Kira Renee Forster (October 22, 1983) is a Canadian former model and fitness competitor now working as a professional wrestler currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) under the ring name Taya Valkyrie. She was previously signed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) on the NXT brand under the ring name Franky Monet. In Impact Wrestling she is a former Impact Knockouts Champion.
Early life[]
Forster was a ballerina and around 2005, began competing in fitness competitions and doing fitness modeling.
Career[]
Training and debut (2010)[]
In 2010, Forster began training with Lance Storm at his Storm Wrestling Academy and graduated from it in September 2010. She was a part of Lance's Canadian reality series World of Hurt. From there, Kira would then go on to compete at various Canadian feds under the name Taya Valkyrie, most notably Elite Canadian Championship Wrestling.
World Wrestling Entertainment (2011)[]
In October 2011, she was signed to a developmental contract with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) after a tryout with them.
After not making any officially-recorded debut in WWE or its other programs, Forster returned to wrestling on the independent circuit. She continued wrestling in Canada for the rest of the 2011 year until April 2012.
Wrestling in Mexico (2012-2017)[]
Forster moved to Mexico and began wrestling for various promotion within the country. On April 1, Forster debuted in Perros del Mal (PDM). 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, International Wrestling League and Asistencia Asesoria y Administracion.
Impact Wrestling (2017-2021)[]
Taya made her in debut in Impact Wrestling on August 4, 2017 in a match against Sienna whom she was defeated by. She wrestled the next day on August 5 in a three-way match, defeating Allie and Sienna. Taya returned on August 19 for the TV Tapings where Taya defeated Ava Storie. Taya wrestled a second match on that taping, defeating Amber Nova. On August 20, Taya teamed with Sienna and Taryn Terrell in defeating Allie, Gail Kim & Rosemary in a six-woman match. Two days later, Taya defeated Rosemary. Taya and Rosemary had a rivalry that was supposed to lead to a match at Bound For Glory 2017, but due to Visa issues, she couldn't appear for the show.
On the March 1, 2018 episode of Impact, Taya returned and renewed her rivalry with Rosemary. The feud ended with a demon's dance match on the April 12 episode of Impact, with Rosemary winning. Following this, Taya disappeared from Impact again until September, when she returned as a babyface to challenge Tessa Blanchard for the Impact Knockouts Championship. At Bound for Glory XIV, Tessa narrowly retained the title, using the ropes to pin Taya. The feud kept going, with Taya getting another title shot on Impact three weeks later. Tessa retained the title again by getting herself disqualified through attacking the referee. Gail Kim got involved with the feud, becoming a special guest referee for the rematch at Impact Wrestling Homecoming. It was there where Taya won the Knockouts Championship from Tessa Blanchard. At the February 15 episode taped in Mexico, Taya defended her title against Blanchard in a street fight, concluding the feud.
Soon afterwards, Taya turned back to being a heel to help Johnny Impact turn on Brian Cage on the March 15 episode of Impact Wrestling. Jordynne Grace became Taya's next challenger, and she was able to beat the champion via count-out on a TV episode. Taya had a rematch with Grace at Rebellion and successfully defended her championship there. At Slammiversary XVII, Taya had to defend the championship in a Monster's Ball Four Way match that included Jessicka Havok, Rosemary and Su Yung. Taya survived with the Knockouts championship. On the August 30 episode of Impact, Taya defended her championship against Big Mama and officially made history by having the longest single Knockouts championship reign. Her reign ended at 377 days when she finally lost the Knockouts Championship to Jordynne Grace.
NXT (2021)[]
On the April 13th, 2021 episode of NXT Taya now under the ring name Franky Monet debuted to confront then NXT Women's Champion Raquel González.
Personal life[]
Kira is married to John Hennigan. They announced their engagement in June 2017 and were married in mid 2018.
In wrestling[]
- Finishing and signature moves
- Northern Lights Suplex transitioned into La Lanza (Double foot stomp)
- Road to Valhalla
- Curb Stomp
- Corner Double Knee Attack
- Nicknames
- "La Perra del Mal"
- "La Güera Loca"
Championships and accomplishments[]
- Heavy On Wrestling
- HOW Women's Championship (1 time)
- Impact Wrestling
- Impact Knockouts Championship (1 time)
- Impact Knockouts Tag Team Championship (2 times) with Rosemary (1) and JesSICKa (1)
- Ironfist Wrestling
- Ironfist Women's Championship (1 time)
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- PWI ranked her #36 in the 2018 PWI Top 100 Females
- PWI ranked her #15 in the 2019 PWI Top 100 Females
- PWI ranked her #17 in the 2020 PWI Top 100 Females
- PWI ranked her #126 in the 2021 PWI Top 150 Females
- PWI ranked her #10 in the 2022 PWI Top 150 Females
- PWI ranked her #26 in the 2023 PWI Top 250 Females
