Velvet Sky

Jamie Szantyr (born June 2, 1981) is an American professional wrestler currently working for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling under the ring name Velvet Sky. She is a former TNA Knockout Tag Team Champion with her former Beautiful People partners Madison Rayne and [Lacey Von Erich]. She also works outside of TNA as Talia Madison.

Prior to debuting, Szantyr was trained by Jason Knight and Kevin Landry at the House of Pain Pro Wrestling Dojo After completing her training, she began working as a valet and wrestler on the independent circuit using the ring names Miss Talia, Talia Doll, and Talia Madison. On the independent circuit, she formed a tag team known as T&A with [April Hunter]. She was booked to her first wrestling championship during her time in World Xtreme Wrestling, getting the WXW Women's Championship after winning a battle royal on May 29, 2004.

Szantyr made a few appearances in World Wrestling Entertainment in 2005 and 2006. On the February 24, 2005 edition of WWE SmackDown!, she appeared as an extra during the JBL "Celebration of Excellence" party. She was then defeated by Victoria on July 11 in a match taped for WWE Heat. On January 2, 2006, she and Trinity were planted in the front row of the audience to be selected to dance with The Heart Throbs after their match in another Heat segment. She also auditioned for the 2007 Diva Search, but did not make the final eight.

As Talia Madison, she held Defiant Pro Wrestling Women's title, which she got on April 8, 2006 after defeating Alere Little Feather and Nikki Roxx in a three-way match. Later that year, she debuted in MXW Pro Wrestling and defeated Alere Little Feather at Brass City Battle. She also wrestled in Women's Extreme Wrestling both as Talia Doll and Talia Madison, where she mainly worked in tag team matches. She found championship success here as half of The Simple Girls/The Madison Sisters with her (kayfabe) sister Nikki Madison, and as the "T" half of the T&A tag team with April Hunter, defeating Team Blondage's Amber O'Neal and Lollipop to get the title on WEW's April 6, 2006 pay-per-view. She also held the WEW World Women's title (as Talia Madison), defeating Angel Orsini on May 5, 2007.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2007–present) 

When Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) announced the creation of their women's division in 2007, Szantyr, using her Talia Madison ring name, was announced as one of the ten wrestlers in a 10-woman Gauntlet match to crown the first TNA Women's Knockout Champion at Bound for Glory pay-per-view. Before the show she made non-wrestling appearances on the October 5 episode of TNA Today and the October 11 Impact!, standing at ringside for the debut match of Amazing Kong along with the other gauntlet match participants. In the weeks following the gauntlet match, her ring name was changed to Velvet Sky.

The Beautiful People (2007–2011)

Angelina Love and Velvet Sky as the Beautiful People. At the December Turning Point pay-per-view, Sky and Angelina Love were paired together and dubbed "Velvet Love Entertainment", later renamed to "The Beautiful People". After defeating ODB and Roxxi Laveaux early in the show, Love and Sky assisted Gail Kim in her match against Awesome Kong. They assisted Kim again after another match against Kong on the December 6 edition of Impact! and at Final Resolution pay-per-view, helping to stop a brawl post match.

On the March 13 edition of Impact!, Sky and Love attacked Roxxi Laveaux and later that night Gail Kim, thus becoming heels for the first time in TNA. At Lockdown, Sky and Love participated in the first ever "Queen of the Cage" match, which was won by Laveaux when Laveaux pinned Love inside the cage. Sky and Love participated in the Make Over Battle Royal-Ladder Match at Sacrifice, which was won by Gail Kim. A pre-match stipulation determined that the loser of the ladder match portion of the match would have their head shaved, unless this was Gail Kim, otherwise Love would have her head shave. Sky and Love later added another factor to their gimmicks, placing brown paper bags over opponents heads. Soon after, Moose joined The Beautiful People, but she was quickly removed from the stable and the TNA roster after suffering an injury on the independent circuit. On July 17 episode of Impact!, Sky won a Knockouts Battle Royal for number one contendership to the Women's Knockout Championship, but lost the title match the next week as well as two more title matches immediately following to then champion Taylor Wilde.

The Beautiful People began associating with Cute Kip, who become known as their "fashionist". At Bound for Glory IV, The Beautiful People and Cute Kip were defeated by ODB, Rhaka Khan, and Rhino. In March 2009 the team gained a new member in Madison Rayne, while Kip was "fired" from the stable twice in the following month before finally becoming a road agent for the company. Sky was in Love's corner when she defeated Kong and Wilde to claim the TNA Women's Knockout Championship at Lockdown. Sky was also in Love's corner at Slammiversary where she helped her defeat Tara by spraying hairspray in her eyes. At Hard Justice Sky, along with Angelina Love, competed in a tag match against ODB and Cody Deaner in a losing effort when Deaner pinned Sky causing Love to lose the Championship to ODB.

After this loss, Madison Rayne was kicked out of The Beautiful People, with the pair vowing revenge in the upcoming tournament for the TNA Knockout Tag Team Championship. The last of the four quarter final matches pitted The Beautiful People against Madison Rayne and a mystery partner. This mystery partner was later revealed to be the returning Roxxi. Regardless, The Beautiful People won the match and advanced to the semi-finals.

Since that match was taped, Angelina Love had been released from her TNA Wrestling contract due to work visa issues. On the last episode of Impact! taped before her release Love and Sky advanced to the finals of the tag team tournament by defeating Tara and Christy Hemme after interference from Madison Rayne. Afterwards Rayne apologized to both Sky and Love, and was then welcomed back into the Beautiful People. At No Surrender Sky and Love's replacement Rayne were defeated in the finals of the tournament by Sarita and Taylor Wilde. On October 1 Love's replacement Lacey Von Erich made her debut and joined the Beautiful People. Love would return to the company on the January 14, 2010, edition of Impact!, but instead of re-joining the Beautiful People, she attacked them, thus turning face.On the March 8 Monday night edition of Impact! Sky and Rayne defeated the teams of Love and Tara and Sarita and Taylor Wilde in a three-way match to win the vacant TNA Knockout Tag Team Championship, after interference from Daffney. The three members of the Beautiful People will defend the titles under the Freebird rule. On the April 5 edition of Impact!, Sky was one of the four winners of the very first LockBox Showdown Elimination Tag Match. The box she opened contained a contract for Sky to challenge anyone of her choosing at any time, regardless of the stipulation. Sky then announced that she would be using her contract to face the new Knockout Champion Angelina Love in a Leather and Lace match the following week. With Velvet Sky and Madison Rayne scheduled to receive a shot at the Knockout Championship at Lockdown, the Beautiful People turned the Leather and Lace match into a three-on-one beatdown in order to soften Love up for the pay-per-view the following Sunday. At the pay-per-view Rayne and Sky defeated Love and Tara, with Rayne becoming the new Women's Knockout Champion. Sky faced Love once again on the June 24 edition of Impact and won via disqualification after being dropped with a DDT on a steel chair, just like Von Erich the previous week.

On June 27, 2010, Szantyr announced that she had signed a long–term contract extension with TNA.

In the summer of 2010, Sky began showing signs of a face turn, when Rayne began talking down to her and Von Erich, declaring that she did not need either of them and then recruited a mystery woman hiding behind a motorcycle helmet to help her in her feud with Angelina Love. On the July 22 edition of Impact! Sky refused to go along with Rayne, the mystery woman and Sarita, when they all got done assaulting Love and Taylor Wilde, Von Erich on the other hand chose to leave with the trio. On July 27, at the tapings of the August 5 edition of Impact!, Sky and Von Erich lost the TNA Knockout Tag Team Championship to Hamada and Taylor Wilde, when Rayne's and the mystery woman's interference backfired. The following week Sky turned face by attacking the mystery woman during Rayne's title match with Angelina Love and in doing so caused a distraction, which cost Rayne the Women's Knockout Championship. On the August 19 episode of Impact!, Sky reunited with Angelina Love, accompanying her to the ring and helping her successfully defend the Women's Knockout Championship against Rayne, who was with the mysterious biker woman. After the match Sky and Love were beaten down by Rayne and the mystery woman. Rayne's mysterious ally was finally unmasked as Tara on the September 2 edition of Impact!, when the two of them defeated Sky and Love in their first match together in a year. At No Surrender Sky defeated Rayne in a singles match. Lacey Von Erich would join Sky and Love in the Beautiful People, after being saved by them from Rayne and Tara on the September 16 edition of Impact!. She, however, would leave the promotion two months later on November 11. In October Sky entered a feud with Sarita, who would score back–to–back pinfall victories over her on the October 28 and the November 4 editions of Impact!, first in a six knockout tag team match and then in a singles match. On the December 9 edition of Impact! Sky and Love defeated Sarita and Daffney in the first round match of a tournament for the vacant Knockout Tag Team Championship, but Sky was still unable to pin Sarita. Two weeks later, Sarita attacked Sky prior to her and Love's tournament final match. As a result, Winter, who had been stalking Love for the past months, stepped up, took Sky's place in the match and teamed with Love to defeat Madison Rayne and Tara for the Knockout Tag Team Championship. The following week Sarita defeated Sky in a Strap match. On the January 27 edition of Impact!, Sky brawled with Winter, claiming she was trying to break up the Beautiful People. Sarita pinned Sky once again on the February 17 edition of Impact!, in a tag team match, where she teamed with Rosita and Sky with Love. After the match Sky challenged Sarita to a one–on–one match, where she agreed to put her career on the line. On the March 3 edition of Impact! Sky was finally able to defeat Sarita in a singles match, salvaging her career in the process. On March 13 at Victory Road, Sky inadvertently cost Love and Winter the Knockout Tag Team Championship in a match against Sarita and Rosita. On the March 24 edition of Impact!, Winter, seemingly having control over Love's actions, prevented her from saving Sky from a beatdown at the hands of Sarita and Rosita. On the April 7 edition of Impact!, Love, still under Winter's spell, turned on Sky during a Knockout Tag Team Championship match against Sarita and Rosita and left her to be pinned by the champions, effectively ending the Beautiful People.

Singles career (2011–present)

On the April 28 edition of Impact!, Love defeated Sky via submission in a singles match, no-selling all of her opponent's offense during the match. On the May 5 edition of Impact!, Sky pinned Winter in a two–on–three handicap match, where she teamed with Kurt Angle to face Winter, Love and Jeff Jarrett, announcing her intention of becoming the TNA Women's Knockout Champion in the process. On the May 19 edition of Impact Wrestling, Sky defeated Love and Winter in a two–on–one handicap match, but was afterwards attacked by the returning ODB, who claimed that she had gotten fired from TNA the previous June because of her.Sky and ODB faced each other in a singles match on the June 9 edition of Impact Wrestling, with Sky emerging victorious. The following week, Sky and Ms. Tessmacher failed in their attempt to win the Knockout Tag Team Championship from Rosita and Sarita due to outside interference from ODB. Afterwards, Sky was beaten down by ODB and her new tag team partner, Jacqueline. On the June 12 edition of Impact Wrestling, Sky and Tessmacher were defeated by Jacqueline and ODB in a tag team match. The feud was seemingly ended on the July 7 edition of Impact Wrestling, when Sky defeated ODB and Jacqueline in a two–on–one handicap match, forcing both of them out of TNA as per stipulation of the match. On the July 21 edition of Impact Wrestling, TNA Women's Knockout Champion Mickie James awarded Sky a shot at her title, but before the match could take place, James was attacked by Angelina Love and Winter. When Sky tried to make the save, she was attacked by the returning ODB and Jacqueline, who were then in turn attacked

Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (2011)

On June 18, 2011, Sky made her debut for Mexican promotion Asistencia Asesoría y Administración at TripleManía XIX, where she teamed with Angelina Love, Mickie James and Sexy Star to defeat Cynthia Moreno, Faby Apache, Lolita and Mari Apache in an eight woman tag team match.

Personal life

In high school, Szantyr competed in cheerleading, softball, cross-country, and track. Szantyr was previously in a relationship with former WWE superstar Gregory Helms, but the two have since broken up. Szantyr is currently dating fellow TNA performer Joshua Harter, better known as Chris Sabin.

'Other media

She was featured on MTV's Made alongside A.J. Styles, Taylor Wilde, and Angelina Love. On January 24, 2009, she appeared as a soccerette on British television program Soccer AM, along with Angelina Love. In November 2010 she was a contestant on an all TNA week of Family Feud, teaming with Angelina Love, Christy Hemme, Lacey Von Erich and Tara against Jay Lethal, Matt Morgan, Mick Foley, Mr. Anderson and Rob Van Dam.

In wrestling

Entrance themes "Goodies" by Ciara (WXW)

"Just a Lil Bit" by 50 Cent (Independent circuit)
"I'm About to Freak" by Dale Oliver (TNA)
"Angel On My Shoulder" by Dale Oliver (TNA)

Championships and accomplishments

Defiant Pro Wrestling DPW Women's Championship (1 time)[77]

Georgia Wrestling Alliance GWA Ladies Championship (1 time)[78]

Pro Wrestling Illustrated PWI ranked her #21 of the best 50 female singles wrestlers in the PWI Female 50 in 2010[79]

TNT Pro Wrestling TNT Women's Championship (1 time)[80]

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling TNA Knockout Tag Team Championship (1 time)1 – with Lacey Von Erich and Madison Rayne[81]

Universal Wrestling Association UWA Women's Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Ariel[82]

Women's Extreme Wrestling WEW World Championship (1 time)[83]

WEW World Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with April Hunter (1) and Tiffany Madison (1)[9]

World Xtreme Wrestling WXW Women's Championship (1 time)[5]