Carmella American Professional Wrestler From Worcester

Early life

Carmella, whose real name is Leah Van Dale, was born on 23 October 1987 in Massachusetts. She is the daughter of Paul Van Dale, a former mixed martial artist who also worked as a professional wrestler for the World Wrestling Federation in the 1980s and 1990s, which makes her a second-generation wrestler.

She graduated from David Prouty High School in 2006 and earned a bachelor's degree in marketing from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth in 2010. Before wrestling she worked as a cheerleader for the New England Patriots for three seasons, ending in 2010, and then danced for the Los Angeles Lakers as a Laker Girl during the 2010-11 season. In 2010 she applied for the WWE reality competition Tough Enough but withdrew when she was accepted by the Lakers.

Career

Van Dale signed with WWE in June 2013 and was sent to the developmental brand NXT in Florida, where she took the ring name Carmella. On screen she began as a hairdresser in comedy segments with Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady and became their manager. She made her in-ring debut in October 2014. In January 2016 she won a battle royal to become the top contender to Bayley's NXT Women's Championship, but lost that title match in February.

She joined the SmackDown roster after the July 2016 draft. In June 2017 she was declared the winner of the first women's Money in the Bank ladder match, then lost the briefcase and regained it by winning a second match later that month. On 10 April 2018 she used the contract to defeat Charlotte Flair for the SmackDown Women's Championship, the first time a woman had successfully cashed in the briefcase in WWE. She held the title for 131 days and defended it against Flair and Asuka before losing it at SummerSlam on 19 August 2018. By WWE's count, she kept the briefcase for 287 days, longer than any wrestler before her, and the record is recognised by Guinness World Records.

From late 2018 she managed R-Truth. As a pair they won the second season of the Mixed Match Challenge, defeating Jinder Mahal and Alicia Fox in the final in December 2018. In 2019 she won the WrestleMania Women's Battle Royal and, later that year, held the WWE 24/7 Championship, which she won by pinning Truth. She held that title four times in total.

In 2020 she introduced an "Untouchable" persona on SmackDown. After the 2021 draft she moved to Raw and teamed with Queen Zelina, and the two won the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship in November 2021. They lost the titles at WrestleMania 38 in April 2022. After an injury at a live event in August 2022 she returned in January 2023 and competed in the women's Elimination Chamber match, then went on a break from in-ring work in March 2023. Her WWE contract expired in February 2025, ending a tenure of nearly twelve years. On 1 September 2026 she announced her retirement from wrestling.

Recognition

Carmella has held the WWE SmackDown Women's Championship once, the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship once (with Queen Zelina) and the WWE 24/7 Championship four times. Her other WWE honours include the 2017 Women's Money in the Bank match, the 2019 WrestleMania Women's Battle Royal and the second season of the Mixed Match Challenge, won with R-Truth. In 2018 she was ranked number seven in the Pro Wrestling Illustrated Women's 100 list, and she received the Women's Wrestling Fan Award for Most Improved Wrestler of the Year that year.

Public roles

She joined the reality series Total Divas as a main cast member in 2017 and became a series regular again in 2019. She is a playable character in several WWE 2K video games, starting with WWE 2K17. In June 2020 she began hosting the weekly podcast Bare With Us with Corey Graves, and in February 2020 she launched a wine label called Capo Cagna. She is also a certified fitness instructor and personal trainer.

Personal life

Van Dale married the WWE commentator Corey Graves on 7 April 2022. The two had begun a relationship in 2019.