lita

Early career

Dumas attended many different schools throughout her childhood and adolescent years, and managed to finish high school six months prior to graduation. She had always been an excellent swimmer and, as an early adult, she practiced judo competitively. Dumas played bass guitar in a band called 3 Card Trick and was a roadie for another band, 7 Seconds, for five years before becoming a wrestler. She also studied Spanish for three years.

Dumas first became interested in wrestling after watching Mexican luchador Rey Misterio, Jr. wrestle on an episode of World Championship Wrestling's WCW Monday Nitro alongside her then-boyfriend, who was an avid wrestling fan. She traveled to Mexico to learn how to wrestle and learn more about the sport, encountering an eclectic assortment of wrestlers such as Yoshihiro Tajiri, Val Venis, Essa Rios, Super Crazy and Chris Jericho. During her stay in Mexico, Dumas trained under numerous wrestlers, including Kevin Quinn, Miguel Perez and Ricky Santana. Following the completion of her training, Dumas made several appearances with the Empresa Mexicana de la Lucha Libre, and spent ten days working for a promotion in Peru. ^[1]

Upon returning to the United States, Dumas began working as a valet on the independent circuit under the ring name Angelica, at one point managing Christopher Daniels. In the spring of 1999, she was approached by Paul Heyman, the owner and booker of Extreme Championship Wrestling, then the third largest promotion in the United States. Dumas debuted in ECW as Miss Congeniality, the on-screen girlfriend of Danny Doring. Dumas later began using the name Angelica once again, and made her pay-per-view debut on July 18, 1999 at Heat Wave 1999.

Dumas was introduced to veteran wrestler Dory Funk, Jr. by ECW wrestler Rob Van Dam, and Funk invited her to attend his wrestling school, the Funkin' Conservatory. Dumas attended the school alongside 23 men, requesting that Funk treat her no differently from any other trainee. She graduated from the school in August 1999 and returned to ECW. In the meanwhile, Funk and his wife compiled video footage of Dumas and sent it to the World Wrestling Federation. The Federation was sufficiently impressed, and on November 1, 1999, Dumas was signed to a WWF developmental deal. She made her final appearance with ECW on October 23, 1999. ^[2]

World Wrestling Federation

1999-2000

After honing her skills at the Memphis Championship Wrestling developmental territory, Dumas was given the ring name Lita and paired with luchador Essa Rios. Lita and Rios made their WWF debut on the February 13, 2000 episode of Heat, with Rios defeating Gillberg to win the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship. Lita assisted Rios in his matches by interfering on his behalf, often mimicking his moves immediately after he had performed them on an opponent. The duo engaged in a brief feud with Eddie Guerrero and Chyna that saw Lita strip Chyna of the dress she wore to Guerrero's prom. ^[3]

Tension arose between Rios and Lita in May 2000 after Lita found Rios cavorting with The Godfather and his hos, and Rios eventually turned on her after she inadvertently cost him a match. Lita was saved from a beating at the hands of Rios by the Hardy Boyz (Matt and Jeff) and the trio formed a stable known as Team Xtreme. As a member of Team Xtreme, Lita developed a more "alternative" image, frequently wearing her pants low on her hips and exposing her thong.

In June 2000, Team Xtreme began a feud with T and A, with Lita engaging in a rivalry with the manager of T and A, Trish Stratus. The feud ended shortly after Fully Loaded 2000, where Lita pinned Stratus in a six person intergender tag team match. Immediately following her feud with Stratus, Lita began feuding with WWF Women's Champion Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley. In the main event of the August 21, 2000 episode of RAW is WAR, Lita defeated McMahon-Helmsley to win the Women's Championship.

Lita held the Women's Championship for 73 days, defeating challengers such as Ivory and Trish Stratus. On the October 9, 2000 episode of RAW is WAR, Lita retained her title in a hardcore match with Jacqueline. In the course of her reign, Lita became embroiled in the feud between the Hardy Boyz and Edge and Christian. In retaliation for her frequent interference in their matches, Edge and Christian cost Lita the Women's Championship, helping Ivory defeat her in a four way match on the November 2, 2000 episode of SmackDown!. Lita attempted to regain the title on several occasions, wrestling Ivory at Survivor Series 2000 and Rebellion 2000, but was thwarted on each occasion by Steven Richards, the mentor of Ivory. She spent the remainder of the year in a feud with would-be suitor Dean Malenko, on one occasion unsuccessfully challenging him for the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship.

2001-2002

Lita continued to feud with Dean Malenko in early 2001, and on the February 19, 2001 episode of RAW is WAR, she defeated him in a singles bout with the assistance of Matt Hardy. Following the match, Hardy kissed Lita, beginning their on-screen relationship. The couple wrestled in several intergender tag team matches throughout the early part of the year.

Following a brief feud between Team Xtreme and The Two-Man Power Trip in April 2001, Lita began pursuing the WWF Women's Championship once again. She challenged Women's Champion Chyna at Judgment Day 2001 on May 20, 2001, but was defeated. In the same month, Eddie Guerrero began teaming with the Hardy Boyz. A storyline involving Guerrero and Lita was cut short in June 2001 when Guerrero was sent to drug rehabilitation.

In July 2001, Lita and Trish Stratus joined forces to combat Stacy Keibler and Torrie Wilson, members of the Alliance of Extreme Championship Wrestling and World Championship Wrestling wrestlers who were invading the WWF. At Invasion on July 22, 2001, Lita and Stratus defeated Keibler and Wilson in a tag team bra and panties match. Throughout the "Invasion", Lita, Stratus and Jacqueline feuded with Alliance members Keibler, Wilson, Ivory and Mighty Molly. The Invasion storyline ended on November 18, 2001 at the 2001 Survivor Series, where Lita took part in a six pack challenge for the WWF Women's Championship, which had been vacated by Chyna earlier that year. The match was won by Stratus.

In late 2001, the Hardy Boyz began feuding with one another. Lita refereed a match between them at Vengeance 2001 on December 9, 2001 that was won by Jeff, with Lita failing to notice that Matt had placed his leg on the rope during Jeff's successful pin attempt. On the following episode of RAW, Matt defeated Lita and Jeff in a handicap match, shortly after informing Lita that both their relationship and the Hardy Boyz were finished.

Lita began accompanying Jeff Hardy to the ring for his matches, with the two implicitly involved in an on-screen relationship. On the December 17, 2001 episode of RAW, both Jeff and Lita were sidelined with (kayfabe) injuries following a violent title match between Jeff and WWF Hardcore Champion The Undertaker. The injuring of both his brother and ex-girlfriend led to a reconciliation between the members of Team Xtreme, and on the December 20, 2001 episode of SmackDown!, Matt Hardy faced The Undertaker, but was also injured. All three members of Team Xtreme were removed from WWF television for several weeks, with journalist Dave Meltzer attributing the removal to a lack of storylines for the trio. Head of Talent Relations Jim Ross stated in an interview that the removal of Team Xtreme from television was to enable them to "recharge their batteries". ^[4]

The Hardy Boyz competed in the 2002 Royal Rumble, and, along with Lita, returned to WWF television in February 2002. Lita resumed her pursuit of the WWF Women's Championship in March 2002, and made her in-ring WrestleMania debut at WrestleMania X8 on March 17, 2002, facing Stratus and WWF Women's Champion Jazz in a three way title match that saw Jazz retain her title by pinning Lita.

On April 6, 2002, Lita suffered what appeared to be a stinger while filming a fight scene for a role in the season finale of the television program Dark Angel. After she underwent a CAT scan, it was revealed that Lita had suffered three cracks in her C5 and C6 vertebrae, necessitating surgery. On April 30, 2002, Lita underwent neck surgery under Dr. Lloyd Youngblood in San Antonio, Texas, with a section of her hip used to fuse her C5 and C6 vertebrae together. Lita spent the subsequent year rehabilitating, making appearances on Sunday Night Heat as a color commentator from October 2002. ^{[5], [6]}

World Wrestling Entertainment

2003-2004

Lita appeared on the April 21, 2003 episode of RAW, where she was ostensibly fired from her position as Sunday Night Heat color commentator by General Manager Eric Bischoff after she rejected his advances and his request that she follow in the footsteps of Torrie Wilson and pose for Playboy. She returned to the ring after an absence of seventeen months on the September 15, 2003 episode of RAW, saving Trish Stratus from a beating at the hands of Molly Holly and Gail Kim (Co-General Manager "Stone Cold" Steve Austin later explained to Eric Bischoff that he had rehired Lita). Lita and Stratus went on to defeat Holly and Kim in a tag team match on September 21, 2003 at Unforgiven 2003. Lita feuded with Holly into late 2003, unsuccessfully challenging her for the Women's Championship on November 11, 2003 at the 2003 Survivor Series.

On the November 17, 2003 episode of RAW, Lita and Matt Hardy were reunited after Hardy was drafted from SmackDown! to RAW. After Hardy appeared to be about to propose to Lita, Holly interrupted, challenging Lita and Hardy to face her and Bischoff in an intergender tag team match later that evening (with Bischoff later stipulating that Lita would earn a title shot if she won, but would be fired if she lost). Hardy and Lita lost the match after Hardy refused to tag in, with Hardy berating Lita for "selfishly" returning to RAW instead of SmackDown!, claiming that this showed that she cared more about the Women's Championship than about him. Lita was rehired later that evening when Christian informed her that he had persuaded Bischoff to reinstate her. One week later, Lita lost to Victoria in the first ever female versus female steel cage match to be held on RAW.

As Lita and Christian appeared to be developing a relationship, so to did Stratus and Chris Jericho. However, on the December 1, 2003 episode of RAW, it was revealed that Christian and Jericho had bet one another as to who could seduce Lita and Stratus respectively first. The revelation led to a feud between Lita and Stratus and Christian and Jericho, with the males triumphing in "Battle of the Sexes" matches at both Armageddon 2003 on December 14, 2003 and on the subsequent episode of RAW.

Lita competed in the women's division throughout early 2004, winning a battle royal to become number one contender to the Women's Championship on the April 5, 2004 episode of RAW. Victoria defeated Lita to retain the Women's Championship at Backlash 2004 on April 18, 2004. Lita was reunited with Matt Hardy on the April 19, 2004 episode of RAW when Hardy attacked Kane in an attempt to prevent him from harming Lita. In the following weeks, Kane began repeatedly assaulting Hardy and attempting to seduce Lita, even persuading Eric Bischoff to give her a title shot at Bad Blood 2004 on June 13, 2004.

On the June 14, 2004 episode of RAW, Lita revealed that she was pregnant. One week later, it once again appeared that Hardy would propose to Lita. However, the proposal was interrupted by Kane, who claimed that he, not Hardy, was the father of Lita's child, as Lita had slept with Kane to persuade him to stop attacking Hardy. Two months later, it was revealed that Kane was in fact the father. Hardy and Kane feuded for several months, culminating in a "'Till Death do Us Part" match on August 15, 2004 at SummerSlam 2004, with the stipulation that Lita would be obliged to marry Kane should Hardy lose. Kane won the match, leading to he and a reluctant Lita marrying one another on the August 23, 2004 episode of RAW. Despite being married to Kane, Lita harried him during his matches, constantly aiding his opponents. On the September 13, 2004 episode of RAW, Lita miscarried after Gene Snitsky struck Kane with a chair, resulting in him falling on Lita. The miscarriage led to Lita and Kane joining forces in order to take revenge upon Snitsky.

With the pregnancy angle over, Lita returned to the women's division in November 2004. She challenged Trish Stratus for the Women's Championship on several occasions, finally defeating her to begin her second reign as champion in the main event of the December 6, 2004 episode of RAW.

2005-2006

Lita's second reign as Women's Champion ended on January 9, 2005 at New Year's Revolution 2005, where she was defeated by Trish Stratus. In the course of the match, Lita suffered a legitimate injury, tearing her left anterior cruciate ligament after executing a Lou Thesz Press off of the ring apron. She underwent surgery under Dr. James Andrews on January 20, 2005. ^[7]

Lita returned to WWE television in March 2005, mentoring Christy Hemme in preparation for her title match with Stratus at WrestleMania 21. Despite Lita's coaching, Hemme was squashed by Stratus. Lita continued to feud with Stratus by proxy over the following weeks, with Kane defeating Stratus's champion, Viscera, at Backlash 2005 on May 1, 2005. The relationship between Lita and Kane lasted until the May 16, 2005 episode of RAW, when Lita turned heel by betraying Kane, helping his opponent, Edge, defeat him in the finals of the WWE RAW Gold Rush Tournament. On the May 30, 2005 episode of RAW, Lita announced that she had filed for divorce, flushing her wedding ring down a toilet. She attempted to marry Edge on the June 20, 2005 episode of RAW, but the marriage ceremony was interrupted by a vengeful Kane, who emerged from beneath the ring.

The alignment of Lita with Edge had resulted from an off-screen series of events that saw Lita cheat on Matt Hardy, in reality her boyfriend of five years, with Edge, until then a close friend of Hardy's. Shortly after the event, Hardy was released from WWE. Knowledge of the situation was rapidly dispersed among fans, and audiences at WWE events began chanting for Matt Hardy. The situation was eventually acknowledged by WWE, and in July 2005 Hardy was rehired by WWE. On the August 1, 2005 episode of RAW, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon acknowledged that Hardy had been rehired, and announced that Hardy and Edge would face one another at SummerSlam 2005. Edge went on to defeat Hardy at SummerSlam, and the two men feuded for several months. The feud ended on the October 3, 2005 episode of RAW, when Edge, with the assistance of Lita, defeated Hardy in a ladder match. As a stipulation of the match, Hardy was obliged to leave RAW should he be defeated. Throughout the remainder of 2005, Lita continued to act as Edge's valet.

After Edge defeated John Cena to win the WWE Championship on January 8, 2006 at New Year's Revolution 2006, he announced that he and Lita would celebrate by having sex in the middle of the ring on the January 9, 2006 episode of RAW. The event saw Lita and Edge strip to their underwear before retreating beneath the covers of a bed that had been erected in the ring. The event was interrupted by Ric Flair, leading to Edge leaving the bed to fight him. Lita, left alone, hastily redressed as John Cena entered the ring and delivered an F-U to her.

Lita returned to the ring in a tag team bout on January 20, 2006 at a house show, teaming with Victoria against Trish Stratus and Mickie James, and made her televised in-ring return on the February 6, 2006 episode of RAW, teaming with Edge in a loss to Cena and Maria. She continued to manage Edge into mid-2006, frequently interfering on his behalf during his feud with Mick Foley. In May 2006, Foley joined forces with Edge and Lita, with the trio defeating Foley's ECW rivals Terry Funk, Tommy Dreamer and Beulah McGillicutty in an impromptu six person tag team match at ECW One Night Stand 2006.

On the July 3, 2006 episode of RAW, Lita helped Edge defeat John Cena and Rob Van Dam in a triple threat match to regain the WWE Championship. On the August 14, 2006 episode of RAW, she defeated Mickie James to win her third Women's Championship with the help of Edge. Lita and Edge went on to feud with Trish Stratus and Carlito, culminating in a bout between Lita and Stratus at Unforgiven 2006 in which Stratus defeated Lita to win the Women's Championship in what was Stratus's last WWE match.

Finishing and signature moves

• DDT (Leg Swing Snap DDT)
• Litasault
• Twist of Fate (2000-2003)
• Lita Bomb (Powerbomb)
• Litacanrana (Diving hurricanrana)
• Reverse Twist of Fate
• Frankensteiner (Hurricanrana)
• Headscissors Takedown
• One-legged monkey flip
• Rear naked choke with body scissors
• Russian legsweep into punches or floatover pin
• Snap suplex
• Superplex

Wrestlers Managed by Lita

• El Dandy
• Danny Doring
• Amish Roadkill
• Essa Rios
• Matt Hardy
• Jeff Hardy
• Christy Hemme
• Kane
• Edge
• Mick Foley

Championships and accomplishments

Personal life

For over five years, Dumas was in a relationship with Matt Hardy. The relationship ended in late February 2005 after Hardy discovered that Dumas had cheated on him with WWE wrestler Adam "Edge" Copeland, until then a close friend of Hardy's. ^[8]

Dumas is a known animal lover. In her adolescent years, she owned four ducks on two separate occasions. As a young adult, she would volunteer at animal shelters, and in 2003 she founded the animal charity Amy Dumas Operation Rescue and Education (A.D.O.R.E.). She has had three dogs: Cody, who died from cancer in 2003, Mason, who was killed in a car accident, and Lucas, who was taken by Matt Hardy following their separation. Dumas is currently fostering a dog named MacKenzie.

Dumas's hair is naturally brunette, although she has dyed it red throughout her WWF/E career. Dumas worked at a club to earn her money for her wrestling taining, she danced under the name Misty. She has a wide variety of tattoos, including the face of a green gargoyle on her upper right bicep, the word "Punk" on the inside of her lower lip, and a Russian word in Cyrillic letters translating to "Iconoclast" on her lower neck.

Dumas had breast augmentation surgery in late 1999. ^[9]

Dumas is the lead singer of "The Luchagors", a punk rock band. ^[10]

She speaks fluent Spanish, as displayed during her time with Essa Rios.

Media

Lita was featured in the 2001 video and DVD release Lita: It Just Feels Right. The video featured discussions of Lita's career to that point and ten of her matches.

Lita's autobiography, written with Michael Krugman, was titled Lita: A Less Traveled R.O.A.D. - The Reality of Amy Dumas and was published in 2003. The book, which was featured on the New York Times bestsellers list, covered topics such as her family, childhood years, wrestling career, relationship with Matt Hardy and her neck surgery and subsequent rehabilitation.

In the WWF, Lita originally used Essa Rios's entrance music when approaching the ring. When she parted ways with Essa, and before joining the Hardy Boyz, Lita used "Electron", a production theme that would later be used by Terri Runnels. She used this theme, along with that of the Hardy Boyz, until 2001, when she was given her own entrance music. The song, titled "It Just Feels Right", was composed by Jim Johnston and was featured on the 2001 CD release WWF The Music, Vol. 5. Lita was later given a new piece of entrance music based on Johnston's composition. The song, titled "lovefurypassionenergy", was performed by Boy Hits Car and was featured on the 2002 CD release WWF Forceable Entry. In addition, Lita recorded a song titled "When I Get You Alone" that appeared on the WWE Originals album.

Filmography

• Fear Factor (2002)
• The Weakest Link (2002) in episode "WWF Superstars Edition"
• Dark Angel (2003) in episode "Freak Nation" as "Thula"
• Headbangers Ball (2004)

References

1. ^ Amy Dumas at Gerweck.net
2. ^ Amy Dumas at Canoe.ca
3. ^ Lita at OWOW.com
4. ^ Lita at OWOW.com
5. ^ Lita makes up for lost time (article at Canoe.ca)
6. ^ An interview with Lita, conducted by Phil Speer (May 15, 2002)
7. ^ Lita at OWOW.com
8. ^ Lita at OWOW.com
9. ^ "ECW Lita Angle", a commentary by Lance Storm
10. ^ Wrestling events, shows

External links

• AdoreYourPets.org (charity website)
• WWE profile
• Lita at the Internet Movie Database