Brooke Nichole Adams (born December 4, 1984) is an American model and retired professional wrestler, she is best known for her time in WWE and Impact Wrestling where she performed under the ring name Brooke Tessmacher.
She is best known for her time with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where she is a three–time TNA Knockouts Champion, and a one–time TNA Knockouts Tag Team Champion with Tara, known collectively as TnT. She previously worked for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) between 2006 and 2007, appearing with Kelly Kelly and Layla in the dance troupe Extreme Exposé, on the company's ECW brand.
Early life
Brooke Nichole Adams was born on December 4, 1984, in St. Louis, Missouri, and moved to Houston, Texas, at the age of 7. For a time, Adams and her family lived out of her mother's Daytona hatchback until they had enough money to afford an apartment. She attended Spring High School, and was active in basketball, volleyball, track and rugby.
Modeling career Prior to becoming a wrestler, Adams competed in bikini pageants such as Miss Hawaiian Tropic, Miss Swimsuit USA and Miss Hooters. Her agent told her "You’re way too ripped to keep modeling. You need to go to the fitness side, or gain some weight and get softer and be a model."
After her release from WWE, Adams returned to fitness modeling and went on to place in the Hawaiian Tropic, Planet Beach, Darque Tan, and Bikini USA model search contests. At the 2006 Grand Prix of Houston, she won the local round for the Face of Champ Car beauty contest (with her duties later taken over by 1st Runner Up Angela Rutledge). Adams was crowned Miss Hawaiian Tropic Texas 2008 on November 8, 2008. In late 2010 she took part in the Hooters Texas Swimsuit Pageant Finals to determine seven Hooters girls who would go on to the 2010 International Hooters Swimsuit Pageant competition. In August 2011, Brooke Adams announced that she was the winner of the Hooters' Viewers' Choice $10,000 award as advertised on the Hooters Swimsuit Pageant competition.
Professional wrestling career
World Wrestling Entertainment (2006–2007) Adams first became involved in professional wrestling by trying out for the 2006 WWE Diva Search, for which she failed to make the top 8. Despite not making the cut, Adams was chosen to observe workouts in WWE's then-developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), along with Maryse Ouellet, after which she was offered a developmental contract.
Adams was assigned to Deep South Wrestling (DSW) to train, beginning as the valet for Daniel Rodimer. When Rodimer was called up to WWE's main roster, Adams became focused on becoming a full-time wrestler. She made her in-ring debut in a loss to Angel Williams, at a DSW TV taping in December 2006. In February 2007, she was, in storyline, promoted to the position of Personal Assistant to DSW General Manager Krissy Vaine, with her main job being to protect Vaine from Angel Williams. This eventually led to another match between Adams and Williams, as ordered by Vaine. On March 15, Adams was fired from her position, as a result of Vaine and Williams forming an alliance together.
On January 23, 2007, Adams debuted on WWE's main roster on the ECW brand, joining the returning Kelly Kelly and the newly drafted Layla in Extreme Exposé. When Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) opened in the summer of 2007, Adams was transferred to the developmental facility for more training, as well as continuing her role on ECW. Extreme Exposé performed a weekly dance segment on ECW for the next several months, as a successor to the former Kelly's Exposé segment of a similar nature, until The Miz was placed on the ECW brand in the annual WWE Draft Lottery, at which point all three women began actively pursuing him. Later, Kelly shifted her attentions to Balls Mahoney, to the amusement of Miz and her Exposé sisters, who had been spending their time mocking his appearance, which resulted in Brooke and Layla transitioning into villainous characters. Brooke, along with the other ECW Divas, as well as the SmackDown and Raw Divas, competed in a number one contender's battle royal, where the winner would face Candice Michelle for the WWE Women's Championship at SummerSlam. However, Brooke was eliminated early first by Beth Phoenix, with Kelly Kelly as the last ECW Diva standing. Brooke's last match with WWE was a tri-brand Divas Halloween battle royal on the October 29, 2007, episode of Raw; although Brooke was eliminated early, Kelly would eliminate Torrie Wilson and Victoria to get the win for ECW. On November 1, 2007, Adams was released from her WWE contract, and Extreme Exposé dissolved as a group.
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling
Knockouts Division Commissioner (2010–2011)
Adams made her debut for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) on the March 29, 2010, episode of TNA Impact!, in a backstage segment portraying as Eric Bischoff's assistant, under the name Ms. Tessmacher, named after Lex Luthor's girlfriend and assistant in the first two Superman movies. On the September 30 episode of TNA Impact!, Tessmacher was put in charge of the TNA Knockouts division, as their new Knockout's Law but the position quickly went to her head, and she began being verbally abusive towards the Knockouts. On the October 14 episode of TNA Impact, Bischoff fired Tessmacher from her position as his assistant and Knockout's Law, after she had leaked information about his plans for Kevin Nash and "The Pope" D'Angelo Dinero, stating that she needed to become a wrestler herself if she was to remain in TNA. On the October 21 episode of TNA Impact!, Tessmacher begged The Beautiful People to teach her how to wrestle, but they refused, due to the treatment they received from her when she was in control of the Knockouts Division. The following week, it was announced that Lacey Von Erich, of The Beautiful People, agreed to train Tessmacher to wrestle but she left the promotion on November 11, ending the angle abruptly.
On the December 16 episode of TNA Impact!, Tessmacher made her in–ring debut as Bischoff's hand picked partner for Mickie James in the first round match of a tournament for the vacant TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championship, in which they were defeated by Madison Rayne and Tara. On December 25, Adams suffered a broken jaw in an out–of–the–ring accident and had wires and metal plates put in her jaw as a result. Tessmacher returned on the April 21, 2011, episode of TNA Impact!, stating that during her time away, she had been training to become the next TNA Women's Knockout Champion and received her first shot at the title, in her return match, two weeks later, where she was defeated by champion Mickie James. On the June 16 episode of Impact Wrestling, Tessmacher and Velvet Sky challenged Mexican America (Rosita and Sarita) for the TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championship, but were defeated after outside interference from Sky's rival, ODB.
Championship reigns (2011–2013)
On the July 21 episode of Impact Wrestling, Tessmacher and Tara, collectively known as TnT, defeated Rosita and Sarita to win the TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championship, which would be Adams' first professional wrestling championship. Tessmacher earned her first singles victory by defeating Madison Rayne on the August 4 episode of Impact Wrestling!. The following week, Adams' ring name was changed to Brooke Tessmacher. TnT went on to successfully retain the titles against Rosita and Sarita at Hardcore Justice in a rematch and against Angelina Love and Winter on October 20 before losing them to Gail Kim and Madison Rayne on the November 3 episode of Impact Wrestling. Two weeks later, both Tessmacher and Tara competed in a number one contender's gauntlet match but were both eliminated.
After pinning Gail Kim on three occasions, Tessmacher was named the number one contender for her TNA Women's Knockout Championship and receiver her title match on May 13, at the Sacrifice pay–per–view, which Kim won with her feet on the ropes. Tessmacher received another title shot on the May 17 episode of Impact Wrestling, but was again defeated by Kim in a three-way match, which also included Velvet Sky. On the June 7 episode of Impact Wrestling, a week after Brooke Hogan's debut, Adams' ring name was changed to Miss Tessmacher and she then went on to defeat Mickie James, Tara and Velvet Sky in a fatal four-way match to earn another shot at Kim's championship.
Three days later at the Slammiversary pay–per–view, Tessmacher defeated Kim to win the TNA Women's Knockout Championship for the first time. Tessmacher retained her championship against Mickie James in June and against Gail Kim in July before losing it to Madison Rayne, on August 12 at Hardcore Justice, who had referee Earl Hebner on her side, ending her reign at 63 days. Four days later, on Impact Wrestling, Tessmacher regained the title from Rayne in a match refereed by the debúting Taryn Terrell. After winning the title, Brooke was defeated by her TnT partner, Tara, in a non–title match which led to a title match between the two on September 9, at No Surrender, where Tessmacher successfully defended the title. On the September 13 episode of Impact Wrestling, Tara turned on Tessmacher and officially disbanded TnT. On October 14 at the Bound for Glory pay–per–view, Tessmacher lost the championship to Tara, ending her second reign at 59 days. Tessmacher received a rematch for the title on the October 25 episode of Impact Wrestling, but was again defeated by Tara after an interference from her boyfriend Jesse.
On January 13, 2013, at Genesis, Tessmacher competed in a five–woman gauntlet match to determine the number one contender to the TNA Women's Knockout Championship, but was eliminated by Gail Kim. On the February 7 episode of Impact Wrestling, Tessmacher defeated Tara in a non–title match and earned another shot at the championship which she received during a fatal four-way elimination match two weeks later, but was eliminated by Velvet Sky. In April, Brooke was defeated by Mickie James in a number one contender's match.
Aces & Eights (2013–2014)
After a four–month absence, Tessmacher returned as a heel on the August 22 episode of Impact Wrestling, revealing herself as Bully Ray’s girlfriend, joining the villainous stable. Tessmacher, now billed mononymously as Brooke, wrestled her return match on the October 3 episode of Impact Wrestling, defeating Velvet Sky in a number one contender's match for the TNA Women's Knockout Championship. On October 20, at the Bound for Glory pay–per–view, Brooke competed in a three-way match against ODB and Gail Kim for the championship, in which, Lei'D Tapa attacked both Brooke and ODB, helping Kim to win the championship. On the November 21 episode of Impact Wrestling, Brooke managed Bully Ray, who faced Mr. Anderson in a no disqualifications match, which Anderson won, and as a pre–stipulation of the match, were forced to disband. On the December 26 episode of Impact Wrestling, in a backstage segment, Bully Ray ended his relationship with Brooke.
On May 10, 2014, after a six–month hiatus, Brooke returned at the tapings for the Knockouts Knockdown 2 pay–per–view (which aired on tape delay on November 7, 2014), defeating Deonna, while still working as a heel, but was eliminated from the gauntlet match later that night. Brooke made her televised return on the June 12 episode of Impact Wrestling, as a fan favorite, in an in–ring segment with Ethan Carter III and Rockstar Spud, where the two would attempt to get her to reveal Bully Ray's secrets, but she refused. Ray would come out and hug Brooke afterwards. Brooke was then sidelined with a torn ACL and after fully recovering, she took more time off to participate in The Amazing Race alongside Robbie E.
Final feuds and departure (2015)