Serena Deeb Has Retired

Happy trails, Ms. Deeb
Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein

Last night (this morning?) at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan, Serena Deeb wrestled her final match, for the Reina promotion against Syuri. Her career has been a rollercoaster to say the least. From her humble beginnings at the Ohio Valley Wrestling school to her years helping to form SHIMMER to what it is today to her head-shaven run alongside CM Punk in WWE through her final years as a veteran godfather-type, she can say she's done it all. And now, she retires, as she announced on her Facebook page, on her own terms.

Most people are going to remember her as the female member of the Straight Edge Society. She shaved her head and mostly seconded Punk and Luke Gallows, but the role of valet does her career little justice. Her work in OVW with peers like ODB, Beth Phoenix, and Shelly Martinez stands on its own, but her runs in SHIMMER and Japan showed the rest of the world that she was, in a word, unfuckwithable. Sadly, a bad concussion cost her 18 months of her post-WWE career, coming at a time when she set the Smash promotion (Japanese, not Canadian) on fire with Kana. But what she was able to do in her time in the ring was definitely worth celebrating.

Deeb will now get to enjoy life outside of wrestling. She's earned the victory lap. I hope she finds fulfillment and ease in her post-wrestling life, and I hope that everyone remembers her for the excellence she brought in the ring, not just the stunted run in WWE. In the meantime, if you want to know more about Deeb, read this interview she did for Pro Wrestling Is Art four years ago. It's illuminating.