Wrestling / Ivelisse Vélez

The Huntress.

Ivelisse Milagro Vélez (born September 21, 1987) is a professional wrestler in North America, originating from San Juan, Puerto Rico. She trained under, Quique Cruz, Carlos Colon and Savio Vega in Puerto Rico, before working her way up the Chicago indies under the name Juliette The Huntress. Juliette would then wrestle for Colon's World Wrestling Council and Vega's International Wrestling Association in Puerto Rico, up until she joined New Wrestling Star and aided its wrestlers, along with those from New Empire, in an invasion of WWC. Later she won the Pro Championship Wrestling Women's title and Vanguard Wrestling All-Star Alliance Women's title in the continental United States.

She achieved a huge boost in fame when she was one of the contestants on the revival of WWE's Tough Enough. During the contest she suffered a serious knee injury and was eliminated two weeks later.

Despite her elimination, she impressed WWE officials and was signed to developmental contract in 2011. She competed in WWE's FCW revival and NXT as Sofia Cortez. However she was abruptly released in mid-2012 for supposed "attitude problems"^note later revealed to have been refusing head trainer Bill DeMott's advances - this came to light after the DeMott bullying scandal broke in the spring of 2015. Still, enjoying the boost in fame from her time in WWE, she remained a regular fixture on the independents and trained with Franco Lozano for a possible debut in mixed martial arts before briefly returning to national scene by way of TNA's Gut Check competition (being passed over in favour of Lei'D Tapa) and One Night Only shows. Ivelisse did not stop winning titles either, having the Pro Wrestling Revolution Women's title, SHINE title belt, Family Wrestling Entertainment Women's Championship belt and the Women's Title of Chilean enterprise Wrestling Superstar to her name. Vélez's third stint on national TV started with her debut for Robert Rodriguez's Lucha Underground, which distinguished itself from immediate television competitors by regularly showcasing inter gender matches. She would highlight this by winning its trios title with two male partners. She'd also win the World Wrestling League Diosas Title back in Puerto Rico, SHINE's Tag Team Titles with Mercedes Martinez, medals from All Elite Wrestling's Tag Team Cup with Diamante, the Ladies Night Out Title for Title Match Network, the Southwest Wrestling Entertainment Fury Women's title and BellaDonna Division's Forbidden Elegance Title belt.

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"LIST ALARM! Them Tropes In Town!":

• Abhorrent Admirer:
  • In kayfabe she is one of the unfortunate souls Katie Lea/Winter's claimed as her own. Then Angelico tried to steal her from Son Of Havoc in Lucha Underground. Later she was hit on and stalked by Wonderful Xander in the World Wrestling League, and a slap to his face only encouraged him.
  • In real life, she had Bill DeMott making advances towards her from a position of power at the NXT Performance Center. She turned him down, was released back to the indies, and has been all the better for it.
• Aborted Arc: In Lucha Underground, her and Jeremiah Crane's feud with Marty "The Moth" Martinez and Mariposa, as she was injured early on in Season Three.
• Affectionate Parody: The "dramatization" of Tattoo Nightmares portrayed her as a tall, black haired, big boobed, bronze skinned, musclebound masked luchadora with a mousy voice who smothered her opponents with her chest.
• Animal Motifs: Formerly birds, specifically The Phoenix for the "rebirth" of her career in the 48 States. That didn't last, as when fans saw her phoenix tattoo in TNA they began chanting "firecrotch". So she switched to the greatest of predators; scorpions and leopards.
• Ascended Extra
  • Before Gut Check, she had been in a dark match against Tara.
  • Originally "appeared" on SHIMMER volume 24 as a jobber who did not even have the dignity of getting beat in a Sparkle match, instead being an uncredited punching bag in Wesna Busic and Melanie Cruise's video packages. Then she made a proper debut on Volume 62 and beat Kimber Lee.
• Asshole Victim: SHINE 43 saw her and Holidead join forces to stomp Aria Blake flat out of annoyance for Candy Cartwright's Unsportsmanlike Gloating over their time limit draw in the Nova tournament. Her actions with Cartwright's "Cutie Pie Club" surely earned Blake a beating, just not from them.
• Badasses Wear Bandanas: As entrance attire anyway.
• Bash Brothers: During her "trust no one" phase in the IWA, she still found Mr. 450's presence convenient more often than not. Paige too, but only in the WWE version of FCW. Angelico after trading wins with him in Lucha Underground.
• Benevolent Boss: Of the many Rain's Army splinters, descendants and imitators(The Midwest Militia, Valkyrie, Valifornia, C4, etc) Las Sicarias is the only one with a leader not like Rain. Velez takes failure, internal dissent, conflicting agendas and unavailability in stride, all stablemates are dignified.
• Bilingual Dialogue: Juliette tended to speak English in Puerto Rico while surrounded by Spanish speakers and Spanish in Chicago while surrounded by English speakers. There were not too many wrestlers who seemed to have an issue with it.
• Bitch Alert: The self proclaimed 'baddest bitch' of Lucha Underground.
• Blood Knight: Juliette took to professional wrestling because it was the most readily available way to hit people and get paid for it.
• Braids of Action: Has wrestled in cornrows
• Brought to You by the Letter "S": She has a pair of red kick pads with "PR" written on them
• By the Hair: Subverted: In an AWE match where Vélez lost her grip due accidentally ripping Kiera Hogan's out. Hopefully that was an extension. Later played straight against Hogan's stablemate, Aria Blake.
• The Cameo: Her appearance on Tattoo Nightmares, for a "firecrotch" tattoo.
• Catchphrase: Most of them are in Spanish, but repetition is what it is. "Yo soy la mejor!"
• Celebrity Endorsement: Of Storm Lifestyle, especially the "pre workout" and "focus" products
• Cheap Pop: Throwing t-shirts into the crowd of the Chicago Style Wrestling shows, particularly in her last match before WWE Tough Enough.
• Comedic Spanking: Received one from Amber O'Neal
• Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like: Marty The Moth Martinez and La Mariposa had her at their mercy when then boyfriend Jeremiah Crane fought them off. Velez was angry, as she specifically told him not to come into Lucha Underground's Temple, saying that it was responsible for the failure or her previous relationship and she would inevitably be forced to kick his ass at some point. Yes, their relationship was ruined by Catrina, yes Crane and Velez beat each other up afterwards. It's up to your imagination if that is better or worse than what the insect siblings would have done.
• Cool Mask: For promotional material and entrance attire.
• Crossover: Besides Dragon Gate USA, Full Impact Pro, EVOLVE and SHINE's somewhat shared continuity, PWR crossing over with CMLL and the World Wrestling League lead to her winning their women's title from Cheerleader Melissa.
• Cut Short: Her SHINE feud with Serena Deeb, who got injured in another promotion and retired in REINA.
• David Versus Goliath: As an average sized woman, most of her opponents are Goliath but Lei'D Tapa in her TNA debut stands out, since she won the match and still got rejected in favor of the larger woman. (TNA would bring her back seemingly just so Tapa could beat her too.) She almost complained about it when pitted against Madison Eagles on SHINE 22 but Ivelisse stopped herself and declared it an opportunity to prove she was the best wrestler in the world.
• Designated Girl Fight: Recruited by Aces And Eights when they entered TNA's World Cup and realized they had no answer for Team USA's Mickie James. Somewhat subverted as the rest of the gang still ran out to ensure Mickie lost, they just needed someone who could last long enough for them do so, so they tricked Mesias into giving them Ivelisse's number to take her away from his team.
• Determinator
  • She wrestled with a torn rotator cuff in her shoulder for over nine years. When not covered by a sleeve she found other ways to hide it, such as tape the same color as her skin or matching her gear.
  • She eventually gave up on trying to do pro wrestling and mixed martial arts at the same time, but only after she became dehydrated to the point she needed to be injected with water from four I.V's(which are usually reserved for people about to die).
  • In Lucha Underground, she broke her ankle in season 1 but continued to fight on despite her limitations, competing in several trios matches and actually leading her team to win the Trios titles! How determined was she? She climbed a ladder using one foot and her KNEE and fended off Mr. Cisco by biting his hand to grab the Trios Champion belts for her team.
• Dragon with an Agenda: Rain and Made In Sin felt they were wronged by SHINE Wrestling and generally wanted to make a mess of things. Ivelisse Vélez wanted to prove she was the best wrestler in the world and did not hide her intentions to fight her stablemates if they got in the way of that, figuring as long as promotion's title belts stayed in the stable, their goals were not incompatible. When Rain denied Vélez recovery time in between matches to extend her own and then accidentally clubbed Ivelisse while trying to make up for ii, allowing Mia Yim to bypass her in the title contender's tournament, Vélez was forgiving of Rain but intimated she still aimed to defeat her and become the second champion. The only reason she was hesitant about her shot at Rain when it finally was granted had to do with it coming on the word of boss lady Lexi Fyfe, one of the stable's defacto enemies, rather than some dominance displaying victory that would force the boss to give her a shot. Vélez saw it as Divide and Conquer attempt but concluded the stable was strong enough to endure. (It was, it just endured without her)
• Easy Come, Easy Go: Lost the FWE Women's title belt to Candice LeRae the day she won it.
• Enemy Mine
  • The third time Valkyrie jumped Ivelisse, old enemies La Rosa Negra, The Lucha Sisters, Tracy Taylor and Kellie Skater helped her. Not much but Ivelisse would aid most of them against Valkyrie later. Ivelisse was also the first out of the locker room when Valkyrie ambushed Havok during her departure for TNA.
  • In Lucha Underground she took on XO Lishus as a Tag Team partner outside of her trio with The Son of Havoc and Angelico to take on old rival Joey Ryan and Jack Evans, who nobody likes. This ended up extending to Ryan himself, who was disturbed by Evans's refusal to release a submission hold even after Lishus passed out. Velez and Ryan reconciled over their continued frustrations with Evans in the Temple and ended up forming a new trio with Lishus to go after the belts after Evans was dealt with.
• Et Tu, Brute?: In the end, Vélez's only issue with Valkyrie was that they did not show her the same loyalty she felt she had showed them. The fact that Ivelisse announced that she was starting Las Sicarias with what was essentially the same mission statement Valkyrie originally had shows her moral compass remained in the same direction, but betrayal was all she needed to keep at odds with them for years after the fact.
• Evil Mentor: As Shine Champion she was the trainer for females at the WWN Training Center in 2022, while she and The WOAD were also trying to rid the promotion of a baby face(either Santana Garrett or Natalia Markova), putting their belts on the line to do it.
• Eviler than Thou: The NWS\New Empire coalition Juliette was a part of happened to steamroll WWC's Dominican Heel groups when they invaded the promotion.
• Face–Heel Revolving Door
  • Her three NXT matches. First she was a heel, then a face and then a heel again. Ditto for TNA. She was a face for the Gut Check and Knockouts Knockdown - but a heel on other shows.
  • Very much in face territory in AAA and WWL while solidly heel elsewhere, such as Lucha Underground and Perros Del Mal. (amusingly, AAA has ties to Lucha Underground and the dogs often have a strong presence in the promotion)
• Fiery Redhead: Her second SHINE title run is instantly distinguishable from the previous by her hair being died red, and while Vélez is always close to losing her temper, she was conflicted before she won the belt the first time but on a warpath the second.
• Finger Poke of Doom: Rain was obviously fretting her match with Ivelisse but assured everyone Ivelisse wouldn't actually try to beat her and would just lay down. Vélez did lay down, but then pulled Rain down for a pin fall attempt.
• Finishing Move
  • A wheelbarrow DDT called Disdain, a sunset flip powerbomb called the Desert Eagle (better known as Amazing Red's Code Red or Melina's Last Call), a spin kick called the Crimson Truth.
  • Sofia Cortez used the Lasso from El Paso, which Ivelisse went on to combine with a compression lock (think calf killer), which sometimes goes all the way to the Alacran(crossed legs held up by own while pulled down)
  • The Wrestle Deck video game made her finishing move a moonsault, a move Ivelisse has never used. She admitted to being uncomfortable with back flips unless there's a deep body of water below her.
• Friendly Enemy
  • She might have declared war on the Shine promotion largely because of perceived favoritism management had for Santana Garrett, but that doesn't mean they aren't friends. She might have actively tried to have Santana Garrett barred from returning to Shine, but that doesn't mean they aren't friends. Velez wasn't even upset when Garrett managed to stick around, since it let her get rid of Markova instead.
  • She views Chelsea Green as crazy, untrustworthy, a threat to locker room stability and a good friend she like spending time with.
• Game-Breaking Injury
  • Suffered one to her leg while on Tough Enough. Stone Cold had to eliminate her from the competition - and told her the injury was the only reason she was being cut. While it's ultimately a subversion, as she returned to wrestling about four months later, she's frequently sold her knee or had to deal with wrestlers targeting it ever since.
  • In 2012, she was given two weeks to rehab a back injury while in NXT and then released.
  • The Disciples Of Death already had an unfair advantage since Catrina interfered on their behalf but Vélez's broken ankle on top of that ensured they would be taking the Lucha Underground Trio belts. After recovering Vélez would help Havoc and Angelico win the belts back only to break her ankle again. She recovered much quicker the second time, though.
  • In 2021 she was dealing with a foot injury that lead to her losing the Shine title belt, although she ended up recovering from it quicker than expected. Velez also admitted she had been hiding a neck injury in AEW, which wasn't quite game breaking but claims one wrestler deliberately tried to aggravate it to such a level.
• Gimmick Matches: New Wrestling Stars put her in a mud pool match with Black Rose, prior to Rose's match with José Chaparro. In WWE's FCW, she competed in several Money In The Bank on a Pole matches.
• Girliness Upgrade: Ivelisse has gotten more feminine since her stint in WWE's FCW revival and NXT, in her own way. She has gotten more fashionable in regards to ring gear, warmups and street clothes, just not in what was on late 2000s runways or in "glamorous" accessories. She has gotten more comfortable wrestling other women, but her style is largely unchanged. She will wear more face makeup, but still pass on being airbrushed for photoshoots. She does more with her hair, just not what she was told to.
• Heel: She reportedly prefers it and usually was when she started out, especially in Puerto Rico. But she has a very exciting lucha libre style, which only got better in PDM, and a lot of fire - which means she'll inevitably end up turning Face wherever she goes, including Puerto Rico post WWL.
• Hanging Separately
  • Forced on Son Of Havoc, Ivelisse and Angelico, after spending a whole season learning to put their personal issues aside and make the trio Dario Cueto put them in work, by Catrina having them fight one another for the "right" to face Mil Muertes after having them go through opponents on the belief they were earning a rematch for the belts with The Disciples Of Death. They decided to keep playing her game, which resulted in the winner(Ivelisse) not having enough left in the tank to beat Muertes, assuming she could have beaten him even under better circumstances, and the collective being too worn out to fend off a Disciples attack.
  • The Son Of Havoc and Ivelisse Velez had a lot of trouble wrestling trios matches with a handicap while Angelico was injured, so they made the unwise decision of having Johnny Mundo substitute for him. While Mundo on his own was okay, he brought along girlfriend Taya Valkyrie, who didn't support the trio in anyway that might directly benefit Velez and quickly became an active hindrance as Catrina helped sow discord. Not just with Taya but also with Velez's own boyfriend Jeremiah Crane. After which, Ivelisse put trios on hold and went straight to the instigator herself.
  • Velez actively tried to avoid this with Las Sicarias, but after the Twisted Sisters finally managed to beat them for Shine's tag team titles she could no longer stay in solidarity with Mercedes Martinez, no matter how hard she tried, with Martinez even rejecting Velez's help in singles matches and putting more trust in their longstanding rival Allysin Kay. This almost got Martinez retired by Kay and ultimimately resulted in her only holding Shine's title belt for one day before Velez took it from her.
• Heel–Face Turn
  • Her anti diva spiel got people cheering Reby Sky against her in Family Wrestling Entertainment and her run out attack on and DDT to Katarina Lea was also supposed to be a "heel" action, given Winter and Maria Kanellis had already lost to The Beautiful People. Yet the response it got from the fans was "One more time!", meaning she would have to turn heel all over again.
  • Due to having unbelievably good matches, especially with Mia Yim, and the fact she had been royally screwed over by Radiant Rain twice in a row, fans couldn't resist cheering for her - and she was named number one contender to Rain's SHINE title belt as a result. Lexi Fyfe insisted it was because of her solid wrestling and positive response rather than to breakup a group formed for the sole purpose of subverting her company but Vélez was kicked out of Valkyrie anyway.
• Hidden Depths
  • Exposed by Jim Ross, who made an offhand comment about Sofia Cortez having a beautiful voice on NXT. Fan requests lead to her uploading some cover verses on Youtube.
  • On wrestling shows she tends to be very serious, if sometimes over the top, driven, vindictive, sometimes despotic and often serves as an Only Sane Man. On twitter and facebook she allows her more playful, goofier side to poke out. When Amber Gertner mistook Las Sicarias for Sangrias, Velez's response was bug eyes, followed by a desire to drink one.
• I Can Still Fight!
  • Put out of action for six months due to an ankle injury, a time she described as "hell" for someone who had been a top athlete since they were eight. During this time she tried to get back into the ring on crutches, resulting in the loss of the Lucha Underground Trios titles. When she was off the crutches she rushed back to SHINE to challenge then reigning champion Santana Garrett, who successfully defended her belt by referee stoppage when Velez refused to submit to a scorpion death lock. Ivelisse tried to attack the ref for it but was in too much pain to hurt him.
  • The second time she broke her ankle she not only returned to the ring in a more timely fashion but seemingly had improved all around. Her doctor had other thoughts, however, and ended up cutting Velez's second run with the SHINE title belt short by denying her medical eligibility.
• I Know Karate: Is also trained in kick boxing and MMA.
• In the Hood: It did more than look nice, it also makes it easier to shut out the yapping of her partners when they get too annoying, such as Allysin Kay and Taylor Made.
• Irony
  • Rain protested to having to team with Mercedes Martinez in SHINE, yelling "Who could trust a Rican like that?", yet it was a Rican Rain did trust who ended up dethroning her as SHINE Champion.
  • Ivelisse was one of the few opponents La Morena mentioned by name when discussing potential challengers to the Diosas belt. Vélez got the belt after Morena but they didn't have a match.
• Irrational Hatred: Barbi Hayden's opinion of the antipathy between Ivelisse and Thunder Rosa. Commentating on one of their matches she found herself struggling to understand why they disliked each other so much. A more onesided example is Holidead, who similarly drives Ivelisse mad but is mostly indifferent to Velez unless she happens to be in the way of something she wants.
• Jack of All Trades: With extensive MMA training, Ivelisse uses a myriad of kicks from a variety of angles as well as a strong submission game, defying the "striker vs. grappler" stereotype common in mainstream wrestling and in particular women's wrestling by showing she's good at both. In addition to that, she's pulled off some pretty impressive traditional Lucha stuff, and she's got at least the attitude for street fighting.
• Kaleidoscope Hair: Velez's alternates dying her hair between every natural shade of brown, black and red. Sometimes the red veers well outside any natural human phenotype and sometimes she just dies the tips of her hair the unnatural colors. Sometimes there is a reason for it that relates to her attitude, sometimes she just needs some quick color to suppress her blonde roots, sometimes its to distinguish herself from someone else with a similar look on the card, and sometimes it's seemingly just because.
• Kick Chick: Known for having very stiff kicks. Also her signature crimson truth, vertigo and scorpion kick.
• Kick the Dog:
  • SHINE 23 started with an incensed Ivelisse tempering her temper with a series of "dog petting" moments, starting with her encouraging the luckless Amanda Rodriguez who she dealt another decisive loss to. Her interference at the show's main event, while obviously self serving, could still be seen as deserved punishment for Nevaeh, whose stablemates had been assaulting Mia Yim at every opportunity but then Ivelisse kicked a referee and her boss, who had at least been reasonable since SHINE's inception.
  • In Lucha Underground, Angelico tried to flirt with her and comfort her after Son of Havoc dumped her, she responded by punting him in the face.
• Latino Is Brown: Averted when she was in WWE. The company gave her the Latin-sounding name 'Sofia Cortez', billed her from Puerto Rico and gave her reggaeton entrance music. This was in spite of her having fair skin and blonde hair. What's more is that Ivelisse wanted to dye her hair brown^note As she felt blonde hair didn't fit her Anti-Diva Army gimmick but the company insisted she remain blonde. Played straight upon release from the company though, as she not only dyed but also got a bit of tan in Mexico and Puerto Rico, though sometimes her blonde roots start to poke out towards the end of long tours.
• Laughing Mad: In the main event of Ladies Night Out 10: Midnight In Tampa, she tried to get in the head of challenger Su Yung by painting her face laughing off anything Yung tried to due to her. It was clear Velez was in pain at several points however, and had to abandon her attempts to beat Yung at her own game to retain the belt.
• Leitmotif
  • "Hard hitter reggeaton" in developmental. Coincidentally or not, it's noticeably similar to Yaga and Mackie's La Batidora, commonly used by a certain rival...
  • "Red eye fly" by Ouija Radio as part of Valkyrie.
  • "Stomper Suit" by The Jet Boys on Lucha Underground.
• Loser Leaves Town: After The Disciples Of Death defeated her, Angelico and Son Of Havoc for the Lucha Underground Trios Titles, then jefe Catrina refused to give them a rematch for the belts. Velez convinced her to reconsider by stating they would leave the Temple if they lost in such a rematch(they won).
• Martial Arts Head Band: A constant in her ring gear up until Los Perros Del Mal, Valkyrie and TNA.
• Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Her relations with XO Lishus. Velez enjoyed cheerleading, sure, but not enough to wear such a uniform to the ring, much less wrestle in it. Velez is fairly acrobatic, but she isn't nearly as flippy as Lishus and doesn't dance. She also doesn't ram the faces of her opponents into her ass. On the antagonistic side, this is also the dynamic concerning her conflicts with Barbie Boy.
• Mêlée à Trois: Since Diosas Champion La Morena failed to reappear when the rest of the World Wrestling League resurfaced, it was announced Santana Garrett and Andrea Mother would face off for the Title sometime in September. But then Barbie Boy tried to declare himself champion a month early, which lead to Vélez beating him a match and taking the belt, becoming the official champion. Come the September Wrestlefest, Santana and Andrea arrived in Puerto Rico right on schedule, ready for their championship match, now Vélez's defense.
• Modesty Towel: Used when Xander walked in on her changing after winning the WWL Diosas Title.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Her nickname, "La Sicaria". "Sicaria", the feminine version of "Sicario", roughly translates to "assassin" in Spanish.
• The Napoleon: While Sofia Cortez was not too big, she was pretty cut and had not problem convincing anyone she wasn't one of the more powerful women in FCW or NXT. Thing is, she made a point to try and intimidate Natalya Neidhart and Kaitlyn, with her flexing. They were about the only two women around noticeably more bulky than she and thus most likely to be unimpressed. Also, while she was adding emphasis to a point already made, "big shoes to fill" probably weren't the best words to choose when confronting Mia Yim, who is also noticeably larger.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown
  • Joined Lady Demonique and La Bella Carmen in their abuse of La Abusadora Black Rose during the invasion of WWC. Juliette was once on the losing side of a tag team match because she was too engrossed in beating down Black Rose to notice Génesis was pinning Carmen and did not stop pummeling Rose even as the bell rung to signal the match was over. Luckily for Rose, Génesis realized what was happening and chased Juliette off.
  • Valkyrie's first target was Amazing Kong, with MsChif, Mia Yim, Nikki Roxx, Su Yung, a referee, and almost Santana Garrett as collateral damage. In turn, Ivelisse was the first victim of the SHINE roster members who acted in retaliation.
  • SHINE 14 saw Valkyrie give one to Jessicka Havok, after ruining her last woman standing match with Sweet Saraya.
• No-Sell: An example that makes sense in context. Repeatedly telling his opponent what he planned to do for several months proved to be a strategical error on Joey Ryan's part.
• One-Steve Limit: An unintentional case but before Valkyrie revealed themselves in SHINE, they sent a video to the promotion's website. Most fans concluded Taya Valkyrie, who was wrestling in Mexico at the time as part of Los Perros Del Mal, would be showing up in SHINE. While this wasn't the case, guess who the World Wrestling League pitted Ivelisse against during its Dream Matches Tour soon after?
• Opposed Mentors: Solo Darling, a student of Ivelisse's, joined the first stable in SHINE to rival Valkyrie, the All-Star Squad lead by one of Solo's other teachers, Daffney.
• Pint Sized Power House: She's much stronger than her 5'4 (1.63 m), 115 lbs (52 kg) stats would suggest, proving capable of hoisting men seventy two pounds heavier than herself in elevated bear hugs and her vertigo kick has put down (an admittedly distracted) Jessicka Havok. She's also got a pretty tough chin but quickly gaining leverage in tie ups and overwhelming the opponent with rapid strikes are her preferred methods. She still gets knocked around fairly easily simply because she's not that big.
• Power Stable
  • Los Perros del Mal in Perros del Mal Producciones. She's not one of the main members but has been called upon to represent the promotion which the stable owns.
  • Valkyrie in SHINE Wrestling.
  • Aces And Eights in TNA.
  • Las Sicarias in SHINE started as trio with Amanda Rodriguez and La Rosa Negra but then Mercedes Martinez returned from her hiatus to join them with a debuting Thea Trinidad.
• Power Trio: Herself, Angelico and Son Of Havoc. They were forced to team up on account of none of them being particularly successful individually but they became Lucha Underground's first Trios Title Belt holders!
• Put on a Bus: Lost Gut Check despite being the most fan supported after Adam Pearce (who also lost, to be fair) and winning her match against Lei'D Tapa. The Bus Came Back so she could lose to Tapa at the Queen of the Knockouts Tournament, and then again when Aces & Eights wanted to win the TNA World Cup. Despite doing what they asked of her they still failed to win in the end and she was sent on her way.
• Real Women Don't Wear Dresses: Not in FCW to make friends and definitely not there to be another pretty little Diva. Sofia Cortez only cared about the Divas Championship because holding it meant she was the best and she'd break anyone if she thought doing so would make people believe it. Taken a step further in FWE where Ivelisse actively targeted those she considered "divas".
• Red Baron: The Huntress (or if you prefer, La Cazadora, as WWL seems to), Aggression Personified, The Anti Diva, The Ace in the Hole, The Baddest Bitch in the Building, La Sicaria.
• Revenge by Proxy: Teamed up with Amanda Rodriguez on SHINE 29 in an attempt to damage Thunder Kitty's throat after two of her legendary stablemates ganged up on and hospitalized La Rosa Negra in that way.
• The Rival
  • La Amazona, ever since they were teenagers and Amazona was declared the best woman wrestler in Puerto Rico during their rookie year, even though Juliette had beaten her in all their televised IWA encounters. They found themselves united for a time in the IWA against Sweet Nancy, Barbie Boy and Black Rose though.
  • Declared Black Rose her most annoying opponent, as Rose managed to pin Juliette in almost all their WWC, IWA and NWS matches, despite taking increasingly severe thrashings each time. Three straight losses to Rose are what took her out of contention for the IWA Women's title Amazona ended up being the first holder of. When La Morena had to vacate the WWC Women's title in 2011 Velez was named a top contender for the belt but Black Rose beat her two more times in a row. WWC retiring the belt two months after Rose won it sent several Puerto Ricans to the continental US, where Rose and Velez's fortunes reversed, making Rosa the one to lose composure during their Puerto Rico return match at WWL's Insurrection. When they have to work together they do make a good team though, even prevailing over SHINE's first champion tag team, the Lucha Sisters (at an NWA FUW show).
  • Early promotional videos for IWA Puerto Rico's women's division played up Juliette and Sweet Nancy as rivals, but as the division developed they both spent more time wrestling Black Rose and La Amazona than each other, meaning this only qualified if you looked at their relationship indirectly.
  • In WWE's FCW, Sofia Cortez most frequently faced Audrey Marie and had an open rivalry with her own tag team partner Paige. The latter culminated in a match between the two in the early goings of developmental NXT, which Sofia won before being released within a month.
  • Around Illinois, Craig Mitchell, particularly after she got on WWE Tough Enough instead of him. Also, Kimberly Kash and December over the VWAA and PCW Women's titles.
  • Going back to the Lucha Sisters, Mia Yim became a frequent opponent of hers in the Eastern USA, particularly the Florida scene, on the World Wrestling Network shows and especially in SHINE, where Vélez has declared Yim unfit for a title shot several times even after Yim became champion. They do have mutual enemies in Valkyrie and Valifornia but it still doesn't make them friendly.
  • Since establishing a presence in Mexico, Taya Valkyrie and Sexy Star, being purely hostile with the latter. Taya is Ivelisse's nominal stablemate but rarely shows her any respect and often neglects to stick up for her or come to Vélez's aid. These both carried over into USA via Lucha Underground.
  • Indirectly to Allysin Kay and Taylor Made, mostly by being their Always Someone Better in Valkyrie. Despite Made In Sin's initial undefeated streak, Vélez proved to be a better tag team partner to Kay than Made and a better tag team wrestler overall. Despite Kay's various complaints about a SHINE title shot she got a fair one against Vélez on the China tour, she just lost, while Vélez ending Made's reign caused her to Rage Quit out of pro wrestling. The Valkyrie member directly fighting Vélez in matches tends to be Su Yung, though, especially since their issues go back to Su's time as Premier Athlete Brand's secretary.
  • When working with Son Of Havoc and Angelico in Lucha Underground, Mil Muertes, The Disciples Of Death and Muertes's valet turned collective group manager turned Lucha Underground proprietor Catrina. Muertes is the only one of the five Vélez has proven incapable of beating, even giving Catrina her first unambiguous loss.
• Rivals Team Up
  • La Rosa Negra was oddly kind to Vélez when she came to the states, making light of Vélez's previous efforts against her. As it turned out, the heels of SHINE tended to beat La Rosa worse than Vélez ever did, to the point Ivelisse stepped in when Taylor Made was trying to cave Negra's skull in with brass knuckles. Another incident with Legendary convinced Vélez to form Las Sicarias with Negra, to mentor Amanda Rodriguez, and for their collective protection. Mercedes Martinez returned at SHINE 36 to put Vélez "on notice" but ended up joining Las Sicarias herself after seeing VALkyrie attack Negra and Rodriguez.
  • She and Diamante were "randomly" chosen to partner with one another in All Elite Wrestling's women's tag team title tournament after their bout to challenge Hikaru Shida. The two of them went on to win the whole thing, mostly because every other team was also "random", only two others were made up of anyone with any real familiarity, the "Swole Family" being the only established team in the whole bracket and both members of said family having found better partners for each other years ago.
• Rogues Gallery
  • She had faced La Amazona, Black Rose, La Morena and Sweet Nancy almost exclusively in the Caribbean scene until 2012 when they all showed up in the continental USA. Around the time she was leaving WWE, ironically enough. Génesis stayed on the island.
  • From SHINE 11 until SHINE 37, the wrestlers who made up the Lucha Sisters, Valkyrie and Valifornia were her collective rogues. A good deal of SHINE 22 was basically them competing for the next shot at Ivelisse. Valkyrie "won" but the Lucha Sisters got the last laugh, as Yim came into SHINE 23 as champion after the WWN's China tour.
• Screaming Warrior: Sofia Cortez was Paige's partner after all.
• Self-Deprecation: Dave Meltzer never thought Juliette was very good until he saw Ivelisse wrestling men in Mexico. In a Wrestling Inc interview, Vélez pretty much agreed, saying she had spent most of her career wrestling men and didn't think she got good at wrestling women until she worked for SHINE.
• Shameful Strip: The moment Juliette interrupted una lucha de prendas between La Bella Carmen and Black Rose was the moment Génesis decided helping Black Rose was okay if it meant taking the invading Huntress down a peg. Génesis was too slow to stop Juilette and Carmen from ripping off most of Rose's clothing however.
• Signature Move: A fan of the front chancery. DDT, guillotine choke, guillotine DDT following it optional, as is holding on and rolling the DDT into a guillotine. Also, Cazadora bulldog, northern lights suplex, a corner huracanrana, the flashback, a slingshot DDT(flaming arrow), five forty kick she calls the scorpion (she kicks them in the gut or in the head after kicking them in the gut, unlike Kofi Kingston's trouble in paradise where he leaps and goes straight for the head) and a butterfly suplex (hold on, roll through, two more)
• So Proud of You: Mercedes Martinez did seem ready to apologize for leaving Velez and her stable hanging for multiple SHINE shows but Velez insistently praised Mercedes's individual efforts, especially after the Mae Young Classic.
• Spicy Latina: Sofia Cortez proudly proclaimed herself to be your typical Puerto Rican, a violent hothead. And she called Puerto Rico the best place ever. To her credit, Vélez has a much longer "fuse" than many of her peers (such as Amazona or Mercedes Martinez) and can usually stay subdued once the match starts.
• Spikes of Villainy: As a member of Valkyrie, she began wrestling in a spiked sports bra, as Made In Sin had been doing. The spikes weren't just for show either.
• "Take That!" Kiss: Representing Los Perros Del Mal at a joint AULL and PDM event, she gave one to El Celestial after countering his attempt to slam her out of the corner.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: With Son of Havoc and Angelico during the first Lucha Trios tournament. Havoc was done with Ivelisse's bossy attitude, Ivelisse played the jilted lover wanting revenge, and unless Angelico was somehow flirting with Ivelisse he just asked what the hell he was doing there. However, all three of them were professional enough to keep their differences outside the ring and actually delivered when the time came, although during their first match Ivelisse did walk out on her teammates, and was actually affronted when Havoc went on to win anyway.
• Token Wholesome: Provided very little Fanservice while in WWE. She was still presented as sexy but not in an obvious way. She was also the reserved one in comparison to fellow Perros Del Mal stable mate Taya Valkyrie.
• Tomboy: A natural straight example. Tends to play this up in her wrestling too.
• Took a Level in Badass: The WWN has been pretty good for the Vélez brand image and you can see her steady progression in SHINE. When the promotion's title was being established, she was knocked off in the first round of the contender's tournament by Jazz, giving Valkyrie its first loss, against the woman who was more or less the reason they got together in the first place no less. As champion, one of her first defenses was against Jazz, and she did it clean where before she failed despite trickery. Also, when encountering Nevaeh earlier in her career, the general (and correct) assumption was that half of SHIMMER's first tag team champions was going to win. When Nevaeh challenged for the SHINE title belt by contrast, the general attitude was that Vélez's victory being pretty much guaranteed (which was not quite correct but point stands). Even the one Valkyrie member Velez was more successful than in the beginning, Taylor Made, could take solice in being part of The Chicago Girls who Vélez had not acheived as much recognition as. But Vélez ended up being the one to send Made out of pro wrestling entirely.
• Tournament Arc
  • Her team outlasted two others^note Big Ryck, Killshot & The Mack+Cage, King Cuerno & Texano Jr. in the three way elimination match that was the final of Lucha Underground's Trios Title Tournament.
  • She and Diamante were "randomly" paired together before going on to win All Elite Wrestling's first women's tag team cup.
  • Defeated Valentina Loca in the finals of BellaDonna Division's tournament for the Forbidden Elegance Championship belt.
• Travelogue Show: She hosts one on ASY TV, creatively titled IVELISSE VELEZ, where she shows the viewer her favorite parts of various cities(often restaurants or shooting ranges)
• Tsundere: She could switch from sweet and supportive to prime bitch-beast on Son of Havoc on a dime. He eventually got fed up with it. She displayed the same behavior towards Jeremiah Crane, but it only turned him on.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Her effort to help Mia Yim with Valifornia resulted in SoCal Val hiring Andrea as an enforcer. Vélez had been banned from SHINE when Andrea physically arrived so SoCal Val sicked Andrea on Solo Darling and Luscious Latasha instead. However, SHINE management ended up intentionally setting Las Sicarias against the Valifornia-Valkyrie merger, which eventually ended up with Las Sicarias destabilizing it, defusing it's C4 successor, and Vélez delivering the kick that put Andrea out of SHINE.
• Verbal Tic: "Brra!"
• Villain Song: Discussed. Taz was in the process of composing one for her but Aces and Eights lost the TNA world cup and didn't keep her around long enough for him to finish.
• Villainous Valor: Downplayed: She tried to retreat from Diamante several times during her debut on All Elite Wrestling's TNT show, but she was pretty lazy about it. Everytime Diamante showed the slightest interest in pursuing Ivelisse, which was everytime, Iveliesse stood still and let her catch up. This gave the impression Ivelisse was less frightened or tired out and more frustrated that Diamante was using her own tactics.
• Vitriolic Best Buds
  • Quickly hit it off with Mercedes Martinez, this in spite of Martinez stressing to SHINE's staff that Vélez was not the kind of person they should want as the face of their company. Mercedes's bad mouthing of Ivelisse did not stop her from backing her against Valkyrie either. Even after they had a falling out over the title belt, and Martinez was out of Shine, Velez still listed Martinez as a Sicaria, merely labeling her "away" while recruiting for a replacement for ACR, whose image was faded and labeled "out".
  • BellaDonna established Ivelisse really hates and loves referee Aubrey Edwards, who in turn does not really know how to react to Velez, but doesn't resist her glomps when Velez is being friendly.
• Waif-Fu: Only 5"4' so she is this trope whenever she's against men.
• Wearing a Flag on Your Head: And you can wear Puerto Rico's below you neck if you get her SHINE Shirt.
• We Used to Be Friends
  • Defeated her former tag partner Paige on the first episode of NXT.
  • Santana Garrett, prior to joining Valkyrie. After being kicked out the two have been described as "frienemies".
  • Made In Sin and their "Insurance Policy" April Hunter jumped Ivelisse after Valkyrie's first leader, Radiant Rain, gave them permission for sending her into retirement.
• Wild Card: What she and Diamante at least started out as in All Elite Wrestling. Diamante has lots of good life lessons to teach people, but she also has a "win at all costs" philosophy, and Velez is even less facey. Still, they were the defacto faces in the match with the Nightmare Sisters just because Brandi Rhodes was so obnoxious, before going on to disrespect the AEW staff and cut the championship medal award ceremony short.
• Woman Scorned: Velez's boyfriend Jeremiah Crane entered the Temple against her wishes and was quickly seduced by his ex girlfriend and Velez's enemy Catrina. Pursuing a hopeless romance, he brokeup with Velez for Catrina and then beat Velez with a hammer after a hard fought victory over Catrina. As a result Velez assaulted him during a Grave Consequences match, which unlike a mundane promotion usually results in death for the loser. Also unlike even other rare feds which "kill" wrestlers like Urban Wrestling Federation or such, death is also cheap in the Lucha Underground Temple. Still, Crane Came Back Wrong, basically making Velez's revenge as lasting as possible.
• The Worf Effect
  • Ivelisse the took the worst April Hunter and Serena Deeb could give, up to the OT Knee "go to sleep" gut buster anyway, their SHINE 20 encounter only lasting an hour because the referee failed to notice April Hunter's interference or Deeb tapping out. Nevaeh was an irritant in the tag team division whose least tainted victories were over Leva Bates, after Bates agreed to Nevaeh's terms, and against Justine Silver, who hadn't beaten anyone. Thus this trope came into play at Ivelisse and Nevaeh's SHINE 21 title match. Neveah did not actually defeat Vélez but did wipe up the mat with her, only failing to win the title because this time a misplaced referee failed to notice Vélez had been knocked out, a referee himself knocked out by Nevaeh using Vélez. That cemented Nevaeh as a mainstay of SHINE main events.
  • You'd be forgiven for thinking Ivelisse would be a more dominant champion in her second reign, based on how it started, but SHINE 36 dispelled that notion when it became clear all the clawing Velez had done to get into the main event had hardly made her any better at beating LuFisto than she was at SHINE 7. This also cemented LuFisto's place at the top of the card after three years where she only came close to it once.
• Worthy Opponent
  • Amusingly didn't seem to know what to make of Samuray Del Sol regarding her as such in Chicago Style Wrestling.
  • This was her initial attitude towards Natalia Markova, who had undergone a Heel–Face Turn and showed Velez an uncharacteristic amount of respect. That changed once Markova won the Shine title belt, with Velez not content just to win it back but determined to remove Markova from the promotion entirely.
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Showed up for her SHINE 9 match against Jazz with tape around her ribs, suggesting she was injured from her SHINE 8 encounter where she took Angelina Love's botox injection, Christina Von Eerie's 138, a SkyYim and an Amazing Press. Those who watched TNA knew Ivelisse was just fine but Jazz fell for it and as a result, ended up choked out with Ivelisse's bandages.