Smith was born June 9, 1994, inAracaju,Brazil before immigrating toGeorgia at a young age, specifically to the city ofConyers. Smith is married to professional wrestlerLeon 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 theindependent circuit, most notably forShine 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, theShine 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 toShotzi Blackheart at Shine 58 on May 10, 2019.[7]
At Shine 61 on September 21, 2019, as the tag team ofTriple Aye, Perera andBig Swole won theShine 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, inFern 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 theWWE Performance Center, which was overseen by head coachMatt Bloom.[10] She officially signed withWWE on February 5, 2020. She started out by officiating matches on theNXTbrand.[11]
AtWrestleMania 38 on April 2 and 3, 2022, Smith made history as the first black female referee to officiate atWrestleMania. In addition, Smith and her fellow female refereeJessika Carr became the first two women to officiate back-to-back WrestleMania matches.[12]
During alive event inVancouver on September 25, 2022, she won theWWE 24/7 Championship after pinningNikki 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 toDana Brooke.[13]
Smith made her video game debut inWWE 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 thespecial guest referee match.
