Former WWE star Melissa ‘Super Genie’ Coates dead at 50

In a Facebook post, a close friend of Coates announced Coates died on June 23, saying “This may be the hardest post I have ever made,” the Toronto Sun reported. “Just got word from Terry ‘Sabu’ Brunk that Super Genie Melissa Coates has passed away this afternoon,” the post said referring to Sabu — a 56-year-old professional wrestler on the independent circuit with whom Coates worked with as a manager and valet. “I also have spoken to her brother, JR Coates, and niece, Cassi. They told me to post this sad news.”

Coates was born on June 18, 1971, in Ontario, Canada. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, reports said.

She began her career as a tennis player and gravitated toward weightlifting and bodybuilding in the early 1990s, according to reports.

She won her first title in 1994 when she took First Place in the Canadian Championships for Middle Weight bodybuilding, according to the Generation Iron Fitness Network. Two years later, she won the 1996 Jan Tana Classic. Around the same time she gained further recognition in the International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness Ms. Olympia contests.

By 2002 she was competing on the professional wrestling circuit and joined the WWE in 2005.

She won her first and only professional wrestling championship in 2007 while competing on the Great Championship Wrestling and National Wrestling Alliance circuits.

She also appeared in several films and TV shows, including 2003′s “Pray Another Day,” 2004′s Extreme Dodgeball on the Game Show Network, and 2011′s “A Story About Ian.”

In 2014, she created the alter-ego Super Genie, in which she wore costumes in the ring that mimicked Barbara Eden’s character on the 1960s TV show “I Deam of Jeannie.”

Her other personas in the ring included The Bag Lady, Mistress Melissa, and Mile High Melissa.

In October last year, Coates was admitted to University Medical Center in Las Vegas where she underwent numerous surgeries to her left leg after blood clots ravaged her arteries. Unable to repair the condition, doctors were forced to amputate her leg above the knee.

Since her death, numerous tributes to Coates have poured in from around the wrestling world and beyond.

WWE star Bayley tweeted, “I had my very first match against Melissa Coates. There’s always a forever connection when you share the ring with someone and I’m honored to have that with her. Thank you for being so sweet, helpful and busting my brace face open. I’ll truly never forget you.”

Natalya tweeted, “Thinking about Melissa Coates today. I am sad to hear of her passing. Melissa was always so kind to everyone she met and had a huge heart. She said that this was her favorite picture of herself. You are loved and remembered, Melissa.”

Her former ring partner Sabu retweeted a post from pro-wrestler Velvet Sky. “Just heard of the passing of my long time friend @RealMelisCoates,” she wrote. “1 of the kindest, most genuinely nice people I’ve ever met. She loved wrestling SO much & was trying to raise enough $ for a prosthetic to get back in the ring.”