Leyla Hirsch

American professional wrestler

Leyla Hirsch

Hirsch in July 2019

Born|  (1996-09-27) September 27, 1996 (age 28)[1][2]
Moscow, Russia
Professional wrestling career
Ring name| Leyla Hirsch
Billed height| 4 ft 11 in (150 cm)[3]
Billed weight| 125 lb (57 kg)[3]
Trained by| Joe Gacy
Debut| 2017[4]

Leyla Hirsch (Russian: Лейла Хирш; born September 27, 1996)[5] is a Russian-born American professional wrestler. She is best known for her tenure in All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and its sister promotion Ring of Honor (ROH). Before joining AEW in 2020, Hirsh was active on the independent circuit, primarily in the northeastern United States, and also performed for Japanese promotions.

## Professional wrestling career

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### Independent circuit (2017–present)

[edit]

Hirsch made her professional wrestling debut at Combat Zone Wrestling's Dojo Wars: Super Show 4 event on September 29, 2017, where she lost to Dojo DEEJ in a intergender match.[6] During her time in CZW, she worked with other infamous personalities such as Penelope Ford, whom she faced at CZW Greetings From Asbury Park on February 23, 2018, in a losing effort.[7] She even challenged Eran Ashe for the CZW Medal of Valor Championship in a last man standing match at CZW Dojo Wars SuperShow Seventeen on February 15, 2019, but unsuccessfully.[8] Hirsch also competed in Westside Xtreme Wrestling, making her debut against Valkyrie at wXw Road To World Tag Team Festival: Neumünster on September 14, 2019.[9] She fought in the wXw Femmes Fatales 2019 Tournament where she managed to reach the final match, the prize being a wXw Women's Championship at the 19th Anniversary show. She eventually got defeated by LuFisto.[10] Hirsch had a brief run with the Japanese promotion World Wonder Ring Stardom, where she was a part of the Tokyo Cyber Squad stable and often fought alongside her fellow stablemates Hana Kimura, Jungle Kyona and Konami.[11] On August 28, 2021, Hirsch faced Kamile at NWA Empowerrr for the NWA World Women's Championship, which Hirsch lost.[12]

### All Elite Wrestling / Ring of Honor (2020–2025)

[edit]

On October 21, 2020, Hirsch made her AEW debut on AEW Dark where she lost to Hikaru Shida.[13] The following day on AEW Dynamite, she unsuccessfully challenged Serena Deeb for the NWA World Women's Championship.[14] On November 11 on AEW Dark Hirsch picked up her first win AEW win against Tesha Price.[15] On February 4, 2021, on Dynamite, she took part in the AEW Women's World Championship Eliminator Tournament, losing to Thunder Rosa in the first round.[16] It was confirmed on March 15 by AEW president Tony Khan that Hirsch had officially signed with the company.[17] On August 4 on AEW Dynamite Homecoming, Hirsch faced The Bunny in a NWA World Women's title eliminator which Hirsch won.[18] From December till March 2022, Hirsch feuded with Kris Statlander and Red Velvet. Hirsch would face Statlander at Revolution's buy-in show, turning up victorious. On April 6, Hirsch suffered a torn ACL in an AEW Dark Elevation taping. Six weeks later, she underwent surgery.[19][20]

On the July 6, 2023, episode of ROH on Honor Club, Hirsch returned from her injury and made her debut for AEW's sister promotion Ring of Honor (ROH), replacing Maria Kanellis in a six person tag match, where she teamed with The Kingdom (Matt Taven and Mike Bennett) to take on The Infantry, in which Hirsch scored the victory after submitting Trish Adora. In a post-match promo, Hirsch declared that she would focus on ROH going forward.[21] Hirsch defeated Adora again by submission on July 21, during the pre-show of Death Before Dishonor.[22] After the match, Hirsch reapplied her submission on Adora until Skye Blue made the save.[22]

On December 27, 2023, Hirsch entered the inaugural ROH Women's World Television Championship tournament[23] and was victorious against Rachael Ellering in the first round,[24] but was eliminated by Red Velvet in the second round.[25]

On 27 February 2025, it was reported that Hirsch would not be returning to AEW/ROH upon her contract expiring, ending her tenure with both promotions.[26]

## Personal life

[edit]

Hirsch was born in Moscow, Russia and lived there until being adopted by an American couple at age eight, subsequently being raised in Hillsborough Township, New Jersey.[27] At 15 years old, she began amateur wrestling in high school and college.[28] On March 10, 2022, shortly after the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Hirsch issued a statement on social media supporting Ukraine and calling Russian President Vladimir Putin a "brutal dictator" in response to criticism of her ring gear in the national colors of Russia.[29]

Hirsch is openly lesbian; she announced her engagement to her partner on October 15, 2023.[30]

## Other media

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Hirsch, along with other CZW wrestlers, appeared in the music video "If I Ever See You Again" by the American rock band Grayscale.[31][32]

## Championships and accomplishments

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* Pro Wrestling Illustrated
* Ranked No. 61 of the top 150 female singles wrestlers in the PWI Women's 100 in 2021[33]
* Ranked No. 473 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2020[34]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Founds, Lauren (April 20, 2020). "Indie Spotlight: Leyla Hirsch". belltobelles.com. Archived from the original on April 10, 2021. Retrieved March 13, 2021.
2. ^ Pro Wrestling News Hub. "Leyla Hirsch News, Pictures, Videos, Stats and Biography - AEW". prowrestlingnewshub.com. Archived from the original on March 7, 2021. Retrieved March 13, 2021.
3. ^ a b Kreikenbohm, Philip. "Leyla Hirsch Personal Data". cagematch.net (in German). Archived from the original on November 28, 2021. Retrieved March 13, 2021.
4. ^ Joshi City. "Leyla Hirsch Wrestler Profile - Joshi City". joshicity.com. Archived from the original on March 2, 2021. Retrieved March 13, 2021.
5. ^ All Elite Wrestling [@AEW] (September 27, 2021). "Happy Birthday to @AEW Star @LegitLeyla https://t.co/03t1co9dgg" (Tweet). Archived from the original on September 27, 2021. Retrieved March 13, 2022 – via Twitter.
6. ^ CZW Dojo Wars (September 29, 2017). "CZW "Dojo Wars: Super Show #4" 9/29/2017 Blackwood, NJ". czwstudios.com. Archived from the original on May 18, 2021. Retrieved March 14, 2021.
7. ^ Cal, Jay (February 23, 2018). "CZW: Greetings from Ashbury Feb 23". alliance-wrestling.com. Archived from the original on May 18, 2021. Retrieved March 14, 2021.
8. ^ Online World Of Wrestling (OWW). "Matches/CZW Dojo Wars: Eran Ashe defeated Leyla Hirsch in a last man standing match to retain the Medal Of Valor title". onlineworldofwrestling.com. Archived from the original on May 18, 2021. Retrieved March 14, 2021.
9. ^ Westside Extreme Wrestling (wXw) (September 14, 2019). "wXw ROAD TO WORLD TAG TEAM FESTIVAL: NEUMÜNSTER". wxw-wrestling.com (in German). Archived from the original on January 20, 2021. Retrieved March 14, 2021.
10. ^ Lambert, Jeremy (October 5, 2019). "wXw Femmes Fatales 2019 Results (10/5): wXw's All-Female Event". fightful.com. Archived from the original on May 18, 2021. Retrieved March 14, 2021.
11. ^ Kevin (January 25, 2020). "Stardom New Years Stars 2020 on 1/11/20 Review". joshicity.com. Archived from the original on April 19, 2021. Retrieved March 14, 2021.
12. ^ "NWA EmPowerrr Results". cagematch.net. Archived from the original on December 11, 2021. Retrieved December 11, 2021.
13. ^ Mrosko, Geno (October 27, 2020). "Watch AEW Dark Episode 58". cagesideseats.com. Archived from the original on June 12, 2022. Retrieved March 14, 2021.
14. ^ Blanchard, Matthew (October 29, 2020). "AEW Dynamite Results: Leyla Hirsch Vs. Serena Deeb [NWA Women's Championship Match]". theovertimer.com. Archived from the original on April 12, 2021. Retrieved March 14, 2021.
15. ^ "AEW Dark #62 Results". cagematch.net. Archived from the original on December 11, 2021. Retrieved December 11, 2021.
16. ^ Blanchard, Matthew (October 29, 2020). "AEW Dynamite Results: Legit Lelya Hirsch Vs. Thunder Rosa [AEW Women's World Title Eliminator Tournament]". theovertimer.com. Archived from the original on February 11, 2021. Retrieved March 14, 2021.
17. ^ Khan, Tony [@TonyKhan] (March 15, 2021). "Congratulations and welcome aboard officially to @LegitLeyla Hirsch, I'm thrilled to have you signed to @AEW! Thank you very much to Leyla and to all of you great fans who support @AEWonTNT for making this possible! https://t.co/fUHa4fbY9Y" (Tweet). Archived from the original on February 17, 2022. Retrieved March 13, 2022 – via Twitter.
18. ^ "AEW Dynamite#96 Homecoming Results". cagematch.net. Archived from the original on December 11, 2021. Retrieved December 11, 2021.
19. ^ "Leyla Hirsch Confirms Injury And Recent Surgery". wrestlinginc.com. May 26, 2022. Archived from the original on May 26, 2022. Retrieved June 6, 2022.
20. ^ "AEW Leyla Hirsch injured during AEW dark taping". WrestlingObserver. April 6, 2022. Archived from the original on April 15, 2022. Retrieved April 15, 2022.
21. ^ Renner, Ethan (July 6, 2023). "Leyla Hirsch returns to action on Ring of Honor TV". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Archived from the original on July 8, 2023. Retrieved July 9, 2023.
22. ^ a b Powell, Jason (July 21, 2023). "7/23 ROH Death Before Dishonor results: Powell's live review of Claudio Castagnoli vs. Pac for the ROH Title, Athena vs. Willow Nightingale for the ROH Women's Title, Katsuyori Shibata vs. Daniel Garcia for the ROH Pure Title". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Archived from the original on July 22, 2023. Retrieved July 21, 2023.
23. ^ Wilkinson, Nick (December 28, 2023). "Several Names Confirmed For ROH Women's TV Title Tournament". diva-dirt.com. Retrieved December 29, 2023.
24. ^ Pizzazz, Manolo Has (February 14, 2024). "ROH reveals four matchups in women's TV title tournament". Cagesidedseats.com. Retrieved February 14, 2024.
25. ^ Boone, Matt (February 25, 2024). "ROH TV Spoilers From AEW Collision Taping On 2/24 In Springfield, MO". Wrestlingheadlines.com. Retrieved February 25, 2024.
26. ^ "Leyla Hirsch not expected to re-sign with AEW as contract expires Friday". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. February 27, 2025. Retrieved March 18, 2025.
27. ^ WILKINSON, MATTHEW (January 14, 2022). "Leyla Hirsch Describes Her Time Growing Up In Russian Orphanage". Wrestlinginc.com. Archived from the original on August 1, 2023. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
28. ^ Greer, Jamie (October 27, 2019). "Indie Watch: Leyla Hirsch, Too "Legit" To Quit (VIDEOS)". lastwordonsports.com. Archived from the original on May 18, 2021. Retrieved March 14, 2021.
29. ^ Rueter, Sean (March 11, 2022). "Leyla Hirsch issues statement in support of Ukraine after criticism of her Revolution ring gear". cagesideseats.com. Archived from the original on March 12, 2022. Retrieved March 22, 2022.
30. ^ Bell, Brian (October 16, 2023). "Out AEW star Leyla Hirsch announces her engagement". SB Nation (via MSN). Retrieved October 16, 2023.
31. ^ Grayscale - If I Ever See You Again (Official Music Video). Retrieved April 21, 2024 – via www.youtube.com.
32. ^ Grayscale - Behind The Scenes of "If I Ever See You Again". Retrieved April 21, 2024 – via www.youtube.com.
33. ^ "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) Female 50/100 for 2020". The Internet Wrestling Database. Archived from the original on November 23, 2020. Retrieved March 13, 2021.
34. ^ "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2020". profightdb.com. Archived from the original on November 1, 2020. Retrieved March 13, 2021.

## External links

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* Leyla Hirsch's profile at Cagematch.net, Wrestlingdata.com, Internet Wrestling Database

Portals:

* Biography
* United States
* LGBTQ