Forster is a classically trained ballerina. She had trained in gymnastics and studied dance since age four and went on to study at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. In 2005 she began competing in fitness competitions and doing fitness modelling, placing 1st in CBBF Canadian Championships 2010, and 2nd in the Arnold Amateur in 2011. She featured in several fitness magazines and calendars over her fitness career.[4]
In 2010, Forster began training withLance Storm[5] atStorm Wrestling Academy and graduated from it in September 2010. She was a part of Lance's Canadian reality seriesWorld of Hurt and also season two of the show withRoddy Piper. From there, Forster would then go on to compete at various Canadian promotions under thering name Taya Valkyrie, most notablyElite Canadian Championship Wrestling (ECCW).[citation needed]
Forster moved to Mexico and began wrestling for various promotions within the country early in her career. She was originally supposed to stay in the country only for six weeks, but was convinced to stay byEl Hijo del Perro Aguayo, who offered her a spot in hisLos Perros del Mal stable.[2] On April 1, 2012, Forster debuted inPerros del Mal. She wrestled for PDM for most of the year before moving on to work for other promotions including Legend Promociones, Universal Wrestling Entertainment, Invasion RCH andInternational Wrestling League.
Taya Valkyrie atWrestleConWomens Supershow in 2017.
Forster made her in ring debut for the Mexican promotionLucha Libre AAA Worldwide under the ring name Taya Valkyrie on November 3, 2012, competing in a six–personmixed tag team match, teaming withGran Apache andMari Apache in a winning effort againstCuervo,Faby Apache and Lolita. Throughout 2012 and the beginning of 2013, Valkyrie competed in several tag team matches ending up in both winning and losing sides. On March 3, 2013, Valkyrie defeatedJennifer Blake to advance to the final of a tournament for the vacantAAA Reina de Reinas Championship. Two weeks later, on March 17, atRey de Reyes, Valkyrie competed in a four-way elimination match against Faby Apache,LuFisto and Mari Apache but was unsuccessful in winning the vacant Reina de Reinas Championship.[6]
On June 4, 2014, Valkyrie defeatedCynthia Moreno,La Jarochita,La Magnifica, Mari Apache, Sexy Lady andSexy Star in a seven–woman elimination match to become the number one contender toFaby Apache'sReina de Reinas Championship.[7] Two months later, on August 17, atTriplemanía XXII, Valkyrie defeated Faby Apache to win the Reina de Reinas Championship, winning her first championship.[8] On September 12, in her first title defense, at anIndependent Total event, Taya defeated Cachorra Flores, Faby Apache, Karina Duval, Muneca Sarcasmo and Princesa Metallica in a six-way elimination match.[9] In her first televised title defense, at theHéroes Inmortales IX event, Forster, now billed as simply Taya, defeatedGoya Kong,Lady Shani, La Hiedra and Maravilla (whom she pinned) in a five-way match.[10] She lost the title toAyako Hamada on March 19, 2017, ending her reign at 945 days, the longest in the title's history.[11] In a rematch between the two, contested in ano disqualification match, Taya defeated Hamada on April 21 to win the Reina de Reinas Championship for a second time.[12]
On July 1, AAA's Director of TalentVampiro declared the Reina de Reinas Championship vacant.[13] On July 16, after Sexy Star returned to AAA to win the vacant title, Forster claimed on Twitter that she had been backstabbed by AAA and publicly quit the company.[14] According to theWrestling Observer, AAA askedJohnny Mundo, Forster's fiancé, to turn in the Reina de Reinas Championship belt for a photo shoot and when he did, they declared the title vacant. Vampiro initially said that Forster was stripped of the title for using an illegal chokehold in her April 21 match with Hamada, despite it being a no disqualification match; he later claimed at a TV taping that Forster had no-showed the event, even though she was never scheduled to appear.[15]
Taya debuted inLucha Underground on the February 24, 2016, episode, as the partner of Johnny Mundo.[16] She made her in-ring debut on the March 9 episode, losing toCage in ano disqualification match.[17] Taya competed in Aztec Warfare II, on the April 12, 2016, Episode, her first Title match at Lucha Underground. She Entered at Number 9, and eliminated Cage, but was later pinned and eliminated byFénix.[18][19]
On the September 7, 2017, episode ofImpact!, Taya Valkyrie made her debut forImpact Wrestling attackingRosemary, establishing herself as aheel in the process.[20] A week later, Valkyrie competed in her first match where she defeatedAmber Nova, after using a newfinisherRoad to Valhalla.[21] Throughout September and October, Valkyrie continued herrivalry with Rosemary,[22][23][24] which eventually led to a match between the two, where Valkyrie was victorious.[25] The two were supposed to face off again, in afirst blood match atBound for Glory, on November 5, but the match was eventually cancelled due to unforeseen personal circumstances regarding Valkyrie.[26][27] After a five-month absence, Valkyrie made her return on the March 1, 2018, episode ofImpact!, where she once again attacked Rosemary and renewed their rivalry.[28] The two competed once again on the April 12 episode ofImpact! in ademon's dance match, in which Valkyrie lost to Rosemary, ending their feud.[29]
In late-September after another five-month absence, Valkyrie, now working as aface, made her return as she challengedTessa Blanchard to a title match for herImpact Knockouts Championship.[30] AtBound for Glory, Blanchard retained the title by using the ring ropes.[31] Three weeks later, Valkyrie received a rematch, which was once again won by Blanchard who attacked the referee and got herselfdisqualified, retaining the title in the process.[32] Thesubmission victory earned her another title match, which was announced forHomecoming.[33][34]
At Homecoming, which took place on January 6, 2019, Valkyrie won the Impact Knockouts Championship after thespecial guest refereeGail Kim (whom Blanchard had attacked during their match) performed her finishing move that allowed Valkyrie to execute her own finishing move before she pinned her.[35] On the March 15 episode ofImpact Wrestling, Valkyrie turned heel once again by low blowingBrian Cage, which allowed her real-life husbandJohnny Impact (who also turned heel) to attack Cage.[36] On the April 12 episode ofImpact Wrestling, Valkyrie and Impact defeated Brian Cage andJordynne Grace. Valkyrie would then successfully defend the Knockouts Championship against Jordynne Grace atRebellion, and furthermore against Rosemary,Su Yung andHavok in aMonster's Ball match atSlammiversary XVII and then in againstTenille Dashwood atBound for Glory.
Following on from her win at Slammiversary, Taya would have one more defence in Mexico which was easily won against a much smaller opponent. This meant Valkyrie would exceed the timeframe in which Tarryn Terrell held the championship and Impact confirmed Valkyrie as the new longest reigning champion. She defended the title againstTenille Dashwood atBound for Glory 2019 and Jordynne Grace and ODB at Hard to Kill. She would lose the title during Impact Wrestling television tapings in Mexico City against Grace, ending her reign at 377 days.[37] Valkyrie became the second woman to challenge for theImpact World Championship challenging Tessa Blanchard. The two together meant this was the first ever main event featuring two women in a world title match. Blanchard defeated Valkyrie to retain.
On the January 19, 2021, episode ofImpact!, the storyline around finding who shot John E. Bravo ended when Valkyrie was revealed as the culprit. This was written to explain Valkyrie's departure from Impact Wrestling.[38]
Taya Valkyrie at LAX Fan Fest inLos Angeles County in 2020.
On October 31, AAA announced the return of Taya as an Impact representative throughFacebook Watch calledLucha Capital. On November 14, on her return, Taya was defeated by Australian Suicide in the first round. On December 5, Taya defeatedLa Hiedra in the semifinal. On December 19, Taya defeatedKeyra andVanilla by winning the Women's Lucha Capital tournament and that same night she got an opportunity for the AAA Reina de Reinas Championship ofLady Shani for a future match.
On September 15, 2019, Valkyrie wrestled in the Impact Wrestling and AAA eventLucha Invades NY, defeating Tessa Blanchard to become AAA Reina de Reinas Champion for the third time.[39] Upon signing with WWE, on February 24, 2021, Valkyrie vacated the Reina de Reinas Championship, ending her reign at 528 days.
On February 14, 2021, it was reported that Forster signed a contract withWWE.[40][41] Her ringname was changed toFranky Monet and began to work in theNXT television program.[42][43][44][45] She worked with WWE until November, including a title match for theNXT Women's Championship againstRaquel Gonzalez,[46] but she was released on November 4 as part of a seventh round of layoffs, due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.[47][48]
On April 1, 2022, atMultiverse of Matches, Valkyrie made her return to Impact Wrestling and challenged Purrazzo for the AAA Reina de Reinas Championship atRebellion. At Rebellion, Valkyrie defeated Purrazzo to win the title for record fourth time in her career.[53] On May 7, atUnder Siege, she successfully defended the title against Purrazzo in a rematch.[54] On June 19, atSlammiversary, Valkyrie teamed with Rosemary to defeat The Influence (Madison Rayne and Tenille Dashwood) to win theImpact Knockouts World Tag Team Championship for the first time in her career.[55] On July 1, at Against All Odds, they would retain their titles against the Influence (Gisele Shaw and Tenille Dashwood). On July 14, they would bring back Havok from the Undead Realm, as she would assume the identity ofJessicka and they would form a team calledThe Death Dollz. On August 12, atEmergence, they would lose their titles to VXT (Chelsea Green and Deonna Purrazzo).On October 7, atBound for Glory, Valkyrie would team up with Jessicka to beat VXT and win her second Knockouts World Tag Team Championship. Rosemary would also be recognized as champion under theFreebird Rule. On November 18, atOver Drive, they would retain their titles against Savannah Evans andTasha Steelz.
On March 11, 2023, it was reported that Valkyrie is officially done with Impact Wrestling.[56] On the March 16 episode ofImpact!, The Death Dollz lost the Knockouts World Tag Team Championship to The Coven (Taylor Wilde andKiLynn King).
On June 11, 2022, Valkyrie made her debut atNational Wrestling Alliance (NWA) at theAlwayz Ready event, where she unsuccessfully challengedNatalia Markova after being distracted byTaryn Terrell, who accompanied Markova to the match.[66] This led to a match between Terrell and Valkyrie on the June 14 episode ofPowerrr, which Valkyrie was victorious.[67] On the July 26 special episode ofEmPowerrr, Valkyrie defeatedKiLynn King to become the number one contender for theNWA World Women's Championship, which was held byKamille.[68][69] On August 27, Valkyire challenged Kamille for the title during the main event of the first night ofNWA 74th Anniversary Show, however, was unsuccessful.[70] On the September 6 edition ofPowerrr, Valkyrie defeatedChelsea Green, Jennacide and King to become the number one contender again for Kamille's title, setting up a rematch between the two atHard Times 3.[71][72] However,Bully Ray argued that King, his former trainee, deserved the title shot, so a match between Valkyrie and King was set for the October 11Powerrr. There, King defeated Valkyrie for the right to challenge Kamille at Hard Times 3.[73]
All Elite Wrestling / Ring of Honor (2023–present)
On February 19, 2025, it was announced that Taya will debut and replaceRed Velvet due to her injury and will team up withLady Frost on March 7 in a tournament for the vacant CMLL World Women's Tag Team Championship.[86][87][88] Taya and Frost defeated Hera and Olympia in the first tournament round and in the second round they defeated Skadi and Kira to become one of winning the finalists of the tournament.[89][90][91] Taya and Frost defeated Zeuxis and India Sioux in theArena Coliseo.[92] On March 21, 2025 in Homenaje a Dos Leyendas they were defeated byLa Jarochita andLluvia for the vacant CMLL World Women's Tag Team Championship.[93]
In the fall of 2019, Forster shot the role of Regina in the action filmUnchained, released onAmazon Prime in July 2021.[94] In February 2020, Forster was cast in and shot scenes for the ultimately-abandoned fourth season of theNetflix dramedyGLOW; her involvement was only revealed upon the news of the cancellation in October.[95]
On June 1, 2018, Forster married fellow wrestlerJohn Hennigan, better known by the ring name John Morrison, with whom she had been in a relationship for nearly two years.[96][97][98] The pair met through the affiliation between AAA and Lucha Underground, with Forster becoming Hennigan's on-screen partner in the latter promotion prior to their real-life relationship.[99]
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