Mia Yim

Stephanie Hym Lee (née Bell; born April 16, 1989) is an American professional wrestler better known by the ring name Mia Yim.

She is currently signed to WWE, where she performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Michin and is a member of The O.C..

She is also known for her time in Impact Wrestling, where she is a former Impact Knockouts Champion.

During her career, Yim has performed for WWE (where she was briefly known as Reckoning as part of the faction Retribution) Impact Wrestling, Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW), Shine Wrestling, and Shimmer Women Athletes.

In Shine, she has held both the Shine Championship and the Shine Tag Team Championship (with Leva Bates).

In addition, she has wrestled in Japan for Reina Joshi Puroresu.

Stephanie Hym Bell was born on April 16, 1989, in Los Angeles, California.

Her father is African American and her mother is Korean.

According to Bell, her father was very strict during her childhood due to the sensitive nature of his career.

He served in the military before a career as an FBI special agent, working in units for gangs, then missing and exploited children and cyber operations.

Bell played volleyball at James Madison High School in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Vienna, Virginia.

She then attended Marymount University on a volleyball scholarship, where she studied information technology.

She played volleyball until her senior year.

A fan of professional wrestling since her childhood, Bell began training at a wrestling school in Manassas, Virginia, at the age of 18, while attending college.

She trained for eighteen months before making her debut on August 22, 2009, adopting the ring name Mia Yim, and initially working primarily for independent promotions in Virginia.

After taking bookings outside of Virginia, she wrestled for Jersey All Pro Wrestling (JAPW), facing wrestlers including Annie Social, Angeldust, and Brittany Force.

During this time, she met Daizee Haze, through whom she began training at the Ring of Honor (ROH) Wrestling Academy and working for ROH.

Debuting at Cage of Death II in December 2010, the two were presented as a storyline couple, and Yim regularly interfered in Cole's matches to help him win.

In ROH, she performed valet duties for The Embassy, beginning in 2011.

Yim also wrestled sporadically for ROH, taking on MsChif and Sara Del Rey.

In addition, she worked for the International Wrestling Cartel, Real Championship Wrestling, Northeast Wrestling, and Maryland Championship Wrestling (MCW) during her early years in wrestling.

After graduating from college, Yim received an invitation to train and wrestle in Japan with Universal Woman's Pro Wrestling Reina in 2011.

Through Reina's relationship with Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre, Yim also learned Mexican lucha libre.

After training with D. J. Hyde at the Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) training school, Yim began working for CZW as a manager for Adam Cole.

After helping Cole gain a victory over Greg Excellent at Down With The Sickness 2011 in September, Excellent began feuding with the pair.

As part of the storyline, Yim faced Excellent in an intergender match at Night Of Infamy 10: Ultimatum in November.

After losing a rematch in January 2012, Yim challenged Excellent to a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match at Aerial Assault 2012, which Yim won, to conclude the feud.

She made only two more appearances for CZW that year before leaving the promotion.

Yim debuted for Shine Wrestling at their second show in August 2012, defeating Sassy Stephie.

Throughout 2012 and 2013, she faced wrestlers including Jessicka Havok and Tina San Antonio, before entering the tournament to determine the inaugural Shine Champion.

She defeated Mercedes Martinez at Shine 10 in May 2013, and at Shine 11, she defeated Leva Bates and Ivelisse Vélez en route to the final, where she lost to Rain.

As part of Shine, she also appeared for Evolve, taking on Vélez and Su Yung in showcase matches.

On February 28, 2014, at Shine 17, Yim teamed with Leva Bates during the Shine Tag Team Championship tournament, forming the tag team The Lucha Sisters.

They defeated the teams of Cherry Bomb and Kimber Lee, and Sassy Stephie and Jessie Belle Smothers en route to the final, where they defeated Made In Sin (Allysin Kay and Taylor Made) to become the inaugural Shine Tag Team Champions.

They successfully defended the championship against Nevaeh and Sassy Stephie, and against the team of Evie and Madison Eagles at Shine 18, but lost it to Legendary (Malia Hosaka and Brandi Wine) at Shine 20 on June 27.

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

On November 16, 2014, during the WWNLive tour in China, Yim defeated Ivelisse Vélez to win the Shine Championship, making her the first woman to have held both the Shine Championship and Shine Tag Team Championship.

At Shine 26 on April 3, 2015, Yim lost the championship to NWA World Women's Champion Santana Garrett in a title vs. title match.

At Shine 28, Yim was defeated by Allysin Kay, and began showing signs of a heel turn when she blamed Leva Bates for the loss.

Yim turned villainous at Shine 31 on December 11, 2015, when she attacked Leva Bates after the duo lost to Marti Belle and Jayme Jameson in a match for the vacant SHINE Tag Team Championship.