The Phantom of the Ring — Lipstick, Dynamite and Glowworms, Part 18
October 20th, 2008Part 18 of an in depth look at the growth of women’s wrestling, from noted ring historian The Phantom of the Ring.
The Phantom of the Ring
Lipstick, Dynamite and Glowworms Part 18
Trish knocks the WWE Divas into the “Stratus-sphere.
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The WWF’s Women’s division was now established. It was strong enough to withstand defections by stars and had the luxury of having new talent constantly arriving. Four stars in particular strengthened the stable during this period. Three were wrestlers, one was a fitness model who, through dedication to her craft, outdid the others.
The first of the four to arrive was Lita. A four-time holder of the WWF Women’s belt, Lita’s road through the WWF was anything but routine, becoming most famous for an affair rather than for anything she did in the ring. Born Amy Dumas on April 14, 1975, she dropped out of Georgia State University (education major), and played for several bands in the Washington, D.C. area while taking classes in judo and kickboxing on the side.
Her interest in wrestling began in 1998 after she saw Rey Mysterio, Jr. on WCW Monday Nitro. She went to Mexico learn how to wrestle, financing her training by dancing in clubs. She trained under numerous wrestlers, and debuted with the Empresa Mexicana de la Lucha Libre.
Returning to the United States, she managed Christopher Daniels for Maryland Championship Wrestling (MCW) using the ring name Angelica. She also worked in NWA Mid-Atlantic, where she first met Matt and Jeff Hardy.
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In early 1999, she was booked by Paul Heyman, and made her debut in ECW as Miss Congeniality, “girlfriend” of Danny Doring. Rob Van Dam introduced her to Dory Funk, Jr., who invited her to learn at his wrestling school. Dumas was the only woman in a class of 24 and graduated from the school, returning to ECW. Funk sent footage of her to the WWF, who in turn, offered her a developmental deal.
Dumas was sent to the Memphis Championship Wrestling developmental territory, given the ring name Lita, and paired with luchador Essa Rios. Deeming them ready, the WWF debuted the duo on the February 13, 2000, episode of Sunday Night HEAT, which had Rios winning the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship from Gillberg. A few months later, an angle was developed where Lita inadvertently cost Rios a match and he retaliated by powerbombing her. The Hardy Boyz rushed the ring to save her and the trio formed a group called “Team Xtreme.” During her tenure with the Hardys, Lita became the only woman ever to take part in a “Tables, Ladders, and Chairs” match.
In June 2000, Team Xtreme was booked to feud with T & A (Test and Albert), and Lita began a feud with their manager, Trish Stratus. (The feud would blow hot and cold until Stratus retired in 2006.) The angle ended with the Fully Loaded PPV, which saw Lita pinning Stratus in a six person tag team match. Lita’s next angle was a feud with WWF Women’s Champion Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley, which came to a head on the August 21st Raw, when Lita defeated Stephanie to win the Women’s Championship.
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Lita held the Women’s Championship until losing it to Ivory on the November 2nd edition of SmackDown! Lita gained two rematches against Ivory at Survivor Series and the Rebellion PPV, but lost both times due to interference from Ivory’s mentor, Steven Richards. She spent the rest of the year into early 2001 in an angle with Dean Malenko, whom she unsuccessfully challenged for the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship. She managed to defeat Malenko in a non-title match on the February 19th Raw with assistance from Matt Hardy. After the match Hardy kissed her, turning their real life romance into an angle. The two then wrestled in inter gender tag matches during the next few months
In July, Lita joined with Trish Stratus to wrestle Alliance members Stacy Keibler and Torrie Wilson. (The Alliance was a combination of ECW and WCW wrestlers invading the WWF in the Invasion angle.) At the Invasion PPV (July 22), Lita and Stratus fought Keibler and Wilson in the first ever bra and panties match, winning when they stripped Keibler and Wilson to their underwear. The Invasion angle culminated at the 2001 Survivor Series with a six-pack challenge for the WWF Women’s Championship recently vacated by Chyna. Though Lita was a participant, Stratus won the title.
On the December 17th Raw, both Jeff Hardy and Lita were sidelined with kayfabe injuries after a title match between Jeff and WWF Hardcore Champion, The Undertaker. On the next week’s SmackDown!, Matt Hardy was “injured” by The Undertaker and both the Hardys and Lita were taken off television for the next few weeks.
Returning to television in February, 2002, Lita resumed her pursuit of the WWF Women’s Championship and made her WrestleMania debut the following month losing to WWF Women’s Champion Jazz.
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In April, 2002, Dumas was injured while filming a fight scene for a role in the season finale of the television program Dark Angel. A CAT scan revealed three cracks in her vertebrae which led to fusion surgery. She spent the rest of the year in recovery, joining Sunday Night HEAT as a commentator in October, 2002. An angle was later spun out of this in April, 2003, when General Manager Eric Bischoff fired her for rejecting his advances and his suggestion that she pose nude for Playboy.
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After seventeen months, she returned to the ring on the September 15th Raw at the “behest” of Co-General Manager Stone Cold Steve Austin, saving Trish Stratus from a beating at the hands of Molly Holly and Gail Kim. Lita and Stratus went on to defeat Holly and Kim at the Unforgiven PPV on September 2. Lita then feuded with Holly into November, with Lita unsuccessfully challenging Holly for the WWF Women’s belt at Survivor Series on November 16. The November 17th episode of Raw saw Lita and Matt Hardy reunited after Hardy was moved from SmackDown! to Raw. Continuing her feud for the Women’s belt, Hardy was interrupted by Holly as he was about to propose to Lita. Holly challenged the two to an inter gender tag match against her and Eric Bischoff, who later added the proviso that if she lost she would be fired. Hardy and Lita lost after Hardy refused to tag in; later claiming that she cared more about the Women’s Championship than about him. The angle continued as Christian used a Survivor Series “favor” to get her rehired. She then lost one week later to Victoria in the first ever WWE women’s steel cage match after Matt Hardy interfered.
Lita competed in the Women’s division throughout early 2004, winning a battle royal to become the number one contender for the Women’s Championship. On the April 5th Raw, Lita won a battle royal to become the number one contender, but lost to champion Victoria at the Backlash PPV on April 18. The next night on Raw, Lita and Matt Hardy reunited when Hardy attacked Kane to prevent him from harming Lita. The following weeks saw an idiotic angle with Kane repeatedly assaulting Hardy and attempting to seduce Lita. She announced she was pregnant as she slept with Kane to prevent further assaults on Matt. The Hardy-Kane feud culminated at SummerSlam (August 15) in a match where Lita would have to marry Kane if he won. Kane won the match, which led to a marriage ceremony with a reluctant Lita on the August 23rd Raw. On the September 13th Raw, Lita “miscarried” after Gene Snitsky struck Kane with a chair, causing him to fall on Lita. This in turn led to Lita and Kane joining forces against Snitsky, mercifully finishing the angle.
Lita returned to the Women’s division in November, 2004, and began feuding with Women’s Champion Trish Stratus after Stratus called called her “chubby” because of her weight gain during her “pregnancy.” Lita then challenged Stratus to a title match at Survivor Series, losing by disqualification. On the December 6th Raw, Lita won the Women’s Championship for the second time despite missing a plancha to the outside, barely escaping serious injury. The move was later incorporated into an angle for a rematch at the New Year’s Revolution PPV, with Stratus announcing that Lita practically had to kill herself to take the title. Stratus defeated Lita in a match that saw Lita tearing her left ACL in executing a Thesz press from the ring apron.
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Lita returned in March, 2005, and mentored Christy Hemme in her quest to take the title from Stratus, but despite her coaching, Hemme was unsuccessful in her title match at that year’s WrestleMania. The “relationship” between Lita and Kane finally came to an end on the May 16th Raw, when Lita helped Edge defeat him in the finals of the Raw Gold Rush Tournament. On the May 30th Raw, Lita announced that she had filed for divorce, and then attempted to marry Edge on the June 20th Raw. The ceremony was interrupted by Kane, but the angle was later forgotten in light of a new, recently revealed real life romance.
Dumas, already romantically involved with Matt Hardy, began a relationship with the married Edge (Adam Copeland). When the story broke in the wrestling press, WWE officials eventually decided it would be fruitless to deny it, so it was incorporated into a real life angle. Hardy was released in April, but rehired several months later, facing Edge in a ladder match on the October 3rd Raw. Hardy lost after Lita interfered, and, due to the stipulations of the match, was forced to leave Raw.
Edge defeated John Cena on January 8th at the New Year’s Revolution PPV to become the WWE Champ, and on the next night’s Raw, announced that he and Lita were going to have sex in the middle of the ring. They stripped to their underwear and covered themselves in a bed erected in the ring. They were disturbed by Ric Flair, and Edge jumped out of bed to fight him in the ring. Meanwhile, John Cena entered the ring and attacked Lita, delivering his FU to her. During the fracas, Lita’s bare breast was momentarily exposed. This angle earned Raw its highest rating in over 18 months. Lita continued to second Edge well into mid-2006.
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On the August 14th Raw, Lita hit Mickie James in the face with the title belt during their match to win the Women’s Championship for a third time. Lita and Edge then began a feud with Trish Stratus and Carlito that resulted in a match between Lita and Stratus at the Unforgiven PPV. Stratus defeated Lita for the belt and retired from the ring undefeated. In her last push, Lita defeated Mickie James in the finals of a tournament to determine Stratus’ successor at the CyberSunday PPV, winning the title for the fourth and last time. In what was to be her final match, she dropped the title to James at Survivor Series.
The pressure she endured from the whole Edge-Hardy affair came to wear on her. The harassment from fans had much to do with her decision. No matter what else happened, she believed, the fans would always remember the affair, and the only way to deal with it was to retire. She did return for a special appearance at the Raw 15th Anniversary Show on December 10, 2007. During the show she and Trish Stratus teamed together to throw Jillian Hall from the ring.
After her retirement, Dumas went to Atlanta, Georgia and formed the band “The Luchagors” with new boyfriend Shane Morton. The band made its debut in September, 2006, at the Masquerade in Atlanta, working an event called Rock-N-Shock, combining rock music and wrestling. The band released a their CD, The Luchagors in September 2007.
In April 2007, she began hosting a show featuring punk rock in Atlanta. The show, called PunkRockalypse, airs on Sunday nights at 9 p.m., EST.
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The next to arrive is probably the greatest Diva the WWE ever produced, a seven-time WWE Women’s Champion and one of the few divas to turn down an offer to pose nude for Playboy: Trish Stratus. Born Patricia Anne Stratigias on December 18, 1975, she was raised in Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada. Her childhood goal was to become a doctor, and she became a premed student at York University in Toronto, Ontario, focusing on biology and kinesiology (the study of the anatomy and mechanics in human movement). A school strike caused her studies to end, and while working out in a gym, she was approached by fitness trainer Scott Able about becoming a fitness model, a job she accepted. In 1998 she became a regular model for MuscleMag International, gaining notice for risqué photo shoots.
The WWF took notice of her and signed her to a multiyear contract on November 25, 1999. To prep her for the ring, the WWF sent her to former wrestler and trainer Ron Hutchinson in Toronto. (She would later sharpen her ring skills training under Dave Finlay.) Her name was also shortened to Trish Stratus.
Trish made her debut not as a wrestler, but as the manager for the tag team of Test and Prince Albert (Matt Bloom), known as T & A, on the March 20, 2000, Raw. The highlight of her tenure was being driven through a table by the Dudley Boyz at the Backlash PPV in retaliation for her taunting of Bubba Ray during the weeks leading to the match. If anything, this proved that Stratus could and would to take a bump. Trish’s wrestling debut came in June on Smackdown!, when she teamed with T & A to defeat the Hardy Boyz and Lita. A feud then developed between Stratus and Lita. On the July 17th Raw, Stratus pushed Lita off a 10-foot ladder. On a follow-up edition of SmackDown! Trish whipped Lita with a leather strap. That led to an Indian Strap match on the July 24th Raw, which saw Stratus defeating Lita with the help of Stephanie McMahon. She also managed Val Venis to the Intercontinental Title, but the pair split after SummerSlam, when, during a tag match between Venis and Stratus versus Chyna and Eddie Guerrero, Chyna pinned Trish to win the title. When T & A disbanded, it was decided to use Stratus in the Women’s Division as a single, but first she was needed in an angle.
That angle came during early 2001, when she played Vince McMahon’s girlfriend, assisting him in railroading Vince’s wife, Linda, into an institution. The relationship between Vince and Trish caused Stephanie McMahon to challenge Trish to a match at the No Way Out PPV on February 25, 2001. Stephanie got the win after William Regal interfered. During a tag team match the next night on Raw, pitting Vince and Stratus against Regal and Stephanie, Regal used his Regal Cutter on Stratus, and Stephanie dumped sewage over Stratus’ body. Vince then stood over her, and told her she was just a toy he grew tired of playing with. The next week on Raw, Vince forced Trish to strip down to her underwear in the ring and bark like a dog. The angle ended at WrestleMania X-Seven, when, during Vince’s match against son Shane, Trish jumped into the ring and slapped Vince, becoming a babyface.
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Stratus then began wrestling full-time. First she defeated Ivory in a match on the April 23rd Raw to avoid having to become a member of Right to Censor. Then she and Lita defeated Stacy Keibler and Torrie Wilson in a Bra and Panties tag team match at the InVasion PPV. Later that summer, she suffered an ankle injury that kept her out for three months. During the time off she kept busy by co-hosting Excess on TNN. Her return that autumn was highlighted by winning the Women’s Championship in a six-pack challenge at Survivor Series.
Her first defense of her title came two nights later at a SmackDown! taping. She defeated Stacy Keibler in a “gravy bowl match” (the women wrestle in a pool of “gravy”). She next began feuding with Jazz over the Women’s Championship, losing the belt to Jazz on the February 4, 2002, episode of Raw. While trying to regain the Women’s title, she won the WWE Hardcore Championship on May 6, 2002, when she pinned champ Crash Holly after Bubba Ray Dudley conked him with a trash can. But due to a stipulation that the belt must be defended 24/7 as long as a referee is present, Trish lost the belt that same night to Steven Richards. One week later, on the May 13th Raw, she regained the Women’s Title in a special stipulations tag team match pitting her and Bubba Ray Dudley against Jazz and Steven Richard. Stratus could win the title if she pinned Jazz, which she did.
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Stratus’ second reign ended on June 23 when she was defeated at the King of the Ring PPV by Molly Holly. The two continued to feud for the next three months with Trish winning the title back at the Unforgiven PPV on September 25, and added a new angle with the arrival of Victoria (Lisa Marie Varon), who supposedly bore a grudge against Stratus for betraying her when both were fitness models. After a failed attempt to win the title in July, Stratus won back the championship at the Unforgiven PPV. Victoria and Trish faced off several times, with Victoria finally capturing the belt in a Hardcore match at Survivor Series.
On the January 23, 2003, Raw 10th anniversary special, Stratus was named Diva of the Decade. On the March 17th Raw, 2003, Victoria and Steven Richards defeated Jazz and Stratus in a tag team match. Afterward Victoria and Richards began beating Stratus but Jeff Hardy came in to make the save. In the following weeks, an angle was built where Stratus and Hardy were talking closely backstage while teaming in the ring as partners. However, the angle was scuttled when WWE released Hardy.
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At WrestleMania XIX (March 30, 2003) Stratus defeated Victoria and Jazz in a three-way dance to capture the Women’s Championship for the fourth time, equaling the record set by The Fabulous Moolah. She would drop the title to Jazz the next month (April 27, 2003) at the Backlash PPV. Trish’s next angle was a partnership with Gail Kim that lasted only a short time when Kim turned on her and allied herself with Molly Holly. Trish later joined with Lita and defeated Kim and Holly on several occasions, the high point being a match at the Unforgiven PPV.
Stratus went from this into an angle involving a “romance” with Chris Jericho. During the November 10th Raw, she agreed to go on a date with him. Afterward, they partnered in an inter gender tag team match on the December 1st Raw. But after the match, Trish overheard Jericho talking to Christian, who was involved in a storyline romance with Lita. The two were discussing who could sleep with his respective woman first. One week later, on the next episode of Raw, Trish and Lita confronted the men, which lead to a feud between the two men and women. At a “Battle of the Sexes” match at the Armageddon PPV, the men defeated the women. A rematch on next night’s Raw was declared a no contest.
Her angle with Jericho continued into 2004 with a new twist: Jericho was developing feelings for Trish. But during a match between Jericho and Christian at WrestleMania XX , Trish turned heel by hitting Jericho in the face with her elbow, allowing Christian to make the pin. They feuded with Jericho for several months, competing in a handicap match at the Backlash PPV, which saw Jericho win the match by pinning Christian after throwing him onto Stratus followed with an enzuiguiri.
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At the Bad Blood PPV on June 13, 2004, Stratus won the WWE Women’s Championship for the fifth time in a fatal four-way match in which Victoria (Lisa Marie Varon) defended the title against Trish Stratus, Lita (Amy Dumas), and Gail Kim. Stratus won when she pinned Lita. She held the belt before dropping it to Lita on the December 6th Raw. A month later, Stratus became a six-time champion, defeating Lita at the New Year’s Revolution PPV after Lita tore her ACL while attempting a Thesz press from the ring apron.
A new angle developed between Trish and 2004 Raw Diva Search winner Christy Hemme. The issue was Trish’s “jealousy” over Hemme’s Playboy magazine exposure. Stratus attacked Hemme and spray painted the word “slut” across Hemme’s back. Hemme challenged Stratus to a title match at WrestleMania 21, and revealed she was being coached by Lita. Stratus, however, retained her title. In May, 2005, Stratus was sidelined with the Women’s Championship after suffering a herniated disc. An angle explained that the injury was caused by Viscera at the Backlash PPV after she berated him for losing to Lita’s “husband” Kane.
She returned to Raw in September, 2005, once again as a face and siding with 2005 Diva Search winner Ashley Massaro, who was being tormented by Vince’s Devils (Candice Michelle, Torrie Wilson and Victoria). Also involved was Diva Mickie James, who was making her debut by introducing herself as Stratus’ biggest fan. On the Raw Eddie Guerrero Tribute Show, Stratus participated in an inter-brand Diva battle royal won by SmackDown! Diva Melina Perez. The next week, MNM “kidnapped” Stratus, who, bound and gagged, was challenged by Melina to a title match. They fought at Survivor Series; Stratus defeating Melina after Mickie James interfered. Stratus and James continued to team together in December, 2005, with the angle being James’s obsession with Stratus. On the December 26th Raw, the obsession peaked when James initiated an intimate kiss with Stratus under a sprig of mistletoe. This caused a “surprised” Stratus to flee the locker room.
The angle continued into the next year, when Stratus defeated James in a title match at the January 9, 2005, New Year’s Revolution PPV. However, despite the defeat, James continued to be obsessed with Stratus, which made Trish even more “uncomfortable.” On the March 6th Raw, Stratus told James that she needed space. There was a short reconciliation on the March 18th Saturday Night’s Main Event, with the two teaming together to defeat Candice Michelle and Victoria. However, James turned on Stratus after the match, attacking her. A title match at WrestleMania 22 saw James take the strap from Stratus.
During a rematch at the Backlash PPV, Stratus dislocated her shoulder after taking a bump to the outside of the ring. While rehabilitating she continued to appear on television, working angles. Her return on June 26 began a romantic angle with Carlito after he saved her from a double team attack by Melina and Johnny Nitro. They defeated Melina and Nitro in a mixed tag match on the July 15th Saturday Night’s Main Event. They also briefly feuded with WWE Champion Edge and Lita after the duo interfered in Stratus’ title match against James. The two couples met several times in tag matches, with Edge and Lita emerging victorious each time. In late August, Lita stated on WWE.com that Stratus would retire following the Unforgiven PPV, later confirmed by Stratus. On September 17, 2006, in Toronto, Stratus won the Women’s Championship for a record seventh, and final, time by forcing Lita to submit to a sharpshooter. She then announced her retirement as champion.
On September 30, 2006, Stratus married her high school sweetheart, Ron Fisico in Toronto. Attendees included former WWE Divas Ashley Massaro, Lita, Molly Holly, Ivory, Torrie Wilson, as well as Lillian Garcia, Maria, Mickie James, and Victoria, among others. Shortly after her wedding, she received a call from CBS to be one of five celebrities in a new reality show entitled Armed and Famous. The concept involved a celebrity training and teaming with a Muncie, Indiana police officer. Each team was followed by a camera crew while answering legitimate calls. Though the show was slated for seven episodes beginning January 10, 2007, CBS canceled it after only four episodes were shown. After the cancellation Stratus hosted The Second City’s Next Comedy Legend, a contest similar to America’s Next Top Model. Stratus played the contact between contestants and judges.
In September, 2007, Stratus announced that she would be opening a yoga studio in North Toronto in 2008. The name of the studio would be Stratusphere Yoga. (Trish credited yoga with helping her to recover from ring injuries.) She also announced in February, 2008, that she would be hosting her own travel show, Stratusphere, that will follow her on journeys around the world. The show recently debuted on the Travel + Escape Channel in Canada.
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The next Diva to arrive in WWE was Jazz. Born Carlene Denise Moore on August 27, 1973, in New Orleans, Louisiana, she excelled at sports in high school, earning a basketball scholarship to a local college. However, money was tight and she had to drop out and work to help support her family. While at her place of employment she was approached by a coworker about becoming a professional wrestler. She loved wrestling since her childhood, her favorite wrestler being Junkyard Dog (the man who trained her husband, Rodney “Mack” Begnaud). She took up the advice and enrolled at Rod Price’s wrestling school, where one of the wrestlers training her was none other than her idol, The Junkyard Dog. While still in training, she worked independent cards; her first match was a losing effort against Jacqueline Moore
After six months of training she was approached by ECW. Asked about a ring name, she came up with “Jazz,” a tribute to New Orleans, where she was from. Paul Heyman lengthened it to “Jazzmine,” and she was placed in a group with up and coming stars Jason and Justin Credible (Peter Polaco). In an angle, she was pushed around by Jason and Justin Credible because she was a woman. She announced that she had enough and challenged Jason to a match at the Heatwave PPV, winning after giving Jason a face buster onto a steel chair. She also defeated Angelica (WWE’s Lita), Francine, and Electra during her ECW tenure. But her opportunities were limited, however, as ECW did not have a formal Women’s division and title. She left ECW in 2000, before the company folded the following year.
WWE called, offering her tryouts in dark matches with Ivory before Raw and SmackDown! tapings. Satisfied with what they saw, WWE signed her to a two-year contract. Her debut, with her name now shortened to Jazz, came at November’s Survivor Series, where she was the mystery opponent in a six-pack challenge for the WWE Women’s Championship recently vacated by Chyna. In the match with her were Ivory, Jacqueline, Lita, Molly Holly and Trish Stratus (who won the match and the championship). A feud developed between Jazz and Stratus for the belt. Jazz won the WWE Women’s Title for the first time on the February 4th Raw. Like Jacqueline before her, Jazz’s style helped establish Stratus as a credible worker, and the Women’s division flourished as never before. At WrestleMania 2002 she defeated Trish and Lita to retain her title, but a torn ACL in her left knee necessitated dropping the belt to Stratus in a special rules tag match with Jazz and Steven Richards on one side and Stratus and Bubba Ray Dudley on the other. After Trish won the title, she had Bubba Ray put Jazz through a table, which gave her the injury excuse to have her operation.
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Jazz returned on the January 27, 2003, edition of Raw. Appearing after a match between Women’s Champion Victoria and Trish Stratus, Jazz ran down the ramp, pushed Victoria aside, entered the ring, and began doing battle with Stratus. Afterward she declared that she was back and blamed Stratus for her injury at the hands of Bubba Ray. From there she wrestled in a three-way dance at Wrestlemania with Stratus and Victoria. Stratus defeated Victoria after throwing Jazz over the top rope.
Shortly after WrestleMania, she picked up a manager in the person of Teddy Long. At the Backlash PPV on April 27, she won the WWE Women’s Championship for the second time. The angle was that Stratus came into the match with injured ribs and was advised not to wrestle by doctors, but she was forced into the match by Raw General Manager, Eric Bischoff. Stratus gained the upper hand with the Stratusfaction, but during the pin attempt, Long threw his shoe at Trish’s head, which broke the pin. While Stratus was distracted, Jazz caught her with a rollup to become the new champion. At the Judgment Day PPV on May 18, Jazz successfully defended her title in a four-way match with Jacqueline, Trish Status and Victoria.
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The next challenger was to be Ivory, who defeated Jazz on consecutive episodes of Raw in June. The angle, however, was dropped when Jazz suffered a shoulder injury. The match was changed to a battle royal on the June 30th Raw and was won by newcomer Gail Kim.
Jazz returned to television in January, 2004, rejoining Teddy Long. Jazz accompanied Long charge Rodney Mack (her real life husband) to the ring for his matches. She also wrestled for the title throughout the year but was not successful. On November 4, 2004, Jazz was officially released from her World Wrestling Entertainment contract, along with Gail Kim and Nidia. She was told that the WWE was taking the Women’s Division in another direction. Her release came on the heels of Jacqueline’s release a few months earlier.
Jazz began working on the independent circuit. She appeared at the unofficial ECW reunion show, Hardcore Homecoming on June 10, 2005, but did not wrestle. She also began working for the Philadelphia based Women’s Extreme Wrestling (WEW). In May, 2005, she won the promotion’s World Heavyweight Championship [vacated by an injured T.H.A.I. (formerly Tai “Killer” Weed) due to injury] in a “Fatal Four M’enage Quatro” match, defeating Angel Orsini, Mercedes Martinez, and Simply Luscious. While still reigning as WEW champion, Jazz defeated April Hunter on June 24, 2005, to win the NWA Cyberspace Women’s championship.
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She and husband Rodney Mack (Begnaud) founded Dirtysouth Championship Wrestling (later changed to Downsouth Championship Wrestling due to copyright issues) in late 2005. Jazz won the DCW Louisiana State Title on June 3, 2006.
On May 4, 2006, WWE’s official website announced that Jazz, along with Rodney Mack, would be a part of the new ECW brand. She made her first appearance as part of the new ECW at the WWE vs. ECW Head to Head show on June 7, where she lost to Women’s Champion Mickie James However, Jazz did not continue on ECW television and appeared at only a few house shows before she and her husband were released on January 18, 2007. In May, 2007, Jazz and Rodney Mack were signed by the based Queens of Chaos promotion in France.
Carlene and Rodney recently announced they are expecting their first child.
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Last of this group, but certainly not the least, is Gail Kim. Born February 20, 1976, in Toronto, Canada, she is the only woman ever to have held both the WWE and TNA Women’s titles.
She attended the York Memorial Collegiate Institute in Toronto, where she was twice named “Athlete of the Year.” Upon graduation, she began studying kinesiology at the University of Toronto, but later transferred to Ryerson University and switched her major to nutrition.
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After being awarded her degree, Kim decided to pursue a professional wresting career and entered Ron Hutchinson’s Pro Wrestling school in Toronto. Afterward, she received extra training from Rob Echevarria at his gym. Kim made her wrestling debut in December, 2000, under a mask, billed as La Felina, “Queen of the Cats,” with the Toronto based Apocalypse Wrestling Federation. After a short run she was unmasked by Tracy Brooks (Tracy Brookshaw) in a “mask versus hair” match. In September, 2002, Kim reached the semifinals of the WXW Women’s Elite 8 Tournament in Danbury, Connecticut, defeating Nikki Roxx (Nicole Raczynski) and April Hunter before losing in the final to Tracy Brooks.
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A chance meeting with WWE’s Molly Holly (Nora Greenwald) in 2001 later paid off as Greenwald encouraged her to send videos and tapes to WWE. WWE officials contacted her and signed her to a contract on October 2002. She spent around eight months with the Ohio Valley Wrestling developmental promotion, fine tuning her skills, with the occasional dark match and house show before being called up to make her WWE debut on the June 30th Raw.
Her debut was auspicious: part of a seven-woman battle royal in Buffalo, New York, with the WWE Women’s Championship, then held by the injured Jazz, on the line. Kim eliminated Victoria to win the match and the title. She held the belt for a month, feuding with Victoria and Molly Holly before dropping it to Holly on the June 28th Raw. After the match, Trish Stratus was being double teamed by Holly and Victoria until Kim ran to the ring. Kim helped Stratus up, but then turned a heel by slamming Stratus back to the mat. Kim joined with Molly Holly, defeating Stratus, who partnered with both Ivory and Jacqueline on two separate occasions. On the September 15th Raw, Kim and Holly defeated Stratus in a handicap match. They continued working over Stratus after the match until the returning Lita came in to make the save. At the Unforgiven PPV (September 21), Stratus and Lita defeated Kim and Holly. The four women continued their feud into November, when Kim was sidelined with a broken right collarbone.
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Kim returned to Raw on April 5 and picked up with Holly where they left off. (The collarbone injury would force her to curtail the high-flying maneuvers in favor of a submission style of wrestling, and she was pushed as a submission queen on television.) At the June 13th Bad Blood PPV on June 13, she went against Lita, Stratus, and WWE Women’s Champion Victoria in a Fatal Four-Way match (won by Stratus). Kim received several more title shots and joined fellow heel divas Stratus and Holly in a feud with Stacy Keibler. Her last appearance on the November 1st Raw, where she helped Stratus attack Lita.
WWE released Kim in a surprise move on November 4, 2004, releasing her along with Jazz and Nidia. After her 90-day no-compete clause expired, Kim went back to the independents and made a couple of appearances in Japan.
Kim signed a contract with TNA on September 6, 2005, making her debut on the October 8th Impact!, where she was aligned with Jeff Jarrett and America’s Most Wanted (Chris Harris and James Storm). She helped AMW regain the NWA World Tag Team Championship from The Naturals (Andy Douglas and Chase Stevens) and later that year feuded with Jackie Gayda (Jacquelyn Haas).
TNA decided to follow in the footsteps of WWE and have a women’s division, called “The Knockouts.” On May 15, 2006, Kim wrestled Traci (Tracy Brookshaw) in a dark match for the TNA Knockouts DVD; the first match in TNA in a year. Kim then feuded with Sirelda (Jaime Dauncey), a feud that culminated with a match at the Hard Justice PPV (August 13, 2006), which saw Kim defeat Sirelda.
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Later in 2006, on the October 19th Impact!, Kim worked an angle where she was injured in the ring by Hernandez (Shawn Hernandez) after a loss in an eight man tag match where the The Latin American Xchange (Homicide [Nelson Erazo] and Hernandez) teamed with her duo, America’s Most Wanted. At the Genesis PPV, America’s Most Wanted lost to LAX. After the match, LAX’s Homicide was about to assault her, but she was saved by Petey Williams (Peter Williams). At a follow-up “Title versus Team” match, where the losing team would have to disband, LAX defeated AMW when Storm turned on his partner Harris and hit him with a beer bottle. As Storm left the ring, Kim stayed at Harris’ side. At the Final Resolution PPV, Kim accompanied James Storm for his match with Petey Williams. After Storm won the match, Kim prevented a further assault to Williams when she took Storm’s beer bottle out of his hand and hit him with a low blow. She was then jumped by Jacqueline Moore, who became Storm’s new manager. This led to a mixed tag match at the Against All Odds PPV, that saw Moore pinning Kim after Storm collided into her to win the match. Kim lost to Storm in a rematch billed as a “Double Bullrope” match. At the Lockdown PPV, Kim defeated Moore in a “Cat Fight Steel Cage Match” A street fight rematch on Impact! shortly after was also won by Kim.
She returned at the Slammiversary PPV (June 17, 2007, aiding Eric Young (Jeremy Fritz) in his match with Robert Roode by preventing Ms. Brooks (Tracy Brookshaw), Roode’s second, from interfering. Kim later defeated Brooks in a match on Impact!, then teamed with Eric Young to defeat Ms. Brooks and Robert Roode at the Victory Road PPV.
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At the Bound for Glory PPV (October 14, 2007), she became the first ever TNA Women’s Knockout Champion, winning a 10 Woman “Gauntlet Elimination Match” by defeating Roxxi Laveaux (Nicole Raczynski). At the Genesis PPV one month later she successfully defended her title in a four way match with Laveaux, O.D.B. (Jessica Kresa), and Angel Williams, by pinning O.D.B.
Outside the ring, in December 2007, Kim was listed in top 40 “America’s Most Eligible Bachelorettes” by Forbes
Her next feud was with the debuting Awesome Kong (Kia Stevens). She defended her title by defeating Kong at the Final Resolution PPV (January 6, 2008) in a No Disqualification match. But she lost the title to Kong in a rematch on the January 10th Impact!. Kim was named “2007 TNA Knockout of the Year” on the January 24th Impact!, calling out Kong who came down to the ring and began beating on Kim. Just as Kong placed her in the Awesome Bomb, O.D.B. ran into the ring for the save. At the Lockdown PPV (April 13, 2008), she and O.D.B. defeated Raisha Saeed (Melissa Anderson) and Kong in a tag match. She then defeated Roxxi Laveaux (Nicole Raczynski) in the first ever TNA women’s ladder match at the Sacrifice PPV (May 11, 2008) to become the number one contender for the Women’s Knockout Championship.
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Kim’s next angle saw her team with O.D.B. and Laveaux to defeat The Beautiful People (Angelina Love [Lauren Williams] and Velvet Sky [Jamie Szantyr]) and the debuting Moose (Mickie Lee Knuckles) at the Slammiversary PPV (June 8, 2008) Kim then defeated Angelina Love on July 13 at the Victory Road PPV. On August 10 at the Hard Justice PPV, Kim joined O.D.B. and Taylor Wilde (Shantelle Malawski), to defeat The Beautiful People and Awesome Kong. Gail Kim’s TNA contract expired on August 20, 2008, and as of this writing, it is not known where her career will take her next.
Besides wrestling, Gail Kim has also appeared in movies, playing an assassin in a 2005 film titled Princess, and in 2008 receiving fifth billing once again playing an assassin (named “Nadia”) in Royal Kill, starring Eric Roberts and known as Pat Morita’s last film.
Next: Divas Supporting Cast
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