Cora Jade | |
---|---|
Birth name | Brianna Coda[1] |
Born | [2] Chicago, Illinois, U.S. | January 14, 2001
Professional wrestling career | |
Ring name(s) | Cora Jade[3] Elayna Black |
Billed height | 5 ft 6 in (168 cm)[4] |
Trained by | Freelance Wrestling Academy Bryce Benjamin Isaias Velazquez Cheerleader Melissa[3] |
Debut | December 9, 2018[3] |
Brianna Coda (born January 14, 2001) is an American professional wrestler. She is signed to WWE, performing on the NXT brand under the ring name Cora Jade, where she is a former NXT Women's Tag Team Champion.
Before signing to WWE, she previously wrestled on the independent circuit under the ring name Elayna Black and made appearances in All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and Impact Wrestling.
Coda first trained at the Freelance Wrestling Academy by Bryce Benjamin and Isaias Velazquez. She debuted on December 9, 2018, in the Illinois-based Kaiju Attack Wrestling promotion in a tag team match against her former instructor Bryce Benjamin under the ring name Elayna Black. On July 11, 2019, Black won her first tournament while in ZOWA Live, becoming the 2019 Zen Of Women's Athletics Tournament Champion. On August 15 while in Zelo Pro Wrestling, Black competed in a four-way match for the vacant Zelo Pro Women's Championship. On September 1, Black competed in Rise Wrestling's 2019 Regional Rising Stars Tournament where she was eliminated in the quarter final by Sophie King. She also appeared in Shimmer Women Athletes, debuting in Volume 118 competing in a scramble match.[5]
On October 18, 2019, Black made her pay-per-view debut while in Impact Wrestling at Prelude to Glory, where she lost to Havok in a squash match.[6]
Black first appeared for All Elite Wrestling (AEW) on the October 13 episode of Dark losing to Red Velvet.[7] She returned the following month on the November 3 episode of Dark, teaming with Leyla Hirsch in a tag match but lost to the team of Brandi Rhodes and Red Velvet.[8]
On January 20, 2021, it was announced that Coda signed a contract with WWE and would wrestle on the NXT brand.[9] She debuted on the January 22 episode of 205 Live under the ring name Cora Jade, where she was paired with Gigi Dolin in the opening round of the 2021 Women's Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, but they were eliminated by Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell.[10]
On November 16, she joined Raquel González's team for WarGames.[11] At that event, she gave her team the victory in the women's WarGames match.[12] Two weeks later, she got an opportunity at the NXT Women's Championship in a triple threat match against González and champion Mandy Rose at New Year's Evil, but failed to win the title.[13][14] At The Great American Bash, Jade and her new tag team partner Roxanne Perez defeated Dolin and Jacy Jayne to become the NXT Women's Tag Team Champions.[15] On the July 12, 2022, episode of NXT, Jade turned heel when she attacked Perez, costing her the NXT Women's Championship match against Mandy Rose.[16] The following week, Jade declared her intentions for solo success and then dropped her title belt in the trash can, leaving Perez as the sole tag champion. Later that night, she competed in a 20-woman battle royal to determine the number one contender to the NXT Women's Championship, but was eliminated by eventual winner Zoey Stark.[17] At Heatwave, Jade defeated Perez.[18] On the October 4 episode of NXT, a Weapons Wild match was set between Jade and Perez on Halloween Havoc.[19] The two also agreed on pick your poison matches, where both could choose any opponent in WWE for each other.[20] Jade made her first main roster appearance on the October 17 episode of Raw, where she picked Rhea Ripley as Perez's opponent.[21] The following night, she defeated Raquel Rodriguez (Perez's handpicked opponent) by disqualification.[22] Four days later, at Halloween Havoc, Jade lost to Perez in a Weapons Wild match.[23] Jade defeated Fallon Henley in the first round of the tournament for the vacated NXT Women's Championship, but she lost to Lyra Valkyria in the semifinals. Afterwards, she hit Valkyria in the knee with her kendo stick in a post-match assault.
Coda made her video game debut as a playable character in WWE 2K23.[24]
Coda previously dated fellow professional wrestler Trey Baxter.[25] She is in a relationship with fellow NXT wrestler Bron Breakker.[26] Coda had previously cited former professional wrestler AJ Lee[27] as being primary a influence in pursuing her wrestling career. She has openly vocalized being fans of fellow Chicago wrestler CM Punk[28] and professional wrestling faction The Shield.[29] Coda also mentioned being inspired by Sasha Banks and Bayley after watching their match at NXT Takeover: Brooklyn.[30]