Lita (wrestler)
| Amy Dumas | |
|---|---|
| File:Lita(amydumas).jpg | |
| Born | April 14, 1975 Fort Lauderdale, Florida |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Miss Congeniality Angelica Lita |
| Billed height | 5 ft 7 in (170 cm) |
| Billed weight | 135 lb (61 kg) |
| Billed from | Sanford, North Carolina |
| Trained by | Dory Funk Kevin Quinn, Ricky Santana, Ace Steel |
| Debut | 1999 |
.jpg){kind=link}
Amy Christine Dumas (born April 14, 1975 in Fayetteville, North Carolina), better known by her ring name, Lita, is an American professional wrestler and valet currently working for World Wrestling Entertainment's RAW brand.
Dumas's high energy, high risk wrestling style in WWE as Lita quickly gained her a large and loyal fan base. She was a member of very popular Team Xtreme with the high flying tag team The Hardy Boyz. A two-time WWE Women's Champion, she has been one of the most popular WWE divas in history. Despite her in-ring history, she gained some measure of infamy for her involvement in a real life love triangle involving long time boyfriend Matt Hardy and fellow WWE Superstar Edge.On the 14th of May Lita was reported seena with John Cena, many supposed this was revenge on Edge.[citation needed]
Early career
Dumas attended many different schools throughout her childhood and adolescent years. While in high school, she took up swimming and practiced judo competitively. She managed to finish high school 6 months prior graduation. Dumas played bass guitar in a band called "3 Card Trick", and she was a roadie for another band for 5 years before getting into wrestling. She also took 3 years of Spanish, which ended up helping her later in life.[citation needed]
Dumas first became interested in the world of wrestling when she saw Rey Mysterio wrestle in WCW's Monday Nitro. She was so intrigued by the storylines that she felt like she wanted to be part of it. She had the idea of going to Mexico to learn how to wrestle and learn more about the sport. With some money saved, she made her way to Mexico and went to shows where she ended up meeting or watching future superstars such as Tajiri, Val Venis, Essa Rios, Super Crazy, and Chris Jericho perform. Amy worked for promotions like MCW, EMLL, and NWA during her stay in Mexico, and was working for NWA Mid-Atlantic when she first met The Hardy Boyz. Lita also went to Peru to wrestle for ten days with an indy promotion. During her early days in wrestling, she also managed El Dandy.[citation needed]
In the spring of 1999, Amy was approached by Paul Heyman and was offered a deal with ECW. Dumas debuted in ECW as a valet for Danny Doring and Amish Roadkill under the name Miss Congeniality. She later became known as Angelica and on July 18, 1999, she got her first pay-per-view exposure at Heat Wave. ECW star Rob Van Dam introduced Dumas to Dory Funk, who invited her to his training camp. At the camp, she trained with 20 men. At her request, Funk treated her no different from the others. Dumas quickly gained respect from the other wrestlers at the camp and graduated from The Funking Conservatory in August 1999. While Dumas went back to ECW, Funk and his wife began compiling old videos they had taken of her and sent them to the WWF.
World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment
When she arrived at the WWF Headquarters in late 1999, Dumas was told she was going to team up with luchador Essa Rios, as his valet Lita. Her gimmick was to mimic each of Essa's moves right after he had performed them on his opponents. She started doing photo shoots with Essa and her character debuted in February 2000.
As the months went by, her popularity became noticeable. After Rios turned against her after he had been mired in a slump, she was saved by and placed with The Hardy Boyz to become Team Xtreme (the team would be unformally known as the 3 Xtreme). Her popularity skyrocketed along with Matt and Jeff during the WWF Attitude Era. She developed a new, more "alternative" image with her thong usually pulled up over her pants., as well as very sexy mannerisms.
The feud with The Hardy Boyz and T&A mixed fellow newcomer Trish Stratus and Lita in this rivalry. After an intense feud, at the July PPV Fully Loaded, T&A and Trish teamed up to take on The Hardy Boyz and Lita in a 1st ever Six-Person Intergender match in which the men were alowed to wrestle the women. Lita won the match by pinning Trish after a Moonsault. The following week, Lita teamed up with the The Rock to defeat Triple H and Trish Stratus in the RAW main event.
Women's Division
On August 21, 2000, in the main event on RAW, Lita won the WWE Women's Championship for the first time by defeating Stephanie McMahon. Despite interference by McMahon's husband Triple H and Kurt Angle, Lita overcame the odds thanks in part to special guest referee The Rock.
As Women's Champion, Lita constantly defended the title. From triple threats, Bra and Panties to Hardcore matches, she had an undefeated run in the women's division over wrestlers such as Ivory, Trish Stratus, Jacqueline, and Terri Runnels. She finally lost the title to Ivory on November 2, 2000, in a Fatal-4-Away match with Trish and Jacqueline when Edge and Christian ran in to help Ivory win. Lita began feuding with Ivory for the first time and was granted two PPV opportunities in attempt to recapture the Women's Title, at Survivor Series 2000 and also Rebellion 2000 the following month, Lita was unsuccesful in regaining the gold thanks to repeated interference from Ivory's mentor Steven Richards.
In May 2001 at Judgment Day, Lita challenged Women's Champion Chyna for the title. Chyna won with a powerbomb. However, she became the diva that survived the longest against Chyna. This was also a privilege for Lita as she was the last WWE star to be in the ring with Chyna due to Chyna's release the following day.
Right after King of the Ring, WCW was getting ready to invade WWF. WCW's main ladies were Torrie Wilson and Stacy Keibler. WWF's main ladies now were Lita and Trish Stratus with Chyna leaving for undisclosed reasons. Torrie and Stacy were scheduled to face Trish and Lita in the first ever Tag Team Bra and Panties match. Lita and Trish were successful in the match when Lita lastly stripped Stacy of her pants following a Moonsault.
By the end of the year, Lita was in the middle of a feud between both The Hardy Boyz, who weren't getting along. Matt and Jeff's rivalry led to a match at the December pay-per-view, Vengeance with Lita being the special referee. Jeff won the match, but Lita didn't notice that when she was counting, Matt's leg touched the rope. This led to a Handicap match with Jeff and Lita vs. Matt the night after on RAW. Lita performed the Litacanrana on Matt, but eventually he used her pants in a roll up for the victory. In a secretley unique manner, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon decided to draw Team Extreme from WWE Television for a short period, due to WWE creative team stuck for future plans for them. This was a criticized desicion by WWE and some feared for the future and careers of the threesome.
In the Royal Rumble and No Way Out, fans saw the reunited team of Jeff, Matt, and Lita back together. The Hardyz now saw themselves in a feud with The Dudleys and Stacy Keibler. Now that the Women's Title was in Jazz's hands, Lita was included in the storyline with Trish Stratus as well. At the WrestleMania X8, Lita faced Trish Stratus and Jazz for the Women's Championship. The three women put on one of the greatest women's wrestlemania matches in history with Lita at one point attempting a Moonsault on both Trish and Jazz. Lita however was unsuccessful as Jazz eventually won the match, pinning Lita after a devastating Fisherman's Brainbuster Superplex from the second rope.
Injury and return
While filming a guest appearance on the Fox TV series Dark Angel in May, she suffered a severe neck injury that required surgery. This was a major blow for the Women's Division as Lita was a vital part, plus the fact that Lita would miss severe training from Fit Finlay in order to boost the women's division into something that was respected. She returned as a color comentator on WWE Sunday Night Heat in October of that year which kept her from fading away in the minds of fans.
By April 2003, Lita was scheduled to get back in the ring to start training for her anticipating return. In the storylines, she was fired as a Sunday Night Heat commentator because she was sexually harassed by Eric Bischoff.
Finally after around a year and 5 months of ring absence, Lita returned to RAW on September 15, saving Trish Stratus from Molly Holly and Gail Kim after being defeated in a Handicap match. Lita planted Molly with a devastating Leg Swinging DDT, before taking Gail Kim clean out with a wicked Powerbomb. This showed that Lita was back in true form and also was focused on regearing for a technical wrestling style, rather than her traditional high flying which she was severely criticized for. Lita's return prompted a match to be made for Unforgiven the following week pitting Lita and Trish against Molly and Gail. Lita was succesfull in the match, pinning Molly after a Reverse Twist Of Fate, followed by a dangerous looking Moonsault, showing some ring rust.
Lita would later wrestle Molly for her title at Survivor Series, but would lose to her following an illegal win by Molly. On the RAW Roulette edition of RAW in November, Lita faced Victoria in the show's first ever Women's steel cage match which was won by Victoria after the interference by Matt Hardy. She and Trish Stratus also had a male versus female feud with Chris Jericho and Christian with whom they had two "Battle of the Sexes" matches, both of which were won by the men. Jericho also brought Matt Hardy to RAW to guest star on the Highlight Reel. Matt dumped her after it appeared he would propose, finishing his heel turn and leaving Lita on her own as a competitor.
Second Women's Championship
2004 saw several unsuccessful attempts for Lita to regain the Women's Championship. Later, she would be relentlessly pursued by an unwanted suitor in Kane. This storyline saw Matt Hardy turning face to protect her from Kane's advances. The storyline also saw Lita become pregnant with Kane's child and after Matt Hardy's loss to Kane at the 2004 SummerSlam event, she was forced to marry Kane as well. Lita's storyline pregnancy ended in a miscarriage after newcomer Gene Snitsky hit Kane with a chair, causing Kane to fall on the "pregnant" Lita.
The fallout from these events caused the rivalry between Trish and Lita to be renewed, with Trish making remarks about Lita losing her baby, which was revealed to have been a boy. At the same time, Lita also feuded with a psychotic Gene Snitsky, who would also torment Lita about the loss of her child. A frustrated and angry Lita got herself disqualified in a match against Trish Stratus for the Women's Championship, after brutally attacking Stratus with a chair. The match gave Lita a record of zero wins and four losses in Women's Title matches at Survivor Series. Lita finally regained the championship on the December 4 edition of RAW, defeating Trish Stratus in a main event match. This marked her second women's title win and the second time she had won the title in a RAW main event.
At New Year's Revolution, while performing a Lou Thesz Press off the ring apron, Lita suffered a legitimately torn ACL in her left knee. She would lose the title to an opportunistic Trish Stratus, who capitalized on the injury to gain the victory.
Love triangle
Lita had been a face from May 2000 (when Essa Rios left her) until May 16, 2005, when she turned heel for the first time, helping Edge defeat her onscreen husband, Kane and thereby winning the WWE RAW Gold Rush Tournament. She later divorced Kane and started a relationship with Edge.
The turn was born out of a real life series of events in which boyfriend Matt Hardy claimed that Dumas had cheated on him with his real life friend Adam Copeland, also known as "Edge." As fans found out the situation from statements made by Hardy on his website, there came to be much backlash against Lita and support for Hardy. This reaction only became stronger after Hardy's release from WWE.
Despite all the negative attention, Lita managed to continue to feud as a face with Trish Stratus and mentored the "2004 RAW Diva Search" winner Christy Hemme for her match against Stratus at WrestleMania 21. Fan reaction climaxed with an edition of RAW from Madison Square Garden, where fans audibly chanted "You screwed Matt" during an interview segment involving Lita and Trish Stratus. Lita continued to receive jeers from crowds and the incident was alluded to by Paul Heyman during ECW One Night Stand 2005.
After her heel turn, Lita and Edge continued to feud with former husband Kane. One segment had the two being involved a marriage ceremony that teased a return by Matt Hardy, but this wedding was actually interrupted by Kane. Matt made a real return in July 2005 and began feuding with Edge and Lita. However, on October 3, 2005, Matt Hardy was forced off of RAW when Edge defeated him in a "Money in the Bank/Loser Leaves RAW" Ladder Match. Lita was the determining factor when she held back Hardy so he couldn't escape the ropes. On the October 24 edition of RAW, she made fun of Rey Mysterio, one of her influences in becoming a wrestler and one of Edge's possible opponents for Taboo Tuesday and was hit with Mysterio's finishing manuever, the 619.
Lita had a brief stare down with her long-time enemy, Trish Stratus, at New Year's Revolution 2006. Lita is always considered a top contender for Stratus's Women's Championship, also when Lita went out on injury, she never got her rematch title shot. However, as in many cases this has been forgotten by WWE. Lita now has no chance of using her rematch clause as, at WrestleMania 22, Mickie James won the Women's Championship from Trish Stratus, therefore making Lita's clause void.
Later, at New Year's Revolution, Lita celebrated with Edge after he won the WWE Championship and in an interview afterwards, Edge and Lita promised that they would have sex in the ring during the next episode of RAW.
On the January 9 edition of RAW, Edge and Lita stripped down and embraced for a brief moment, Lita's left breast was briefly exposed by accident (and uncensored on Sky Sports in the UK.) After this, Edge's rival Ric Flair interrupted and attempted to attack Edge, but ended up receiving a one-man Con-Chair-To. The show ended with Lita (who hastily redressed) receiving the F-U from John Cena who came to Flair's aid.
Return to the Ring
Lita made her return to the ring at a house show at Louisville on January 20, 2006. The match was Lita and Victoria vs. Trish Stratus and Mickie James and ended up with Lita getting the schoolgirl pin on Stratus. The night after Edge lost the WWE title to Cena at the 2006 Royal Rumble, Lita gave Edge a disqualification victory by "accidentally" hitting Edge with the title belt. On "RAW" the following week, Lita made her televised ring return when she competed in a mixed tag match with Edge against the team of Maria Kanellis and John Cena. They lost as Maria pinned Lita for the win. On March 6, she made her singles return on RAW, where she defeated Maria, with a Lita DDT. In the following weeks, Lita supported Edge as he began a feud with Mick Foley. On an edition of RAW, Lita received the Mandible Claw from Mick Foley while Edge stood outside the ring and didn't attempt to make the save. At Wrestlemania 22, Lita accompanied Edge to the ring for his Hardcore Match against Mick Foley. Lita got involved in the match many times, and ended up receiving Mr Socko with barbed wire from Foley. As Foley was on the ring apron Lita set the table on fire and Edge speared Foley into the flaming table for the win.
Hardcore Alliance
It was however a different story, when Mick Foley challenged Edge to a rematch. It was then turned into a Triple Threat match with ECW's Tommy Dreamer involved. Instead of double teaming Edge, as the fans had predicted, Foley, Edge and Lita decimated Dreamer and a bizarre alliance between the former enemies was formed.
Wrestling Facts
Finishing and signature moves
- Moonsault
- Lita DDT
- Twist of Fate
- Xtreme Twist of Fate (Reverse Twist of Fate)
- Litacarana (Diving hurricarana)
- Lita Bomb (Powerbomb)
- Headscissors takedown
- Rear naked choke with body scissors
- Russian leg sweep
- Snap suplex
- Superplex
- Spinning out powerbomb
- Monkey flip
- Xtreme DDT (Triple DDT with the Hardy Boyz) the three of them each perform a DDT against two opponents simultaneously.
Wrestlers managed by Lita
Personal life
Dumas is a known animal lover. She owned four ducks on two different occasions in her adolescent years. As a young adult she would volunteer her time to animal shelters, and during her fifteen month neck injury she founded her animal charity A.D.O.R.E, and donated time and money to animal shelters in North Carolina. Amy has had three dogs: Cody, who died from cancer in 2003, Mason (also deceased - car accident), and Lucas (currently living with Matt Hardy following their separation). In addition, she is currently fostering a dog named Louie.
For six years, she had had a real-life relationship with Matt Hardy, until he broke up with her in late February 2005. The split occurred because Lita had an affair with fellow married WWE superstar Edge. She is now together with Edge in storylines. It is unknown to the public at this time whether they are involved with each other outside of the WWE or not.
Dumas has a wide variety of tattoos. She has a very visible tattoo of the face of a green gargoyle on her upper right biceps and a tattoo marked "Punk" inside her lower lip. A Russian word meaning "Rebel" is tatooed on her lower neck in Cyrillic letters.
Other media
Dumas has written an autobiography with Michael Krugman titled Lita: A Less Traveled R.O.A.D. -The Reality of Amy Dumas (ISBN 0743473981) published in 2003. The book talks about Dumas's family, childhood years, wrestling in ECW and WWE, Matt Hardy, her neck surgery and recovery and more. This book also earned a spot on The New York Times Bestseller list.
A WWE video about her, Lita: It Just Feels Right was released in 2001 on DVD and VHS. The video features current and former WWE superstars talking about Lita and how far she has come since her days in ECW. Superstars such as Matt and Jeff Hardy, Trish Stratus, and announcer Jim Ross are seen at various points in the video. DVD Extras include ten matches, including Bra and Panties and Hardcore matches as well as the six-wrestler intergender match at Fully Loaded.
Dumas has also recorded a song called "When I Get You Alone" for the WWE Originals album.
Lita's theme song is lovefurypassionenergy by Boy Hits Car. The song was recorded and put on the WWF Forceable Entry album.
Aside from winning the Women's Championship, Lita is one of the few women to wrestle in a WWE Main Event; winning both her women's titles during two of these main events. In total, Lita has wrestled in the main event of WWE's top shows on 7 different occasions:
- RAW - July 2000- Lita & The Rock vs Trish Stratus & Triple H
- SmackDown! - August 2000- Lita & Dudley Boyz vs Stephanie McMahon, Triple H, & Kurt Angle
- RAW - August 2000- Lita vs Stephanie McMahon
- SmackDown! - August 2000- Lita & The Rock vs Kurt Angle & Stephanie McMahon
- RAW - May 2001- Lita & The Hardy Boyz vs Triple H, Stone Cold & Stephanie McMahon
- RAW - December 2004- Lita vs Trish Stratus
- RAW - February 2006- Lita & Edge vs Maria & John Cena
Trivia
- She was one of the first females in WWF/WWE to have used high risk manuvers as her finishing moves.
- She has wrestled in Peru with an indy promotion for 10 days.
- She remains the only WWE Diva to ever be physically involved in a TLC Match.
- She, along with Victoria remains to be the only WWE Divas to be in a cage match.
- She, along with Trish Stratus remains to be the only WWE Divas to be in a Battle of the Sexes match, against Chris Jericho & Christian.
- She is the WWE Diva who survived the longest against Chyna.
- She appeared in Rolling Stone.
- Her natural hair color is brown.
- She has a younger brother named Billy.
- When she broke her neck, she did not immediately realize it and walked around unknowingly for 7 days.
- She is the only WWE diva to be busted open
- She is of French , Irish , Mexican ,and Puerto Rican descent
External links
