Brianna Coda was born on January 14th, 2001, and started her professional wrestling career in late 2018 after training at the Freelance Wrestling Academy in her hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Cora Jade has been very open about the wrestlers who inspired her to start this career, CM Punk being a major one as he is also a Chicago native, but others like Paige (Saraya) and AJ Lee, as she had dressed and looked more like them compared to other women in the wrestling world.
NXT kicked off the CW Network era with a historic show!
Cora worked for a few years on the independent scene before she started making it big and earning herself a contract with the WWE developmental program, NXT. Let’s take a look back on her relatively short career and see what she has been able to achieve in that time.
Becoming A Huge Wrestling Fan
Getting To Meet Her Idols
Of course, a good wrestling story doesn’t start without talking about how the person grew up watching professional wrestling and falling in love with it before taking it up as a career. Online, through social media, Cora has been open about the people and matches that inspired her to become a wrestler, with a major moment being the NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn match between Sasha Banks and Bayley.
This match was such a big part in me starting my journey to become a professional wrestler. I still watch it every now and then. I wouldn’t be in the position I am today without @itsBayleyWWE & @SashaBanksWWE. Thank you for inspiring the next generation.
As Cora was a major fan of the WWE, she was often able to capture a photo of her meeting the wrestlers, having pictures of her alongside AJ Lee, CM Punk, Bayley, Natalya, and many more online somewhere.
Getting Her Foot In The Door
Finding Work On The Independent Scene
Like any wrestler, Cora Jade didn’t just materialize an immediate contract with the WWE. Instead, she started her career on smaller indy shows. In 2019, it was common to see her wrestle under the name Elayna Black while making appearances for EVOLVE, SHIMMER, Glory Pro, and many other events.
It was also during this early stage of her career that Cora wrestled against Rok-C, who would later become Roxanne Perez in NXT.
Handful Of Appearances In AEW & TNA
Made Her Way To A Few Promotions Before WWE
- Wrestled Red Velvet and Brandi Rhodes on episodes of AEW Dark.
- Had a match against Havok in Impact Wrestling.
During this indy run, Elayna also got the chance to show her work for some bigger promotions, those being Impact Wrestling and All Elite Wrestling. The Impact Wrestling match happened at their Prelude to Glory event, which saw Havok squash Elayna in three minutes.
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Her AEW matches were a bit better in the sense that they went longer and let Elayna show off a bit more. She wrestled Red Velvet in a singles match on AEW Dark, followed by a tag match against her and Brandi Rhodes, with Leyla Hirsch assisting Elayna. She would have two more matches in Game Changer Wrestling before signing with the WWE.
Putting Pen To Paper With WWE In 2021
Debuted In January Of That Year
2021 would be a major year for her as that is when Cora signed with the WWE and would quickly make her debut, participating in the 2021 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic alongside Gigi Dollin. The team would be eliminated in the first round after a loss to Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell, but Cora would move into singles competition, wrestling on NXT and 205 Live.
It would be when NXT made the change to NXT 2.0 that Cora finally earned her first victory in the WWE after beating Franky Monet (Taya Valkyrie). Cora kept earning some victories and even had a dark match on SmackDown against Dakota Kai before being selected to take part in the 2021 WarGames event.
WarGames And Championship Opportunities
The End Of 2021 And Start Of 2022 Were Big For Cora
Speaking of that WarGames match, it seemed like that was the start of something big for Cora. She would earn the win for her team, including Io Shirai, Kay Lee Ray, and Raquel Gonzalez. Cora would become a top contender for the NXT Women’s Championship and had her title match at NXT New Year’s Evil alongside Raquel, but Mandy Rose would retain the title.
Cora and Raquel would team for the 2022 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, making it to the Semi-Finals, before losing to Dakota Kai & Wendy Choo. Still, Cora would get another chance at the NXT Women’s title at NXT Stand & Deliver 2022 but would lose to Mandy Rose once again. It wouldn’t be until she started teaming with Roxanne Perez that Cora captured her first championship, that being the NXT Women’s Tag Team titles.
Heel Turn And Feud With Roxanne
Some Big Matches Came During This Time
The reign didn’t last long as Cora turned heel on Roxanne pretty quickly and would embark on a months-long feud against her former partner. The two would trade wins at NXT Heatwave and NXT Halloween Havoc 2022 before Roxanne earned a title match after winning the Iron Survivor Challenge at NXT Deadline.
Cora would continue to wrestle random opponents while waiting for a new feud or title match, but after a Kendo Stick match between herself and Dana Brooke, Cora would take a break from wrestling.
Torn ACL Takes Cora Out Of Action
Had To Recover For Nine Months
After those many months away, Cora returned by attacking then-current champion Lyra Valkyria, setting up a possible feud between the two. She would have a few matches, including a live event title match against Lyra, but would suffer a torn ACL during it.
This injury was major and would see Cora be sidelined for nine months. She remained active on social media showing her route to recovery and posted photos of her alongside friends like Jacy Jayne, Roxanne Perez, and CM Punk.
Huge Return And Teaming With Roxanne
Came Back On The CW Premiere Of NXT
Finally, it would be on the CW premiere episode of NXT that Cora made her grand return by attacking Giulia and helping Roxanne Perez retain the NXT Women’s Championship against the big new signing. The two would cut on a promo on the next episode, with Cora talking about having to watch people succeed while she was injured.
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Giulia would make her way out to the ring with Cora taunting her before Stephanie Vaquer made her official NXT debut. The two teams would start fighting in the ring with Giulia and Stephanie standing tall and holding up the NXT Women’s Championship together.
