Female Wrestlers Before They Were Stars, Part 1

Many women from the Indy ranks have made it into the "bigtime", the WWE and TNA.
So lets look at some Divas and Knockouts that got to where they are today the hard way.....

First up, the Divas of WWE, Raw, Smackdown and ECW.
Out of about 17 female wrestlers, I only found 7 with real wrestling cred.


Beth Phoenix
Besides being a varsity wrestler in high school (Beth was the North-East Wrestling Women's Champion (72 kg weight class) and the New York State Fair Women's Champion (72 kg weight class) in 1999) , Beth worked for Far North Wrestling, GLORY Wrestling, Cleveland All-Pro Wrestling (C.A.P.W) and Shimmer Women Athletes.
I'm not counting Ohio Valley Wrestling here though maybe I should.


Gail Kim
Before the WWE, TNA and the WWE again, Gail worked for Apocalypse Wrestling Federation (she wrestled there masked as La Felina, Queen of the Cats and lost her mask to Traci Brooks)


Jillian Hall
Before the WWE, Jillian had a really good career in the Indys.
As Macaela Mercedes she wrestled for Blue Water Championship Wrestling, Canadian International Wrestling, GLORY Wrestling, Hoosier Pro Wrestling, Mid–States Championship Wrestling, Professional Girl Wrestling Association, Southern States Wrestling, Superstar Wrestling Federation and Women's Wrestling Alliance.
On theWWE she sings...badly.
Go figure.


Mickie James
As Alexis Laree she wrestled for CyberSpace Wrestling Federation, Delaware Championship Wrestling, Impact Championship Wrestling, Premier Wrestling Federation, Southern Championship Wrestling, Ultimate Championship Wrestling and Ultimate Wrestling Federation.


Melina
Melina Perez worked for Empire Wrestling Federation as "Kyra" (EWF officials said that she had the most natural ability of any woman who came through their school), Ultimate Pro Wrestling (UPW) and I really think she worked for more, but I cant find any proof of that right now.


Natalya
Natalie "Nattie" Katherine Neidhart, the first third-generation female wrestler in the world, wrestled for Stampede Wrestling, NWA: Extreme Canadian Championship Wrestling, Prairie Wrestling Alliance, Great Canadian Wrestling, Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF), AAW Wrestling, Shimmer Women Athletes and she toured the UK and Japan.


Katie Lea Burchill
Katarina Waters had a really good career going in the UK, working for promotions like Trans-Atlantic Wrestling, Queens of Chaos, Frontier Wrestling Alliance (FWA), NAWA (in Germany), German Stampede Wrestling (GSW) and Shimmer Women Athletes.
Now she's pretty much just a valet.