Leva Bates

Leva Bates (born May 21, 1983) is an American professional wrestler.

She is best known for her time with All Elite Wrestling.

She also had a successful tenure on the independent circuit, most notably for Shimmer Women Athletes.

She has also appeared in WWE on their developmental territory NXT under the ring name Blue Pants.

Leva Bates was trained at the Team 3D Academy under D-Von Dudley and Bubba Ray Dudley (The Dudley Boyz), and made her professional wrestling debut in 2006.

She spent the next three years wrestling primarily in the Southeastern United States, for promotions such as Southeastern Championship Wrestling (SCW) and Coastal Championship Wrestling.

In SCW, she won the SCW Women's Championship on November 8, 2008, by defeating Betsy Ruth and Lexie Fyfe in a three-way match.

Bates appeared on the May 28, 2008, episode of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's Impact!, accepting Awesome Kong's $25,000 challenge, which she would lose.

She also appeared for World Xtreme Wrestling, beginning in 2009, wrestling against Betsy Ruth and Malia Hosaka, among others.

Bates debuted for Shimmer Women Athletes in 2009 at Volume 28, when she and Kimberly Kash lost a tag team match to Kacey Diamond and Sassy Stephie.

She returned at the next show in 2010, defeating She Nay Nay in a dark match, before losing to Malia Hosaka on Volume 30.

At Volumes 33 and 34, she lost to Allison Danger and Melanie Cruise respectively, before defeating Cat Power at Volume 36.

Beginning at Volume 37 in March 2011, Bates formed a tag team with Allison Danger, known as Regeneration X. Over the next year, they defeated the teams of Jamilia Craft and Mia Yim, and Sassy Stephie and Nevaeh, but lost to Nikki Roxx and Ariel and The Knight Dynasty (Britani and Saraya Knight).

She later had a try-out match for the company against Isis the Amazon in February 2011, but lost the match.

On March 17, 2012, Regeneration X failed to win the Shimmer Tag Team Championship from Ayako Hamada and Ayumi Kurihara, and were unsuccessful again in a four-way match at Volume 48 the next day.

Bates debuted in Shine Wrestling at their first event in July 2012.

Initially a singles competitor, she faced Mercedes Martinez, Portia Perez, and Jessicka Havok, before having a series of matches with Kimberly, with the pair trading wins.

This prompted at a Last Woman Standing match at Shine 7, which Bates won.

After being attacked post-match by Kimberly, they faced off again at Shine 8 in a Fans Bring the Weapons I Quit match, which Kimberly won by referee stoppage.

The feud ended at Shine 9, when Bates won an "Arkham Asylum" steel cage match.

Bates then competed in the tournament to determine the inaugural Shine Champion; she defeated Taylor Made before losing to Mia Yim.

This was followed by a feud with Nevaeh, which culminated in a hardcore match at Shine 15 won by Bates.

In 2013, Bates returned to singles competition, and unsuccessfully challenged Cheerleader Melissa for the Shimmer Championship on October 19 at Volume 58.

She spent the rest of 2013 and 2014 wrestling matches against Nikki Storm, Marti Belle, Veda Scott, and Jessicka Havok.

In February 2014, Bates teamed with Mia Yim to enter the tournament to determine the inaugural Shine Tag Team Champions.

Collectively known as The Lucha Sisters, Bates and Yim defeated The Kimber Bombs (Cherry Bomb and Kimber Lee) and Jessie Belle Smothers and Sassy Stephie en route to the final, where they defeated Made in Sin (Taylor Made and Allysin Kay) to win the championship.

They successfully defended the title against Evie and Madison Eagles, and Candice LeRae and Ivelisse, before losing to Legendary (Brandi Wine and Malia Hosaka) at Shine 20 on June 27, 2014.

The Lucha Sisters failed to regain the championship in a rematch at Shine 21 in August.

Bates made her debut in WWE's developmental territory on the October 16, 2014, episode of NXT, as an enhancement talent, losing to the debuting Carmella.

She was introduced as "Blue Pants" by Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady because of her blue ring attire, and retained the name for her subsequent appearances.

She returned at the NXT television tapings on October 23, losing again to Carmella; the match aired on November 27.

Blue Pants earned her first victory on the January 1, 2015, episode of NXT, defeating Carmella in their third match.

She made further appearances on the February 18, April 15, and June 10 episodes, losing to NXT Women's Champion Sasha Banks, Dana Brooke, and Emma respectively.

Blue Pants made a surprise appearance at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn on August 22, managing The Vaudevillains (Aiden English and Simon Gotch) to a NXT Tag Team Championship.

During the match, she had an altercation with Alexa Bliss, prompting a match on the September 2 episode of NXT, which Bliss won.

Blue Pants made her final appearance on the December 2 episode of NXT, facing Nia Jax in a losing effort.

Bates described the character of Blue Pants as the "ultimate fangirl", and felt the character became so popular because the audience connected with the joy the character felt in wrestling.

Blue Pants was noted to be very popular with the crowd at NXT shows, receiving enthusiastic applause and cheering when she appeared, despite being intended initially only as an enhancement talent and not being under contract with WWE.

Bates then transitioned back in singles competition, and unsuccessfully challenged LuFisto for the Shine Championship in 2017.

Bates first appeared in WWE, accompanying Adam Rose as one of his "Rosebuds".