Daniella Cartier - Apartment Championship Wrestling

Age: 32

Hair: Black

Height: 5' 10"

Weight: 135 lbs.

Ethnicity: African-American

Titles Held: Former ACW Champion, Former Inter-Condominium Champion

The greatest champion in ACW history, Daniella Cartier has faced competition from around the world. She held the ACW champion longer than any other competitor and is back in the title mix. With the size and strength to outmatch most of her opponents, she developed a mental approach which allowed her to overcome injuries and other obstacles over time. Her matches against Diane Hunter, Tiffani Jones and Rosario Delgado are considered all time classics.

Daniella recently obtained an ownership interest in ACW and is rumored to be named its next President but time will tell.

Prim, proper and prissy. This description of Daniella Cartier irritates some and enchants others. She is tall and elegant, carrying herself with a regal confidence. She appeared ill-prepared for the brutal combat involved in ACW, but says "It just goes to prove that you don't have to grow up on the mean streets of the city to be tough."

Cartier was born with the proverbial silver spoon in her mouth. "Actually," she says, "I was rather irked that it wasn't a golden spoon." She was a debutante in training for most of her early life, attending private school and social balls. Her father was the Headmaster of the exclusive DeCatur Academy in Baltimore, Maryland and her mother was an administrator for the Balthauser estate in Owings Mills, Maryland.

Daniella was an outstanding student and was preparing to attend an Ivy League school pursuing an education in philosophy. How she became involved in ACW was a great shock to many, especially her parents. "They still haven't recovered. They just don't understand," she said. In her final year in boarding school, she attended a mandatory "finishing" class. "I told the teacher that I already knew what she was going to try to teach me... after all, I had been trained for this for 16 years." After she was reprimanded publicly, she said, "I was angered that I had to find some type of outlet. I had heard of an underground group that was doing apartment wrestling. I guess I decided to rebel against the school and my parents so I entered the competition." Four months later she found herself crowned as the Mid-Atlantic Boarding School champion.

Rather than quell her rebellious thoughts, her success simply fueled it. She applied to the Chicago Dojo of the ACW Academy and was accepted as a provisional admittee. A quick learner, she took to the training immediately. Standing 5' 10" and weighing 131 lbs., she had the size and range to keep her opponents at bay and was able to use her reach advantage to grapple with her adversaries. More noteworthy was her ability to use her long legs to deliver kicks to various parts of opponents bodies. Her biggest weakness was her unwavering belief in her own superiority. "Because she was a fast learner, and very skilled physically, she believed that once she had "perfected" a maneuver, she could not be stopped," said trainer Tanako X. "She argued with a number of the trainers at the Dojo, refusing to continue practice on elements that she felt she was already accomplished in." This led to a well-publicized confrontation between Cartier and Tanako X. "I told her that she must conform to the regimen we set out in the Dojo, or she must leave. I saw that she wasn't trying be disrespectful, but really just believed she knew better. I took her onto the mat in front of the other student and trainers and told her she could try as many maneuvers or attacks as she wanted and that I would deliver one kick and immobilize her." After evading a flurry of kicks and punches by Cartier, X delivered a roundhouse kick to her back that knocked the wind out of her and left her helpless. "I hoped that it would humble her and show her that she still needed to learn a lot. Unfortunately, it did not." Cartier immediately left the Dojo and filed a lawsuit against X and ACW. The lawsuit was dismissed before it went to trial.

Three months later, Cartier entered ACW and immediately made a big impression defeating ACW veteran Carmella D'Anesto in her third match. Victories over Dixie Monroe and Malaysia put her in the spotlight both inside and outside of ACW. A scheduled match against Dominique LeMonde drew enormous attention from the mass media and she found herself being interviewed by nightly tabloid television shows and appearing on the cover of Apartment Wrestling Weekly magazine. The match, however, was canceled when LeMonde unexpectedly took a leave of absence from the promotion.

Cartier now stands poised and ready to challenge for a title belt and has been training vigorously. She has also been entertaining a number of promotional offers with talent agencies lining up at her door. "I'm very selective about what I do and what I will be affiliated with," she says. "In fact, my legal team is discussing my marketing appeal within ACW and will be negotiating with them on use of my image for their promotional purposes."

She is her own woman and is determined to make her mark on the sport. She has already begun doing so, but time will tell whether it will be in a positive or negative manner in the long-term.

VIDEO CLIP - Daniella vs. Alex Del Monacco

The Greatest vs. The Latest. Daniella Cartier is viewed by many as the greatest champion in ACW history. Alex Del Monacco has run off a winning streak that is simply unparraleled. There first meeting resulting in a shocking stunner as Alex forced Daniella to submit, putting the title belt in Del Monacco's hands. Despite her success thereafter Alex has heard nothing but a chorus of detractors calling for a rematch. This is it!

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Video: 12 min.

Published: June 1, 2010