The Stunning Evolution Of Jordynne Grace

Current "WWE NXT" star and former TNA Knockouts Champion Jordynne Grace is unlike any other woman in professional wrestling today. Grace's name is almost synonymous with transformation, whether that be physical, or through her in-ring transformation and all the hard work that got her from the independent scene to the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida.

Grace, whose real name is Patricia Gresham (née Parker), was inspired by the strong women in WWE before her, like Chyna and Beth Phoenix, something she told Muscle & Fitness ahead of the inaugural Queen of the Mountain match in TNA back in the spring of 2022. Grace explained she grew up watching WWE and started lifting weights when she was around 12 years old, as she knew muscles were going to be needed if she were to accomplish her dream of becoming a professional wrestler herself.

She worked her way up from indie promotions like Bad Boys of Wrestling, Keystone Pro Wrestling, Pro Wrestling Magic, and many more to Progress Wrestling, where she captured the Progress World Women's Championship. Grace would make a brief, but meaningful, appearance in AEW before she signed with Impact Wrestling, where she would make a name for herself, in October 2018. In Impact, which would once again become TNA Wrestling in 2024, she became one of the most decorated Knockouts with multiple championship reigns in the promotion.

"Thicc Mama Pump" officially became "The Juggernaut" in WWE when she signed with the company, after working in "NXT" while still under contract with TNA thanks to a partnership between the companies, in January 2025. She has taken WWE's developmental brand by storm, but the journey of just how far she's risen is long.

By the time Grace was just 14 years old, she had started training in both amateur and professional wrestling in her hometown of Austin, Texas. She graduated high school early to purse her passion full-time. By age 17, she had already wrestled internationally for Lucha Libre Femenil in Monterrey, Mexico.

She officially made her debut on the independent scene in September 2012. It didn't take long for Grace to be wrestling an expanded schedule across multiple promotions, including Bad Boys of Wrestling, IWA Mid-South, Resistance Pro Wrestling, Lone Star Championship Wrestling, and more. Her first title win came in Keystone Pro Wrestling when she captured the KPW Vixen Championship in July 2015.

Grace would wrestle for even more promotions including Atomic Championship Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Magic over the years, facing opponents like Veda Scott, Britt Baker, Brandi Rhodes, and even former Knockout Angelina Love. Grace teamed alongside LuFisto as "Team PAWG," or "Phat A** White Girl," primarily in Beyond Wrestling, but in a number of other promotions, from 2017 through 2018. 

She made her debut for SHINE Wrestling in July 2017 when she entered the SHINE Nova Title Tournament, where she defeated La Rosa Negra in the first round. Over the next few years, she'd compete at SHINE 44, SHINE 48, and SHINE 50, and most recently defeated Xandra Bale at SHINE 52 in July 2018.

Throughout her time on the indies, Grace would also hold the ACW Fire Women's Championship, the Black Label Pro Heavyweight Championship (for almost 200 days), Pro Wrestling Magic's Women's title, Battle Club Pro's ICONS Championship, and more.

Many top stars in TNA, AEW, and WWE have spent time in Progress Wrestling, and Grace is no different. She joined the British promotion, which was established back in 2011 by comedian Jim Smallman, in August 2018, just a few months ahead of her Impact Wrestling debut. Grace debuted for the promotion in August during the first part of the Progress Coast to Coast Tour.

She teamed with future AEW star Toni Storm and Ashley Vox in a loss to Jinny, Natalia Markova, and Solo Darling. The next day, Grace got her first singles win in Progress with a victory over Darling to become number one contender for the promotion's Women's Championship. During part six of the tour, Grace, Markova, and Storm challenged reigning Progress Women's Champion Jinny, but none of them were successful in dethroning her.

Following her debut for Impact, Grace returned to Progress Chapter 79: One Big Neck with Sausage Hands and kicked off a winning streak with a victory over Isla Dawn and another over Storm. She finally dethroned Jinny on December 30 at Progress Chapter 82 to become the new Progress Women's Champion, becoming the third woman to hold the title in the promotion's history. Grace held the Progress gold before ever winning her first Knockouts Championship, and she held the belt for 259 days before she dropped it to Meiko Satomura. 

Grace is lauded on Progress' website for her "dominance, resilience and fierce determination" to help raise the status of women's wrestling across the globe. The promotion noted on her biography page that despite moving on to other opportunities, her presence in Progress left "an indelible mark."

Before signing with Impact Wrestling/TNA, Grace actually appeared in AEW in September 2018. She took part in the over budget battle royal at All In to determine the number one contender for the ROH World Championship. Grace was the only woman in the match and scored an elimination on Brian Cage before she was eliminated by Bully Ray. The next month, it was revealed she had signed a two-year deal with Impact.

She debuted for Impact in November with a victory over Katarina. It didn't take long for Grace to work her way up in the promotion, and in March 2019 she defeated Tessa Blanchard to become the number one contender for the Knockouts Championship, then held by Taya Valkyrie. Grace technically defeated Valkyrie at Against All Odds, but she won by count out, so the title didn't change hands.

Grace would challenge for the title a few more times and she also competed in the Call Your Shot Gauntlet match that year. She would finally capture the Knockouts Championship in January 2020, though the episode wouldn't air until February, and she held the title during the pandemic for 182 days before dropping the gold to Deonna Purrazzo at Slammiversary, following a string of successful title defenses. The women competed in a rematch the following month, on the second night of Emergence. Purrazzo and Grace wrestled in the first-ever Knockouts 30-minute Iron Man match, and Purrazzo successfully retained the title over Grace, two falls to one.

In addition to being a decorated champion in the wrestling ring, Grace is also a record-holder in the powerlifting sphere, a sport that she credits with helping her get better in the squared circle. In July 2021, Grace set records at the World Natural Powerlifting Federation (WNPF) in Georgia. She broke three state and national records in squat at 320lb, bench press at 210 lb, and deadlift at 355lb in the 165 pound weight class. 

Her then-tag team partner in TNA, Rachael Ellering, made the trip to support her and posted photos of Grace mid-competition to her social media and revealed that Grace also won best female lifter of the day, in addition to setting records. 

Grace has been open about how powerlifting has helped her in the ring. In an interview with STEELCHAIR Wrestling Magazine in August 2021, Grace said that she felt the sport kind of went along with her wrestling character. She said it was something she felt like she needed to do to make that character more established and more believable. Grace said she went into the WNPF competion knowing the records already and wanted to beat them. She was most nervous about the deadlift, but was happy she went in there and did it. She explained to Muscle & Fitness that both sports mean different things to her, but it's professional wrestling that pays the bills. She said she liked the "no ifs, ands or buts" about powerlifting; either you can lift the weight, or you can't. 

In February 2022, Grace smashed her goals once again at an unsanctioned meet at Owens Gym in Georgia, lifting a total of 1,065 lbs. She picked up first in her weight class, first overall, and also won the award for strongest female lifter.

Grace's physical transformation over the years is something fans are constantly astounded by. From powerlifting, to the wrestling ring, "Thicc Mama Pump" has worked incredibly hard to earn her impressive physique. 

She told Chris Van Vliet that powerlifting was hurting her body, on top of wrestling, so she decided to make a change and try her hand at bodybuilding, moving to those style of workouts instead. She said the change happened around 2021, right after the pandemic happened. Van Vliet said it was almost as though Grace emerged from the time period and people were like, "look at her now!"

While still working in TNA, she competed at the Tri City Classic and won the body building competition in April 2023 and even once said she wanted to be the first professional wrestler to compete in the Arnold Classic. Grace told Van Vliet that while competing, she thought she never looked better and she loved it, but she's not sure if she'll do it again, due to how difficult the lifestyle was to maintain while on the road. She said that she felt as though she had to transform in order to stand out.

"I was just this chubby white girl and you didn't see anything when I walked in the room," she told Van Vliet. "I feel like if someone has like, big arms and they walk in the room, it doesn't matter if they're four foot tall, you're going to be like, 'they're dedicated.'"

Grace also told Denise Salcedo back in 2022 that she knew she needed to stop worrying about what other people felt about her body and focus on how she wanted to look. She said she felt as though she needed to re-invent herself to win the Knockouts title a second time, after initially holding it without live crowds in 2020.

Following her Iron Man loss to Purrazzo, Grace would go on to feud with Tenille Dashwood as well as challenge for the X-Division Championship and competed in an intergender scramble match at Bound for Glory, also for the X-Division title. Grace would team with WWE legend Jazz in the Impact Knockouts Tag Team Championship tournament in November 2020. The duo defeated Killer Kelly and Renee Michelle in the first round, but took a second round loss to kick off 2021. The loss led to a match between Grace and Jazz at Genesis, where Grace got the victory over Jazz. The pair would team up again for Jazz's last match in April.

Grace would go on to hold the Knockouts tag titles with Rachael Ellering, which they won from Fire 'N Flava at Rebellion, only to drop them back to the team at Under Siege a few days later. She would became the first-ever Knockouts Triple Crown winner when she won the inaugural Digital Media Championship at Bound for Glory. She defeated Chelsea Green, Crazzy Steve, Fallah Bahh, Madison Rayne, and John Skyler for the gold.

In another first, at Hard to Kill in January 2022, Grace competed in the inaugural Knockouts Ultimate X match which was ultimately won by Tasha Steelz. In February, she lost the Digital Media title to Matt Cardona. After failing to become the number one contender for the Knockouts title, she competed in an Ultimate X match at Multiverse of Madness for the X-Division Championship, but lost to Trey Miguel.

After the string of losses, Grace finally had another big moment when she won the Knockouts title for the second time at Slammiversary 2022 in the first-ever Queen of the Mountain Match. She had a string of successful defenses over Steelz, Purrazzo, Ellering, Mia Yim, Masha Slamovich, and Gisele Shaw. Grace would lose the title to Mickie James in a title versus career match at Hard to Kill in January 2023. Her second reign with the Knockouts belt lasted 208 days.

She failed to regain the title after James had to vacate the belt due to injury, and Purrazzo became Knockouts Champion once again. She would challenge Purrazzo for the belt one more time during a May episode of "Impact!" then chose not to renew her contract and took some time off from the company. 

Grace returned to the promotion after being challenged by Purrazzo to a match at Victory Road, a bout which Grace won. She competed in the Call Your Shot Gauntlet at Bound for Glory that October and became the first woman to win the match. She earned an opportunity at any title she wanted, and chose to challenge for the Knockouts title once again at Hard to Kill 2024. Grace won her third Knockouts championship, this time under the rebranded TNA, against Trinity.

Grace had another string of successful defenses until she met her match against Slamovich. The pair faced off at Bound for Glory in October, and Grace lost the title, ending her third reign with the gold at 287 days. She lost to Slamovich at Turning Point in a two out of three falls match and failed to regain the title, and started a feud with Tessa Blanchard at Final Resolution. Grace's final match in TNA was a loss to Blanchard at Genesis on January 19.

Following her third Knockouts title win, Grace made a surprise WWE debut in the 2024 Women's Royal Rumble. She was the second Knockouts Champion to make an appearance in the match wearing the belt, the first being Mickie James in 2022. Grace entered the match fifth and was eliminated by Bianca Belair after squaring off with Naomi, formerly Trinity in TNA.

She would become one of the first TNA talent to really work with "NXT." She appeared on a May episode of "NXT" where it was revealed she would be challenging Roxanne Perez for the NXT Women's Championship at Battleground. Grace lost the match to Perez when TNA's Ash by Elegeance and "NXT's" Tatum Paxley interfered in the match. Grace and Paxley would eventually face off when the WWE talent answered Grace's open challenge for the Knockouts title at Against All Odds. She issued another open challenge in September, this time on "NXT," and Grace took on Sol Ruca, but the match ended in a no-contest due to interference by Wendy Choo and Rosemary. Grace successfully defended her gold against Choo at Victory Road.

In her final WWE appearance before officially signing with the company, Grace appeared at the historic 2300 Arena where she teamed with other "NXT" stars successfully in a 10-woman tag match.

"The Juggernaut" officially became a member of the "WWE NXT" roster after signing with the company in January. Her first appearance came at the 2025 Women's Royal Rumble where she entered ninth. She scored an elimination over fellow "NXT" talent Jaida Parker before she was thrown over the top rope by then-NXT Women's Champion Giulia. Grace appeared following the main event, a Giulia title defense, of NXT Vengeance Day, confirming she would be part of WWE's developmental brand.

She unsuccessfully challenged Stephanie Vaquer, in a fatal four-way match with Giulia and Parker, for the NXT Women's Championship over WrestleMania weekend at Stand & Deliver. She would challenge Vaquer in a singles match at Battleground in a losing effort. Grace would then enter her biggest feud so far in "NXT," when it comes to storyline, against former AEW star Mariah May, now known as Blake Monroe in WWE following her jump to the company in June. Their friendship didn't last long, however, and Monroe betrayed Grace when she challenged Jacy Jayne for the title at Evolution. Monroe bashed Grace in the back with the belt, kicking off a feud between the pair.

Monroe would defeat Grace at Heatwave in August, but Grace would seemingly get the last laugh in the feud. "The Juggernaut" defeated "The Glamour" in a weaponized steel cage match at No Mercy in September. Grace has since been caught in the middle of Team "NXT" versus Team TNA's feud on the developmental brand, serving as the referee in the women's match between the teams at "NXT's" Showdown special.