Awesome Kong facts for kids

For the male wrestler who appeared in WCW, see Colossal Kongs.

"Kharma" redirects here. For other uses, see Kharma (disambiguation).

Quick facts for kids Awesome Kong
Kong in 2014
Birth name	Kia Michelle Stevens
Born	(1977-09-04) September 4, 1977 (age 47) Carson, California, U.S.
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	Amazing Kong Awesome Kong Kharma Margaret
Billed height	6 ft 1 in (185 cm)
Billed weight	273 lb (124 kg)
Billed from	Tokyo, Japan
Trained by	Inoki Dojo Noah Denker
Debut	October 20, 2002
Retired	August 28, 2021

Kia Michelle Stevens (born September 4, 1977) is an American actress and a professional wrestler who has mostly retired from the sport. She is best known by her wrestling name Awesome Kong from her time with TNA Wrestling. She also wrestled for Ring of Honor (ROH), Shimmer Women Athletes, All Elite Wrestling (AEW), and WWE, where she was known as Kharma.

Kia Stevens started her wrestling journey in 2002 after being on a TV show. For her first five years, she wrestled mainly in Japan and won many championships there. In 2006, she returned to the United States. She wrestled on the independent circuit before joining TNA, where she helped create their Knockouts division. While at TNA, she became a two-time TNA Knockouts Champion and a one-time TNA Knockouts Tag Team Champion with Hamada.

Later, she joined WWE and became the third woman to enter the men's Royal Rumble match in 2012. Towards the end of the 2010s, she also appeared for the new wrestling company, AEW. In 2008, Stevens was ranked first in Pro Wrestling Illustrated's first ever list of the top 100 female wrestlers. She retired from wrestling in 2021 and was later added to the TNA Hall of Fame. As an actress, she is famous for playing Tammé "The Welfare Queen" Dawson in the Netflix comedy series GLOW, which is about wrestling.

Awesome Kong's Wrestling Journey
Other Appearances
Personal Life
Championships and Awards
Images for kids
See Also

Awesome Kong's Wrestling Journey

Starting Her Career

Kia Stevens was inspired to become a professional wrestler by Amy Dumas, also known as Lita in WWE. In 2002, Stevens was a contestant on a TV show called Discovery Health Body Challenge. She was trying to lose weight to become a wrestler.

After the show, Stevens trained at the School of Hard Knocks in San Bernardino, California. Soon after, she had her first professional match in the Empire Wrestling Federation. Stevens also tried out for Tough Enough 2, a competition where the winner got a contract with World Wrestling Federation (WWF). She didn't get the contract, but she used that experience to push herself even harder.

Wrestling in Japan

After a great tryout, Stevens was invited to train more in Japan. She joined a female Japanese wrestling (joshi puroresu) company called All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW). There, she trained very hard and learned to speak Japanese. She was given the wrestling name Amazing Kong.

As Amazing Kong, she wrestled for many women's wrestling companies in Japan. In late 2004, she defeated Ayako Hamada to win the WWWA World Single Championship. Stevens later said that Hamada was one of her favorite opponents.

In 2004, Kong also started wrestling for Gaea Japan. She teamed up with Aja Kong to form a tag team called W Kong. They won the AAAW Tag Team Championship in May. They kept the championship for the summer, but lost it in September. In 2005, Kong was part of the main event at the final Gaea show before it closed.

After Gaea closed, W Kong wrestled for other Japanese companies, including Hustle. There, they had funny characters named Margaret and Erika and even wrestled in a yellow tutu. They won the Hustle Super Tag Team Championship from June to October 2006. They were also the last team to hold the WWWA World Tag Team Championship before AJW closed. In early 2007, Kong also won the AWA Superstars of Wrestling World Women's Championship.

Success in the United States

Kong's success in Japan caught the eye of a U.S. wrestling company called Shimmer Women Athletes. She started wrestling for them regularly in May 2006. She won her first match against Nikki Roxx. She kept winning, which led to a match for the Shimmer Championship in October 2007 against Sara Del Rey. Kong lost this match, but it was by count-out, not a pin.

Kong then started another winning streak. She had big matches against wrestlers like Mercedes Martinez and MsChif. In November 2009, MsChif became the first woman to pin Kong in Shimmer.

Because Shimmer worked with Ring of Honor (ROH), Kong also started wrestling for ROH. She debuted there in September 2007 in a tag team match. She returned to ROH in May 2010 and had a rivalry with Sara Del Rey.

Wrestling on the Independent Scene

Amazing Kong wrestling for the National Wrestling Alliance in 2010

As she became more famous, Kong wrestled for many independent wrestling companies in America. She brought her AWA World Women's Championship from Japan. In May 2007, she won the NWA World Women's Championship from MsChif, becoming a double champion. She defended the NWA title for many months.

In June 2007, Kong went on a tour in Great Britain for a company called ChickFight. She won the ChickFight IX tournament trophy.

She also wrestled for Women Superstars Uncensored in March 2008. She had a big rivalry with Amy Lee, which included several intense matches.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA)

Becoming a Knockout Champion

Awesome Kong (right) with her manager Raisha Saeed

Stevens first appeared on TNA's show Impact! in October 2007 as Amazing Kong. Her name was soon changed to Awesome Kong. She helped make TNA's Knockout division very popular. At first, she couldn't win the TNA Women's Knockout Championship from Gail Kim.

In January 2008, with the help of her manager Raisha Saeed, Kong finally won the Women's Knockout Championship. She started a challenge where audience members could try to defeat her for $25,000. A wrestler named Taylor Wilde kept trying and eventually won both the money and the championship in July.

In October, Kong defeated Wilde to become a two-time Knockout Champion. She formed a group called The Kongtourage with Saeed and other wrestlers.

Tag Team Champion and Leaving TNA

In March 2009, Kong started a rivalry with The Beautiful People. They tried to cut her hair, which made Kong a fan favorite (someone the fans cheer for). She lost her championship in a special cage match because The Beautiful People interfered.

In August 2009, Kong and Saeed entered a tournament to crown the first TNA Knockouts Tag Team Champions. They didn't win the tournament, but Kong later teamed up with Hamada. In January 2010, Kong and Hamada defeated Taylor Wilde and Sarita to win the TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championship.

In early 2010, there was an incident backstage. Kong was later suspended by TNA and then released from her contract in March. She said it was because of money issues and changes in TNA management.

World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)

In December 2010, Stevens signed with WWE. In April 2011, her new wrestling name was revealed as Kharma. Kharma debuted at Extreme Rules in May, attacking other wrestlers. On May 23, Kharma cried in the ring instead of attacking anyone.

The next week, Kharma announced she was pregnant and had to take time off from WWE. She made a surprise return in the 2012 Royal Rumble match. She became the third woman, after Chyna and Beth Phoenix, to enter a men's Royal Rumble match. This was her only official match in WWE. In July 2012, Stevens confirmed she had been released by WWE.

Back to the Independent Scene and Japan

After leaving WWE, Stevens returned to wrestling as Amazing Kong. In November 2012, she appeared at a Shine event. In January 2013, she won the Resistance Pro Wrestling Women's Championship. She continued to wrestle for Shine, having matches against wrestlers like Mia Yim and Mercedes Martinez.

In August 2015, Kong went back to Japan to wrestle for a new company called Seadlinnng. She teamed up with Meiko Satomura. At the end of the show, she reformed her tag team W Kong with Aja Kong. She later said she had wrestled her last match in Japan and would no longer use the Amazing Kong name, but would continue as Awesome Kong. However, she did return to Japan in July 2016 for a special event.

Return to TNA (2015–2016)

Awesome Kong returned to TNA in January 2015. She started a rivalry with Havok, which ended in a steel cage match that Kong won. She also had matches for the TNA Knockouts Championship against Taryn Terrell.

In May 2015, Kong became a fan favorite again and teamed up with Gail Kim to fight a group called The Dollhouse. They had several tag team matches. Kong also had a brief rivalry with Lei'D Tapa.

In January 2016, Kong joined The Dollhouse and became their new leader, turning into a villain (someone the fans boo). In February, TNA announced that Stevens had been released from her contract.

Kong returned for one night in October 2016 to help induct Gail Kim into the TNA Hall of Fame.

All Elite Wrestling (AEW)

On May 25, 2019, Awesome Kong made a surprise appearance at AEW Double or Nothing, joining a match. She later formed a group called The Nightmare Collective with Brandi Rhodes. They were joined by other wrestlers. This group was not very popular with fans, and the storyline was stopped in February 2020 when Stevens took a break to film GLOW. She did not appear in AEW after February 2020, and her contract was not renewed in June 2021.

Retirement and Special Appearances

On August 28, 2021, Awesome Kong announced that she was officially retiring from wrestling at an event called NWA EmPowerrr. This ended her nearly 20-year career. On October 9, it was announced that Kong would be inducted into the Impact Hall of Fame. Gail Kim inducted her into the Hall of Fame on October 23.

Seven years after her last match in TNA, Kong made a special return to Impact Wrestling for their 1000th episode celebration. She took part in a 10-Knockout Tag Team match and won the match for her team.

Other Appearances

Stevens appears as her wrestling character Kharma in the video games WWE '12 and WWE '13.

She is well-known for playing Tammé "The Welfare Queen" Dawson in the Netflix comedy series GLOW. This show is about a real-life female wrestling league from the 1980s called Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling. Stevens also appeared in an episode of the Netflix comedy show Aunty Donna's Big Ol' House of Fun in 2020. She also appeared in Katy Perry's "Swish Swish" music video.

Personal Life

Kia Stevens grew up in Carson, California. Before she became a professional wrestler, she worked as a social worker and owned a business that put vending machines in high schools. Her family and friends helped her pay for her wrestling training in Japan.

In May 2011, Stevens shared that she was pregnant. Sadly, she had a miscarriage in December 2011. After wrestling in the 2012 Royal Rumble, there were false rumors that she had given birth to a baby boy. Stevens later shared the truth about her miscarriage.

In August 2012, Stevens announced that she was working to lose weight. She worked with fitness experts and a therapist to get back into wrestling shape. Photos from that time showed that she had lost a lot of weight.

Championships and Awards

Kong is a two-time TNA Knockout Champion

All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling
- WWWA World Single Championship (1 time)
- WWWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Aja Kong
AWA Superstars of Wrestling
- AWA World Women's Championship (1 time)
ChickFight
- ChickFight IX
Continental Championship Wrestling
- CCW Alabama Women's Championship (1 time)
Gaea Japan
- AAAW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Aja Kong
Empire Wrestling Federation
- EWF Hall Of Fame (class of 2017)
Funkin' Conservatory
- BANG Women's Championship (2 times)
Hustle
- Hustle Super Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Erika
Ladies Legend Pro-Wrestling
- LLPW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Aja Kong
National Wrestling Alliance
- NWA World Women's Championship (1 time)
NEO Japan Ladies Pro Wrestling
- NEO Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Haruka Matsuo (1), and Kyoko Kimura (1)
Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- Ranked No. 1 of the top 50 female wrestlers in the PWI Female 50 in 2008
- PWI Woman of the Year (2008)
Pro Wrestling World-1
- World-1 Women's Championship (1 time)
Resistance Pro Wrestling
- RPW Women's Championship (1 time)
TNA Wrestling
- TNA Knockouts Championship (2 times)
- TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Hamada
- TNA Hall of Fame (2021)