Early career Vélez began training to be a wrestler at age fifteen in
Puerto Rico, debuting in the
World Wrestling Council, and later wrestling for the
International Wrestling Association (IWA). After gaining experience, Vélez began wrestling on the U.S. mainland, beginning on the Chicago
independent circuit, continuing her training under Chicago Style Wrestling's Steve "Boz" Bozniak.
WWE Tough Enough (2011) In March 2011, Vélez was announced as one of 14 contestants for the
fifth season of
WWE Tough Enough. However, WWE signed Vélez to a developmental contract that November 11.
Florida Championship Wrestling (2011–2012) WWE assigned Vélez to its then-
developmental territory,
Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), where she debuted (under the
ring name Sofia Cortez) at an FCW
house show in a
six-woman tag team match (teaming with
Cameron Lynn and
Audrey Marie to defeat
Caylee Turner,
Leah West and
Raquel Diaz). Vélez made her TV debut on the December 25, 2011, episode of
FCW TV, teaming with Turner to defeat Cameron Lynn and
Kaitlyn. On the March 11 episode of
FCW TV, Cortez formed a
villainous stable dubbed The Anti-Divas, consisting of herself,
Paige and Raquel Diaz, with the trio attacking Audrey Marie. The following week on
FCW TV, Cortez and Paige and lost to Marie and Kaitlyn.
NXT (2012) WWE rebranded FCW "
NXT" (emphasizing its wrestlers as the next generation of eventual WWE Superstars). Cortez's NXT TV debut was on the July 4 episode of
NXT, taped at
Full Sail University in
Orlando, Florida, where she defeated Paige. On the July 25 episode of
NXT, Cortez defeated WWE main roster wrestler
Natalya by count-out, but suffered a post-match attack from Natalya. In August 2012, Vélez announced WWE had released her from her contract, ending her WWE employment. Her final match (taped before her release occurred) saw her lose to
Tamina Snuka. During a May 2015 podcast with
Vince Russo, Vélez alluded to her reporting the misconduct of
WWE Performance Center head trainer
Bill DeMott to WWE management as the likely reason she was fired, and said she was one of the first to report DeMott's misconduct. DeMott abruptly left WWE in March 2015 amid mounting public pressure on WWE after a wave of published news reports detailing similar accusations of grossly unprofessional misconduct by DeMott being made by over 12 former WWE trainees/wrestlers.
Independent circuit (2012–present) On October 4, 2012, Vélez debuted at
Family Wrestling Entertainment (FWE)'s
Back 2 Brooklyn pay-per-view as a special guest, along with former
WWE Diva Maryse Ouellet. Vélez established herself as a
heel by delivering a
promo about her dislike of "Divas", and being on a mission to make a statement. Later in the event, Vélez attacked
Katarina Leigh after she and
Maria Kanellis were defeated by
The Beautiful People (
Angelina Love and
Velvet Sky). In December, Vélez was revealed as the newest member of the
Los Perros del Mal stable. Vélez made her debut as a representative of the stable on January 1, 2013, at a
Perros del Mal independent event, where she teamed with Cósmico and
Eita to defeat Celestial,
Flamita and
Sexy Lady. On April 21, Vélez defeated
Alissa Flash to win the PWR Women's Championship. On May 11, she re-lost the title to Flash, who now works under the ring name Cheerleader Melissa. On October 4, 2014, Vélez defeated Maria Kanellis to win the
FWE Women's Championship. However, she lost the title the same night to
Candice LeRae. On November 28, 2014, Vélez made her Mexican debut with
Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA), teaming with
Faby Apache to defeat
Sexy Star and
Taya. Vélez worked the match as a
fan favorite, opposite Taya, a representative of
Los Perros del Mal, a stable she herself once represented.
Shine Wrestling (2012–present) Vélez debuted in
Shine Wrestling at
Shine 5 on November 16, 2012, where she was defeated by
Athena. At
Shine 6, on January 11, 2013, Vélez defeated
Su Yung. Later that night, the formation of the stable Valkyrie was revealed, consisting of Vélez,
Rain,
Allysin Kay, Taylor Made and
April Hunter. At
Shine 8, on March 23, Vélez and the rest of Valkyrie defeated the team of
Amazing Kong, Angelina Love,
Mia Yim and
Christina Von Eerie. At
Shine 9 on April 19, Vélez was defeated by
Jazz in a
Shine Championship tournament qualifying match. At
Shine 16 on January 24, 2014, Vélez defeated Rain to win the
Shine Championship. Following the match, Valkyrie turned on Vélez and kicked her out of the stable. Vélez went on to successfully defend the title against the likes of
Mercedes Martinez,
Leva Bates and Jazz, both on Shine pay-per-views and other promotion's events. At
Shine 20, she defended her championship against
Serena Deeb, wrestling to a
one-hour time-limit draw. On November 16, 2014, on a WWNLive (Shine's parent company) show in China, Vélez lost the Shine Championship to Mia Yim. At
Shine 30 on October 2, 2015, Vélez returned to Shine and defeated Thunderkitty. At
Shine 35 On June 17, 2016, Ivelisse won the Shine Championship for the second time by winning a four-way match involving Shine Champion Taylor Made,
Shimmer Champion Madison Eagles and
TNA Knockouts Champion Allysin Kay. On January 14, 2017, the title was vacated due to her injury. At
Shine 64 on December 15, 2019, Ivelisse won the Shine Championship for the third time by defeating Mercedes Martinez. She successfully retained the title at
Shine 65 and
Shine 66.
Impact Wrestling (2012–2013) On October 11, 2012, Vélez had a tryout match for
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), losing to
Tara. On February 24, 2013, it was reported that Vélez would be competing in a
TNA Gut Check match, in which she defeated
Lei'D Tapa on the February 28 episode of
Impact Wrestling. On the March 7 episode of
Impact Wrestling, Vélez was eliminated from TNA Gut Check, thereby failing to earn a TNA contract. Vélez returned to make limited appearances, including at
One Night Only: Knockouts Knockdown, where she lost to Lei'D Tapa. Vélez also appeared at
One Night Only: World Cup, as part of team
Aces & Eights including
D.O.C.,
Knux,
Mr. Anderson and
Wes Brisco. Vélez defeated Team USA's
Mickie James, with help from Aces & Eights, to advance to the finals, where team Aces & Eights lost to Team USA.
Lucha Underground (2014–2019) Vélez debuted on the November 5, 2014, episode of
Lucha Underground, simply as
Ivelisse, teaming with
Son of Havoc in a loss to
Sexy Star and
Chavo Guerrero Jr. Ivelisse, Havoc and
Angélico went on to form an alliance, and on February 8, 2015, the trio won a tournament to become the inaugural
Lucha Underground Trios Champions. On the February 18 episode of
Lucha Underground, Ivelisse earned her first singles victory against Angélico. During the time Ivelisse, Havoc and Angélico held the championships, they defended and successfully retained them against The Crew (
Cortez, Castro and
Bael) in a
ladder match on the May 20 episode of
Lucha Underground, and against
Cage,
DelAvar Daivari and
Big Ryck on the June 3 episode, despite Ivelisse suffering from a
legitimate foot injury. On July 29, at
Ultima Lucha Part 1, they lost the championships to The Disciples of Death (
Barrio Negro,
Trece and El Sinestro de la Muerte), due to interference from
Catrina. On the Lucha Underground season 2 premiere on January 27, 2016, Ivelisse defeated Son of Havoc and Angélico to earn a
Lucha Underground Championship match against
Mil Muertes, but failed to capture the championship. At
Ultima Lucha Dos Part 3, Catrina cost Ivelisse her match against
Taya and then delivering the Lick of Death to Ivelisse. On the first episode of
Lucha Underground Season 3, Ivelisse challenged Catrina to a match in Lucha Underground at
Ultima Lucha Tres. At part 2 of Ultima Lucha Tres, Ivelisse defeated Catrina by pinfall. In January 2019, Vélez stated Lucha Underground's production company would not release her from her multi-year contract (which excluded her from working for any other wrestling companies in the world), despite the show being on hiatus with no firm plans to resume production. She also said she had been trying to get a release for over a year. After a group of several wrestlers/cast members in the same situation filed a class action lawsuit against the show's producers, Vélez was released on March 26, 2019, as part of an out-of-court settlement of the lawsuit.
All Elite Wrestling (2019–2021) Ivelisse made her AEW debut in its Women's Casino Battle Royal at the
AEW All Out pay-per-view, on August 31, 2019. Ivelisse returned and made her AEW singles match debut on the July 22, 2020, episode of
AEW Dynamite, losing to
Diamante. The two were cast as a tag team for AEW's Women's Tag Team Cup Tournament after they both picked the same color token in The Deadly Draw. They advanced to the finals by defeating
Rachael Ellering and
Dasha Gonzalez in the first round, then
Tay Conti and
Anna Jay in the semi-finals. On the August 22, 2020, episode of Dynamite, they defeated The Nightmare Sisters (
Allie and
Brandi Rhodes) to win the tournament. On the September 11 episode of Dynamite, Ivelisse lost a title match to (at the time)
NWA World Women's Champion Thunder Rosa. Ivelisse continued building a winning streak as a dominant Tag Team with Diamante and as a dominant Singles competitor. On April 14, 2021, Ivelisse announced AEW had released her after speaking up about backstage issues. She had mentioned she was even getting counseling at the time this happened. She still had not fully recovered from her house fire incident and many other compiled personal issues at the time. The abrupt exit ended an impressive winning streak both as a tag team and singles competitor on AEW Dark. == Other media ==