Piper Niven
Kimberly Benson (born 6 May 1991) is a Scottish professional wrestler. She is better known by the ring name, Piper Niven and her previous ring name, Doudrop. Benson is currently signed to WWE on the Raw brand and is a former two-time 24/7 Champion and one-time Women's Tag Team Champion. She began her career on the independent circuit under the ring name Viper. After joining WWE, she performed on its NXT UK brand. Benson has held championships in many different companies. These include WWE, ICW, Stardom and Pro Wrestling: Eve,
| Piper Niven | |
|---|---|
 Niven in January 2023 | |
| Birth name | Kimberly Benson |
| Born | 6 May 1991 Ayrshire, Scotland |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Doudrop[1] Piper Niven[1] Viper[2] |
| Billed from | Ayrshire, Scotland[3] |
| Trained by | Damian O'Connor Mikey Whiplash[4] |
| Debut | 2007 |
Early life
Kimberly Benson was born on 6 May 1991, in Ayrshire, Scotland.[2][5][6]
Professional wrestling career
Independent circuit (2007–2019)
Before becoming a wrestler, Benson kept her love for professional wrestling a secret. She did this because she was worried that her female friends would think she was "weird". They thought wrestling was a sport just for men[6] When she was 15 her oldest nephew began to watch wrestling. At that time Benson was open about enjoying wrestling.[6] She began her training at a school near her home. After training for a year, she started to perform at age 16. This was in 2007.[6] About her training, she said: "I got beat up, totally beat up. I remember lying in bed the next day, being so sore and in absolute agony, but I just loved it, I had to go back."[6]
In 2017, she worked in Japan as Viper for the company World Wonder Ring Stardom. On 7 January, she replaced Hana Kimura who was injured . She wrestled with with Kagetsu and Kyoko Kimura against the team of HZK, Io Shirai and Momo Watanabe. Her team lost that match.[7] On 13 August, she joined with Shirai and HZK to face the team of Hiroyo Matsumoto, Jungle Kyona and Kaori Yoneyama. They won this match and the Artist of Stardom Championship.[8][9] On 28 March 2018, she faced Toni Storm in Tokyo for the SWA World Championship, In this match, Viper's ICW Women's Championship was also in the line. She defeated Storm to win both championships.[10] She lost the championship in a match against Utami Hayashishita on 14 January 2019. Her EVE International Championship was also at stake.[11]
WWE
Mae Young Classic and NXT UK (2017–2021)
In 2017, Benson got a phone call from WWE. They asked her to be part of the Mae Young Classic 2017.[12] The event took place in 2017 and was an all-women tournament. At the time she was wrestling under the name Viper. Since this name was already being used in the WWE she competed as Piper Niven. She choose that name because she played bagpipes as a child, and Niven is her dad's first name. She defeated Santana Garrett in the first round[13] and Serena Deeb in the round two.[14] She lost in the quarterfinals to Toni Storm.[15]
In early 2019, a rumour started spreading that Niven signed with WWE.[16][17] She first appeared and on 27 March episode of NXT UK. Niven had her first televised match with WWE on Worlds Collide on 24 April, she defeated defeated Zelina Vega from SmackDown.[18]
On 12 January 2020 at the NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool II event, Niven competed in a triple threat match against Toni Storm and Kay Lee Ray for the NXT UK Women's Championship. Niven was defeated and pinned by Kay Lee.[19]
Raw (2021–present)
On 14 June 2021 episode of Raw, Niven was traded to the brand as Eva Marie's unnamed protégé. In her first match, she defeated Naomi.[20] The next week on Raw, Marie renamed her as Doudrop. Later that night, she and Marie were defeated in a tag team match by Asuka and Naomi.[21] At SummerSlam, Doudrop turned against Marie.[22] On the next episode of Raw, Marie attacked Doudrop.[23] After defeating Marie twice on 13 and 20 September episodes of Raw,[24][25] Doudrop challenged Charlotte Flair for the Raw Women's Championship, She lost because of a distraction by Marie.[26] In October, Doudrop entered the Queen's Crown tournament. She defeated Natalya in the first round and Shayna Baszler in the semi-finals, but lost to Zelina Vega in the finals.[27][28] In June and July 2022, she won the 24/7 Championship twice.[29][30][31]
On 28 January 2023, at the Royal Rumble, Benson returned as Piper Niven in the Royal Rumble match as the 18th entrant. She lasted over 28 minutes and eliminated two wrestlers before being eliminated by Raquel Rodriguez.[32] On 14 August episode of Raw, Niven returned named herself Chelsea Green's new tag partner to become the other half of the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship after Green's former partner, Sonya Deville, gave up her half of the titles because of an ACL injury.[33] On December 18 episode of Raw they lost the tag team titles to Kayden Carter and Katana Chance, ending their reign at 126 days.[34]
Other media
Benson is the subject of the episode Fight Like a Girl of the documentary series Our Lives by BBC. In the episode, she talks about her life as a professional wrestler.[35][36]
Personal life
On the Celebrate Bisexuality Day on 23 September 2019, Benson came out as bisexual.[37] On 13 December of the same year, she shared that she has Bell's palsy.[38] On 11 September 2021, Benson revealed that she got married.[39]
Championships and accomplishments
- Alpha Omega Wrestling
- AOW Women's Championship (1 time)[40]
- Association Biterroise de Catch
- ABC Women's Championship (1 time)[41]
- Fierce Females
- Fierce Females Championship (1 time)[42]
- Insane Championship Wrestling
- Preston City Wrestling
- PCW Women's Championship (1 time)[45]
- Pro-Wrestling: EVE
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- Ranked No. 37 of the top 50 female wrestlers in the PWI Female 50 in 2017[48]
- Scottish Wrestling Entertainment
- SWE Future Division Championship (1 time)[49]
- Showcase Pro Wrestling
- Caledonian Cup (2014)[50]
- World of Sport Wrestling
- WOS Women's Championship (2 times)[51]
- World Wide Wrestling League
- W3L Women's Championship (1 time)[52]
- World Wonder Ring Stardom
- WWE
- WWE Women's Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Chelsea Green[56]
- WWE 24/7 Championship (2 times)[57]