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Brazilian professional wrestling referee From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Aja Smith (born June 9, 1994) is a Brazilian professional wrestling referee and former professional wrestler. She is signed to WWE under the ring name Daphanie LaShaunn on the Raw brand.
| Daphanie LaShaunn | |
|---|---|
LaShaunn in April 2024 | |
| Birth name | Aja Smith |
| Born | June 9, 1994 Aracaju, Sergipe, Brazil |
| Spouse(s) | |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Aja Perera Daphanie LaShaunn Momoe-chan Aja Smith |
| Billed height | 5 ft 5 in (1.65 m) |
| Billed weight | 154 lb (70 kg) |
| Trained by | Fred Avery Jay Fury |
Smith is married to professional wrestler Leon Ruff. They announced their engagement on November 30, 2020,[1] and married two years later on September 5, 2022.[2] They have a dog named Juni.[3]
Smith wrestled for a number of promotions on the independent circuit, most notably for Shine Wrestling, where she won two championships during her tenure, and less notably Girl Fight Wrestling, where she held the Girl Fight Championship for 842 days, from July 12, 2018, through to January 10, 2020.[4]
Perera made her in-ring debut for Shine Wrestling at Shine 42 on May 12, 2017, in a losing effort against Dementia D'Rose.[5] Perera would go on to win her first championship, the Shine Nova Championship, later that year at Shine 54 on November 2, 2018, after defeating Candy Cartwright.[6] Perera held the title for 189 days, before losing it to Shotzi Blackheart at Shine 58 on May 10, 2019.[7]
At Shine 61 on September 21, 2019, as the tag team of Triple Aye, Perera and Big Swole won the Shine Tag Team Championships from Rainbow Bright (Gabby Gilbert and Luscious Latasha).[8] They successfully defended the championships for 119 days, before ultimately dropping them to BYE (Jayme Jameson & Marti Belle) at a Shine live event on January 18, 2020, in Fern Park, Florida, in what was Perera's last match with the promotion.[9]
In December 2019, Smith was one of 40 athletes to attend a tryout held inside the WWE Performance Center, which was overseen by head coach Matt Bloom.[10] She officially signed with WWE on February 5, 2020. She started out by officiating matches on the NXT brand.[11]
At WrestleMania 38 on April 2 and 3, 2022, Smith made history as the first black female referee to officiate at WrestleMania. In addition, Smith and her fellow female referee Jessika Carr became the first two women to officiate back-to-back WrestleMania matches.[12]
During a live event in Vancouver on September 25, 2022, she won the WWE 24/7 Championship after pinning Nikki A.S.H. She successfully defended the championship after winning it by kicking out of a pin attempt from referee Shawn Bennett, but later lost the title that night to Dana Brooke.[13]
Smith made her video game debut in WWE 2K24 under her real name of Aja Smith. She can be selected as a referee in most match types, and is a playable character in the special guest referee match.
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