Tamyra Mariama Mensah-Stock (born October 11, 1992, née Mensah) is an American professional wrestler and former amateur wrestler. She is signed to WWE, where she wrestles on the NXTbrand under the name Tyra Mae Steele.
Mensah-Stock previously competed in women's freestyle wrestling, winning the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics on August 3, 2021, and became the first black woman to win gold in women's freestyle wrestling.[1][2][3]
Early life and education
Tamyra was born in Chicago, Illinois, and grew up in the suburbs of Houston, Texas. Her father was a Ghanaian who lived in Ghana until the age of 30, and her mother is from Illinois.[1]
At Morton Ranch High School in Katy, Texas, her twin sister, Tarkyia, joined the wrestling team their freshman year while Tamyra pursued track and field. She joined the wrestling team her sophomore year, at age 15, after her sister and the wrestling coach, Mark Balser, convinced her to take part in a wrestling practice session.[4][5][6][7][8][9] However, she almost quit after her father's fatal car accident, on his way home from one of her high school wrestling matches.[10] She blamed wrestling for her father's untimely death. She saw him as her biggest supporter.[11]
In 2010 and 2011, she became the Texas High School Girls Champion having finished second in 2009.[12] In 2010, she became the U.S. Junior National runner-up.
After high school, she attended Wayland Baptist University (WBU) where she earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Exercise and Sports Science. As a student wrestler, she became the Women's Collegiate Wrestling Association (WCWA) Nationals Champion in 2014 and 2017. She also took third place in the 2013 at the U.S. Universities Championship and first place in 2015.
Amateur career
Although she won the 68 kg class at the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials, none of the athletes from the United States secured a spot to compete in relevant 68 kg weight category at the 2016 Rio Olympics, so she spent her time in Brazil as a practice partner for teammates who were eligible in other weight categories.[13]
She won the gold medal in the women's 68 kg event during the 2019 World Wrestling Championships and also qualified to represent United States at the 2020 Summer Olympics.[14][15] She was one of the three gold medalists for the United States in women's freestyle category at the 2019 World Championships, which also marked the first instance where U.S. delegation claimed three gold medals in women's wrestling event at a single World Championships.[16]
On May 3, 2023, it was announced Mensah-Stock had signed with WWE to become a professional wrestler.[28] She is the third Olympic wrestling gold medalist (after Kurt Angle and Gable Steveson) and the first female Olympic wrestling gold medalist to sign with the company. On the taping of the July 5, 2024 edition of NXT Level Up, she made her in-ring debut under the name Tyra Mae Steele, in a losing effort against Wren Sinclair.[29]
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