Welcome to the Era of Elegance!

The Internet Wrestling Community (IWC) was sure it would never happen. The IWC was confident as hell that this would never be a reality. On Sunday, August 24, we have never been so happy to see the IWC be in such a rage...at least the ignorant folks in the IWC, not everyone there. Ash by Elegance defeated Masha Slamovich and then-champion Jacy Jayne at World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Heatwave to win the Total Non-Stop Action (TNA) Wrestling Knockouts World Championship. Going into this event, most expected Jacy to retain her title and head into TNA Bound for Glory as TNA Knockouts World Champion or a slim chance of Masha winning the title back and bringing it home to TNA, with barely anyone thinking Ash had a chance in hell of winning the title. But thanks to some help by her girls of the Elegance Brand (Heather and M by Elegance) and a Rarified Air to Masha, Ash would go on to win her first-ever world championship on a major brand. Because she is also TNA Knockouts World Tag Team Champion, she is a double champion in TNA. The only two women to do that in TNA are Gail Kim and Madison Rayne. Also it was the first time that the TNA Knockouts World Championship was ever defended on a WWE Premium Live Event (PLE) (they were formerly known as Pay Per Views).

 

The most ELEGANT champion in wrestling right now
Credit: TNAWrestling.com

To the IWC, this is gonna hurt your underdeveloped brains, but it's time to face facts...ASH IS THE REAL DEAL. She could have just went back to fitness and been okay having a fitness career again. She could have just stuck with OnlyFans and made a career out of that. She didn't. She can STILL go back to fitness competitions if she wants to. She DOES have an OnlyFans and is doing quite well with it. But she also decide to stick with wrestling and sign with TNA and she put in the work to be better as a character and in-ring performer and the company in return put THEIR trust in her (which is all she wanted from her previous employer: trust in her and her abilities) and now she along with the entire Elegance Brand (The Personal Concierge aka George Iceman, Heather by Elegance aka Heather Reckless, M by Elegance aka Maggie Lee) is one of their top acts in the company, male or female. Make no mistake, Ash was not rewarded for her longevity in the business...she was rewarded for her hard work and dedication to the business. When you make the effort to up your game, you should be rewarded for it. That is something TNA understood for Ash in far less time than WWE did during her entire run with the company. Also, TNA is in the middle of one of the most important times in their company's history with hopes of a massive television deal in the coming weeks. Do you honestly believe they would put their entire division on Ash's back if they didn't believe in her? Spoiler alert: NO, THEY WOULD NOT! Wrestling promoters put their titles, especially their main titles, on people they TRUST, whether short-term or long-term. To put both their singles AND tag titles on her (again, only two others can claim that in that company) shows that TNA has a SERIOUS amount of trust, faith, and respect in Ash. And WWE has clearly gained some respect for her as they allowed Ash's title change on their turf rather than TNA territory and even gave a shoutout to her on their flagship show, WWE RAW, the following night, which is something they are not obligated to do whatsoever, mind you. Hell, they even did a vlog piece on their YouTube channel, so clearly Ash is doing SOMETHING right these days.

The Elegance Brand, draped in GOLD
Credit: WWE.com

It's taken a while but wrestling companies are finally seeing her value, her co-workers and colleagues see her value, and other RESPECTABLE legit wrestling outlets (not I'm not talking about the dirtsheets) see her value as well. THEIR voices matter, not a bunch of uneducated clowns with access to a social media platform like X/Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram or fans that do podcasts out of their mother's basement or little boy caves thinking their voices are relevant when they are in fact the opposite. Ash will forever be known as a WORLD CHAMPION, she had EARNED the right to call herself a world champion, and no amount of crying, complaining, moaning, groaning, and bitching on social media will ever change that. Welcome to the Era of Elegance...shut up and embrace it! 

For more on Ash by 2 Belts, follow her on X/Twitter, Instagram, Threads, TikTok, and OnlyFans (doing a special championship sale over there). Also click here to view more articles we've written on the Undisputed Queen of the Knockouts...and we've written quite a few over the years. 

For more on TNA, follow them on Facebook, X/Twitter, and Instagram and go to their new-look website at https://www.tnawrestling.com. 

From Ash(a) to Ashes to...Flowers?!

In life, everyone has an acquired taste in everything. From music to places to food to muscle preference...to professional wrestlers, ESPECIALLY professional wrestlers. Everyone who is a wrestling fan has a certain type of wrestling style, company and/or wrestler they like, and it can be multiple. Again, everyone is different. But one thing most seem to love in an underdog story or a story of someone who betted on themselves and was able to reach the mountaintop, which has been the case for several lately, more noticeably Timeless Toni Storm in AEW who completely reinvented herself after walking away from WWE and Naomi this past weekend who walked out of WWE 3 years ago, signed with TNA and took a gamble (help raising their stock in the process) and is now on the run of her life in her 2nd stint with WWE. Now I've set the stage for you, let's talk about a woman who was let go by WWE after being their for a decade, doing everything asked of her (which was unfortunately not a lot because of THEM not HER), signs to a different company, completely reinvents herself, shows how good she has become in the ring AND as a character, winning some titles in the process...but no one in the wrestling world seems to care. Of course...we are talking about one half of the current TNA Knockouts World Tag Team Champions, Ash by Elegance, formerly known as Dana Brooke in WWE.

Ash was let go from WWE in September 2023 to the delight of a lot of folks in the dreaded and ignorant as hell IWC (internet wrestling community). She would not be gone from wrestling for long as she would sign with TNA and would appear in the first event under their rebrand to their original name (they were known as Impact Wrestling for a time) at TNA Hard to Kill. No longer Dana, she was now Ash by Elegance with her own Personal Concierge (George Iceman). She only appeared for a few seconds but folks wasted no time calling her a cheap ripoff of Timeless Toni Storm. But we would find out real quick that she was anything but a timeless ripoff. But many folks still don't buy it to this day,  so it is what it is at this point. In her first few months in TNA, they positioned her to be THE top heel for their company as it was evident that she would eventually collide with then-Knockouts Champion Jordynne Grace, which is exactly what happened at Slammiversary 2024 in an underrated match that should have never been underrated in the first place. This was no carry job as both ladies had their working boots on that night. Had that match been Jordynne vs just about anyone else in pro wrestling, folks would have showered it with praise and even had it a Match of the Year candidate, but because it was Ash, folks couldn't care less. The dirtsheets and bloggers who LOVE pointing out when Ash "botches" had absolutely nothing to say regarding what those who DID watch it as Ash's best match of her career. It's like that match never existed. Don't believe us? Search for yourself, Google is free, people. All they will say it Jordynne retained her title that night. Their rematch on August 24 of last year on TNA iMPACT, which was a Match by Elegance (a hardcore match with various elegant objects), was dare I say even better! Check out the match below in its entirety:

After this, Jordynne would move on to other challengers and after dropping the title to Masha Slamovich at Bound for Glory 2024 would eventually sign with WWE, while Ash would take another step in her TNA journey by having Heather Reckless (now Heather by Elegance) join her and eventually winning the TNA Knockouts World Tag Team Championships and adding Maggie Lee (now M by Elegance) to officially form The Elegance Brand. And...as expected, folks began to call them a cheap imitation of The Beautiful People, even though both factions are different. They have clearly jelled well as a cohesive unit and have put on some very good tag team matches. The biggest issue is they seemingly only let them have a real feud with one team, Spitfire (Jody Threat and Dani Luna) who are actually not a team anymore. TNA has not done a good job in establishing a Knockouts tag division during the Elegance Brand's time as champions and but should their opponents on Sunday at Slammiversary 2025 (The Iinspiration aka Cassie Lee and Jessica McKay) become the new tag team champions, something tells me the company will put a bit more effort for THEM than they have for the Elegance Brand, which is not far to Ash, Heather, or M at all. 

Now, her TNA stint isn't the only thing that has elevated her though. She is currently the Boca Raton Championship Wrestling (BRCW) Women's Champion. BRCW is an independent wrestling promotion out of Boca Raton, Florida. But it's her run in World Series Wrestling (WSW), a wrestling promotion in Australia, that has been nothing but all hits and no misses, which includes some of the most brutal matches of her career and in WSW history. If anything, what her TNA run has done is elevated her as a character while her WSW run has elevated her as an in-ring performer. Below are two matches from her WSW run thus far, the first one was when she won the WSW Women's Championship last year for the 1st time and ended up setting the record for longest reign for that title and the 2nd one was when she would begin her 2nd run with the title after losing it (for about 24 hours) earlier this year:

As I've mentioned before, I get that everyone has their preference in pro wrestling. But for the life of me, I have no idea why the majority of fans are flat out AGAINST her. Not her character...the person herself. Seriously...BEING A FAN OF ASH DOES NOT MAKE YOU ANY LESS OF A WRESTLING FAN. IT"S OKAY TO BE A FAN OF HER OR AT BARE MINIUMN APPRECIATE HER WORK! Jordynne Grace has called her "criminally underrated" on social media. Gail Kim has showered her with nothing but praise, calling her a locker room leader and veteran for the TNA Knockouts roster. Others such as Natalya, Charlotte Flair, Naomi, Fallon Henley and others have said nothing but good things about her. Yet the IWC refuses to budge. The dirtsheets, podcasters, bloggers...NONE OF THEM HAVE HER BACK despite her showing these past few years why she is one of the most improved and reliable performers in wrestling right now. We wish wrestling fans would actually THINK for themselves and actually watch her stuff and let their own eyes judge her rather than listen to wrestling podcasters and just take their word for how "bad" she is rather than form their own opinions about her.  I know, I know...I'm asking WAY too much from wrestling fans these days. But for those that actually HAVE watch Ash's career (especially these last couple of years) and can see how far she has come over the past decade, you know she has more than earned her flowers. And we at FitGems Nation are more than happy to give them to her while she is alive and still putting in that work, and we will keep those flowers as nourished and full of life as possible...even if no one in wrestling or wrestling media will. 

For more on Ash, follow her on X/Twitter, Instagram, Threads, TikTok, and OnlyFans (doing free subscription right now, BTW). Also click here to view more articles we've written on Ash over the years.

For more on TNA, follow them on Facebook, X/Twitter, and Instagram and go to https://www.tnawrestling.com and don't forget to watch TNA Slammiversary this Sunday at 8pm Eastern/7PM Central where the Elegance Brand (Ash and Heather by Elegance) will defend the TNA Knockouts World Tag Team Championships against the Iinspiration in what many are calling the most important night in TNA history!

Ash: From Heartbreak to Elegance...and why the journey is far from over

Ever since her WWE release exactly one year ago today (September 21, 2023), TNA (Total Nonstop Action Wrestling) Knockout Ash by Elegance (fka Dana Brooke in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)) has been putting in work in her character development and in-ring skills and has surpassed how she was portrayed in WWE, in our honest opinion. It was never made clearer than during her first-ever World Series Wrestling tour in Australia and during Slammiversary in her first opportunity at a major women's championship in her career. During her WSW tour, she would compete in a singles match on Night One, have a mixed tag match on Night Two, win the vacant World Series Wrestling Women's Championship on Night Three in a fatal-4-way match, and would defend the title in a brutal No Disqualifications (No DQ) match. At TNA Slammiversary in front of the biggest crowd TNA has had in over a decade, Ash would get her first crack at a major women's championship, the TNA Knockouts World Championship, taking on Jordynne Grace, who has been on an historic run since early January. She would fail to win but would win over a lot of folks that have hated and/or doubted her for years...or at least the folks that decided to pay attention to Ash. Yes, despite putting on a four-day, four city tour overseas and having a Match of the Year candidate a few days after, the majority of wrestling fans STILL don't view Ash as a legit performer, and quite frankly, we're getting sick and tired of how the internet fans keep devaluing her. In fact, Ash would have ANOTHER Match of the Year candidate in a Match by Elegance and rather than giving both ladies props, the focus of the majority of the IWC focused on Jordynne. In no way are we talking down on Jordynne, as she is incredible and deserves all the praise she has received this year...we just wish folks would give Ash some praise as well.

2024 was the year of an ELEGANT comeback
Photo credit: TNA Wrestling

If you have followed Ash throughout her career, it has been no secret that she has had a hard time trying to win over the IWC. They constantly putting her down in various ways, from her wrestling to her look. It's like she can't win with them no matter what she does. But we aren't that ignorant. We have seen the hard work Ash has put in in her decade-plus in pro wrestling, whether it be in WWE or now in TNA. Now, can you say she's a late bloomer? Yeah, it's fair to say that she has taken longer to pick up on wrestling that others, but no need to vilify her for that. She has been given crap and has done her best to make it as entertaining as possible. Hell, she made a silly green title in WWE (the 24/7 Championship) have some value in it before they discontinued it under the TKO regime.

We honestly have no clue why the hate for her is so deep when all she has wanted to do is prove that she belongs in pro wrestling. You would THINK that would be appreciated among wrestling fans, but NOPE! They shun her because she didn't go through the traditional way aka "paying your dues in the indies" and it's not right. She has put in the work since her WWE release last year and completely reinvented herself as Ash by Elegance. If you can look at it from a unbiased look, Ash lowkey has had one of the best breakouts years of a non-WWE wrestler due to her character development and match catalog, especially with Jordynne and the WSW tour. We don't know what will awaits her for the rest of 2024 and beyond, but we do hope that one day, folks will stop hating on Ash because it's the cool thing to do and actually THINK for themselves and come to the realization that Ash isn't as bad as dirtsheets and podcaster CLAIM she is. Among the hate and venom she gets, we are proud to give Ash her flowers right now so she has the chance to smell them. 

More elegance to come! The fight is far from over!
Photo credit: TNA Wrestling

For more on Ash, follow her on X and Instagram

Goodbye Dana Brooke…and Thank You

WARNING: This blog post contains NSFW (not safe for work) language. Please read with caution. 

If you haven’t noticed via our social media, we think very little of WWE these days in a positive light. They have done more to make us hate them then love them, especially when the piece of shit known as Vince McMahon slithered his way back to the company as Executive Chairman after being ousted around summer 2022 due to sexual allegations. Anyone with a brain knew he would find a way to screw it up for so many people if he ever got any power back. Hell, his own daughter Stephanie McMahon, who served as co-executive chairperson once he was gone, stepped down once the snake returned. And in quite a bit of shows, we’ve seen his unfortunate influence. We also knew that with him back, some people were unfairly going to lose their jobs, especially due to his orchestrating merging with his buddies Dana White of UFC and Ari Emanuel of Endeavor to form TKO Group. Last week, over 100 WWE office employees lost their jobs due to the merger and you knew the talent would be next. On September 21, talent cuts were made…and unfortunately Dana Brooke was one of several that got the ax.

A woman who has so much more to give in the world of professional wrestling.

She had about a year left in her current contract so OF COURSE the pieces of shit in WWE would not honor that. They demoted her to NXT because they “didn’t have anything for her on RAW”, which we all know is a fucking lie. But it’s WWE, what did you expect from them? Honesty?! 🙄Anyways, her time in NXT let her to rediscover herself as she ended up seemingly feeling rejuvenated, having not only pretty good matches with the NXT roster, but having a STORYLINE and CHARACTER that was interesting, as well as teaming up with a new member of the roster in Kelani Jordan. Things were getting very interesting with Dana seemingly losing her grip on reality and possibly turning on Kelani soon. Unfortunately thanks to the son of a bitch Vince, we will never know what will go down. Every time Dana has had SOMETHING seeming to go her way (turning on Charlotte which was setting up for a massive baby face push, Sexy Muscle Friends with Mandy Sacs (Rose) that was setting up a WWE Women’s Tag Team title opportunity, her 24/7 title shenanigans that seemingly could have paved the way for a women’s midcard title), WWE would cut off her legs right when it was about to get good. And with this, they cut off her legs for good by releasing her (along with several others). But it’s not just Vince that has been a punk ass bitch to Dana. Sam Roberts mentioned on commentary during a match Dana had with Tamina about Tamina being in a bad mood (she’s always in a bad mood, character-wise) but Sam said for no reason that you would be in a bad mood if you had to wrestle Dana. Corey Graves said a couple of years ago right on commentary that Dana needed to get a pink slip a long time ago. And do I even NEED to get into the putrid NXT crowd?! How Dana survived a decade of disrespect and NOT break down…we’ll never know. But we commend her for it.

December 21st will be the day she can sign to any company she chooses to. If it were up to us, we would love to see her go to Impact Wrestling. They have the BEST women’s division in pro wrestling. Everyone means something there and they care about their product, their employees, their roster, and their fans. She can work fewer days and be home with her husband and stepson more while being in a company that actually gives a damn, unlike WWE. She doesn’t have to deal with an old ass piece of shit like Vince and can be who she wants to be. She would have a legit chance to sink or swim on HER OWN TERMS. She would probably be around better fans as well, because that fucking NXT crowd did her no favors. Should she go to Impact, she would have at least two people she knows she can work with: Trinity and Mickie James. Maybe a third if Emma/Tenille Dashwood goes back there. If she wants a brighter spotlight, obviously All Elite Wrestling or Ring of Honor would be the way to go for her. At the moment, we trust ROH more than AEW, but either would be better for WWE for Dana. Hell, ANYTHING is better than WWE at this point.

To us, WWE never deserved Dana Brooke but she deserved an opportunity from them which she never properly got. But now the ball’s in her court. She is no longer part of a company that should have died a long time ago. As of Christmas, she will be free to go where she wants to go and sign with whoever she wants to sign with. For Dana Brooke, playtime is over. But for Ashley Sebera-Diaz, her WWE departure is only the beginning for one of the most hardworking women in the game today.

The world is yours now, Ashley. Take it all! 

Please continue to follow and support Dana/Ashley on Twitter/X and Instagram.

Dana Brooke Back in NXT: Finally Her Chance?

Photos belong to their respective owners. We do not own them. 

We have advocated for Dana Brooke practically her entire WWE career because we feel she has all the tools needed to be a top name in the company. But for whatever reasons (not her fault, BTW) she has yet to obtain any true success in WWE or viewed with any respect by folks. In fact, there are folks out that flat out HATE her for the sole purpose of just hating her. She has done nothing to warrant any of it but they do it anyways. But despite the unwarranted and disturbing hate she gets, Dana still pushes through and to out delight and the haters’ disgust, she’s still employed by the company. And maybe…JUST MAYBE…she is gonna get the chance she’s fighting for for a while with her return to NXT.

June 6: A return that flipped the NXT Women’s Division upside down!

On June 6, NXT had a Number One Contender’s Battle Royal to determine the first challenger for Tiffany Stratton’s NXT Women’s Championship. We thought we knew all the competitors that would be part of it the previous week until earlier in the show, they showed Dana Brooke walking into the NXT arena and talking about how an opportunity was there for the taking and inserted herself into the battle royal, flipping the main event on its head. Dana made it all the way to the final three before she (and Cora Jade at the same time) was eliminated by the eventual winner Thea Hail. That one night, she was presented much better better than most of her career on the main roster. It continued the following week with a well-done video package of Dana highlighting her career (BTW…it did NOT include her Sexy Muscle Friends tag-team with Mandy Rose for…obvious reasons) and an interview of what she is fighting for. Cora Jade interrupted Dana and got slapped…which Dana made sure she got her lick back during Cora’s match with Thea Hail. Because of that, tonight on Night One of NXT Gold Rush, Dana Brooke will have her first singles NXT women’s match since NXT Takeover: Respect as she will take on Cora. If this goes well, she might be on her way to the NXT Women’s Championship and possibly beyond.

If done correctly, Dana could potentially find herself on the road to redemption and finally be a credible superstar. Like we’ve stated before, the fault is not Dans’s own. She has done everything asked of her and THEY have let her down. But now, it seems like the ball’s finally in her corner for the first time ever. Fans have rallied to #GiveDanaAChance. Now…it’s Dana’s turn to seal the deal. This NXT run is not to prove her haters wrong…this is to prove herself and her fans RIGHT. Dana, we rooting for you. Time to remind the world who the hell you truly are, Dana Brooke! 

Is this the chance Dana has FINALLY been fighting for? We shall soon see!

Click here to view every article we’ve ever written about Dana. Also, feel free to follow her on Twitter, Instagram, and Twitter (DanaBrookeWWE), Instagram (ashasebera_danabrooke), and TikTok (ashasebera_danabrooke)!  Also make sure to watch Night One of NXT Gold Rush tonight at 8pm Eastern/7PM Central on the USA Network. 

Dana Brooke Appreciation Night This Wednesday

Photo credit: Those Wrestling Girls

This Wednesday (May 24) is unofficially Dana Brooke Appreciation Night! Why you ask?! Because our good friends over at Those Wrestling Girls will be dedicating their weekly fan club this week on their Twitch channel to our forever queen! You all know how much we appreciate her and it feels good to see a women’s wrestling podcast feel the same way we do about her. 

For those that don’t know who Those Wrestling Girls (TWG) are, here’s a little background: TWG is a wrestling podcast and fan community created in 2018 after WWE Evolution took place. Krista B. and Queen P.R. were so inspired by that event ( BTW, WWE…when the hell is Evolution 2 gonna happen?!) that they decided to take it upon themselves to create TWG and it has grown into more than just a podcast. TWG has become a rapidly-growing fan community that has been a part of many wrestling events these last couple of years, including Wrestlemania and Walemania. They support all women’s wrestling and wrestling in general but they keep it real and don’t sugarcoat things to make people feel better. That is what we love about they talk about Dana. Obviously they love her and are rooting for her, but they keep it real and honest about her. Others unfortunately are just vile and filled with unnecessary hatred toward Dana…not them. TWG treats her with respect.

Each week, they do a live gathering for the TWG community called #TWGFanClub, which focuses on wrestlers and different topics in wrestling, such as wrestling themes, cliches, historic events in wrestling, etc. This week, Dana gets the spotlight and their goal is to make this the biggest Dana Brooke appreciation event social media has ever seen. This will take place this Wednesday night at 7PM Eastern time/6PM Central time on their Twitch channel. If you can’t be there the whole time, just show up when you can once it starts. You can also follow along on Twitter using the hashtag #TWGFanClub. We need to let Dana Brooke know that not everyone in the world (especially in the wrestling world) is against her. She has a very noticeable amount of people cheering for her. Their Twitch account is https://www.twitch.tv/thosewrestlinggirls. 

Dana Brooke, you ARE loved. You ARE appreciated. You DO belong. Let’s us show you that Wednesday night.

Photo credit: WWE

For more on Those Wrestling Girls and ALL of their links to their previous podcast episodes as well as their social media platforms, please visit them at thosewrestlinggirls.com.

#GiveDanaBrookeAChance: The Movement Is Real

This past Friday and Monday was the 2023 WWE Draft and it was determined that Dana Brooke will remain on the Raw brand. Comparing both brands, Smackdown has the heavy hitters while RAW is filled mostly with a bunch of unproven talent. There was a time in 2016 that Smackdown was viewed as the land of opportunity, and it now looks like RAW has that distinction of being the new “land of opportunity” in the women’s division.

On both nights, a fan-driven Twitter movement started by Jugsss (itsmejugal_) using the hashtag #GiveDanaBrookeAChance spread like wildfire and got it trending for a majority of the WWE Draft. Dana unfortunately has a smaller fan base than most ladies, but it didn’t stop from the hashtag trending and starting a wildfire that has united Dana Brooke fans (calling themselves Danamals…cute name) and those that may not be entirely Dana Brooke fans but do want to see her get that long-overdue opportunity. With that being said, we are going to explain how the draft coudn’t have played out any better for Dana if she handled it herself. 

• Wide-open singles roster: Outside of Rhea Ripley and Becky Lynch, the singles division is wide open for the taking, especially with Becky feuding with Trish at the moment. Last year, they build up Liv Morgan into a star and is currently one-half of the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions. They seemingly are doing the same with Zelina Vega (who is on Smackdown). Raw doesn’t have that woman just yet and who better than Dana considering everything she has been through in AND out of the ring these last few years. And if her showings on Main Event (she returns there on Thursday on Hulu against Piper Niven) are any indication, folks are ready to get behind Dana Brooke. WWE has to be the one to pull the trigger. Imagine Dana being built properly enough to win Miss MITB and/or finally change for the RAW Women’s Championship properly. The opportunity is there more than ever before.
• Feud with Trish Stratus: I saw this on Twitter today and it never crossed my mind until then but how crazy would that be for Dana to somehow, someway get involved in a storyline with the GOAT?! It don’t even have to be a long feud either, something to keep Trish busy until possibly Summerslam (when Trish and Becky could have their encounter at) and it would give Dana the biggest rub of her career working with a legend. If Trish were to work with Dana, that would show the brass that she has that much faith in Dana and that would go a long way towards making Dana a made woman.
• An EnD reunion with Emma: This one on Twitter seems to be the most popular one. When Emma was announced to join RAW, a lot of folks rejoiced hoping that both Emma and Dana would potentially reunite and go after tag team gold. It might happen, it might not. But the idea is there…the potential is there. It’s just a matter of if WWE will even bother to revisit it. While RAW does have a good amount of teams for a change, it wouldn’t hurt to add another one and EnD would make sense from the internet fans as they did team up in the past. Based off their past, there’s no way they can ignore it.
• A reunited EnD joining forces with Trish: As I mentioned earlier, a rub by Trish would do wonders for Dana. But rather than face Trish, how about a reunited EnD joining forces with the WWE Hall-of-Famer to make Becky Lynch’s life (and anyone else’s for that matter) a living hell. Imagine Trish mentoring Emma and Dana and all three ladies do what no female faction in WWE (outside of Toxic Attraction) has done…hold gold (Trish with the Raw Women’s title and Emma and Dana with the WWE Women’s Tag Team titles). This was also brought up on Twitter and the more I thought about it…the more I actually like it. 
• Forming a tag-team with someone other than Emma: As i mentioned before, Dana has options to be a big part of Raw these days, and it’s not just limited to teaming with Emma. She could team up with her fellow 24/7 rivals Nikki Cross or Piper Niven, someone who has rallied for her for years in Natalya, or team up with someone she got to know on Main Event very well in Zoey Stark. I mean, it’s there if she wants to!

Bottom line, Dana has options. Dana has more than shown she is ready to take that next team. It’s up to WWE to see this for themselves. Hell, she trended on Twitter on both nights of the draft. That can’t be ignored no matter who you are. WWE, you have no more excuses. The entire company has a clean slate come next Monday thanks to the draft. It’s time to live up to the hashtag and #GiveDanaBrookeAChance!!!

Follow Dana at the following social media accounts:

Twitter: DanaBrookeWWE

Instagram: ashasebera_danabrooke

TikTok: ashasebera_danabrooke

In Dana Brooke We Appreciate

DISCLAIMER: All photos belong to their original owners.

You know…in a world like it is today, you would THINK that folks would get rewarded if that actually WANT to come to work and perform. When you have an employee who is willing to do anything that is asked of them with little to no complaints, one would THINK that they would be rewarded. Someone hasn’t bothered to relay that message to WWE because there is an employee on their payroll that fits exactly that. Her real name is soon to be Ashley Sebera-Diaz. Her WWE performer name…is Dana Brooke.

Over the years, we have shown her praise practically every chance we get. Unlike the wrestling world and the fickle fan base, we have seen and witness her progression over the least near-decade. Was she the best when she first entered the company? Absolutely not. Even we mentioned that in our earlier post about Dana. But you know what she HAS done? Year after year, she has put in the time and effort behind the scenes to make herself a better performer, whether it be in the ring or doing her promos or even how she presents herself in the events she’s on while representing WWE. Over the years, she has experience this thing called GROWTH as an overall performer, and for some reason wrestling “fans” (and i use that term VERY loosely these days) refuse to give her any sort of respect. It’s like it’s a crime to give her any sort of credit for improvement or for actually just being good. But man…the second she makes a mistake, folks are ready call for her job. 

SPEAKING of folks calling for her job…how big of an asshole do you have to be to work in the same company and PUBLICALLY call for her to get her pink slip on national television without any provoking? That is what Corey Graves is…an ASSHOLE. For whatever reason, this son of a bitch has has it out for her for what seems like her entire career. Sam Roberts, a wannabe “journalist”, mentioned on commentary a few years back about Tamina, a fellow WWE Superstar, was miserable (she wasn’t, it’s her persona in WWE) and UNPROVOKED he mentioned that “you would be miserable to if you had to work with Dana Brooke” . BTW…this was said around the time Dana had lost her boyfriend at the time, Dallas McCarver. Not only ignorant but classless to do it at a time like that. Earlier this summer, another wannabe “journalist” Denise Salcedo just about had a damn heart attack and declared the world was coming to an end just because Dana got ONE (JUST ONE) pinfall victory over Becky Lynch (with help from Asuka, BTW). She was literally about to blow a gasket just because of that ONE victory! Funny how others can have that shocking victory and no one whines about it, but Dana gets that ONE unexpected win…and the internet losers declare the world is burning. I know, we should be showing love to the wrestling media that DOES give her her flowers, but that’s the sad thingL There isn’t one. Outside her own fans, there is not one wrestling podcast, blog, social media account, no entity that has ever given her any props. No legend to our knowledge has had her back in any way, shape, or form. That’s why FitGems Nation roots for her as hard as we do because no one else will. If there’s any wrestling entity that doesn’t entirely hate Dana Brooke, we would like to hear from you. We want to know that not EVERYONE is against her. 

Outside of R-Truth (Get well soon, man!), NO ONE outdid Dana Brooke as far as carrying the title with fun and enjoyment. 

Now…let’s talk about why we appreciate Dana Brooke. Like we’ve mentioned before, she has constantly put in the work in the ring as far as doing moves in addition to selling moves. She has mention going to acting classes outside of WWE to improve her promo skills. If you can’t tell how much she has improve on her speaking presentation from her earlier days to now, we don’t know what to say to you. She seems more natural on the mic now and nowhere near as nervous as before. Her run with the now-retired 24/7 Championship helped out with that a lot. In the ring, she has become more fluid with her moves. They look better, more crisp, and they have purpose as to why she does it rather than her just doing moves for moves sake, which she has done in the past. One think she has CLEARLY improved on that even the haters can’t deny is her selling. Dana has made some folks’ finishers looks like a million bucks, which is what you’re supposed to do. In no ways are we calling her the best seller in WWE (she isn’t) but she had gotten pretty damn good in that aspect that some folks that are current champions in the company (Ronda Rousey, looking at you) fail to comprehend. Oh yeah…Dana has done a lot for charity, whether representing WWE or herself, especially when it comes to kids. She has stated multiple times that she believes kids are the future and you can tell they mean a lot to her via her attendance and participation at Be A Star rallies and her own involvement with her future stepson.

We have stated over and over that Dana Brooke is arguably THE most underrated, underappreciated, underutilized, and overhated female in WWE these days, and we have pretty much wrote a mini-novel as to why we say that. Whatever she has been given to do, she do her best to make it work. Hell, she took what was supposed to be a comedy title in the 24/7 Championship and turned in into a defacto midcard women’ title so other ladies can get the spotlight, including Doudrop, Tamina, Alexa Bliss, Carmella, and Nikki Cross, who threw the title in the trash, retiring it and spitting in the face of what Dana was trying to do with the title. 

THIS is who needs to win the Money in the Bank briefcase next year. NO ONE ELSE!

We do hope that one day folks do get the hate and ignorance of their hearts and FOR ONCE give Dana Brooke the flowers she has EARNED over the last few years. We also hope one day that she will get a chance to show the world how talented she really is. And if WWE isn’t careful…it won’t be them that gets to see that. 

For more on Dana, visit her on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok.

#LetDanaFlex: Our Open Challenge to the Wrestling World

DISCLAIMER: THIS ARTICLE IS BASED OFF THE OPINIONS OF THE OWNER OF FITGEMS NATION AND DOES NOT REFLECT THE OPINIONS OF FITGEMS NATION AS A WHOLE. 

Call us crazy, but I feel that when you put the work in, one should reap the benefits from it at some point. For this article, I'm going to focus on wrestling, or more specially WWE, and even MORE specifically a certain WWE Superstar. If you have followed us enough, you probably have a good guess on who that is. As a long-time fan of pro wrestling, I know that every woman in WWE has put in the time, effort, dedication, and hard work to make themselves better, the women's division better, and in general, their company better. While I don't doubt the hard work of any woman in WWE, I truly feel Dana Brooke (real name Ashley Sebera) is among the hardest working women (or person in general) in WWE that has not gotten her due in the company yet, whether by fans, her coworkers, legends, or the company itself. While FitGems Nation loves to talk about Dana as much as we can (especially on our social media accounts), we should NOT be the ones writing this particular article. This should be done by wrestling journalists because wrestling fans are the ones that need to see this more than the fitness world does. But Dana came from the fitness world, where unlike the wrestling world right now, we KNOW her hard work. We RESPECT her hard work. So it's only right that the world gets to understand who Dana is from people that know her best outside of her immediate family, and right now...it sure as hell isn't the world of professional wrestling. 

Five Years of Flex Appeal...and counting! 
Photo credit: Dana's Instagram 

We will be the first to admit Dana didn't exactly set the world on fire during her debut on NXT over five years ago (we actually mentioned that on our blog before). But like every single person who's ever stepped into a wrestling ring, it takes time to mature and evolve. Not one wrestler gets it right the first time. Seriously, check every wrestler's first year (and yes, wrestling fans, we're definitely talking about your favs as well) and tell us just how perfect they were the very first time they stepped in a ring. Most of you couldn't do it. Despite that, today's wrestling fans seemed like they had already made up their mind about how to approach Dana no matter what. She didn't come from a wrestling background, wasn't from the independent wrestling circuit, nor was she international. She entered pro wrestling from a fitness background, which included..yes, modeling. Today's wrestling fans HATE women that come from modeling backgrounds of any kind, despite them putting in the work to try and shatter that overplayed stereotype. I've seen it time and time again over my years being a fan of professional wrestling and it absoultely sucks. 

We want to make this very clear to everyone. We know Dana isn't the best performer in the women's division. We know in-ring wise, she is below the talent of the Four Horsewomen (Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, Sasha Banks, Bayley). We know there are those outside the 4HW in WWE that are better than Dana in the ring. However...it doesn't change the fact that she constantly works on her craft, whether it's her in-ring gear, her moveset, interacting with the crowd (when WWE was actually in front of crowds). I mean, there's no way in hell you can watch Dana over the last couple of years of her career and NOT see her progression, unless you are totally blind or you have THAT deep of a hatred towards her. In no way are we saying that Dana should be the ace of WWE's women's division, but it would be nice to put her in a position in WWE where folks can see what those in the fitness division already know about her...Ashley Sebera the person is special, and the same can be said about the wrestler Dana Brooke. 

No matter where she goes, whether mainstream, behind-the-scenes, or somewhere in between...Dana always finds a way to make an impact!
Photo credit: Dana's Instagram 

Want proof? I got some proof for you all. Take a look at this year's Money in the Bank. Who were people talking about the most during that match? Who was the MVP of that match? Who had folks entertained more than anyone else, male or female? DANA BROOKE. Her comedic antics stole the show, especially the Money in the Bank fake-out. It got folks hoping that she could take a more comedic approach to her persona. How about last year's build to Wrestlemania? Dana got to show her real self to the fans with a passionate promo against then-Raw Women's Champion Ronda Rousey and got a title match with her the following week (which honestly was nothing more than a sham to make Ronda credible for Mania...like she needed that. We will never forgive Vince McMahon for that). At Wrestlemania 35, she competed in the Wrestlemania Women's Battle Royal and got one of the biggest reactions of the night with folks chanting her name and actually going nuts when she eliminated 2/3rd of the Riott Squad by herself before getting elimnated by Mandy Rose, which didn't set well with the fans in attendance, FYI. When Dana was dropped by Charlotte Flair before Wrestlemania 33, Dana went on a ranpage whooping Charlotte's ass with the entire crowd chanting her name without it feeling forced. The next week, they had a match and Charlotte beat her like it was nothing and they dropped it like a bad habit.

If Dana actually was blowing her moments, we wouldn't be having this discussion. But she kills it each time she is given a chance to shine, but WWE for whatever reason or another refuses to follow up on anything she does. Which is why we can't help but have our worries for her new tag-team partnership with fellow fitness star and WWE Superstar Mandy Rose (someone else we think highly of on here). Thus far, their tag team is working and things are clicking so well, but anyone who has followed WWE for a while knows that they have a tendency to drop stuff on the fly without any explanation. And with their track record thoughout Dana's career ALONE, we can't help but be worried for Dana's current direction in the company right now. But maybe for once, they will let this follow through and potentially taste gold for the first time in her career in the form of the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship and maybe eventually the Raw or Smackdown Women's Championship down the line.

Future WWE Women's Tag Team Champions?!
Photo credit: Mandy's Instagram 

She's far from the only person that has suffered from on/off booking in WWE and she definitely won't be the last, but for someone who represents less than 1% of the world's population as an IFBB Fitness Pro, she should be shown in a far better light than what she's currently been given. Dana/Ashley loves WWE, otherwise she wouldn't have signed a five-year extention with them last year rather than explore other options (and trust us, there's a LOT more options now. WWE isn't the only game in town anymore, despite what some in the company wants you to believe). It's time for WWE to love her back. Put her in, folks. Let Dana earn your trust...and this goes to the wrestling fans and critics just as much as it does the company itself. 

LET. DANA. FLEX. 

We've known her greatness for years now. Time for the wrestling world to know it as well.
Photo credit: WWE's InstaStory 

Make sure to follow Dana on her social media accounts:

Her WWE-run Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/WWEDanaBrooke/

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/DanaBrookeWWE 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ashasebera_danabrooke 

TikTok: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMJa2xV7T/

Dana Brooke's Instagram Story Q and A Recap

It's no secret to anyone who has followed us for a while that we are huge fans/supporters of WWE Superstar Dana Brooke. With no disrespect to anyone else in the WWE women's division on Raw and Smackdown Live, we feel that Dana just might be the most underrated woman in WWE right now. For some reason, WWE hasn't pulled the trigger on letting Dana get to be the star we feel she can be. We don't expect any wrestling media to have her back, so we feel being part of the family that gave her a break in the first place (the fitness family), we want to show our support however we can, especially via out social media platforms. While we are aware of the trolls that comment on our stuff saying things like "she is no good", "she sucks", "why don't WWE release her already" and other crap like that, we are thankful for her fans who back her up while not necessarily are fans of OUR industry. Much respect to all the Dana Brooke fans out there.

Photo credit: Dana's Instagram

On March 5th, Dana did a Q and A (question and answer) for her followers on Instagram and she brought up some things we knew and some things we didn't know, so we decided to do a recap of her impromptu Q and A. This is her fifth year as a WWE Superstar (combining both NXT and WWE runs). She was blessed to have a great childhood with her parents and sisters, and the support has been with her ever since. BTW, she loves herself some chocolate. As a kid, she used to wrestle with her dad and stuff animals. Her dad and uncle had wrestling on at the time (wasn't on the Q and A, but I believe she mentioned at one point that Goldberg is one of her favorites. Dana can correct us if we're wrong on that). She was approached to join WWE and doesn't want any "what ifs" in her life, and she feels joining WWE has brought her closer to her dad. Her current favorite moments (memories) thus far is being the first person (male or female) under WWE contract to compete at the Arnold (and doing it twice), Triple H asking her to be Asuka's first opponent in NXT, dressing up at Ric Flair at Extreme Rules 2015, and last year's historic Evolution PPV, the first all-female PPV put on by WWE. Like many NXT alumni, she does miss the brand for the memories she made there, for the late, great Dusty Rhodes, and for simply being "a total badass there". She also would love to compete in the Arnold again and one day step on the Olympia stage. But as of now, her focus is on WWE and hoping to make a name for herself there. Speaking of making a name for herself, she was ask when she would get a shot at the Raw Women's Championship (currently held by Ronda Rousey). She jokingly (but not entirely joking, unfortunately) said that you would need to play as her in a video game (might we suggest WWE 2K19) for her to win it. But she is "hoping and praying after Wrestlemania doors open for her" or she'll "knock them down." (Personally, we hope she goes to Smackdown next month in the Superstar Shakeup and be in the Smackdown Women's title picture. We think she would thrive on Smackdown Live because she is going nowhere on Raw right now with Ronda, Charlotte, and Becky Lynch taking all the spotlight).

Her inspiration was (and we believe still is) Natalya. On Natalya, she said that she's "her biggest inspiration coming into WWE", someone that "always portrayed someone strong and humble". In fact, her first (and favorite) attire (black and pink), was inspired by Natalya and Trish Stratus, another person she looks up to. Trish felt honored when she found that out and give Dana a seal of approval on her Instagram. If Dana had the choice to face anyone at this year's Wrestlemania, it would be current Smackdown Women's Champion Asuka, mainly because she hasn't had her rematch from NXT: Takeover: Respect (yeah, we're not going to mention THAT one time from a couple of years ago that...well, can we even call that a match?!). Prior to WWE, she was a gymnast for 18 years, a diver for 2 years, and a pro fitness competitor for 8 years. She still talks to Tenille Dashwood (her former WWE tag partner Emma) quite a bit. According to Dana, she will always have a special place in her heart. As a matter of fact, she was beside her when she got the news that her boyfriend at the time, Dallas McCarver, passed away. Nice to hear that they still have a tight relationship even after Emma was let go from WWE.

Speaking of Dallas, his passing apparently did affect her more than just the obvious sorrow. She revealed for the first time that she has dealt with body-related self-esteem issues. As mentioned before, she has competed in the fitness division for nearly a decade, and one of the downsides to competing for several people is never feeling good enough. Her end to her fitness competition journey (for the time being, anyways) and the passing of Dallas was too much for her to take, and she did put on weight as a result. She wasn't feeling comfortable in her own skin despite being her heart and soul being the same and her caring for others the same as well. Obviously, she has found herself again as far as fitness is concerned and is looking the best she's had in a long time. Mentally, she has gotten better as well. She was a routine freak (and with her past, you can't really blame her). But she has now adjusted herself to be open for anything and be ready on the fly. She has also found love again, in the form of current NBA star (and aspiring WWE Superstar) Enes Kanter of the Portland Trail Blazers. She enjoys Turkish food and admires his faith, which is something she is deep on herself. In addition to that, they love to workout, do fun sporting activities, eat at healthy restaurants, lay in bed and laugh at silly jokes.

Photo credit: Enes's Instagram

She was asked for advice to give a new wrestler, and she said, "Always try new things! Think of the physiology behind things and story telling of the match! Make the moves mean something" (BTW, she is absolutely correct. Anyone can do a lot of power moves or endless flips, but if they don't push the objective of the storyline, then what's the point?! Make the fans give a damn about what you are going in the ring.) Also she gave advice to those that WANT to be wrestlers: make sure to get an education, which is something she still implements in WWE, especially for training.

What you see with Dana Brooke is what you get with her real-life persona, Ashley Sebera. Strong as they come, mentally and physically with "never ever stop trying" attitudes. The best things that have happened to her have been her toughest moments in life because of what she has learned about herself. In her own words: "Losing someone but learning how strong I was to overcome it! Then giving the strongest love I have in my soul to someone knowing it's ended, but feeling so happy doing it! Being so passionate about a job that sometimes doesn't go your way, but learning perseverance". She was asked in closing "Deep down are you happy" and her response was "I am extremely happy! I'm healthy, I have the best support & living the live God gives me, as long as He wakes me up, we will get through it!"

The fact she has this kind of spirit despite EVERYTHING shows what kind of woman she is and why have no problem supporting her. We do hope that wrestling fans get to know Dana like the fitness world has gotten to know her. To any wrestling sites, if you plan on using any of this article, please credit Dana's Instagram story, not us. We just put it together.

Photo credit: kimberlasskick on Instagram

Don't forget to follow Dana on the following links:

Her WWE Superstars page: http://www.wwe.com/superstars/dana-brooke
Dana's WWE-ran Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WWEDanaBrooke/
Her Twitter: https://twitter.com/DanaBrookeWWE
Her Instagram: https://instagram.com/ashasebera_danabrooke
Her Snapchat: Asha_danabrooke

The Evolution of Dana Brooke

Dana has EVOLVED...and we couldn't be more proud of her!
Photo credit: WWE.com

Evolution: the gradual development of something, especially from a simple to a more complex form.

This weekend's WWE pay-per-view titled WWE Evolution is exactly that. What felt like a dream for fans of the female superstars in WWE is now a reality. For the first time in WWE history, the female superstars get their own pay-per-view. No, we're not stupid, things could have been a TAD bit better in building the event, but the fact that it's even happening in the first place is a big win for the women. While a lot of people have talked about the evolution of the division and some of its top stars, we want to take a little time to focus on someone who we feel is underrated and underappreciated by the wrestling fans and wrestling world as a whole...someone we consider one of our own, Dana Brooke.

Real name Ashley Sebera, Dana will be competing in the Evolution Battle Royal, featuring former champions (Asuka, Nia Jax, Ember Moon), rising stars (such as Mandy Rose, Sonya Deville, the IIconics) and former competitors (such as Ivory, Kelly Kelly, and Michelle McCool) with the opportunity at a future Women's Championship down the line. While obviously we hope Dana wins, we want to take some time to mention why as we focus on Dana's OWN Evolution.

Dana begin her journey to WWE as an aspiring gymnast (part of the Junior Olympics, last we checked) and unfortunately injuries and surguries took her out of actively pursuing that further. She went into diving and was pretty damn good at it, but in her own words, "there was nowhere to go for her" in terms of diving, and let's be real, there wasn't. From there, she discovered the bodybuilding world, more spefically the bikini division. While that was cool for her...she wanted more because of her own competitive nature. From there she decided to enter the fitness division and found her niche. She would end up competing in the National Physique Committee (NPC) for a short time before competing as a pro in the International Federaion of Bodybuilders (IFBB). While she never competed on the Olympia stage, she ended up being good enough to compete on the Arnold stage (which is invite-only) two times. While competing at the Arnold multiple times is an honor in itself, it's the fact that she is the first (and as of now only) person (male or female) to do it while under a WWE contract. She did it in 2015 while in NXT, and she did it last year on the main roster. In fact, it was during her time in the fitness division where WWE would discover her.

Dana began her WWE journey at the Performance Center in July 2013 and would make her NXT debut shortly after. We do have to be honest, her debut was definitely less an ideal, but that was to be expected with most of her class having prior wrestling experienece in the indies and Dana having none before coming to the Performance Center. She definitely posessed one of the best finishers of any woman to come out of NXT up to that point, the Samoan Driver, and it got her quite a few victories, including one over one of the Four Horsewomen, Bayley. During her short time in NXT, she aligned herself with Emma and both ladies benefitted from it for a bit. It would end up benefitting Emma moreso than Dana in a way, as unfortunately Dana would suffer an injury that would limit her time in NXT as a competitor. In fact her last televised NXT match was at NXT Takeover: Respect against the debuting Asuka, who pretty much beat Dana handily that night. Everyone focuses on Asuka while no one seemed to have given Dana any credit for hanging with a Japanese legend, but as Dana would soon find out...it would be the story of her career in WWE thus far.

In May 2016, after healing from her injuries, Dana would make her main roster debut rejoining her buddy Emma, but this time with the name EnD (Emma and Dana). It lookes like they were going to attept to recreate or even surpass their NXT run, but injuries plaged it again, but THIS time, it was Emma would be sidelined, leading to Dana being directionness, until Extreme Rules 2016 where Dana showed up dressed as Ric Flair to distract Natalya and help Charlotte retain the Raw Women's Championship. Dana and Charlotte would end up being a pretty cool duo with Charlotte as the champion (and would begin her Queen transformation during that time) and Dana as the protege/lackey). Their relationship strained to the point where we THOUGHT there would be a breakup at some point but it weirdly disappeared. Then it came back for a bit and then broke up shortly before Wrestlemania 33, where they had one match against each other, Charlotte won, and it didn't go any further than that for whatever reason. Emma would return from injury and thought she would have Dana back as her buddy, but Dana was fed up with alliances so she declined the team-up. It looked like it was going to be a feud between Emma and Dana but once again...nothing came out of it. For some odd reason, at some point, it looked like a partnership was brewing between Dana and Mickie James, but again...nothing came out of it. In 2017, she was used sparringly in matches but showed improvements in her matches. After arguably the most embarrasing match (if you want to call it a match) of her career with a blink-of-an-eye defeat by the hands of Asuka, she joined Titus and Apollo (Titus Worldwide) as their statician. In all honestly, THAT went nowhere for her as she spent most of her time accompnaying them to the ring in secretary outfits holding a clipboard. Not even getting physically involved, just...well...holding a damn clipboard.

For someone with her skills, it was bothersome to see someone like Dana being wasted like this. Hell, up until recent, she was used LESS this year in matches than in 2017 despite, again, making serious improvements since her NXT days. We don't understand the logic of WWE of not using Dana in the best way possible, especially as someone who has not been shy of wanting to be in the ring more and wanting to work with children. But one thing no one, not even her haters and detractors, can deny is that Dana does her best to make due with what she has. She never makes excuses for what the cards bring in her life. That was never more clear than when she lost her boyfriend Dallas McCarver last year and she took minimum time off of WWE to mourn and came back and dedicated her matches for the remainer of 2017 and her matches this year, especially the first-ever Women's Royal Rumble and Wrestlemania Battle Royal, to Dallas (Click here to check out her touching tribute to Dallas during the Royal Rumble this year) Thankfully she has finally found love again in big-time WWE fan and current center for the New York Knicks, Enes Kanter, who is on his own path to making a name for himself in the sports world.

A thankless individual in the wrestling world
Photo credit: WWE.com

Throughout it all, good and bad, thick and thin, we have seen Dana evolve from to the NPC/IFBB to NXT and Breaking Ground to the main roster in WWE. She has suffered more loss than wins, but it has not lessen her as a person or a performer. In fact, it has made her stronger than ever before. To us, she is the most underrated WWE performer no one is talking about, and that's fine. It will make her eventual rise to the top that much sweeter. We've rooted for you for years, Dana, and we're not about to stop now. In fact, we're more in your corner now than ever before. Which is why a win at Evolution will truly be the defining win of not only her career but her life.

In her own words...PLAYTIME...IS OVER!!!!

Follow Dana at the following links:
Twitter: @DanaBrookeWWE
Instagram: ashasebera_danabrooke

Make sure to buy her merchandise at WWE Custom Tees: https://customtees.wwe.com/collections/raw/dana-brooke?sort_by=

Also, check out videos from UpUpDownDown to get to know the woman behind the character:
Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCcwZncNVLE
Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CR98S2RtN-Q

Check out our other articles about Dana here:
Our thoughts on her NXT debut: http://fitgems.blogspot.com/2015/04/our-take-on-dana-brookes-debut-on-nxt.html

Why Dana competing at the Arnold is significant: http://fitgems.blogspot.com/2017/02/why-wwes-dana-brooke-competing-at.html

Why WWE's Dana Brooke Competing at the Arnold is Significant

DISCLAIMER: All photos belong to their original owners.

Slowly but surely changing the game (no offense, Triple H)

Photo credit: WWE

It's one thing to be in shape for wrestling.
It's another thing to be in shape for a fitness competition.
Try to do both at the same time.

Yeah, that sounds like torture and pure madness. Why on Earth would anyone put their body at risk to do both instead of choosing one? If you just happened to be named Dana Brooke, the answer for her is in the form of a question...WHY NOT?!

This weekend (Friday to be exact), Dana Brooke (real name Ashley Sebera) will be stepping on stage among some of the best fitness competitors in the world at the 2017 Fitness International during the Arnold Sports Festival in Columbus, Ohio. The brand split has let WWE Superstars be able to do more things outside WWE with schedules being a tad easier than in the past. Chris Jericho has his podcast and band outside WWE. Seth Rollins is enrolled in the Crossfit Games as an active competitor (as soon as he's healed up). And John Cena is freaking EVERYWHERE in Hollywood and still has an active role in WWE. And it looks like Dana will be able to be a fitness competitor while still under contract with WWE, which is unheard of. She did it in 2015 as part of the NXT roster, when she hadn't made it on TV yet and was only doing house shows in Florida. She competed in her first Arnold Classic that Friday and the very next day (as well as that Sunday) she wrestled against Bayley (current WWE Raw Women's Champion) and Carmella (Smackdown Live competitor) as part of the first-ever WWE Experience at the Arnold (Side note: she won both matches).

Most of you know what fitness competitors go through to get ready for one show. The diet, the training, the practicing of the routines...it's stressful weeks of prep but rewarding for that one show. Now, consider that this is the Arnold we're talking about, and you're talking about the biggest show on the schedule NOT named the Olympia. Most that compete have regular jobs and don't take bumps in a wrestling ring and get tossed around like ragdolls. That's where Dana is different from every other competitor competing at the Arnold this weekend. Taking bumps in a wrestling ring and get tossed around like a ragdoll IS her job and a job she loves dearly. She has stated on multiple occasions that she wants to be among the best in WWE history, but she also realizes what brought her to the dance in the first place...the fitness world. She wants to give back and everyone (whether you like her or not) should give her credit and respect for not forgetting her roots, which is something that sadly most people tend to forget once they make it big. While others have the indies to thank for their road to WWE, Dana has the fitness world to thank for her road to WWE, which we personally hope doesn't end anytime soon, as we feel we've yet to see the best from her. Dana at the Arnold (to us) helps close the gap between the fitness industry and WWE, hopefully bring in more male and female talent for NXT, Raw, Smackdown Live, 205 Live, and other aspects of WWE.

Potentially paving the future for others to compete in fitness shows while being part of WWE at the same time.

Photo credit: Getty Images

If some of the guys can do it all and still be active members of WWE, why can't Dana?! It's only fair. We hope what Dana is doing paves the way for others to follow ALL their dreams. In this day and age, you CAN do it all if you put your mind to it! Cena is, Seth is, Jericho is. Now...It's Dana's turn. For the IFBB AND WWE...PLAYTIME IS OVER!!!!

For more on Dana's Arnold journey (and other random stuff from WWE's resident Queen of Flex City), follow her on Snapchat at asha_DanaBrooke, on Twitter at @DanaBrookeWWE, and her Instagram at ashasebera_danabrooke . Be sure to watch the Arnold Sports Festival on their new home on Generation Iron at http://generationiron.com/ this Friday and Saturday. Good luck Dana Brooke! We're rooting for you! :)