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Ring of Honor’s Kelly Klein Is a Boss: How She Juggles School and Wrestling in the Middle of a Women’s Revolution

If you’ve been paying attention to wrestling in the last few years, you’ve probably noticed that women are being taken more seriously and have become more prominently featured across different brands. This “revolution” isn’t limited to one company as 15-year vet Ring of Honor has also been highlighting its Women of Honor with high profile matches among a diverse group of ladies.

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Among these talented individuals is resident badass, Kelly Klein. The Ohio native made her ROH debut at 2015’s Glory By Honor XIV: Champions Vs. All Stars and has since enjoyed a 478-day winning streak. When she isn’t kicking butt in the ring, she’s hitting the books while working toward a degree in music education which is a lot harder than it sounds. “It is very challenging,” Klein told TMS. She’s currently in the final stages of her degree and, if that wasn’t enough, also makes time to coach high school softball. “It’s definitely a juggling act … Part of it has to do with communicating.”

That means sometimes letting friends and family know that she can’t hang out for a bit. “That’s how it is,” she added. “Friends and family helping me and encouraging me [to] stay motivated because there’s so much going on. I’m going in so many different directions, it’s hard to feel like I am giving all of my attention and focus to anything. Sometimes I start to feel like I’m not doing as well in any of them as I would like to because I like to be the best I can in everything.” But having those loved ones around to keep her in check helps.

While most wrestling fans tend to start watching at an early age, Klein wasn’t allowed to so she found inspiration elsewhere. “What got me into wrestling really was growing up and going to the wrestling meets,” she said. Family members including her father, uncle, brother and cousin were all involved in wrestling in college and high school, with some even getting into coaching so meets weren’t hard to come by. When she did finally catch on to mainstream wrestling, she found herself drawn to the technical style of people like William Regal, Dean Malenko and the late (and great) Eddie Guerrero.

When it comes to women’s wrestling and the changes seen over the last few years, Klein says it has less to do with wrestling specifically and more to do with our society. “I think women, over time, have been demanding more in every aspect of our culture. The women’s revolution really is not specific to wrestling and it’s something that if you just look at our culture in general, things are really changing.” Well, wrestling does tend to reflect what’s happening at the time so this makes perfect sense.

For more information on Klein or ROH, head over to their website.

(image: screencap)

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