Melina Perez was born, raised and has lived her entire life in sunny Southern California. The daughter of parents who loved and encouraged her to pursue any path her myriad skills could take her without projecting unfulfilled dreams of their own, Melina spent much of her youth observing her father, a professional boxer and consummate athlete, imprint unspoken lifetime goals in her through his exploits in local gyms, baseball fields, the workplace and home. His examples of dedication, sportsmanship and hard work stay with her to this day as the most influential force behind the many successes she enjoys in all areas of her professional life.
Though she looks at herself in the mirror and just sees “Melina”, fans, friends and family are much more impressed with the stunning beauty she possesses, body, spirit and mind. From early childhood, when it became apparent that the petite little girl would grow into a woman of rare beauty, her mother instilled values in her daughter designed to protect her from the pitfalls of her looks. Naturally affable and positive, innately apt to seek the good in all people, Mom was carefully shrewd to raise her girl with enough positive reinforcement to keep her from becoming jaded or cynical about what could be a very cruel and unforgiving world to the weak of mind.
Mom and Dad experienced the unique gratification of knowing they raised their baby right as they watched Melina excel through her formative years. Throughout grade school, Junior High and High School, she accumulated many friends who were drawn to her as a kind and generous pal. She would literally do anything to make a person who was down recover in convulsions of laughter at a well timed joke, or offer a gift for someone when they were most disadvantaged. Her reflection was that she put the needs of everyone in her life above those of her own, false only in that her friends could never know the rewards that the biblical axiom “do unto others,” truly gave to her.
Prior to her professional wrestling career, Perez was a model, having won a Miss California beauty contest and modelling athletic wear for Nike. In 2000, after talking to Mike Henderson, she decided to become a professional wrestler and enrolled in Jesse Hernandez’s School of Hard Knocks to train. Perez’s pro-wrestling debut was in 2002 on a tour of the independent wrestling scene. She joined a number of California-based promotions such as the Empire Wrestling Federation (EWF), where she wrestled for years under the ring name Kyra, and CRUSH, as Melanie Little Deer. Many EWF officials stated that she had the most natural ability of any woman who came through their school. Perez tried out for WWE’s reality show Tough Enough III. She made the final 21, but was eliminated from the competition in the final cut of the first episode.
She later signed a World Wrestling Entertainment contract in early 2004 and was sent to development territory, Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW).
NAME: Melina Perez
