Known professionally as Jazz, Carlene Moore-Begnaud first appeared on the wrestling scene in 1998. Wrestling was her next step after dropping out of college since it wasn’t what she wanted to do. Six to eight months were spent there under the guidance of Rod Price.
Jazz was influenced by Jackie, and in what I like to call a nice circle moment, she made her debut against Jacqueline in 1998. When Jazz joined Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), her ring name was Jazzmine. As a member of the Impact Players alliance, she had a lot of power. When ECW was still going strong in 1999, she defeated Jason Knight in the same arena.
Jazz has appeared in a variety of professional wrestling promotions, including Women Superstars Uncensored, Chikara, SHINE, AEW, and the WWE. In the WWE, Trish Stratus was a frequent victim of her running attacks. WCW/WWE Women’s Champion two times. Jazz was the last WWF Champion to hold the championship.
Jazz in the NWA was, in my opinion, a remarkable achievement. Her opponents included Thunder Rosa and Jordynne Grace when she was in that arena. After The Fabulous Moolah and Debbie Combs, she held the title for the third-longest period of time, at 948 days.
To far, Jazz has only appeared in IMPACT wrestling. The IMPACT Knockouts Tag Team Championships were on the line, so she paired up with Jordynne to attempt to win them for the first time. With 2021, at Hardcore Justice, she challenged Deonna Purrazzo for the Impact Knockouts Championship, her last appearance in the company. This was a championship vs. career matchup. Having been beaten, she was given the task of managing Jordynne and Rachael Ellering.
There aren’t a lot of women in wrestling, and I’ve been a fan of Jackie and Jazz for a long time. Strong, independent, and fiercely dominating black women, it was a pleasure to meet Jazz in person. In 2021, one of the highlights of my year was a quick conversation I had with her. Jazz was also a part of one of my favorite matches in 2021, cementing her place in wrestling history once again. You can’t go wrong with praising her.
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