The ladder match. An iconic stipulation that makes pro wrestling so unique, so brutal, so breathtaking and so beautiful all at the same time. It’s a match where stars are born. It’s a match where careers are defined. It’s a match where history is made.

Kelani Jordan, as she’s known in the wrestling world, was just the latest to capitalize on the prestige of the ladder match.

Jordan is part of WWE’s NXT brand, which debuted in 2010. Jordan was one of six women that competed in the ladder match to crown the inaugural NXT Women’s North American Champion at the "NXT Battleground" event 2024.

Over 10 minutes into the match, Jordan was in the ring alone with Michin. The other four women were on the outside of the ring, fatigued and worn down from the punishment endured throughout the match. Jordan had an opportune time to win the title. She took down Michin with a knee and then hit her signature split-legged moonsault in the corner.

Jordan raced up the ladder, all alone in the ring. She grabbed the title belt hung high above the ring and lifted it up in celebration. She became the first ever NXT Women’s North American Champion.

“It was exhilarating,” she told Spartans Illustrated. “It’s surreal. I think sometimes I’m still in awe about being the first ever women’s North American champion because being the first is something that no one can ever take away from me.”

Jordan did not take a traditional route to WWE. For most of her life, WWE was not even on her mind. Rather, Jordan was focused on her gymnastics journey, which included a standout career at Michigan State.

Lea Mitchell, as she’s known outside of the ring, started gymnastics at five years old. Her interest was sparked on a day at the pool.

“One day, I was at the pool with my mom and I saw these girls flipping into the water,” Mitchell said. “And I was like, ‘Mom, I want to do that.’”

Mitchell’s mom put her into gymnastics classes. It went from once a week to twice a week to three times per week.

“I just loved it so much,” Mitchell said. “I couldn’t stay out of the gym.”

Her time in gymnastics as a youth wasn’t without its challenges though. Mitchell began doing gymnastics in Georgia. She had some bad coaches throughout her youth. At one gym, her coaches abandoned the athletes.

At another gym, Mitchell had coaches that abused the athletes emotionally and verbally. They forced the gymnasts to excessive conditioning to the point of vomiting. Those coaches that subjected the athletes to over-the-top conditioning are no longer allowed to coach.

Throughout her youth, Mitchell was homeschooled as well in hopes of being an Olympian one day. She ended up moving gyms about a half dozen times.

However, it was her move to Florida after eighth grade for a better opportunity and a fresh start in the sport that restored her love for gymnastics. It was in Florida where she attended American Twisters Gymnastics, the school that helped her eventually earn a scholarship for gymnastics at Michigan State.

“My parents just felt like we needed change and since I really wanted to pursue gymnastics at a higher level, I needed to go to a more competitive gym,” she said about why her family moved to Florida.

Mitchell was very successful under the watchful eye of coaches Gary Anderson and Christy Ramirez at American Twisters. She was named the Palm Beach Athlete of the Year during the 2015-16 campaign and also was named the Level 10 Regional All-Around Champion in 2016.

Mitchell first visited East Lansing in her sophomore year of high school and she fell in love with the gymnastics program and school. Academics were also important for Mitchell as she wanted to pursue a journalism degree.

“I went there and I just loved the atmosphere,” she said. “I loved the girls on the team, even though I knew when I was going to be going there, I probably wouldn’t be with most of those girls. But still, just the atmosphere of State, the team atmosphere, the coaches, the school programs.

“Right when I came on my visit, I remember they were talking about the new broadcast room that was going to be built in the communications building – the Spartan Newsroom. And I remember seeing it and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is so beautiful. This is amazing.’ So it wasn’t just gymnastics that led me to Michigan State. It was the academic program and just honestly all the outreach programs that the athletic programs do for the community.”

Mitchell ended up committing to Michigan State, eventually signing with the Spartans, and spending five years in East Lansing from 2018 through 2022. In her Spartan career, she won 23 event titles (10 floor, five all-around, four vault, three uneven bars and one beam) and Mitchell was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-America Division I At-Large Third Team in 2022. She was just the second Michigan State gymnast to earn that accolade.

In recent years, WWE has targeted college athletes, alongside their “Next In Line” NIL program, to be the next great WWE superstars. Mitchell was one of many college athletes that WWE sought out.

Completely out of the blue, WWE contacted Mitchell through an Instagram direct message in April 2022. The biggest wrestling promotion in the world wanted to fly her out to Nashville for a tryout that summer.

“At first, I was like, ‘Is this real? I don’t know, like is this a scam?’” Mitchell reacted.

The tryout offer turned out to be legit. The recruiter from WWE gave Mitchell a call, showed her the paperwork and she decided to give the “once in a lifetime opportunity” a shot.

At the tryout, Mitchell impressed WWE higher-ups, including Paul Levesque, more commonly known as Triple H. The WWE legend and current chief content officer and head of creative offered Mitchell a contract to start training at WWE’s performance center in Orlando.

“It was so crazy,” Mitchell said. “I literally had no clue what to expect. I had no expectations. Of course, I wanted to make it, but I didn’t know what to expect because I never thought about this. I already was applying to jobs at other places in journalism.”

Mitchell started training at the performance center in Orlando in October 2022. Her first untelevised match in front of a crowd was in March 2023. In May, Mitchell appeared in a match on WWE NXT Level Up, a show on Peacock that features NXT’s young talent. Mitchell’s first match on NXT, which airs each Tuesday on USA Network, was in July of that same year.

“It kind of happened really quick for me,” she explained. “I think it’s just because we have so many great coaches in the performance center that help us, like legends that help us learn the craft. And we’re training day in and day out. We spend hours there. So, I’m thankful that I caught on quickly.

“But also, I do really have to pay a lot of credit to gymnastics. I feel like that’s helped me with air awareness, body control, attention to details, mental toughness and that’s just something I think has helped propel into wrestling.”

While gymnastics has helped Mitchell, there are some big adjustments that she’s had to make like performing with an opponent versus performing by herself on an apparatus. Also, storytelling is a big part of pro wrestling. As a wrestler, Mitchell needs to speak to the audience and connect with them. She does think that her college studies in journalism has helped her with her public speaking, but she had to adjust to a different kind of storytelling.

“In journalism, it’s a different type of storytelling,” Mitchell said. “I’m more so stating facts. There’s no opinions. You have to say the truth. Whereas, when I’m doing promos (in wrestling), It’s my truth. No one else has to believe it. But if I believe, it’s my truth.”

Not even a full year after her debut on NXT, Mitchell made history by becoming the inaugural NXT Women’s North American Champion in a six-women ladder match. It was arguably the most important match of Mitchell’s young wrestling career, making the mental preparation for it very critical.

“You can train all you want, but at the end of the day, you got to have your mind right when you’re stepping into an arena like that,” she said. “But also, when it’s a ladder match, it can be very scary at times and painful. So, you definitely have to be mentally tough and just go out there and believe in yourself.”

At the time of her victory in the ladder match on June 9, she had been wrestling for less than two years. To be hoisting a championship above her head on top of a ladder with not even two years of experience under her belt is a testament to the work she’s put in and the potential she has in WWE.

“I just find it so crazy that not even two years ago, I didn’t have a match, I didn’t even know how to wrestle like at all,” Mitchell said. “I think it’s so crazy that not even two years later I made history as an inaugural champion. And I remember climbing up the ladder and when I grabbed the title, my blood was pumping, I was nervous, I was shaking. Even though it was over, I felt more nervous. The moment doesn’t have words to describe it fully.”

Mitchell has since defended her championship successfully twice in televised events as she tries to establish the importance of the NXT Women’s North American Championship. Eventually, she wants to become the face of NXT by becoming the NXT Women’s Champion. After that, her goal is to make the main roster and wrestle on "WWE Monday Night Raw" or "WWE SmackDown!," WWE’s two premier weekly wrestling shows. Winning the WWE Women’s World Championship is also one of her main goals.

Just under two years into her wrestling career, it has exceeded her preconceived expectations of what being a WWE superstar would be like.

“It actually exceeds my expectations because it’s so fun,” she said. “Not only am I able to be an athlete, but I’m able to be a performer. I’m able to entertain. It’s being an athlete and using my journalism degree in one because I’m talking on the mic, I’m being creative, I’m storytelling. It’s using journalism just in a way I didn’t even imagine. Also, I’m still able to be an athlete at the same time.”

From watching "WWE Monday Night Raw" and "WWE SmackDown!" with her four brothers as a child, to now meeting and learning the craft from people she grew up idolizing, like John Cena, Trish Stratus and Lita, the former Michigan State gymnast is making history in ways she never would’ve thought of just a few years ago.

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