From LinkedIn to the Elimination Chamber, Kiana James' WWE rise is full of surprises

There’s never been a true blueprint to reach the top of professional wrestling. Naturally, there have been stars who come into the industry and you know they’re destined for greatness from the very start — blue-chippers if you will, a la The Rock or Jade Cargill or Bron Breakker.

While those ascents may feel inevitable, it is far from the only path to stardom in WWE. Sometimes, a wrestler will seize a moment, connect with the fans and suddenly find themselves at the pinnacle of the industry.

Three decades ago, it was Steve Austin cutting an all-time promo at the King of the Ring. Eight years ago, it was Becky Lynch turning a broken nose into an all-new persona. Months later, it was Kofi Kingston making the most of a last-minute opportunity to create a bona fide movement on the road to WrestleMania.

It’s these unpredictable flashes that help turn mid-carders into main-eventers. When fans organically get behind a breakout performance, it’s how new stars are born.

It might be exactly what we’re starting to see unfold in 2026 with Kiana James.

James, real name Kayla Klingensmith, initially trained at Orlando's Flatbacks Wrestling School before signing with WWE in 2022, eventually making her way through NXT and onto the main roster. While her path to "SmackDown" was relatively standard, the former gymnast’s entry into professional wrestling was wholly unique.

“I got re-exposed to WWE in college," James tells Uncrowned ahead of Saturday's Elimination Chamber PLE. “My college coach was obsessed with ‘Total Divas.’ I started watching that reality show but I leaned a little bit more towards the wrestling and I thought to myself, ‘I really want to do this.’ 

"At the time I was working a corporate job. I went on LinkedIn, typed in WWE and anyone who had it in their profile I just copied and pasted a message asking, ‘How do I get in this, here’s a video of me doing flips in my gym.’ Eventually, I got the right person and got a tryout.”

As James worked her way through NXT, she experienced success feuding with Tiffany Stratton, Roxanne Perez and the aforementioned Lynch. Despite never capturing a singles title with the brand, James was called up to the main roster in April 2024, winning her debut match several weeks later before suffering a significant knee injury that kept her on the shelf for more than a year.

James’ main-roster ascent was cut short before it could ever really begin.

“Obviously, when it happened, it took a toll emotionally,” she says. “I made a promise to myself to come back stronger, and said that I could have let that define me or let it be something that just happened along the way. I wanted to get 1% better every day, and had that goal to make it back and be in that ring again.”

When James returned from injury last summer, it wasn’t primarily as an in-ring performer. Instead, she was tapped to be the on-screen manager for Giulia, the Women’s United States Champion. While her NXT peers like Roxanne Perez, Tiffany Stratton and Lyra Valkyria were thriving on the main roster, James was facing different challenges.

“Physically, there’s always doubt — structurally, it’s your knee and you underwent surgery,” James says. “I think leaning in and having mental toughness helped with that. You say to yourself, ‘You physically rehabbed this knee, you did the work for months. It’s good.’ It can be more of a mental thing than a physical thing. Then being ringside has actually helped me and helped my mental game. I’ve taken a step back and gotten to watch everyone wrestle. The process has been great, everyone’s journey is different and I’m thankful for the route that I took.”

WWE via Getty Images

Despite not being as active in the ring, James was far from discouraged. Her approach to her role in WWE is not unlike something you would see in corporate America, or hear from the mouth of Tom Brady during his playing days: One show at a time. Brick by brick. Do your job. Know your role (pun intended). Whatever sports — or sports entertainment — cliché you want to apply, there’s a blending of James’ real-life mentality and WWE persona that creates an authenticity fans latch onto.

“Every opportunity that we get to go out there and perform in front of the WWE Universe is amazing," she says. "I look at it as every time we go out there, it’s an audition to get to come back. Instead of looking at it from a macro level, I try to look at it from a micro level — this is your role for this week, focus on that and kind of let the chips fall.”

In January, as attention shifted to the Royal Rumble and official start of WrestleMania season, the chips finally landed on James’ side of the table. James entered her first women’s Royal Rumble match at No. 3, sharing the ring with Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair in the early stages of the chaotic match.

She didn’t just hold her own in one of the marquee matches on one of WWE’s biggest cards of the year, James made a name for herself, turning in a breakout performance alongside Lash Legend and Sol Ruca.

“When I found out that I was going to be No. 3, I looked at it as an opportunity to show what I haven’t been able to showcase yet,” James says. “The Royal Rumble can get really crowded, so being able to [get in early] and showcase some of my strengths, it felt great. On top of that, the fan energy kind of came out of nowhere. It was a little bit of a shock, but it was definitely electrifying and kept me going the 20-plus minutes I was in the Rumble. 

"Backstage some of my mentors and my peers gave me kudos. They knew I had been waiting for this opportunity and saw the work that I have been putting in. They were happy to see it paying off.”

Since seizing her moment at the Royal Rumble, James competed alongside Giulia in a Women’s Tag Team Championship match against Rhea Ripley and Iyo Sky and was part of a triple-threat match last week to earn a spot in Saturday’s women’s Elimination Chamber match.

With Flair and Nia Jax slotted as her opponents, you’d have been hard-pressed to find someone — anyone — picking James to book her spot in the Chamber. Until she actually did.

“I enjoy everything that I am doing with Giulia, but to get that opportunity to be more of an in-ring performer and showcase that has been super rewarding," she says. "These past few weeks have been amazing. I think being in the ring with those stars and getting to pin someone like Charlotte Flair is an insane accomplishment. She’s one of the most decorated superstars. Being able to do that builds momentum and confidence for me to be able to step into that main-event level role.”

Elimination Chamber will be James’ second premium live event since joining the main roster and she’s undoubtedly the underdog heading into it. Still, if the past few weeks have proven anything, it’s that James has the ability to step into a bigger role in a "SmackDown" women’s division that feels as ripe for the taking as ever, especially with so many big-name stars focused on the tag titles.

As chaotic as the world of wrestling can be — even when you’re not amid perhaps the biggest and fastest push of your career — James has remained relatively grounded, leaning on her mentors Shawn Spears and Tyler Breeze and respected peers like Flair to help guide her.

“I think it’s really easy for me to be ‘go, go, go’ and ‘onto the next,’ but I am lucky that I have great mentors and peers who have taken the time and reminded me of these moments,” James says. “Having those people who have lived it and told me to take a step back and enjoy the journey, I’m lucky to have them in my corner.”

After Saturday, Kiana James might want to update her LinkedIn profile.