnership with Nikki Cross (2019–present)

In June 2019, Bliss reignited her rivalry with Bayley whom she's set to face at the Stomping Grounds pay-per-view, after she won a triple threat match to become the number one contender for the SmackDown Women's Championship. At the event, Bliss failed to win the title from Bayley. Following the loss, in her first attempt at capturing the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship, Bliss teamed up with Nikki Cross to challenge The IIconics, during which Bliss and Cross were unsuccessful. Bliss and Cross would challenge Bayley to a two-on-one handicap match at Extreme Rules, where Bayley once again retained the championship by pinning Bliss.
On the August 5 episode of Raw, Bliss and Cross would win the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship in a fatal four-way tag team elimination match. Bliss and Cross retained their titles against Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville at Clash of Champions, but lost the titles at the Hell in a Cell to The Kabuki Warriors, ending their reign at 62 days. Although drafted separately instead of as a team during the draft, Bliss and Cross remained on Raw, but the team was then traded to SmackDown. After a brief hiatus, Bliss returned on the November 29 episode of SmackDown, saving Cross from an attack by Rose and Deville, leading to a short program. At Starrcade, Bliss and Cross competed in a Fatal 4-Way tag team match for the Women's Tag Team Championship, but the match was won by defending champions The Kabuki Warriors. At the Royal Rumble, Bliss entered the namesake match at number 1, lasting 27 minutes and eliminating Kairi Sane, Mia Yim, and Chelsea Green. Leading up to Wrestlemania 36, Bliss and Cross reignited their feud with the Kabuki Warriors and Bliss went on to defeat Asuka in a singles match to earn a match for the Women's Tag Team Championship at Wrestlemania. At the event, the duo defeated the Kabuki Warriors to win the titles for a second time. On the SmackDown immediately after Wrestlemania, they defeated them again in a rematch for their titles, and were subsequently challenged by Carmella and Dana Brooke, against whom they defended the titles on SmackDown two weeks later. On the May 18 episode of Raw, Bliss and Cross retained their titles against the IIconics via disqualification, after losing to them in a non-title match the week prior. On the June 6 episode of SmackDown, the duo lost their titles to the team of Bayley and Sasha Banks, making their reign end at 62 days yet again. At Backlash, Bliss and Cross were unsuccessful in regaining their titles in a triple threat tag team match also involving The IIconics, as Banks managed to roll up Bliss for the win.
At The Horror Show at Extreme Rules, Bliss appeared to Braun Strowman, luring him into a trap set by Bray Wyatt. It's unknown why Bliss appeared in that moment, but it's theorised that she may be some visual representation of "Sister Abigail", a character featured prominently in the history of Bray Wyatt.
To continue the prior mentioned event, Wyatt, attacked Bliss using the mandible claw on the July 31 edition of Smackdown.

Other media

Bliss is a playable character in WWE 2K17, WWE 2K18, WWE 2K19, and WWE 2K20.
On July 24, 2017, it was announced that Bliss would be joining the seventh season of Total Divas. She is also a recurring guest on Xavier Woods' YouTube channel UpUpDownDown, where she goes by the nickname Miss Bliss. In November 2019, she defeated Cesaro, Rusev, and The Miz in the finals of a Brawlhalla tournament to win Cesaro's UpUpDownDown Championship, but she immediately lost the title to Tyler Breeze in Saturday Night Slam Masters.
In early 2020, Bliss appeared in the music video for a song by Bowling for Soup, having previously cited them as her favorite band.
On June 23, 2020, Bliss confirmed her long rumored WWE podcast, which is titled "Uncool with Alexa Bliss" and will debut in July 2020

Filmography

Personal life

Kaufman has been an avid fan of Disney since the age of three, which she attributes to her family's annual trips to Walt Disney World despite their low income at the time. She enjoys cosplaying, which has inspired many of her wrestling outfits such as Freddy Krueger, Harley Quinn, Iron Man, The Riddler, Supergirl, and Chucky. She also supports her hometown Columbus Blue Jackets. She has cited Trish Stratus and Rey Mysterio as her influences in wrestling. She has a pet pig named Larry Steve.
Kaufman was previously engaged to Australian wrestler Buddy Murphy. They split up in early 2018, but remain friends.

Championships and accomplishments