In January 2014, she left the WWE and temporarily retired to focus on her clothing business and marriage.In December 2017, Coastal Championship Wrestling announced that Bonin was no longer retired, and on February 10, 2018, she returned to in-ring action under her real name.
In July 2018, Kaitlyn participated in the second Mae Young Classic.
Tropes associated with Kaitlyn include:
- Aborted Arc:
- Kaitlyn's little romance with Dolph Ziggler got dropped when she was moved to the main roster. It was meant to be given a Continuity Nod at the Royal Rumble - with Kaitlyn preventing Vickie Guerrero from interfering - but this role was given to Kelly Kelly instead.
- Her heel turn became one after Vince wasn't happy with the segment and ended up scrapping the storyline altogether.
- During her reign as Divas Champion, there was subtle hints to that Layla was turning heel and going to feud with her over the Divas Championship. For some reason this was scrapped. Could be because she and A.J. Lee had this feud going. Layla eventually did turn heel on her months later, only this time she wasn't champion anymore. It seemed like it was going to branch out into a side feud of Layla vs Kaitlyn after her program with AJ ended at SummerSlam - but she then had to take time off for health reasons. By the time she came back, Layla herself had gone on hiatus and didn't return until after Kaitlyn's retirement.
- Had this Ship Tease going with Cody Rhodes. Once again, this was dropped.
- The Ace: Entering Professional Wrestling with no experience, she quickly found her footing afterwards.
- All Girls Want Bad Boys:
- To heel Dolph Ziggler, during NXT.
- She also took a shining to Cody Rhodes and his moustache, but was later dropped.
- Amazonian Beauty: Before joining the WWE, she was a fitness model.
- Arch-Enemy: The Divas of Doom (Beth Phoenix and Natalya), Maxine, Vickie Guerrero, Eve Torres, Big E. Langston and A.J. Lee.
- Batman Gambit: Pulled a pretty good one on Eve to win the Divas Championship. After a sequence of the two beating on each other outside the ring, she ran around to the other corner to re-enter. Eve, who had rolled back into the ring, didn't see her follow on her side and assumed she'd never come back. As soon as she turned around, Kaitlyn hit her with a spear for the pinfall victory.
- The Big Damn Kiss:
- To Derrick Bateman when he dared ask her "what is love?"
- Subverted like hell when Big E. Langston was revealed to be her secret admirer.
- Book Ends: Her first match against Eve Torres - to decide which of them would become Booker T's assistant - happened in her hometown of Houston. Their final match - where Kaitlyn won the title from Eve - also took place in Houston.
- Break the Cutie: AJ (a victim of it herself) was determined to do this to her.
- Bullying a Dragon: Done knowingly, to show AJ she wasn't afraid of her. AJ would previously snap and attack people when they called her "crazy" (which Kaitlyn had done once before by accident). Kaitlyn deliberately called her "Looney Tunes". AJ dared her to say it again, to which Kaitlyn responded "that's all, folks". Technically a subversion as AJ didn't attack her afterwards but it was Kaitlyn who attacked her from behind after seemingly walking off.
- Butt-Monkey: The beginning of her main roster career had her and AJ being used mostly to make Beth Phoenix and Natalya look strong.
- Canon Name: "ChickBusters" originally was not. They joked about it on Twitter (naming themselves after the similar tag team The Dude Bustersnote ) before it eventually became official and acknowledged on TV.
- Catfight: With AJ on the second episode of NXT, and with Vickie Guerrero nearly every other episode. And off course, her feud with AJ is filled with this.
- Cool Big Sister/Cool Teacher: Natalya was this to her and AJ before she went heel and abandoned them.
- Cute Bruiser: She's a lot smaller than her replacement, Aloisia, but no less of a power wrestler.
- Deadpan Snarker: Flashes this every once in a while.
- Demoted to Extra: Played straight at first, as she was hardly seen on SmackDown for a while, and was relegated to WWE NXT, were she actually got mike time, storylines and time to wrestle. Then, all storylines for NXT abruptly ended, and for a weeks before the retooled version of NXT started, they simply had wrestling a la Superstars. She then reappeared on SmackDown, were she became mixed in the Divas title hunt alongside Layla and Eve, before finally becoming the Divas Champion. Then after she lost the Divas title to AJ and their feud ended, she disappeared again.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: In 2012 when NXT was rebranded as a developmental show, she appeared for three matches as a heel. This was before it had properly incorporated storylines or matched up with the main roster. By the time she reappeared in 2013, she was now in line with her main roster persona.
- Everyone Loves Blondes: Kaitlyn, who apparently was both Homecoming Queen and Class Clown in the same year.
- Even the Girls Want Her: From Kaitlyn's Facebook page...Kaitlyn: so now i'm single :(
Maryse Ouellet (Maryse): -,-' ; my poor Celeste you need to see me ;) - Expository Hairstyle Change: Between her time on NXT and reappearance as Natalya's prodigy, her hair grew to waist length and had a more bleached look to it.
- Face–Heel Turn: Appeared exclusively as a heel on the new NXT from Full Sail University without explanation.
- Geeky Turn-On: Her secret admirer sent her messages based around The Simpsons references and other things Kaitlyn was into.
- Genki Girl: From NXT season 3 onward. We were expecting the giant brute Aloisia and out came this smiling, dancing goof.
- Girl Next Door: Defied, claiming she lived three doors down and put a firecracker in everyone's mailbox every 4th of July. Referenced again in 2012 on an episode of NXT says that Kaitlyn refers to herself as a girl next door. William Regal on commentary promptly lampshades this with "I wish she lived next door to me!"
- Girliness Upgrade: Between FCW and NXT. She was initially given the Tomboyish Name 'Ricki Vaughn', which was changed to Kaitlyn right before NXT Season 3. Her natural style was quite tomboyish, but WWE insisted she wear more colourful outfits and dresses. Behind the scenes, Triple H hired her a stylist to dress for TV. She also confesses that when she was first signed to WWE, she had no idea how to do the "Diva thing" like wearing fake eyelashes.
- Girls with Moustaches: Had this thing with wearing black handlebar mustaches.
- Heel–Face Turn: On WWE NXT she became sympathetic as a result of Vickie Guerrero's bullying, and this turned her into a Face.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: With AJ, in and out of storyline.
- Important Haircut: Went fully brunette shortly after she got engaged. Added blonde back into her hair some time after leaving the company.
- The Lad-ette: Compared to her partners, AJ Lee and Natalya anyway. It would be even more so off screen, going by her shoots.
- Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Why she turned on Vickie Guerrero.
- Muscles Are Meaningful: When it was suggested Matt Striker was biased after criticizing Kaitlyn on commentary, he responded by saying he loved her and wanted her to give him little thick legged babies.
- Pintsized Powerhouse: 5'5" (1.65 meters) tall, strong enough to dead lift 300 pounds.
- Pseudo-Romantic Friendship: With AJ Lee definitely. If one watches the (unaired!) footage of Kaitlyn turning heel to join Beth and Natalya, it plays very much like a couple splitting up. In Real Life the two are definitely this. By the end of NXT Season 3, AJ congratulated Kaitlyn winning by running into the ring and jumping into her arms.
- Ramming Always Works: Her finisher was the Spear. And the first time she used it, it won her the title.
- Red Baron: The Powerhouse Diva, The Hybrid Diva, The Girl Next Door.
- Right Behind Me:
- On the March 25, 2013 edition of Raw, in a discussion with Team Hell No she dropped the "C-bomb" (no, not that one...) when talking about AJ, who was hiding right around the corner. AJ reacted to this about how you'd expect, attacking her.
- Right before a match with Tamina, Kaitlyn bragged to AJ that the former would not see her coming. Guess who was behind her.
Kaitlyn: You are surprisingly stealthy for such a tall girl. - Running Gag: AJ still has her Savage Garden CD, and Kaitlyn, in turn, still hasn't read AJ's screenplay, either.
- She Cleans Up Nicely: To a much more limited extent (she was presented as a clumsy ditz for the most part compared to the sex appeal or general attractiveness of the rest of the NXT divas). In her shoot interview, she recalls Triple H having this reaction when he saw her dolled up at a convention - and hired a stylist for her to help her dress for TV.
- Ship Tease: With Johnny Curtis and Cody Rhodes, the latter during a kissing contest. Later on she and Rhodes were teased again, but was dropped for unknown reasons.
- Shout-Out: Her ring attire since Survivor Series 2012 is clearly meant to be a nod to Trish Stratus and her ring gear circa 2006.
- Significant Wardrobe Shift: Her ring gear was initially standard Diva sparkly spandex. As her feud with Eve Torres intensified, she began to wear more street clothes in the ring.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: She and AJ got wins against Maxine and Tamina on NXT to keep them from jobber hell.
- Token Good Teammate: For the 'Total Divas vs True Divas' matches, Kaitlyn was the lone face of the 'True Divas' teams. As such she would frequently go against Eva Marie - the only heel on the Total Divas team.
- Tomboy with a Girly Streak: Kaitlyn's whole schtick as the "Hybrid Diva", claiming it is possible for a woman to be both a Tomboy and a Girly Girl. Kaitlyn has plenty of Lad-ette tendencies and interests but still has a love for some stereotypical girly things too. In the Chick Busters, she was presented as the Girly Girl to AJ's Tomboy - though to a limited extent. Kaitlyn would be a bit ditzier compared to AJ's Deadpan Snarker. Her post-WWE plans reflect this too; re-entering the fitness world but also designing a clothing line. Commentators also reference her fondness for things like puppy fashion shows and a love for unicorns.
- Tomboyish Baseball Cap: She occasionally wore one of these.
- Tomboyness Upgrade: As she rose through the ranks in the division, she slowly eased herself out of WWE's attempts to make her more Diva-ish. She traded in sparkly spandex for street clothes, and used a lot more power moves in matches. She was unlikely to ever be seen in dresses either.
- Unnecessary Roughness: Some of the backstage brawls between her and AJ have been extremely vicious. AJ one threw her headfirst into a stainless steel drinking fountain. Probably a result of AJ and Celeste's real life friendship, making them trust each other that much more.
- Wardrobe Malfunction: Suffered from this on an episode on Raw, where her top slipped and you could for a second catch a glimpse of one of her breasts.
- We Used to Be Friends: Broke up as tag team after AJ's sanity started slipping. She even stated that was hard being her friend when AJ was the way she was.
