Mia Yim facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Mia Yim |
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Yim in 2025
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| Birth name | Stephanie Hym Bell |
| Born | April 16, 1989 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Virginia Union University (BS) |
| Spouse(s) | |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Jade Mia Yim Michin "Michin" Mia Yim Reckoning |
| Billed height | 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) |
| Billed weight | 132 lb (60 kg) |
| Billed from | San Diego, California Fontana, California |
| Trained by | John Kermon Mark Bravura CA Elliot Christian York ROH Dojo (Daizee Haze) WWE Performance Center (Sara Amato) |
| Debut | August 22, 2009 |
| Twitch information | |
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| Years active | 2017–present |
| Genre |
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| Followers | 44.7K |
| Follower and view counts updated as of February 25, 2025. | |
Stephanie Hym Lee (born April 16, 1989), known by her wrestling names Mia Yim and Michin, is an American professional wrestler. She works for WWE on the SmackDown team. Her current wrestling name, Michin, means "crazy" in Korean.
Before WWE, Stephanie was known for her time in Impact Wrestling. There, she was a Impact Knockouts Champion. She wrestled as Jade and was part of a group called The Dollhouse. She also wrestled for other companies like Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW), Shine Wrestling, and Shimmer Women Athletes. In Shine, she won both the Shine Championship and the Shine Tag Team Championship with Leva Bates. She even wrestled in Japan.
Stephanie joined WWE in 2018 after doing well in a tournament called the Mae Young Classic. She started in NXT, which is like a training ground for WWE stars. In 2020, she moved to the main WWE shows and joined a group called Retribution, using the name Reckoning. She left WWE in 2021. For a short time in 2022, she returned to Impact Wrestling and wrestled on the independent circuit. She came back to WWE in November 2022 and joined The O.C. group until it ended in mid-2024.
Contents
- Early Life
- Professional Wrestling Career
- Personal Life
- Other Media
- Championships and Accomplishments
- See also
Early Life
Stephanie Hym Bell was born on April 16, 1989, in Los Angeles, California. Her father is African American, and her mother is Korean. Her mother, Sunhong Bell, was born on July 25, 1949. Stephanie's father worked in the military and later as an FBI special agent. He worked with gangs and helped find missing children.
Stephanie played volleyball in high school in Vienna, Virginia. She then went to Virginia Union University on a volleyball scholarship. She studied information technology there and played volleyball until her last year of college.
Professional Wrestling Career
Starting Out (2009-2011)
Stephanie loved professional wrestling since she was a kid. When she was 18 and in college, she started training at a wrestling school in Manassas, Virginia. After 18 months of training, she had her first match on August 22, 2009. She chose the wrestling name Mia Yim.
At first, she wrestled mostly for smaller wrestling companies in Virginia. Later, she wrestled for Jersey All Pro Wrestling (JAPW). She also trained at the Ring of Honor (ROH) Wrestling Academy. In ROH, she sometimes helped wrestlers as a valet. She also wrestled a few matches there. After college, Mia Yim was invited to train and wrestle in Japan. She also learned Mexican lucha libre wrestling.
Combat Zone Wrestling (2010–2012)
Mia Yim trained with D. J. Hyde at the Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) school. She started working for CZW as a manager for Adam Cole. They were shown as a couple in the wrestling stories. Mia often helped Cole win his matches.
In September 2011, Mia helped Cole win against Greg Excellent. This started a rivalry between Excellent and the couple. Mia even wrestled Excellent in a match where a man and woman compete. She won a special match called a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match against him in 2012. After that, she wrestled only two more times for CZW before leaving.
Shine Wrestling (2012–2015)
Mia Yim joined Shine Wrestling in August 2012. She entered a tournament to become the first Shine Champion. She made it to the final but lost.
On February 28, 2014, Mia teamed up with Leva Bates to form a tag team called The Lucha Sisters. They won the tournament to become the first Shine Tag Team Champions. They defended their titles successfully a few times. However, they lost the championship in June 2014.
In November 2014, Mia Yim won the Shine Championship. This made her the first woman to hold both the Shine Championship and the Shine Tag Team Championship. She lost the Shine Championship in April 2015. Later in 2015, Mia Yim attacked Leva Bates after they lost a match. This showed that Mia was changing her wrestling character to be a "bad guy" (heel).
Shimmer Women Athletes (2013)
Mia Yim started wrestling for Shimmer Women Athletes in April 2013. She had some wins and losses there. In April 2014, she tried to win the Shimmer Championship but was not successful.
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling / Impact Wrestling
Early Matches (2010–2015)
Mia Yim had a tryout match for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) in 2010. She also competed in TNA's "Knockouts Knockdown" events in 2013, 2014, and 2015.
The Dollhouse (2015–2016)
In April 2015, TNA started showing videos about a new group called The Dollhouse, which included Mia Yim and Marti Bell. Mia's wrestling name changed to Jade. Jade and Marti debuted on Impact Wrestling and attacked a referee and announcer. This showed they were "bad guys" (heels).
Later, Taryn Terrell joined The Dollhouse. The group often helped Terrell win her championship matches. The Dollhouse wrestled in handicap matches, where they had more wrestlers than their opponents. In July 2015, Terrell lost her championship after Jade was distracted. Jade also tried to win the TNA Women's Knockout Championship in September 2015 and February 2016 but did not succeed.
TNA Knockouts Champion (2016–2017)
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On April 5, 2016, Jade won the TNA Knockouts Championship for the first time. She also won a special "Queen of the Knockouts" match. She successfully defended her title against Madison Rayne.
Later, Jade started a rivalry with Maria, who was in charge of the Knockouts. This made Jade a "good guy" (face) again. She was attacked by a new wrestler named Sienna. Jade teamed up with her former rival Gail Kim to fight Sienna. At a big event called Slammiversary, Jade lost the Knockouts Championship to Sienna.
Jade continued to wrestle for the TNA Knockouts Championship but did not win it back. She had a tough match against Rosemary in a steel cage and another called a "Last Knockout Standing" match, both of which she lost. Her last match in TNA was in March 2017, and she then left the company.
WWE
Early Appearances (2014–2018)
Mia Yim appeared in WWE a few times in 2014 and 2015. She was sometimes one of Adam Rose's "rosebuds." She also wrestled a match in NXT, WWE's training brand, in 2014.
In July 2017, Mia Yim returned to WWE to compete in the Mae Young Classic tournament. She won her first match but lost in the second round. In August 2018, she entered the Mae Young Classic again. She won two matches but lost in the quarterfinals.
NXT (2018–2020)
Because of her great performances in the Mae Young Classic, Mia Yim signed a contract with WWE in September 2018. She started working in NXT. In October 2018, she had her first match in NXT and won, becoming a "good guy" (face).
She had a rivalry with Bianca Belair, who gave her her first loss in NXT. Mia Yim later defeated Belair in two matches to end their rivalry. In August 2019, Mia Yim challenged Shayna Baszler for the NXT Women's Championship but lost.
In November 2019, Mia Yim joined other NXT wrestlers in a storyline where they invaded the main WWE shows, Raw and SmackDown. She was chosen for the first-ever women's WarGames match. However, before the match, she was attacked backstage and could not compete. It was later revealed that Dakota Kai attacked her. Mia Yim had a match against Kai, which she lost. In June 2020, Mia Yim teamed up with Tegan Nox and Shotzi Blackheart to win a six-woman tag team match.
Retribution (2020–2021)
In September 2020, Mia Yim appeared on Raw and revealed herself as a member of a villainous group called Retribution. She changed her wrestling name to Reckoning. She had her first match as Reckoning in November 2020, which she lost.
Over the next few months, there were signs of trouble within the group. Their leader, Mustafa Ali, would get angry when they lost. At a big event called Fastlane, Reckoning and another member walked out on Ali. This led to the group breaking up. Two months later, Mia Yim was moved to the SmackDown team. In July, she was traded back to Raw. In the 2021 WWE Draft, the Reckoning character was quietly dropped. On November 4, 2021, Mia Yim was released from her WWE contract.
Return to Independent Wrestling (2022)
On March 31, 2022, Mia Yim returned to wrestling on the independent circuit. She won a match against Athena.
Return to Impact Wrestling (2022)
On May 7, 2022, Mia Yim returned to Impact Wrestling. She saved Taya Valkyrie from an attack. In her first match back in Impact in five years, she teamed with Jordynne Grace and Taya Valkyrie to win a tag team match.
In June 2022, she competed in the first "Queen of the Mountain" match for the Knockouts World Championship, but Jordynne Grace won. Mia Yim challenged Grace for the title again in August but did not win. She left Impact Wrestling in October 2022.
Return to WWE (2022–Present)
On November 7, 2022, Mia Yim returned to WWE on Raw. She attacked Rhea Ripley and joined The O.C. group. Three weeks later, her team won a WarGames match against Ripley's team.
In February 2023, her wrestling name was changed to Michin. This name means "crazy" in Korean and was her mother's childhood nickname for her. As part of the 2023 WWE Draft, Michin was moved to the SmackDown team. In December 2023, Michin pinned the WWE Women's Champion, Iyo Sky, in a tag team match. This earned her a title shot in January 2024, but she did not win the championship.
In May 2024, Michin won a match to qualify for a special ladder match to crown the first NXT Women's North American Championship. However, she did not win the title at the event. In June 2024, Michin reunited with Gallows & Anderson. In October 2024, she won a "Dumpster Match" against Chelsea Green. Michin also competed in a tournament to crown the first Women's United States Champion but lost in the final match in December 2024.
Personal Life
Stephanie Bell knows sign language. She learned it from a former boyfriend who was deaf. She has worked helping deaf and hard-of-hearing people by providing captions.
In 2016, Stephanie started speaking out about domestic abuse because she is a survivor. She paints her left ring fingernail purple to support a campaign called #PutTheNailinIt. Because of her efforts, she was named one of BBC's 100 Women in 2016.
On February 11, 2021, Stephanie Bell got engaged to fellow professional wrestler Keith Lee. They got married on February 5, 2022.
Other Media
Mia Yim has appeared as a playable character in several video games, including WWE 2K20, WWE 2K22 (as both Mia Yim and Reckoning), and WWE 2K23.
She also streams video games and chats with fans on Twitch under the name "OfficialMiaYim."
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | The Main Event | Lights Out Leslie |
Championships and Accomplishments
- BBC
- 100 Women (2016)
- Big Time Wrestling
- BTW Women's Championship (1 time)
- DDT Pro-Wrestling
- Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship (1 time)
- Florida Underground Wrestling
- NWA FUW Women’s Championship (1 time, first ever)
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- Ranked No. 6 of the top 50 female wrestlers in the PWI Female 50 in 2016
- Shine Wrestling
- Shine Championship (1 time)
- Shine Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Leva Bates
- Shine Tag Team Title Tournament (2014)
- Tidal Championship Wrestling
- TCW Women's Championship (1 time)
- Total Nonstop Action Wrestling
- TNA Knockouts Championship (1 time)
- Queen of the Knockouts (2016)
- TNA World Cup (2016) – with Jeff Hardy, Jessie Godderz, Eddie Edwards and Robbie E
- Southside Wrestling
- Queen of Southside Championship (1 time)
See also
In Spanish: Mia Yim para niños
