Key Takeaways
- This feature tracks Chelsea Green’s grind from a Calgary fitness kid to becoming WWE’s Interim Women’s Champion after winning a stacked SummerSlam 2026 ladder match.
- It highlights her evolution through multiple ring names and promotions—Jaida on the Canadian indies, Laurel Van Ness in Impact, Reklusa in Lucha Underground, and her early WWE TV and Tough Enough appearances.
- The piece also covers her setbacks and glow-ups, from two brutal wrist breaks and a 2021 WWE release to her 2023 return, Women’s Tag Title run, and history-making reign as the inaugural WWE Women’s United States Champion.
On Sunday, August 2, 2026, Chelsea Green earned her ESPN Moment of the Night during WWE SummerSlam Minnesota’s Sunday card, where she became the Interim WWE Women’s Champion after besting Charlotte Flair, Jade Cargill, Tiffany Stratton, and Lash Legend in a ladder match. The match, which was set up due to WWE Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley having to be out after knee surgery; WWE decided to fill the void by having another Superstar carry the championship in an “interim” capacity, which is the perfect scenario to stir the pot.
Enter Chelsea Green, a dynamo who’s been gaining steam and support from the WWE Universe, waiting in the wings to seize her opportunity. Her win shouldn’t have been a suprise; Green is the inaugural WWE Women’s United States Champion. This is kind of what she does!
For those out there who may not be up on Chelsea’s 12-year journey to this moment, here’s a quick look at how she got here. This is everything you need to know about WWE Superstar Chelsea Green.
Chelsea Green didn’t plan on becoming a wrestler
“I was always very interested in fitness,” Green told VICE in 2017. “I played a lot of sports growing up. I didn’t grow up with wrestling. I didn’t know anything about wrestling. I lived in Calgary, and a lot of old WWE, WWF and WCW guys went through Calgary—whether to train or to work on the independent scene. When I lived there, I became immersed in all of this wrestling talk and it sparked my curiosity.“
Green spoke about her first experience training at Lance Storm’s Storm Wrestling Academy in Canada in a recent interview with Den of Geek. “I stepped in that ring and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is what I was meant to do.'”
Green made her in-ring debut on May 31, 2014 for Elite Canadian Championship Wrestling under the name Jaida.
Chelsea Green has wrestled under a few different names
Green (who is actually Chelsea Cardona after marrying fellow wrestler Matt Cardona in 2021) started out wrestling as Jaida before going by Chelsea or Chelsea Green in the fall of 2015; she was Chelsea Green throughout her 2016 excursion to Stardom in Japan.
Though she debuted for TNA as Chelsea, by the fall of 2016, Green was wrestling in Impact Wrestling as Laurel Van Ness, a name she held through becoming Impact Knockouts Champion in 2017.
Feeling that she might be WWE bound, Green let her TNA contract expire, and did wrestle during the Season 4 tapings for the popular series Lucha Underground as Reklusa.
Chelsea Green wrestled Pena in Lucha Underground
Yes, you read that right. In Lucha Underground, intergender wrestling did take place, and for one match, Reklusa took on Penta Dark, the former WWE Intercontinental Champion’s moniker at the time.
Green reflected on the bout with 93.7 The Fan earlier this year. “It was awesome,” Green remembered. “I came to the back, the boys were like ‘oh my god, that was great,’ then I got on a plane and went to the next show and I didn’t think anything of it. Now, years removed from it, now I’m like ‘Damn, that was really badass.’ That might be one of the matches that I’m known best for. That’s crazy to me because in the moment, I was just doing my job. There’s no difference to me whether I’m wrestling in front of 20 people or 20,000, a man, a woman, I’ve done it all in my career. I don’t do anything different, but then years later I realize that it made an impact or that people felt a certain way.”
Green isn’t the only current member of WWE’s women’s division who wrestled Penta on Lucha Underground; IYO Sky—known then as Hitokori—had an insane bout as well.
Chelsea Green made her first WWE TV appearance in 2014
If you pay attention to independent wrestling, when WWE hits certain towns, you may spot some dope indie talent portraying different roles on WWE TV. That’s what happened to Green, who in 2014 appeared on Raw as Megan Miller, a physical therapist for Daniel Bryan. She was there to say that Bryan and her had been having an affair for some time; it was all a part of Brie Bella and Stephanie McMahon’s ongoing feud, with Megan essentially being a pawn used to torment Brie.
In 2015, Green competed on Season 6 of Tough Enough, placing fourth.
Chelsea Green broke her wrist during her first NXT TV match
By October of 2018, Green had tried out for NXT and was reporting to the WWE Performance Center. Green was already wrestling at live events that month, but during her in-ring debut on NXT TV in March 2019, Green suffered a broken wrist during her match. She had surgery, and finally made her WWE TV debut on a December 2019 episode of Raw, losing to Charlotte Flair before returning to NXT in January 2020.
Green would compete in the 2020 Royal Rumble, and competed on NXT throughout 2020 before being “fired” on-screen, which led to her eventual main roster call up that November, when Green became part of the SmackDown roster.
Chelsea Green got released by WWE in 2021
In a cruel twist of fate, Green’s first tenure on the main roster doesn’t come with many highlights. She was supposed to win a fatal four-way match at Survivor Series 2020, but broke her wrist during the match, so the match was changed. Green was later released from WWE in April 2021.
After making a surprise appearance in Ring of Honor in 2021, Green made her return to Impact Wrestling, wrestling now as Chelsea Green (and competing in matches and storylines with Matt Cardona). During her time in Impact, Green won the Impact Knockouts World Tag Team Championship with Deonna Purrazzo, which they held for 56 days.
Green’s last match was a “win or retire” bout with former WWE Superstar Mickie James, a match Green lost before having a “going home” moment with James and Purrazzo. Why? Because…
Chelsea Green made her return to WWE in 2023
One of the things that always gets notice is being on your grind after being released from WWE. Green hit the ground running, making a name for herself while in Impact, so there was no shock when WWE brought her in as a surprise entrant in the 2023 Royal Rumble. Green’s always had a hardcore group of supporters, so it was cool seeing fans get that surprise return...even if she was eliminated in seconds! (Fun fact: It was Rhea Ripley who quickly eliminated Green.)
That July, Green and Sonya DeVille defeated Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez to win the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship, becoming the first female Tough Enough competitors to win that championship. This was also Green’s first WWE championship win.
Following that win, Green established herself as a big personality on any WWE program she appeared, aligned with Piper Niven (who took on Tag Team Champion duties when DeVille was out due to injury). There were some who’d hope that she’d win a Money in the Bank or something bigger, but really, they just had to wait until the fall of 2024.
Chelsea Green is the inaugural WWE Women’s United States Champion
On the December 14, 2024 edition of WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event, Green won the tournament to become the first WWE Women’s United States Champion, defeating Michin, who was one of her first feuds in NXT. This is Green’s first single’s championship in WWE.
Green immediately became America’s “head of state” (despite being Canadian), with Niven being Green’s Secret Hervice. (Get it?)
During this reign, Green joined forces with “All Ego” Ethan Page to become the AAA World Mixed Tag Team Champions, with each of them holding a singles title as well. It was a glorious run, primarily because Page and Green seem to connect on a different level when it comes to being heels in WWE. It was magic; hopefully they can revisit it soon.
Chelsea Green becomes Interim WWE Women’s Champion
You gotta love how WWE works sometimes; back in 2024, everyone thought Green was going to win the Money in the Bank briefcase, but she ended up taking a spectacular fall through a bunch of tables. Fast forward two years, and Rhea Ripley is out with injury, and SmackDown‘s women’s division needs a world champion. Green had to defeat Kiana James to win her spot in the ladder match, and then hang out through the battle with Flair, Cargill, Stratton, and Legend, literally hanging on until the coast was clear and she could secure the dream she’d been working toward since the early 2010s.
What’s next for Green? That’s up for us to find out on SmackDown. For now, enjoy the reign; it was well earned!
