Trinity Fatu (née McCray; born November 30, 1987) is an American wrestler, actress, model, dancer and singer signed to WWE, performing on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Naomi.
In August 2009, McCray signed with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and was assigned to its past developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), where she was the inaugural FCW Divas Champion. In August 2010, she competed in the all-female third season of NXT, where she came in second place. In January 2012, she made her main roster debut alongside Cameron, forming The Funkadactyls. Since July 2013, Naomi has appeared as one of the main cast members of the reality television series Total Divas.
In February 2017, Naomi won the WWE SmackDown Women's Championship at the Elimination Chamber event, becoming the first African-American woman to capture the title. After vacating the title due to injury, Naomi regained the championship two months later at WrestleMania 33 and became the inaugural winner of the WrestleMania Women's Battle Royal at the following year's WrestleMania.
Video Naomi (wrestler)
Early life
McCray was born in Sanford, Florida. She was a cheerleader and dancer for the NBA Orlando Magic basketball team franchise from 2007 to mid-2009. She also starred as a background dancer for rapper Flo Rida.
Maps Naomi (wrestler)
World Wrestling Entertainment/WWE
Florida Championship Wrestling and NXT (2009-2011)
In August 2009, McCray signed a contract with WWE, where she reported to their then-developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW). She made her in-ring debut in October, where she and Alex Riley lost to AJ Lee and Brett DiBiase in a mixed tag team match. On the June 20, 2010 episode of FCW TV, Naomi defeated Serena Deeb to become the inaugural FCW Divas Champion. On the August 29 episode of FCW TV, Naomi competed in a match against Lee, where both the Queen of FCW title and the FCW Divas Championship were on the line, which ended in a double count-out. On the August 31 episode of NXT, it was announced that Naomi would be part of the all-female third season of NXT, with Kelly Kelly as her pro. Naomi debuted on the September 7 episode of NXT, where she teamed with Kelly to face fellow rookie Maxine and Alicia Fox in winning effort after Naomi pinned Maxine. On the September 21 episode of NXT, she teamed with Kelly and Jamie Keyes, defeating Layla, Michelle McCool, and Kaitlyn. On the October 26 episode of NXT, Naomi defeated Maxine in a singles match. On November 30, Naomi lost the competition to Kaitlyn, placing second in the season. On the January 23, 2011 episode of FCW TV, Naomi dropped the championship to Lee.
The Funkadactyls (2012-2014)
On the January 9, 2012 episode of Raw, Naomi made her main roster debut alongside Cameron as valets for the returning Brodus Clay, where the duo was dubbed The Funkadactyls. On the TLC pre-show on December 16, Naomi scored a victory in a Santa's Little Helpers battle royal, earning a match against Divas Champion Eve later that night, where she was defeated by Eve.
On the March 15, 2013 episode of SmackDown, The Funkadactyls were attacked backstage by The Bella Twins, starting a feud between the two teams. It was announced on March 27 that The Funkadactyls, Clay, and Tensai, collectively known as Tons of Funk, was set to face Team Rhodes Scholars (Cody Rhodes and Damien Sandow) and the Bella Twins in an eight-person mixed tag team match at WrestleMania 29. After the match was cut due to time constraints, it instead took place the following night on Raw, with Tons of Funk coming out victorious. On the August 26 episode of Raw, Naomi was ringside for a match between Natalya and Brie Bella alongside the cast of Total Divas, which ended with Divas Champion AJ Lee coming out and cutting a worked shoot promo directed at the women. On the September 15, Naomi competed against Natalya, Brie Bella, and Lee in a fatal four-way match for the Divas Championship at Night of Champions, where Lee retained the title. The cast of Total Divas went on to defeat Lee, Alicia Fox, Aksana, Kaitlyn, Rosa Mendes, Tamina Snuka and Summer Rae) in a traditional elimination tag team match at Survivor Series as well as a rematch on the following night on Raw. On December 15 at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, Naomi, Cameron and Tensai abandoned Clay due to his attitude, effectively disbanding Tons of Funk.
In January 2014, Naomi received a push, facing the Divas Champion Lee in various matches. On the February 3 episode of Raw, Naomi suffered a legitimate displaced fracture of the orbital bone during a match against Aksana. She returned on the March 17 episode of Raw, teaming with Cameron to defeat Lee and Snuka in a tag team match. On April 6 at WrestleMania XXX, Naomi competed in the Vickie Guerrero Invitational match for the Lee's Divas Championship, where Lee successfully retained her title. On the June 17 episode of Main Event, Naomi defeated the new Divas Champion Paige in a non-title match, which led to a championship match at Money in the Bank, in which Naomi was defeated. On the July 7 episode of Raw, Cameron and Naomi lost to Lee and Paige in a tag team match, which caused a brawl to ensue between Cameron and Naomi, officially disbanding The Funkadactyls. After weeks of interfering in each other's matches, Naomi and Cameron faced off on the Battleground pre-show, where Cameron was victorious after she grabbed Naomi's tights. On August 30, Naomi announced on that she had been out of action following minor surgery on her orbital bone. After making her return, Naomi went on to secure victories over Cameron on the September 15 episode of Raw and on the October 9 episode of Superstars. At Survivor Series, Naomi participated in a traditional elimination tag team match, where she eliminated Cameron before eventually pinning Paige to get the win for her team in a clean sweep.
Women's Revolution (2014-2016)
In December, Naomi became involved with The Usos' feud with The Miz, in which Naomi and Jimmy Uso's real-life relationship was acknowledged on-screen. The Miz then began offering to help further Naomi's musical career as well as showing some hints of flirtation, much to Jimmy's dismay. On the December 16 episode of Super SmackDown Live, Naomi competed against Nikki Bella for the Divas Championship, where she lost the match after Jimmy Uso caused a distraction due to his anger of The Miz being present. On the December 29 episode of Raw, she celebrated with her husband and brother-in-law after the Usos won their second WWE Tag Team Championship from The Miz and Damien Mizdow. The storyline continued with Alicia Fox joining The Miz and Mizdow after she attacked Naomi backstage, leading to a series of mixed tag team matches, where Naomi and the Usos repeatedly lost. At Fastlane, Naomi was ringside when The Usos dropped the WWE Tag Team Championship to Tyson Kidd and Cesaro. The following night on Raw, The Usos lost a rematch for the title after a distraction provided by Natalya. On the February 26 episode of SmackDown, Naomi was defeated by Natalya in a singles match. On March 29, she accompanied The Usos during their match on the WrestleMania 31 pre-show, in which they unsuccessfully challenged Kidd and Cesaro for the WWE Tag Team Championship.
On the March 30 and April 6 episodes of Raw, Naomi pinned the Divas Champion Nikki Bella. On the April 13 episode of Raw, Naomi participated in a battle royal to determine the number one contender to the Divas Championship, where she was defeated. After the bout, Naomi attacked Paige for eliminating her to ultimately win the match, turning heel for the first time in her career. After the announcement that Paige had been injured following the attack, Naomi was granted a match against Bella for the title at Extreme Rules, where she failed to win after interference from Brie Bella. In May, Naomi formed an alliance with the returning Tamina. The duo went on to compete in a tag team match against The Bella Twins at Payback, which Naomi and Tamina won. On the May 18 episode of Raw, Naomi competed in another championship match against Nikki Bella, where Bella retained the title after Tamina caused a disqualification. After Paige returned, a triple threat match was made between Naomi, Paige and Nikki Bella at Elimination Chamber, however she once again failed to capture the title.
On the July 13 episode of Raw, after weeks of the Divas division being dominated by The Bella Twins and their ally Alicia Fox for weeks, Stephanie McMahon called for a "Divas Revolution," subsequently introducing the debuting NXT Women's Champion Sasha Banks to align with Naomi and Tamina, as well as Charlotte and Becky Lynch to align with Paige, leading to a brawl between the three teams. The three teams ultimately facedoff in a three team elimination match on August 23 at SummerSlam, which was won by Team PCB. Naomi, Tamina and Sasha Banks, known as Team B.A.D. remained together throughout the rest of the year. On the February 1, 2016 episode of Raw, Banks announced her departure from the team, which caused Naomi and Tamina to attack her, officially disbanding the team. The feud continued throughout February, culminating in a tag team match at Fastlane, where Naomi and Tamina lost to Banks and her partner Lynch. On the WrestleMania 32 pre-show, Naomi and Tamina teamed up with Lana, Emma, and Summer Rae in a 10-Diva tag team match against Brie Bella, Paige, Fox, Eva Marie, and Natalya, where Naomi's team was defeated. In early May, Tamina underwent knee surgery in order to repair torn ligaments while Naomi became inactive due to a torn ankle tendon, ending their partnership.
SmackDown Women's Champion (2016-2017)
Following a hiatus due to injury and shooting The Marine 5: Battleground, Naomi was drafted to the SmackDown brand as part of the 2016 WWE draft on July 19. She made her first appearance on the July 26 episode SmackDown Live in an in-ring segment involving all of the women of the brand. On the August 16 episode of SmackDown Live, Naomi debuted a new style, entrance, and theme, establishing herself as a face for the first time in over a year. On August 21 at SummerSlam, Naomi competed in a six-woman tag team match alongside Becky Lynch and Carmella against Natalya, Alexa Bliss, and Nikki Bella, where Naomi's team was defeated after Bella pinned Carmella. On September 11 at Backlash, Naomi competed in a six-pack elimination challenge to determine the inaugural WWE SmackDown Women's Champion, where she would eliminate Bliss before she herself was eliminated by Natalya. Naomi was revealed as Bliss's opponent replacing the injured Lynch at No Mercy, where she was victorious. On November 20, Naomi competed as part of the SmackDown women's team against the Raw women's team at the Survivor Series pay-per-view, where Naomi's team was defeated.
After two months of inactivity, Naomi made her return on the January 24, 2017 episode of SmackDown Live, igniting a feud with Bliss. She went on to pin Bliss in tag team matches on two separate occasions at the Royal Rumble and on SmackDown Live. On February 12, Naomi competed against Bliss at Elimination Chamber, where she was victorious, becoming the SmackDown Women's Champion for the first time in her career as well as the first African-American woman to capture the title. The following Tuesday, she was forced to relinquish the title due to a legitimate injury she sustained during the match. On April 2, Naomi made her in-ring return in a six-pack challenge in her hometown of Orlando at WrestleMania 33, where she made Bliss submit, successfully regaining the SmackDown Women's Championship. Two days later, Naomi defeated Bliss in a rematch to retain the championship, ending the feud between the two. On the April 18 episode of SmackDown Live, Naomi was defeated by Charlotte Flair in a non-title match, resulting in Flair earning a match for the SmackDown Women's Championship the following week, which ended in a no contest after an interference by Natalya, Carmella, and Tamina. On May 21, Naomi, Flair, and Lynch were defeated by Natalya, Carmella, and Tamina in a six-woman tag team match at Backlash. On June 18, Naomi defeated Lana to retain the SmackDown Women's Championship at Money in the Bank. She then went on to retain the title over Lana two more times on the June 27 and July 4 episodes of SmackDown Live. In July, Naomi debuted a customized title belt with glow-in-the-dark lights of various colors. On August 20 at SummerSlam, Naomi dropped the SmackDown Women's Championship to Natalya, ending her reign at 140 days. On November 19 at Survivor Series, Naomi competed in a 5-on-5 elimination tag team match, where she eliminated Raw team captain Alicia Fox, before she herself was eliminated by Sasha Banks, with her team ultimately losing the match.
Various accomplishments (2017-present)
On January 28, 2018, Naomi competed in the inaugural 30-woman Royal Rumble match at Royal Rumble, where she was tossed out of the Rumble onto a pile of Superstars at ringside and ended up on the ringside barricade, still not having touched the arena floor. Desperate to stay in the bout, Naomi tightrope-walked along the barricade, commandeered special guest ring announcer Maria Menounos' chair at ringside and propelled herself forward with her feet on the chair and her hands on the floor. However, once she got back in the ring, she was eliminated by Nia Jax. At WrestleMania 34, Naomi went on to win the inaugural WrestleMania Women's Battle Royal by last eliminating Bayley. On the May 22 episode of SmackDown, Naomi qualified for the 2018 women's Money in the Bank after defeating Sonya Deville. However, she failed to win the match.
Other media
Since July 2013, Naomi has been a main cast member on the reality television show Total Divas produced by WWE and E!. In May 2014, Naomi released her first single song entitled "Dance All Night", and the accompanying music video was released on WWE's YouTube channel. In December 2014, she announced that she would not be part of the second half of season three that aired January 2015 to March 2015. On April 1, 2015 a press release stated that she would be returning as a main cast member for season four. However, on September 9, she revealed on her Twitter account that she would not be returning for the show's fifth season. On April 6, 2016, it was confirmed that Naomi was set return to the show as a main cast member for the sixth season.
Naomi made her in-game debut in WWE '13 as an NPC along with her then-tag team partner Cameron, appearing during Brodus Clay's entrance and winning celebration, as well as in WWE 2K14. She later appeared as a playable character in WWE 2K15, WWE 2K16, WWE 2K17, WWE 2K18 and WWE 2K19.
Personal life
McCray and longtime boyfriend Jonathan Fatu, best known by his ring name Jimmy Uso, were married in Maui on January 16, 2014. Through their marriage, she is a member of the Anoa?i family, a renowned Samoan-American wrestling dynasty. The couple resides in Pensacola, Florida. She is the stepmother to Fatu's two children.
Filmography
Live Tours
Television
Championships and accomplishments
- Florida Championship Wrestling
- FCW Divas Championship (1 time, inaugural)
- FCW Divas Championship Tournament (2010)
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- Ranked No. 7 of the top 50 female wrestlers in the PWI Female 50 in 2015
- Wrestling Observer Newsletter
- Worst Feud of the Year (2015) Team PCB vs. Team B.A.D. vs. Team Bella
- Worst Worked Match of the Year (2013) with Cameron, Eva Marie, JoJo, Natalya, and The Bella Twins (Brie Bella and Nikki Bella) vs. AJ Lee, Aksana, Alicia Fox, Kaitlyn, Rosa Mendes, Summer Rae, and Tamina Snuka on November 24
- WWE
- WWE SmackDown Women's Championship (2 times)
- WrestleMania Women's Battle Royal (2018, inaugural)
- Slammy Award (1 time)
- Best Dance Moves of the Year (2013) - with Cameron as The Funkadactyls
References
External links
- Naomi on WWE.com
- Naomi on Twitter
- Trinity Fatu on IMDb
- Official website
- Naomi's profile at Cagematch.net, Wrestlingdata.com, Internet Wrestling Database
Source of article : Wikipedia
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