Katarina Waters (born November 10, 1980) is a German-born British professional wrestler. She is currently signed by World Wrestling Entertainment, working on its ECW brand under the ring name Katie Lea, as Paul Burchill’s storyline sister. She has also wrestled under the name Nikita, and is a former two-time OVW Women’s Champion.

Outside of wrestling, Waters has started acting, doing scenes for a British independent action movie by Utopian Pictures called Tough Justice.

At the age of 18, Katarina began training with the Kent-based promotion NWA UK Hammerlock after she had searched for a school on the internet. Working at that British territory of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) allowed Kat to participate in the ITV Meridian show Trans-Atlantic Wrestling Challenge, which was a British vs. American tournament held on January 4, 2000 in the UK for British television, featuring wrestlers from various NWA promotions. During the show, Kat won its Women’s Championship Cup.

Katarina went on to wrestle for promotions all over the world. One highlight came when she wrestled Sherri Martel at an NAWA show in Germany, but her biggest exposure came back in England, where she began wrestling for the Frontier Wrestling Alliance (FWA) in 2002. However, she left in 2004 due to personal reasons and took a little time off.

In 2005, she reappeared on the UK wrestling scene, and went on to compete around Europe. She became France’s Queens of Chaos Women’s Champion, which earned her the moniker “Queen of Chaos”. During this time she also made appearances for Italy’s Nu-Wrestling Evolution in matches against Vanessa Harding.

In May 2006 she was invited to the video tapings for Shimmer Women Athletes. Playing a fan favourite in Volume 5, she defeated Lacey but then for Volume 6 became a villain by using underhand tactics and was pinned by Daizee Haze.

She met a young up-and-coming FWA star, Hade Vansen, who she would form a tag team with on occasion. She also faced off in feuds with Sweet Saraya, who entered the FWA by attacking Nikita from behind while she was supposed to be guest announcing. She also feuded with Paul Travell and The Family.

In early 2006, Kat returned to the FWA; she went on to help her former tag partner “The South City Thriller” Hade Vansen pin Joe Legend to win The Champions Series Final at New Frontiers on February 5. Vansen took Alex Shane’s FWA British Heavyweight Championship in this five-way main event, which, aside from Vansen, Shane, and Legend, also featured “The Phoenix” Jody Fleisch and “The Wonderkid” Jonny Storm.

Katrina Waters signed a developmental contract with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) during May 2006, following tryouts at a WWE UK TV taping. She left the UK for the United States the following month, but first handed in her Queens of Chaos Championship (she retained it in her last European independent match on May 8th).

She made her debut for OVW on August 23 at a TV taping, adopting the new moniker “Katie Lea”. She defeated Melody in a dark match. During her time in the developmental promotion, she feuded with other OVW divas, including Beth Phoenix, ODB, and Serena Deeb.

At the November 1 TV tapings, Katie defeated Beth Phoenix, Ariel, Roni Jonah, Melody, Jenny Mae, ODB, and Serena in a 8-Woman Gauntlet match to capture the OVW Women’s Championship. Lea retained her title in the first Ladies Ladder Match in OVW history against Beth Phoenix. In the spring of 2007, Katie sprained her ankle in the “Miss OVW” competition, later won by ODB. The Miss OVW competition built some tension between Lea and ODB, leading to a match on June 1 at “Six Flags” where ODB pinned her for the OVW Women’s Championship. Katie then participated in the “OVW Divalympics”; ultimately failing in her mission to get ODB to cheat (and lose) in the competition.

Katie’s talk show segment “Kat’s Kradle” debuted on OVW TV September 5, and old ally Melody was introduced as her new assistant. In October, Lea participated in the WWE European Tour with the SmackDown! brand where she, along with Victoria, competed in a series of tag team matches against Michelle McCool and Maryse.

At the February 20, 2008 OVW TV Tapings, Katie defeated Roucka to regain the OVW Women’s Championship. The following week she dropped the title to Josie in a dark match.

Waters debuted on Raw as the on-screen sister of Paul Burchill, whose surname was then loosely added to her Katie Lea ringname. At WrestleMania XXIV, Lea was one of the lumberjills in the Playboy BunnyMania Match, in which Beth Phoenix and Melina defeated Maria and Ashley. She made her in ring debut at a couple of Raw live events teaming with Phoenix in losing efforts against Mickie James and Maria.

After appearing alongside Burchill on WWE Heat, Lea made her in-ring television debut on the April 28, 2008 edition of Raw defeating Super Crazy in an Intergender Handicap Match along with Burchill. On May 19, on Raw, she had a confrontation with the Women’s Champion, James, with Lea claiming that James slept her way to the top (playing off an on-screen friendship that was brewing between Mickie and John Cena at the time) and that she would be the next Women’s Champion. Two weeks later, Lea teamed up with Beth Phoenix to defeat James and Melina, in which she pinned James. On June 16, Lea and Burchill defeated James and Mr. Kennedy in a mixed tag team match, where Lea pinned James a second time. She faced James for the title at Night of Champions, but came up short. Her final appearance on Raw was on December 29, 2008, when she unsuccessfully competed in a battle royal to determine the number one contender for the Women’s Championship. She was then moved to the ECW brand.

Katie Lea debuted in ECW on December 30, 2008 accompanying Paul Burchill in a losing effort to DJ Gabriel. On the January 6, 2009 edition of ECW, Katie made her ECW in-ring debut in a successful win against Alicia Fox. On April 5, 2009 she competed in the 25-Diva Battle Royal at WrestleMania XXV, but the match was won by Santina Marella.

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