Celeste Bonin recalls her reign with the Divas Championship.
The 153 day reign started in January 2013, as Kaitlyn defeated Eve Torres for the title on the January 14 episode of Raw. Many fans ultimately found the reign disappointing, as the belt was only defended four times on televised events.
The final defense of Kaitlyn's reign came at the Payback premium live event in 2013 when she lost the belt to AJ Lee. This match was widely regarded by fans as one of the best matches of both Lee and Kaitlyn's careers.
While speaking to the Developmentally Speaking podcast for a new interview, the former Kaitlyn talked about how her reign with the title was fizzling out until she got to feud with Lee.
“When I did win the title, the heat or the hotness of it started to fade away and I didn’t really have anything super significant. I think I had a little bit of a storyline with Tamina, I loved wrestling her because she was really strong and physical and I loved our matches and we all had a bit of love and respect for each other. Once Eve was gone, it was her and Tamina that I was pretty much wrestling at the live events and stuff like that. It just kind of fizzled out a little bit. When AJ and I started having all of our feuds and storylines, it definitely picked back up but it was more towards the end of my title run. The match where I lost the title to AJ at the pay-per-view was the match of my career for many reasons. It was just so significant and a symbol of everything that I had gone through, everything I had worked through. To have that moment with her, we were really close and we had gone through a lot together, a lot behind closed doors, a lot of struggle. For us to have that match and for it to feel the way it felt and to have the outcome that it did, it was like a dream come true. It was the best match of my career. It’s funny, the best match of my career was losing a title but it was so significant, especially for her to be winning the title after her whole story and what wrestling was for her and the impact she had on the industry. It was so valuable, such a valuable moment in my life.”
Kaitlyn last wrestled in 2019, competing under her real name, Celeste Bonin, at Gangrel's Wrestling Asylum in Florida.
Roxanne Perez recently stated that she hopes AJ Lee comes back to wrestle her one day. Learn more about those comments here.
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