Wrestling / Kimber Lee

First Female CHIKARA Grand Champion

Kimberly Frankele (born June 27, 1990) is an American professional wrestler and ballet teacher from Seattle known for her work for WSU, CZW, SHIMMER and numerous other promotions as Kimber Lee and in CHIKARA as Princess Kimberlee. She debuted in 2011 after training under Drew Gulak at the CZW Academy. Her greatest achievement came in 2015. That year, CHIKARA broke up the bulk of the roster into ten teams for the Challenge of the Immortals, a 90-match double-round-robin tournament. She was named a captain and drafted Los Ice Creams and Jervis Cottonbelly, with her team being named Crown And Court. They defeated The Wrecking Crew (Max Smashmaster, Blaster McMassive, Flex Rumblecrunch and Jaka), meaning each member of the team had the three points needed to challenge for either the CHIKARA Grand Championship or the CHIKARA Campeonatos de Parejas. The main event was CHIKARA Grand Champion Hallowicked successfully defending the title against the two former Champions, Eddie Kingston and Icarus. Kimberlee ran to the ring and cashed in her title shot and defeated Hallowicked for the title in under three minutes, becoming the fourth Grand Champion and the first female Grand Champion. She held the title for five months.

Along with the above, she and Cherry Bomb are former SHIMMER and SHINE Tag Team Champions, and she also won the Shine tag titles with Stormie Lee. Kimber is a former AAW Women's Champion, a former JAPW Women's Champion, a 2x former WSU Tag Team Champion with Annie Social, a former MCW (Maryland) Women's Champion, a former DCW (Dynamite Championship Wrestling in Delaware) Women's Champion a DCW Tag Team champion with Kacee Carlisle, a former CHIKARA Campeon de Parejas with The Whisper, was the inaugural Legacy Wrestling Women's Champion and a SHIMMER (singles)Champion.

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"These Tropes Save Themselves, Thank You!":

• Action Girl: And how. She's the first female CHIKARA Grand Champion. She even defeated a male wrestler, Austin Uzzie, in her debut match.
• Arch-Enemy: As of the "lost" Season 17, The Whisper, no one else comes close.
• Backstab Backfire: Her run as Campeones de Parejas with The Whisper heavily relied on her attempting to sabotage their matches only for said sabotage to end up winning them the match.
• Badass in Distress
  • The Front routinely tried to kidnap Lee, and threatened to publicly maim her when she was caught in order to lure out Drew Gulak, who owed them money.
  • Taylor Made claimed to respect Lee for "making history", but apparently Cherry Bomb being injured at SHINE 33 was just too tempting an opportunity, because after Made retained her title and avenged her loss to Lee three shows ago VALkyrie continued to beat down the other half of Better Than You's most likely challengers. Luckily for Lee, VALkyrie had already pissed off Las Sicarias and just gave them another reason to hit the ring.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Kimber Lee contacted Father James Mitchell in Impact, in an attempt to have the brainwashing he used to turn Su Yung into "Susan" undone. But "Susan" found out and instead had Lee brainwashed into her servant.
• Character Filibuster: You think it's hypocritical when the campaigning politician Drew Gulak accuses her of talking too much? In this case, it's not. "Shut The Fuck Up" was a more regular chant when she was speaking than any other Gulak campaign member and yet Lee would continue to blabber on as if she was unaware anyone was annoyed.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: Besides the Heel–Face Turn where she went alone against nine hostiles, there was also SHINE 63, where her struggle to escape Aja Perera's Signature Move "Down to Earth" became a lot easier when Marti Belle ran out to attack Perera's manager Ayla Fox and Jayme Jameson pulled Perera out of the ring while distracted by this. Since the referee declined to call a disqualification all Lee had to do to advance in the Nova vacancy tournament was stay in the ring and convince him to call a count out instead. What Lee did was get between Belle and the non wrestler, getting herself counted out. Now with no spot on the next show Lee decided to stick around for free in case Better Than You tried anything else(which they did).
• Cluster F-Bomb: Often in WSU. It is probably a combination of its "uncensored" atmosphere and having Annie Social as a tag team partner.
• Cool Crown: She wears a (fake) dainty diamond-looking tiara as Princess Kimberlee. In CHIKARA she'd sometimes even give it to a girl in the crowd a la Bret Hart and his shades.
• Crowd Chant: "SHE'S A WRESTLER!" Also during her title defense against Heidi Lovelace at The Secret of the Ooze, the crowd chanted "SUPLEX KINGDOM! "SUPLEX KINGDOM!" She's incorporated the latter into her merchandise.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: In Defiant Wrestling, she beat up Little Miss Roxxy twice and she didn't stand a chance.
• Dance Battler: Lee rarely does anything but grapple in her matches, especially if she's a baby face. However, she can mix fancier things into her offense if she feels the situation calls for it, and that includes dance moves. When "Crown Jewel" Lee is the champion she always lets everyone know what she's capable of by bouncing off the second rope with a jumping split after entering the ring before turning in midair to face her opponent.
• Dance-Off: She strove to not only out wrestle Aja Perera but prove herself a better dancer while doing so. Lee was largely successful on the latter front but there was one thing Perera could do that Lee could not: twerk.
• Demoted to Extra: During her time in WWE, she was brought in with a fairly strong debut, advancing in the Mae Young Classic over Alpha Female. Then she didn't really do much of anything aside from lose matches until she was released two years later amidst vague and unelaborated reports of "attitude problems."
• Determinator: SHINE 20. Since her only other options were potentially alienating Cherry Bomb with a new partner, or quitting, she decided to do her best in the face of an inevitable defeat
• The Ditz: Particularly when tagging with Cherry Bomb. It averts Dumb Blonde though, as Bomb is usually the one in the wrong position, and had brown hair while with Lee. Still, this didn't let up when they turned face in SHINE, as they still bumbled their way to victory and botched their celebrations.
• Enemy Mine
  • In SHIMMER, The Kimber Bombs sought to jump the Global Green Gangsters while they were fending off an attack from their perennial rivals the Canadian Ninjas. Unfortunately for The Kimber Bombs, they didn't realize Jessicka Havok and Madison Eagles were stalking Portia Perez and Nicole Matthews. Havok and Eagles then commanded Kellie Skater and Tomoka Nakagawa to tag with them, turning this on the Kimber Bombs.
  • Kimber Lee and Stormie Lee are of no known relation. They do have a mutual dislike of Jayme Jameson however. Their reasons for disliking Jayme were different, but Jameson and Marti Belle's reign as tag team champions lasting over a year brung the Lees together.
• Evil Versus Evil
  • The Gulak Campaign For A Better Combat Zone vs The Front, which was about the only Gulak Campaign in general and Kimber Lee in particular got anything resembling fan sympathy while she was a part of it.
  • Vs Kimberly (Maddox) at SHINE 12. The fans decided to cheer Kimberly over Kimber Lee, because they knew her better, leading Kimberly to later make a Heel–Face Turn.
  • The SNS Express vs The Kimber Bombs vs Legendary in SHINE was initially presented this way, with Daffney's All-Star Squad being the only baby faces on the road to the Lucha Sisters. However, Cherry Bomb was not able to make it to SHINE 20, and that meant Kimber Lee was in the Necro Butcher position(every other team in the tag team four way had a manager, making it 1 on 3 X 3 for Lee). Kimber Lee naturally became a face by default and Cherry Bomb by association when she returned to face SNS. From there it was just straight righteous revenge as The Kimber Bombs chased Legendary who had only managed to get even worse.
• Evil Counterpart: To The Lucha Sisters in SHINE, with Cherry Bomb being one to Leva Bates and Kimber Lee being one to Mia Yim. The two teams used similar strategies and Lee in particular had a similar background and move preference to Yim. Good won, the Kimber Bombs were sneakier and more ruthless but the Lucha Sisters were smarter and determined not to let down the fans. Then the Kimber Bombs turned face when the sisters were defeated by their more superficial Evil Counterparts, Legendary(who don't even match up this way with the Kimber Bombs).
• Excessive Evil Eye Shadow: If Kimber Lee is wearing dark blue or black with thick, matching eye shadow, it probably means she hasn't come to wrestle and just wants to illegally hurt somebody.
• Finishing Move: Kneeling pile driver, German Suplex, Alligator Clutch
• The Flapper: Her gimmick in Olde Wrestling, as "Kickin'" Kimber Lee.
• Foil
  • Despite being the same height, maybe an inch taller than Annie Social, and known for her suplexes, Lee was more the finesse to Social's force.
  • Lee was the grappler and even the high flier to Cherry Bomb being more of a striker, and blatant rule breaker, though Bomb could be decent on the mat when in the right mindset.
  • Despite being shorter Kimber is more forceful and displays more finesse than Stormie, but Stormie has a much wider mean streak.
• Genius Bruiser: She has a fine arts degree in dance from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and has worked as a Ballet instructor away from wrestling.
• Girl on Girl Is Hot: Usually avoided with Cherry Bomb, who is Happily Married to Pepper Parks, but did go into a kissing booth with Skylar Marie. And in case anyone missed it, Lee put it on Instagram.
• Granola Girl: She is a vegan, but whether or not she's a full on granola girl varies. She came the closest when part of Drew Gulak's Campaign For A Better Combat Zone Wrestling, but as he was an evil politician, she was an evil granola girl harassing Christina Von Eerie for having an opposed lifestyle.
• Gratuitous Princess: An Odd Couple at that. Kimber Lee ranges from Princess Classic to Warrior Princess, while Stormie Lee ranges from "legitimate" business woman to Mafia Princess. The fact they are both "royalty" is actually coincidental and more illustrative of just how common "royalty" is in wrestling.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Subverted. In CHIKARA, Princess Kimberlee picked Los Ice Creams for her Challenge of the Immortals team in spite of the fact that they're all but the weakest wrestlers on the roster. She mostly did it so that Hijo del Ice Cream wouldn't cry.
• It's Personal: At Fighting Spirit Wrestling Immortals Holiday IV she was booked in a four way dance that involved La Rosa Negra and Sumie Sakai, but was only interested in fighting Sammy Pickles, only taking a pot shot at Sakai after asking Rosa Negra to hit Pickles for her, stopping Sakai from moonsaulting on her and then stopping another Sakai sault La Rosa was unlikely to kick out of. What exactly her issue with Pickles wasn't elaborated on by FSW, but Lee made a point of attacking her after the match too.
• It's All About Me: In Wrestling Is Fun she would repeatedly upstage Knight Eye For the Pirate Guy, usually giving herself credit for their success even in cases where she didn't do anything.
• Jobber: WWE NXT brought Kimber Lee in do job to Ember Moon. Later they signed her to a developmental contract under her full real name mostly to do more jobs. Then they started billing her as "Abbey Laith," for yet more jobs! Laith had a strong showing during the Mae Young Classic Tournament Arc, but after that she went right back to jobbing. All in all, Kimber Lee won no televised matches outside of the Mae Young Classic and even lost to non wrestler valet Lana.
• Kaleidoscope Hair: Kimber Lee is usually blonde, except when she's got brown hair, or blue hair, or what Amber Gertner described as My Little Pony.
• Lady Legionnaire Wear: Kimber Lee's "Crown Jewel" gimmick includes her wearing a "skirt" that resembles pteruge segments.
• Lady of War: First lady of the Combat Zone, the most prim and proper of its wrestlers who nonetheless will jump into the ring with a man at a moment's notice. Nevaeh wasn't impressed by Lee still claiming to be so while running with the Gulak Campaign, and declared Lee a wimp.
• Laughably Evil: Cherry Bomb has a man in Pepper Parks, and she loves him very much, but despite the lack of romantic overtones the Kimber Bombs still manage to be Sickening Sweet Hearts, who hug, play games, accessory coordinate, launch unsuspecting sneak attacks against other tag teams and often stumble their way to victories which they are way too proud of.
• Legion of Doom: The Legion Of Undead Brides in RISE with Elayna Black, Hawlee Cromwell, and Su Yung.
• No Man of Woman Born: Going into Top Banana, Hallowicked claimed that his "Master" Nazmaldun had told him that no man could defeat him. Enter Princess Kimberlee. One match later she was the first (and eventually, only) female Grand Champion in CHIKARA history.
• Once an Episode: The Kimber Bombs would always do at least one pose together at every show they were on, and Cherry Bomb would always get at least one of those poses wrong, causing Kimber Lee to move Bomb into the correct position.
• Power Stable:
  • (in CZW): Campaign For A Better Combat Zone, led by Drew Gulak
  • (in CHIKARA): Crown and Court
  • (in Atlanta Wrestling Entertainment): Hierarchy
• Power Trio
  • The unofficially named Kimber (Leah) Bombs when Cherry Bomb's student Leah Von Dutch stepped in to aid them against the 4 on 2 advantage of the expanded Legendary.
  • The Run-Aways with Joe Gacy and Ryan Slater
  • Warriors Three with Estonian Thunder Frog and Oleg the Usurper
• Pretty Princess Powerhouse: Oh hell yeah. She is a princess, naturally beautiful, and in the final of the Challenge of the Immortals tournament, hit successive German Suplexes on all four members of the Wrecking Crew, including the 350 lbs. Max Smashmaster with absolute ease.
• Red Baroness: "Princess Palmstrike"
• Real Life Writes the Plot: She was signed by WWE at the tail end of 2016, necessitating her departure. Most notably from Chikara, although the Kimber Bombs never got their shot at BTY either.
• Ruda-Tecnica Revolving Door: Depending on the Writer or where she is wrestling at the time. CZW to WSU and SHIMMER to SHINE were two examples where the promotions were temporarily in continuity in one another but Lee still showed up as a face or heel depending on whichever show without turning.
• The Rival
  • Christina Von Eerie. Lee was the first woman out of CZW's academy and believed she represented how women in CZW were supposed to be. Von Eerie, a more established woman from outside of CZW, was decidedly not what Lee wanted women in CZW to be. So Lee tried to change Von Eerie, violently. While Lee was a little more laid back in WSU, where she didn't have as much to live up to and women were the overwhelming majority, Von Eerie hadn't forgotten what Lee had done to her in CZW and wanted revenge, even though the WSU fans didn't care about that and just saw Von Eerie as needlessly thuggish. They teamed up to represent USA against Canada in Smash though, and more reluctantly in Global Force Wrestling.
  • Had this with Heidi Lovelace, also crossing into Vitriolic Best Buds since they alternated between being partners and being opponents in several promotions.
• Rivals Team Up: Kimber Lee and Aja Perera to stop Better Than You from ending the career of Mercedes Martinez.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: Initially the princess only observed matches in Chikara and its Wrestling Is affiliates, taking credit for the victory of others while not actually doing anything, not unlike a 1980s manager. But then she started getting physically involved in matches and then wrestling herself to ensure her stable stayed on the up. She wrestles, and she wins.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here
  • At the end of Season 17, after getting sick of being Blackmailed to attack her friends by The Whisper.
  • The Bus Came Back: Returned in 2018 after her stint in WWE ended, only to be plagued by Whisper once again.
• Simple, yet Awesome: Her Alligator Clutch finisher. It's just a pinning combination in which she rolls her opponent back on their shoulders and dives across them, trapping their ankles in the process. But she can hit it out of nowhere, it works on much larger opponents, and as the match goes on it gets harder to escape from
• Squash Match: To Pinkie Sanchez at Beyond Scorned, April 26, 2015.
• Strange Minds Think Alike: Both she and Cherry Bomb worried about making the other feel bad when they won the Heart Of SHIMMER tournament, then decided the other would probably let them win because they gave them a gift.
• Suplex Finisher: One of her finishers is a German Suplex.
• Tag Team:
  • The Kimber Bombs, with Cherry Bomb, in SHIMMER and SHINE.
  • Chicks Using Nasty Tactics, with Annie Social in WSU.
  • Team LoveLee, with Heidi Lovelace
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: The long-haired, Ballet-dancing Girly Girl to Heidi Lovelace's Tomboy.
• Took a Level in Badass: In her CHIKARA debut at King of Trios 2014, she proved to be much tougher than her Wrestling Is Fun appearances suggested.
  • Took several more in guiding Crown & Court from dead last in the COTI to the finals, winning said finals, and using her Golden Opportunity to defeat Hallowicked and become Grand Champion.
• Tournament Arc
  • She won the two show Beyond Tournament for Today in 2016 by defeating Veda Scott in the final round.
  • CHIKARA's La Lotería Letal in 2018 with The Whisper as her partner, as already mentioned
• Troll: At FSW Immortals Holiday IV she pulled Sumie off the apron and then charged her and the similarly recovering La Rosa Negra and Sammy Pickles for a suicide dive, only to stop herself on the ropes and kick Pickles in the head while telling the audience "nope!".
• Warrior Princess: She's not called "The Princess Who Saves Herself" for nothing!
• White-and-Grey Morality: SHINE tag team champions The Kimber Bombs vs SHIMMER tag team Champion The Global Green Gangsters. Both were baby faces of the belts' companies but only the Global Green Gangsters were faces in both companies at the same time, so the Kimber Bombs came off as unnecessarily antagonistic even in SHINE.

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