Traci Brooks

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Traci Brooks
Brooks at Bound for Glory IV in 2008
Birth nameTracy Brookshaw
Born (1975-05-22) May 22, 1975 (age 48)
St. Marys, Ontario, Canada[1]
Spouse(s)
Manhattan, New York
St. Marys, Ontario, Canada
Trained byRon Hutchinson[1]
Rob Etcheverria[1]
Debut2001
RetiredJuly 18, 2015[2]

Tracy Brookshaw (born May 22, 1975)[3] is a Canadian former professional wrestler, wrestling valet and referee, better known by her ring name Traci Brooks. She is best known for her work in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where she spent most of her career, having been the longest signed knockout the company has had wrestling actively with them from 2003 up until 2012.

Considered by TNA/Impact as the "original Knockout", she was inducted into the Impact Hall of Fame in 2023.

Early life

Brookshaw grew up on a pig and chicken farm in

Budweiser
beverage brewers.

In her interview, Brookshaw said that she aspired to be "the next

professional wrestling school out of Toronto, Ontario
. Brookshaw began training under Hutchinson in March 2000 and debuted in January 2001 as "Tracy Brooks".

Professional wrestling career

Independent circuit

Brooks appeared with numerous

NWA Cyberspace Women's Championship
.

Traci even wrestled in independent custom wrestling matches against wrestlers like Amber O'Neal and Christie Ricci.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling

Early appearances (2003)

Brooks at a TNA event

Brooks debuted in

David Young
accidentally punched Desire, Brooks won the match. Later that evening, she was attacked by Lollipop as she approached the ring to enter the gauntlet match. After she entered the ring, Brooks was quickly pinned and eliminated by Kid Kash.

On May 21, Brooks was paired with David Young in an "Anarchy Alliance"

Nurse Veronica (who had recently debuted in an on-air role as TNA's backstage clinician) rushed to the ring to aid Brooks. During this time, Brooks was also involved in catfights with Young's valet, Desire.[6] Brooks and Young then faced America's Most Wanted in the tournament final, but lost. After the match, Young threatened Brooks, but she was again saved by Veronica.[7]

During an interview with

Cheerleader Valentina (who had earlier competed as JV Love on TNA Xplosion in a match against Brooks[12][13]). The reason for the replacement is because Brooks was unable to travel from Canada to the TNA taping. The storyline with Bitchslap was eventually dropped because TNA didn't have enough female wrestlers to compete against the group,[14] and Veronica turned down a two-year contract with TNA, instead attempting to sign with either WWE or a company in Japan.[15]
Brooks was removed from television for repackaging, Trinity was placed into other storylines, and TNA stopped booking Valentina.

Relationship with Michael Shane (2003–2006)

Brooks returned to TNA on November 5, 2003, helping Shane Douglas defeat The Sandman. On November 26, Douglas and Brooks, known now simply as "Traci", helped Michael Shane defeat Sonjay Dutt. Following the match, the trio celebrated, and Douglas announced that they were to be called "The New Franchise".[1]

Brooks entering the arena at a TNA event

The New Franchise began feuding with

superkick
Douglas. The following week, Traci helped Shane defeat Douglas in a singles match.

Traci continued to

A.J. Styles, so he and Traci recruited Frankie Kazarian in order to maximize their numbers advantage. The result was a new stable/tag team that was known by fans as Shazarian. After several weeks of confrontations, Styles defended his title against Shane and Kazarian in a three way Ultimate X match on July 28, 2004. Though he was able to nullify the interference of Traci by giving her a Styles Clash, he was eventually knocked unconscious by the combined efforts of Shane and Kazarian. Shane and Kazarian then climbed for the X Division Championship, and simultaneously retrieved the belt, thus becoming co-champions. They lost the titles to Petey Williams
in a Gauntlet Match on August 11.

In late 2004, Traci

Disciples of Destruction) defeated Trinity's team (Big Tilly and Bruno Sassi - Phi Delta Slam), making her Rhodes' assistant.[16] Traci eventually left Rhodes' side and began managing Chris Sabin, who was feuding with Michael Shane and Trinity. At Lockdown on April 24, she tried to prevent Trinity from interfering in a four way X Division Xscape elimination match between Sabin, Sonjay Dutt, Shocker and Shane, but failed.[17] The feud continued until Hard Justice on May 15, when Sabin and Traci lost to Shane and Trinity.[18] In the course of the match, Traci turned on Sabin and Shane turned on Trinity, with Traci aligning herself with Shane once again and Trinity siding with Sabin.[18]

Traci began managing Shane once again and stayed with him when he changed his name to his real name, Matt Bentley. When Bentley sat out during contract renegotiations in August 2005, she did some interview work for TNA. At

Lance Hoyt
. Following the feud, Bentley was sidelined with an injury. Traci did promotional work for the company during the downtime.

On the May 15 taping of Impact!, she wrestled Gail Kim in the first woman's match in over a year. The match was taped purely for the forthcoming TNA Knockouts DVD, not for the Spike TV program. Kim gained the pin after interference from America's Most Wanted. At Hardcore War she defeated Kim with Christy Hemme as referee.

Managing Robert Roode (2006–2008)

Main article:
The Angle Alliance
The "Chief Executive Offender", Ms. Brooks, at Lockdown

Traci was announced as

Robert Roode's manager at Bound for Glory 2006 and changed her name to "Ms. Brooks," thus becoming a villain.[19] She managed him during the Fight for the Right Tournament at the October 28 Impact!. She lost to Eric Young in a bikini contest at Turning Point.[20] After this, she was told to sign Young to a contract- no matter what it took to do it. In the storyline, Ms. Brooks began to pressure him into having sex with her. Finally, at Against All Odds Ms. Brooks successfully seduced Young into signing a contract with "Robert Roode Inc.".[21] After sometime without a storyline, she entered a rivalry with Gail Kim and was defeated at an Impact! taping. At Slammiversary
, she was taken out by Kim once again.

On the August 23, 2007, episode of Impact!, Roode wrestled Gail Kim, with Kim pinning Roode after a low blow leg drop. Following the match, Roode, unhappy at his loss, continued to attack Kim until Kaz came out to counter Roode.

TNA Knockout Makeover Battle Royal, which was won by Gail Kim.[26]

Knockout Law (2008)

Suicide & Daniels

During the July 17 edition of Impact! a backstage segment revealed that Brooks was in talks with Jim Cornette about something concerning the Knockouts. Soon after on the August 7 episode of Impact!, Brooks was the special guest referee for a match between Roxxi and Jacqueline, which Roxxi won. In August 2008, Cornette announced that Traci officially is in charge of the Knockouts Division, known as the "Knockout Law". In January 2009, Traci stopped appearing in TNA and Jim Cornette resumed control over the Knockout division. She returned on the March 12, 2009, edition of Impact! as a referee.

Return as a wrestler (2009–2010)

Main article:
The Main Event Mafia
Sharmell to represent The Main Event Mafia, but they lost in the first round of the tournament to Awesome Kong and Raisha Saeed. On the October 1 edition of Impact!, Traci was defeated by Christy Hemme in a "Battle of the Playboy Models" match. After the match, the villainous Traci attacked Christy.[27] The following episode of Impact, Brooks teamed up with Alissa Flash and The Beautiful People (Velvet Sky and Madison Rayne) to defeat Taylor Wilde, Sarita, Hemme and Hamada in an elimination match.[23]

On the October 22 edition of Impact! the Main Event Mafia disbanded.[28] On the November 12 episode of Impact, Traci began a rivalry with the villainous Alissa Flash when she attacked Flash after losing to her in a singles match.[23][29] On the November 19 episode of Impact, Traci attacked Flash after she lost to Sarita, In the process, Traci cemented herself as a face.[23] On the November 26 edition of Impact!, Traci competed in a number 1 contenders battle royal to face ODB for the Knockouts Championship at Final Resolution but failed to win after being eliminated by Wilde and Sarita.[30] On March 4, 2010, Brookshaw was released from her contract.[31]

Various feuds and departure (2011–2012)

On February 14, 2011, at the tapings of the February 17 edition of Impact!, Brooks made a one night return to TNA, saving her real life husband Kazarian from

TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championship from Rayne and Gail Kim. This turned out to be Brooks's Final match in TNA.[41][42] After months of inactivity, Brooks announced on April 17, that she had been released from TNA.[43]

Return to independent circuit (2010–2011)

Brooks made her debut for

Women Superstars Uncensored, on November 28, 2008, defeating Annie Social in singles competition.[23] On the March 6, 2010, where she lost to April Hunter, following the match, Traci saved Hunter from an attack from The Boston Shore.[23] On the April 10 episode of WSU, Traci unsuccessfully challenged Brittany Savage for WSU Spirit Championship.[23]

Retirement (2015)

On July 18, 2015, Brooks made her final professional wrestling appearance for

Michael Bennett).[2]

Part-time appearances & TNA Hall of fame induction (2022–present)

Brooks made a brief return to Impact on June 19, 2022, at

clothesline. Brooks made another return to Impact at Slammiversary 2023 when she managed Kazarian his match with Eddie Edwards. Later in the match, Brooks took out Edwards' wife Alisha in the ring as she tried to get involved in the match. On the July 20 episode of Impact! Brooks and Alisha brawled backstage. The two husband-and-wife teams would mace a mixed-tag match at tapings for the 1000th episode of Impact!, with Brooks and Kazarian winning the match. After the match, it was announced that Brooks would be inducted into the Impact Hall of Fame at that year's Bound for Glory
. On 21 October 2023 Traci was inducted into the Impact Hall of Fame.

Playboy

On July 26, 2009, it was revealed that TNA had signed a deal with Playboy making Brooks the first TNA Knockout to ever pose for Playboy.[44] On September 2 it was reported that Playboy had decided not to publish Brooks' photo shoot in the magazine.[45] The photo shoot was instead released through their Cyber Club on September 17, 2009.[46][47]

Personal life

Brookshaw married fellow TNA wrestler Frank Gerdelman, better known as Frankie Kazarian, on January 7, 2010;[48] they started dating in 2006 when she acted as his manager.[49] In October/November 2012, Brookshaw and Gerdelman welcomed their first child, a son, which she confirmed on Twitter in early July 2013.

In an October 2008 interview with the Chicago Sun-Times, Brookshaw revealed that she suffered from Erb's palsy as an infant as a side-effect of her birth. While she recovered for the most part, due to aggressive treatment, she noted that she has impaired function in her right arm which affected her in the ring. She has said that "I don't have a biceps or a triceps. I have a uniceps."[49][50]

Championships and accomplishments

Media

  • Zombie Beach Party (2003) as "
    stunt double" and "Tracy the Sexy Killer Zombie
    "
  • Kenny vs. Spenny (2003) in episode "Who Is The Strongest?" (alongside fellow TNA Knockout Angel Williams)
  • Rent a Goalie (2008) as Eva in episode "Eva has a dot dot dot"

References

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  2. ^ a b "Show results - 7/18 House of Hardcore in Toronto, Ont., Canada: Team 3D vs. Young Bucks, Traci Brooks's last-advertised appearance, Roode, Aries, J-Mo, more". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved July 19, 2015.
  3. ^ "Tracy Brookshaw". IMDb. Retrieved March 5, 2017.
  4. ^ "Traci Brooks bio". I grew up in St. Mary's, On. on a pig and chicken farm, yes I grew up shoveling pig S**T. I try to go home to the farm as much as possible
  5. ^ a b "Traci Brooks bio". I won the Toronto Sunshine Calendar Contest and was named Miss June 2000. To promote the calendar I was a Sunshine Girl and in my bio I wrote to be the next WWF Superstar. (TNA was non existent then)
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External links

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