Early career (2000–2002) At a young age, Waters read an article about the main event of
WrestleMania VI and believed the
Ultimate Warrior's mysterious origins to be true. When she came to England at 18, she was under the impression that wrestling companies only existed in America until she saw a local show advertised in London. However, the show's style was catered more towards
British wrestling than
sports entertainment and Waters once again retired thoughts of becoming involved in wrestling until she saw
Alex Shane and Dominator on
The Jerry Springer Show with their more outrageous gimmicks and became interested again, seeking out National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) UK Hammerlock and being trained by Jon Ryan. Originally, Waters used the name Kat but after
Stacy Carter began using this name in the
World Wrestling Federation (WWF), she changed her name to Nikita after the television program
La Femme Nikita. After being trained Waters made her debut in February 2000 on
ITV Meridian's TransAtlantic Wrestling Challenge, a tournament between British and American wrestlers of the NWA where she won the Women's Championship. However, the match was badly reviewed backstage and Waters began training twice a week to improve herself. To keep exposure while improving her in-ring skills, she began to frequently tag team with fellow newcomer Hade Vansen in mixed tag team matches, including a match against British female veteran
Sweet Saraya, While Nikita had become successful as a solo wrestler, however, her rivalry with Travell had escalated when he became part of The Family, It was later announced to be the tenth most memorable moment of the FWA's first decade in their
YouTube Top 20 Countdown.
Sporadic appearances (2003–2006) With her rivalry against The Family over, Nikita began a new storyline where an anonymous
bounty had been put on her head. As she took on all comers trying to claim the bounty, Nikita went undefeated in the rest of 2003 By June 2004 she had faced and defeated most of the company's major wrestlers which led to the return of the World Association of Wrestling's veteran Sweet Saraya who revealed the bounty had been placed on Nikita by the jealous ring announcer, Jane Childs. Saraya claimed the bounty with a non-sanctioned assault on Nikita, delivering a tombstone piledriver at the Carpe Diem event putting Nikita out of action for months and off the FWA roster for over a year. She returned in October 2005 in a losing effort against
Simply Luscious. She was victorious on the next show in a six-man tag team match, with her and Luscious on opposing teams. Though Nikita would not wrestle after this point, she realigned herself with former tag team partner Hade Vansen and at New Frontiers 2006 helped him win the
FWA British Heavyweight Championship She defended the title all over France and in Switzerland until almost exactly a year later when, after defending the belt against
Skye in a
two out of three falls match, she announced she had exclusively signed with WWE and had to relinquish the title undefeated. During her time on
the Continent she made a guest appearance in German Stampede Wrestling (GSW), losing to
Wesna with
Nora Greenwald as referee International Impact III. She returned to GSW for Night In Motion VII: A Few Good Men in July 2006 to take on the promotion's other premiere female wrestler and namesake, Blue Nikita. The Greek Nikita won the match and since then Waters has used the name Katie Lea instead. Just before she lost her Nikita name to Blue Nikita, Waters took part in the video tapings for
Shimmer Women Athletes in May 2006. Playing a
fan favourite in
Volume 5, she defeated
Lacey but then for
Volume 6 became a
villain by using underhanded tactics and was pinned by
Daizee Haze.
World Wrestling Entertainment (2006–2010) Ohio Valley Wrestling (2006–2008) After relocating to the United States, Waters began using the ring name Katie Lea, having lost a match to Greek wrestler and namesake Blue Nikita. She made her debut with a
dark match victory over Melody on 23 August. A week later she teamed with
ODB to make her television debut, losing to
Beth Phoenix and
Serena. At the time ODB, seeing herself as the best wrestler in OVW, created the
OVW Women's Championship for herself and defended it in a battle royal, in which Lea unsuccessfully participated. On 13 September she had another chance in a four-way match but Serena won the belt, besting Lea, Phoenix, and ODB. Lea consoled herself by winning a Halloween costume contest. She held the title for 212 days, giving her the longest single and combined reigns until Melody went over that mark in June 2009. and so on 22 November the three were put in a no-disqualification non-title match which Serena won. Having already defended her belt against Serena, though, Lea continued to defend against newcomers, such as ODB and
Jennifer Fit. At 13 December OVW television tapings he announced that the dispute would be settled in OVW's first ladies
ladder match and the winner would be officially recognised as Women's Champion. In the last television episode of 2006, Lea climbed to the top of the ladder to retrieve both belts and become the undisputed OVW Women's Champion as the year closed. She then began a feud with
Cherry Pie after two successful title defences against her resulted in an assault from Pie's stablemates
The Untouchables (
Deuce and
Domino) until
Jon Bolen and
Ryan Reeves saved her. Days later at a non-televised event, Lea and Bolen defeated Cherry and Domino in a mixed tag match. However, the televised rematch was a three-on-two handicap with all three Untouchables defeating Lea and Bolen. At the end of January all the women in OVW competed in a two out of three
tug of war which Lea was on the winning side. This led to the Miss OVW competition which saw the women compete in a variety of competitions and matches with
ODB gaining the crown on 21 March. After this ODB picked up a non-title victory on 11 April and win by disqualification the following week and with a battle royal victory earned herself contention for the title. and helped her win the Women's Championship for the second time. She lost the title a week later to Josie in a dark match
Debut and championship pursuits (2008–2009) during a WWE
Raw event in 2008 Waters made her television debut on 11 February's
Raw (airing on tape delay from the previous week) as the
on-screen sister of fellow
FWA alumnus Paul Burchill, becoming Katie Lea Burchill. The two originally displayed early signs of a gimmick based around
incest with Paul using the catchphrase "whatever Katie wants, Katie gets", but owing to the WWE changing its television rating to PG (Parental Guidance) later that year, the incest indications stopped. After appearing alongside Burchill on
WWE Heat, Lea made her in-ring television debut on 28 April episode of
Raw defeating
Super Crazy in an
intergender Handicap Match along with Burchill. On 19 May, on
Raw, she had a confrontation with the
Women's Champion,
Mickie James where she insinuated James had used her relationship with
John Cena to sleep her way to success. Two weeks later, Lea teamed up with Beth Phoenix in a winning effort defeating James and Melina, in which she pinned James. On 16 June episode of
Raw, Lea and Burchill defeated James and
Mr. Kennedy in a
mixed tag team match, where Lea pinned James a second time, thus earning a title shot At the
Night of Champions pay-per-view, Lea challenged
Mickie James for the
WWE Women's Championship but was unsuccessful in capturing the title. On 14 July episode of
Raw, Lea once again challenged James for the Women's Championship, but was unsuccessful. After she and her brother beat James and
Kofi Kingston, she received another chance at James' title in August but failed to win. She closed out the year by appearing tag team matches, regularly teaming with
Jillian Hall. On the last
Raw of the year, she made her final appearance in a battle royal to determine the next challenger for the Women's Championship, which was ultimately won by Melina.
Brand switches and departure (2009–2010) Two days later, on 30 December, it was revealed that Lea and Burchill had been moved to the
ECW brand, but failed to make an impression with Burchill losing to continue
DJ Gabriel's winning streak. Going into 2009, Lea made a better impact in her
ECW on Sci Fi debut with a win against Gabriel's partner
Alicia Fox. However, the Burchills lost a tag team match against Gabriel and Fox the following week. at the
WrestleMania XXV event in April 2009 On 5 April 2009, she competed in the
25-Diva Battle Royal at
WrestleMania XXV, but the match was won by
Santina Marella. Lea wrestled again in July 2009 against the newly drafted
Bella Twins. First facing Nikki, Katie took the advantage but Nikki swapped places with her twin sister, fooling both Katie and the referee, causing Katie to lose. Two weeks later on
WWE Superstars, the twins made the same switch in reverse order after the referee could not differentiate between the two and Lea lost again. From August towards the end of 2009, Paul became embroiled in a rivalry with backstage interviewer
Gregory Helms, over whether he was also in-ring performer The Hurricane. They agreed to settle the matter in a match on 17 November episode of
ECW, which saw Hurricane's mask put up against Burchill's career on the ECW brand. Despite many attempts, Paul could not secure the pin and subsequently lost the match, resulting in both he and Katie Lea leaving ECW. The following week on
ECW, Katie Lea and Paul, now sporting masks and calling themselves The Beautiful Nightmare and The Ripper, respectively, appeared in a backstage segment with General Manager
Tiffany and asked for a contract, which Tiffany said they would receive if The Ripper could defeat The Hurricane the next week on
ECW. However, The Ripper was unmasked by Hurricane and subsequently defeated in their match, resulting in Katie and Burchill remaining off ECW. On 11 January 2010, Lea moved back to the Raw brand without her brother
Paul Burchill, by competing in a first round tournament match for the vacant
Divas Championship but lost to
Eve Torres. At the
Royal Rumble pay-per-view, Katie Lea teamed up with
Maryse, Natalya, Hall, and
Alicia Fox in a losing effort to the team of Kim, Kelly Kelly, Eve Torres, and The Bella Twins.
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2010–2012) Knockouts Tag Team Champion (2010–2011) alongside
Angelina Love during a TNA
live event in 2010 After her release from WWE, Waters briefly returned to the independent circuit, wrestling under the ring name Kat La Noir. On 23 August 2010 Waters wrestled in a tryout dark match for
TNA at the tapings of their
Impact television show, losing to
Madison Rayne; it was reported on 15 October that TNA had signed her to a contract. Waters debuted on 21 October episode of
Impact!, using the name Winter, admiring
Angelina Love during a backstage segment in a somewhat supernatural appearance. After weeks of appearing only in front of Love, Winter was seen for the first time by other
Knockouts on 25 November episode of
Impact! when she saved Love during a large backstage brawl. On 9 December at the tapings of 23 December episode of
Impact! Winter replaced an injured
Velvet Sky and teamed with Love in a tournament final, where they defeated Madison Rayne and
Tara to win the
TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championship. On the edition of 13 January of
Impact!, Angelina and Winter successfully defend their championship against Madison Rayne and Tara after Winter knocked out Tara with a dragon sleeper. On the edition of 27 January of
Impact!, Winter brawled with Velvet Sky, who claimed she was trying to break up
The Beautiful People. On the edition of 3 March of
Impact!,
Cookie and
Robbie E aligned themselves with former
Jersey Shore cast member
Angelina Pivarnick, with whom they bonded through their mutual dislike of
Jenni "JWoww" Farley, whom Pivarnick proceeded to challenge to a match (whom was replaced by Winter). The following week, Winter, Angelina Love and Velvet Sky defeated Cookie, Angelina Pivarnick and
Sarita in a six knockout tag team match. Winter and Love lost the Knockouts Tag Team Championship to
Mexican America (Sarita and
Rosita) on 13 March at
Victory Road, after an interference by Velvet Sky backfired. On the following episode of
Impact!, Winter and Angelina Love teamed up with
Matt Morgan where they defeated Mexican America (Rosita, Sarita,
Hernandez) in a six-person street fight, After the match, the "fan", who had interfered in Morgan's match at Victory Road, once again entered the ring and attacked Morgan.
Knockouts Champion and departure (2011–2012) . On the edition of 24 March of
Impact!, Winter, seemingly having control over Love's actions, prevented her from saving Sky from a beatdown at the hands of Sarita and Rosita, turning her heel in the process. On the edition of 7 April of
Impact!, Love, still under Winter's spell, turned on Sky during a Knockouts Tag Team Championship match against Sarita and Rosita and left her to be pinned by the champions. On the edition of 23 June of
Impact Wrestling, Winter defeated
TNA Women's Knockout Champion Mickie James in a non-title
Street Fight, following outside interference from Love, earning her a shot at James' Knockouts Championship. On 7 August at
Hardcore Justice, Winter defeated James, with help from Love, to win the Knockouts Championship for the first time. With the win, she became the first British Knockouts Champion and became the sixth Knockout (after Angelina Love, Awesome Kong, Madison Rayne, Taylor Wilde and Tara) to have held both the Knockouts Championship and Knockouts Tag Team Championship. On 25 August at the tapings of the edition of 1 September of
Impact Wrestling, Winter lost the Knockouts Championship back to Mickie James, ending her reign at just 18 days. On 11 September at
No Surrender, Winter regained the title from James. On 16 October at
Bound for Glory, Winter lost the title to Velvet Sky in a four-way match, which also included Madison Rayne and Mickie James and was refereed by
Karen Jarrett. On 12 January 2012 episode of
Impact Wrestling, Winter lost to ODB. After saving ODB from Love and Winter,
Eric Young was challenged by Love to a match. Young won the match via disqualification, after Love kicked him in the groin. This led to a tag team match, on 26 January episode of
Impact Wrestling, with Love and Winter losing to ODB and Eric Young. Winter and Love appeared together for the first time in five months, on 14 June, at an Impact house show in
Belton, Texas, when they teamed up with Rosita and Sarita in a losing effort against Mickie James, Tara, and Velvet Sky in the main event four-on-three handicap match after Sky pinned Rosita for the win. Waters left TNA shortly afterward. On 4 August 2011, Waters defeated Tab Jackson in a
no holds barred match to win the vacant
WILD World Championship. On 10 December 2011 Winter defeated Terra, this match was later named 2011 match of the year. On 2 February 2012 she became the longest reigning champion with her reign surpassing the previous record of Lucky O'Shea's 182 days. At the FWE Empire City Showdown pay-per-view, on 20 September 2011, Winter defeated Rosita with
Christy Hemme as the special guest referee. Month later, on 24 March, Waters defeated Maria and fellow TNA Knockout Rosita in a
three-way match to win the FWE Women's Championship for the first time. On 28 April, Waters defeated
Melina with
Lita as the special guest referee to retain the FWE Women's Championship. Later Maria challenged Winter to a rematch and Winter accepted On 28 July 2012 episode of
FWE Wrestling, Winter dropped the FWE Women's Championship back to Maria Kanellis, making Maria a two-time champion. On 4 October 2012 at the
Back 2 Brooklyn pay-per-view, Waters, under the name Katarina Leigh, teamed up with Maria in losing effort to The Beautiful People (Angelina Love and Velvet Sky) in a tag team match. After the match ended, Waters was attacked by the evil Ivelisse Velez, who was making her FWE debut. Winter made her debut for
House of Hardcore, on 6 October 2012 at the promotion's first show, where she lost to
Jazz in a singles match. Under the name Katarina Leigh, she participated in Pro Wrestling Syndicate's Bombshells Championship tournament making the final where she was eliminated last by Missy Sampson in a four-way elimination match. In October 2016, Leigh wrestled for What Culture Pro Wrestling in the UK, unsuccessfully challenging for the WCPW Women's Championship.
Return to Impact Wrestling (2018–2019) Leigh made her return to Impact Wrestling under a new name,
Katarina, on 10 May episode as
Grado's new girlfriend. At
Impact Wrestling One Night Only: Zero Fear which aired on 15 June 2018, Katarina unsuccessfully challenged
Su Yung for the Impact Knockouts Championship. Katarina turned heel on 6 September episode of
Impact!, when she dumped and insulted Grado and announced that she was in love with Grado's best friend,
Joe Hendry, only for Hendry to turn Katarina down after she kissed him.
Women of Wrestling (2017–2019) Waters made her debut for
Women of Wrestling (WOW) during their taping in October 2018, under the name
The Temptress, as she aligned herself with The Dagger. On WOW's seventh episode that aired on
AXS TV on 1 March 2019, The Temptress defeated
Fire. The Temptress, along with The Dagger, have feuded with Fire and Keta Rush. The Temptress, along with the Dagger, competed in the
WOW World Tag Team Championship tournament at the second season on AXS TV, however, were eliminated on the first round by losing to
Adrenaline and
Fire ==Acting career==