[6] In late 2002, Perez auditioned for WWE's reality show Tough Enough III, but was eliminated in the first round,[4][7][8][9] and was inspired by Al Snow to continue pursuing her wrestling career.

[20] Melina was body painted by artist Mark Greenawalt for a modeling photo shoot in 2007 where she posed with her WWE Women's Championship belt.

[21] Perez began training at Jesse Hernandez's School of Hard Knocks in San Bernardino, California, and made her in-ring debut in November 2001.

[2] The trio became known as MNM and on November 10, Melina managed Mercury and Nitro to win the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship, holding it for over two months.

[24] Melina made her first Raw appearance on November 29, 2004, when Randy Orton was the guest General Manager and hosted a Diva lingerie fashion show.

[26] Melina made her official debut in WWE as a heel, resuming her role as the manager of MNM, on the April 14, 2005, episode of SmackDown!.

[29][30] In the same night, MNM dropped their championships to the Legion of Doom, prompting a new storyline where Melina hired Jillian Hall, a fixer, to assist them.

[32] On the Eddie Guerrero Tribute Show, Melina won a Divas battle royal by eliminating the Women's Champion Trish Stratus.

[33] The next week, as a part of a new storyline, MNM kidnapped Stratus, tied her up and gagged her for Melina, who then challenged her to a match for the Women's Championship.

The storyline had the two engage in anal intercourse, after which he simply thanked her for the "warm-up" before leaving to take part in the match, where he and Mysterio defeated MNM for the titles.

when, before MNM invoked their rematch clause, Melina held a press conference in the ring where she claimed that Batista had sexually harassed her.

[39] Later that night, Melina lost a singles match against Jillian Hall, and after slapping General Manager Theodore Long in anger, she and Nitro were fired from the SmackDown!

[45] At Saturday Night's Main Event XXXIII on July 15, Melina and Nitro lost to Carlito and Stratus in a mixed tag team match.

[56][57] The feud between the two Divas continued and Melina later retained the title in a rematch during the first ever Women's Falls Count Anywhere match in WWE history.

[61] This resulted in scheduled matches against former Playboy cover girls Torrie Wilson and Candice Michelle, with both women losing to Melina.

[64] After WrestleMania, Melina organized a photo op with the Women's Championship belt in the ring, but was interrupted by Mickie James, resulting in another storyline feud between the two Divas.

On the December 29, 2007 episode of Raw, Melina once again challenged for the WWE Women's Championship in a triple threat match against then-champion Beth Phoenix and Mickie James.

In April 2008, Melina, along with then-ally Beth Phoenix, competed at WrestleMania XXIV in a tag team match, defeating Maria and Ashley.

[76] On June 23, 2008, Perez suffered a heel injury after falling from the turnbuckles during a tag team match with Mickie James against Natalya and Victoria.

[77] Melina returned from injury on the November 24 episode of Raw, teaming with former rivals Mickie James and Candice Michelle to defeat Phoenix, Jillian Hall, and Katie Lea Burchill.

[2] On December 29, at a WWE live event in Manchester, New Hampshire, Melina tore her ACL during a six-woman tag team match, and as a result she relinquished the Divas Championship on January 4.

[2] Melina made her return on the August 2, 2010, episode of Raw, attacking WWE Divas Champion Alicia Fox after a six-woman tag team match in which she, Jillian Hall, and Tamina defeated Eve Torres, Gail Kim, and Natalya.

On the December 20 episode of Raw, Melina became the number one contender to the Divas Championship and turned heel when she slapped then champion Natalya, who had attempted to congratulate her following her victory.

[98] On October 16, Melina made her debut for Japanese promotion World Wonder Ring Stardom, during their first American tour in Covina, California.

[103] On October 29, at SWE 6th Anniversary Show, Melina successfully defended her championship against Alex Windsor, Dahlia Black, Kay Lee Ray, Nixon Newell, and Ruby Summers in a six-way match.

[105][106] After a two-year absence of in-ring activity, Melina returned on June 11, 2018, at promotion A Matter of Pride Wrestling to face off against The Boy Diva Rick Cataldo.

On April 4, 2019, Melina defeated Sonny Kiss at A Matter of Pride's Divamania in a match that qualified her to compete in the Chris Kanyon Memorial Battle Royal to determine the company's inaugural Champion; she was eliminated by eventual winner, Eddy McQueen.

[108] Melina made her NWA in-ring debut on Into the Fire, on December 14, teaming with Belle as they unsuccessfully challenged Kay and ODB.

[109] Following NWA's 18 month hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Melina resumed her role as Thunder Rosa's manager, and began a feud with Kamille and a debuting Taryn Terrell, turning face in the process.

[120] The feud ended at NWA EmPowerrr when Melina unsuccessfully challenged Deonna Purrazzo for the Impact Knockouts Championship after a hard fought contest.