Kimber Lee

Early life

Frankele was born and raised in Seattle, Washington. Originally aspiring to be a dancer, she trained in dance from an early age. She first became interested in professional wrestling as a teenager, and cites Chyna as her inspiration.

Combat Zone Wrestling (2011–2014)

After moving to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to attend college, Frankele began training at the Combat Zone Wrestling Academy. The first woman to graduate from the school, she debuted as a wrestler in 2011, using the ring name Kimber Lee. Her first match for Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) came on October 9, 2011, in which she defeated Austin Uzzie in an intergender match. In February 2012, she defeated Nevaeh, before losing to Alex Colon. In June 2012, Lee joined Drew Gulak's faction, A Campaign for a Better Combat Zone. As part of the faction, Lee and Gulak feuded with Greg Excellent, defeating him and Mia Yim in a mixed tag team match in September. Two months later, Lee defeated Excellent in a singles match, before Excellent and Momma Excellent defeated Lee and Gulak. Throughout 2013 and 2014, Lee continued to compete in CZW, participating in both women's and intergender matches. She faced wrestlers including Neveah, Christina Von Eerie, Candice LeRae, Alexxis Nevaeh, and Jessicka Havok in women's singles and tag team matches.

Women Superstars Uncensored (2012–2016)

Lee first began competing for Women Superstars Uncensored (WSU) in April 2012; as part of the promotion's J-Cup Tournament, she lost to Athena. That same month, she formed a tag team with Annie Social, with the pair losing their first match together to Rick Cataldo and Ezave Suena. At Full Steam Ahead in October, they lost to The Midwest Militia (Allysin Kay and Sassy Stephie). In May 2013, Lee entered the WSU Queen and King of the Ring tournament alongside Drew Gulak. They defeated Devon Moore and Mickie Knuckles and Ohio is for Killers (Nevaeh and Jake Crist) en route to the final, where they lost to AR Fox and Athena. Beginning to use the tag team name Chicks Using Nasty Tactics, Lee and Social defeated Jessie Brooks and Veda Scott to become the number one contenders to the WSU Tag Team Championship in August. On February 8, 2014, they defeated The Midwest Militia to win the WSU Tag Team Championship, and successfully defended the title against Christina Von Eerie and Nevaeh the same night. In May 2014, Lee and Gulak entered the Queen and King of the Ring tournament for the second time, but were eliminated by the World's Cutest Tag Team (Candice LeRae and Joey Ryan) in the semi-finals. After retaining the championship against Rick Cataldo and Veda Scott, they lost it to The Juicy Product (David Starr and JT Dunn) in July 2014, and failed to regain the title in a rematch in September. On February 21, 2015, Chicks Using Nasty Tactics defeated The Juicy Product to win the WSU Tag Team Championship for the second time.on February 13, 2016, they lost the titles to The Fella Twins at the 9th Anniversary Show.

Shine Wrestling (2013–2015)

Lee debuted for Shine Wrestling at their sixth show in January 2013, where she lost to Nikki Roxx. At Shine 12, she lost to Kimberly. Lee formed a tag team with Cherry Bomb, briefly called Team Combat Zone before being renamed The Kimber Bombs. She returned in February 2014 at Shine 17; The Kimber Bombs participated in the tournament to determine the inaugural Shine Tag Team Champions, but were eliminated in the first round by eventual winners The Lucha Sisters (Leva Bates and Mia Yim). The Kimber Bombs continued to compete in tag team competition, defeating the S-N-S Express (Sassy Stephie and Jessie Belle Smothers) at Shine 21, and unsuccessfully challenged Legendary (Malia Hosaka and Brandi Wine) for the Shine Tag Team Championship at Shine 23. In a rematch at Shine 25 on March 6, 2015, The Kimber Bombs won the championship.however at Shine 30 on October 2, 2015, they had to vacate the titles due to Cherry Bomb's shoulder injury.

Shimmer Women Athletes (2013–2016)

In April 2013, Lee made her debut for Shimmer Women Athletes at Shimmer 53. In October 2013, The Kimber Bombs unsuccessfully challenged 3G (Kellie Skater and Tomoka Nakagawa) for the Shimmer Tag Team Championship. Throughout 2014, The Kimber Bombs continued to compete in Shimmer's tag team division against teams including Leva Bates and Veda Scott, Ray and Leon, Bambi Hall and KC Cassidy, and The Buddy System (Heidi Lovelace and Solo Darling). On April 11, 2015, The Kimber Bombs defeated 3G to win the Shimmer Tag Team Championship. They lost the title to Evie and Heidi Lovelace on June 26, 2016.

Chikara (2014–2016)

Lee made her Chikara debut at King of Trios 2014: Night 1 in September 2014 as Princess KimberLee. She had previously made several appearances in Chikara's "Wrestling Is" sister promotions in 2013 and into 2014, both as a wrestler and temporarily as a valet for "Knight Eye for the Pirate Guy", the team of Jolly Roger & Lance Steel, whom she would eventually team with at the King of Trios tournament, losing in the first round to Gekido. She would later wrestle her first Chikara singles match, against Missile Assault Ant, in a losing effort.

2015 would become a much bigger year for the Princess, as she would partake in a 10-man match in the season debut event. When the new "Challenge of the Immortals" double round-robin tournament was announced, she was picked as one of the ten team captains, much to everyone's surprise given her rookie status. She then drafted what many considered to be a very motley crew as her team, in the form of her friend Jervis Cottonbelly and the previously comedic "jobber" duo of Los Ice Creams. This team were the definite underdogs of the tournament, spending multiple months without a win. But about midway through the tournament, inspired by Lee's leadership, they started picking up wins, and eventually went on a major surprise winning streak to close the season, bringing them within a stone's throw of being one of the final two teams. After the points-leader "Dasher's Dugout" had to forfeit their points, that put KimberLee's "Crown and Court" team in the finals.

On December 5, 2015, at the season finale "Top Banana", "Crown & Court" won the Challenge of the Immortals tournament, defeating the monster "Wrecking Crew" team in the process. Later in the night, she then cashed in her "Golden Opportunity" after the main event, going on to defeat Hallowicked to win the Chikara Grand Championship. With the win, she became the first female wrestler to hold the top title in a major non-female promotion. She lost the title back to Hallowicked on May 30, 2016.

NXT (2016–present)

On the December 7, 2016, episode of NXT, Laith was introduced as a jobber wrestling under the ring name Kimber Lee and losing to Ember Moon. Later that month, it was reported that she had signed with WWE and would start with the company in January 2017.

On January 4, 2017, it was officially announced that Frankele signed with WWE. Laith made her in-ring debut under her real name on January 14, 2017, during an NXT live event competing in a tag-team match along with Dori Prange losing to Aliyah and Liv Morgan. Laith made her televised in-ring debut on the April 12, episode of NXT, losing to Ruby Riot. On the May 3 episode of NXT, Laith participated in a number one contender's battle royal for Asuka's NXT Women's Championship, where she was eliminated by Ruby Riot. In June, Frankele was given the new ring name Abbey Laith.

Mae Young Classic (2017)

On June 22, Laith was announced as one of the 32 participants competing in the Mae Young Classic. On August 28, Laith defeated Jazzy Gabert in the first round. On September 4, she defeated Rachel Evers in the second round, before being eliminated that same day in the quaterfinals by Mercedes Martinez.

Personal life

Frankele graduated from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 2013, with a fine arts degree in dance.

In wrestling

Championships and accomplishments