Lita
Real Name
Amy Christine Dumas
Birthday
April 14, 1975
Hometown
Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
Height
5'7"
Weight
135 lbs
Marital Status
Once dated Matt Hardy
Once dated Adam Copeland
Once dated C.M. Punk
Trained by
Kevin Quinn
Miguel Perez
Ricky Santana
The Hardy Boyz
Shannon Moore
Joey Abs
Dory Funk Jr.
Essa Rios
Leilani Kai
Fit Finlay
Debut
1999
Previous Names
Lita
Angelica (Indys and ECW)
Miss Congeniality (ECW)
Finishing Move(s)
Moonsault
Favorite Move(s)
Litacanrana
Head Scissor
Takeover
Snap Suplex
Twist of Fate
Reverse of Fate
Monkey Flip
DDT
Notable Feuds
Essa Rios
Stephanie McMahon
Dean Malenko
Edge & Christian
Trish Stratus
Chyna
Jazz
Molly Holly
Gail Kim
Matt Hardy
Christian
Kane
Ric Flair
John Cena
Mick Foley
Mickie James
Wrestlers who Lita has Valet/Managed:
Christopher Daniels
Joey Matthews
Danny Doring
Roadkill
Essa Rios
The Hardy Boyz
Kane
Edge
Title History
WWF Women’s title defeating Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley (August 21, 2000);
WWE Women’s title defeating Trish Stratus (December 6, 2004);
WWE Women’s title defeating Mickie James (August 14, 2006);
WWE Women’s title by winning a Tournament (November 5, 2006);
WWE Hall of Famer Class of 2014
Professional wrestling career
Training and Independent circuit (1999)
Dumas first became interested in wrestling after watching Rey Mysterio, Jr., a Mexican luchador, wrestle on an episode of World Championship Wrestling's WCW Monday Nitro. She traveled to Mexico in 1998 to learn more about the sport and how to wrestle. Dumas financed her training by dancing in a club under the pseudonym Misty. During her stay in Mexico, Dumas trained under numerous wrestlers, including Kevin Quinn and Ricky Santana. Following the completion of her training, Dumas made several appearances with the Empresa Mexicana de la Lucha Libre.
After returning to the United States, Dumas began working as a valet on the independent circuit. She worked in Maryland Championship Wrestling (MCW) under the ring name Angelica, at one point managing Christopher Daniels. She also made appearances in NWA Mid-Atlantic, where she first met Matt and Jeff Hardy, who offered to train with her.
Extreme Championship Wrestling (1999)
See also: Danny Doring and Roadkill
In early 1999, she was approached by Paul Heyman, the owner and booker of Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). 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 at Heat Wave where Doring, as part of their storyline, proposed to her.
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 Funk's school alongside twenty-three men, graduated from the school in August 1999, and returned to ECW. 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. After five months with ECW, she made her final appearance on October 23, 1999.
World Wrestling Federation / Entertainment / WWE (1999–2006, 2007–present)
Team Xtreme and Women's Champion (1999–2000)
Main article: The Hardy Boyz
The Hardys at King of the Ring 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 Sunday Night Heat, where Rios was booked to win the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship from Gillberg (it was only by watching the episode that the two learned their new ring names, decided post-production). Lita mimicked his moves, notably the moonsault and hurricanrana, immediately after he had performed them on an opponent. Essa Rios and Lita had a feud with Eddie Guerrero and Chyna which led to a European title match between Ríos and then-champion Guerrero at Backlash 2000, which Ríos lost. In May 2000, a storyline was developed in which Lita found Rios cavorting with The Godfather and his "hoes", causing tension between them. Rios eventually turned on Lita by powerbombing her after she inadvertently cost him a match. As part of the storyline, Lita was joined 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, wearing baggy pants with a thong, which was hiked up high above her pants, clearly exposed. During her time with Team Xtreme, Lita became the only female to ever be physically involved in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match in WWE.
In June 2000, Team Xtreme began a storyline with T & A (Test and Albert), with Lita engaging in a rivalry with their manager, Trish Stratus. The rivalry developed into an off and on long-term feud between the two women that lasted until Stratus retired in 2006. The storyline ended shortly after Fully Loaded, where Lita pinned Stratus in a six person intergender tag team match. Subsequently, 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 Stephanie with a moonsault to win the Women's Championship for the first time. The match also featured The Rock as the Special Guest Referee and constant interference from Triple H and Kurt Angle.
Lita held the Women's Championship for seventy-three days, which included retaining her title in a hardcore match against Jacqueline on October 9. In the course of her reign, Lita became embroiled in the storyline 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 episode of SmackDown. Ivory was in a conservative-based stable named Right to Censor at that time, which targeted Lita for her attire and moves. Lita attempted to regain the title on several occasions, wrestling Ivory at Survivor Series and Rebellion, but she was thwarted on each occasion by Steven Richards, Ivory's mentor. She spent the remainder of the year in a storyline with would-be suitor Dean Malenko, on one occasion unsuccessfully challenging him for the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship.
Lita continued to feud with Dean Malenko in early 2001, and she defeated him in a singles bout on the February 19 episode of Raw is War with the assistance of Matt Hardy. Following the match, Hardy kissed Lita, beginning their on-screen relationship and turning their real-life romance into a storyline. The couple wrestled in several intergender tag team matches throughout the early part of the year.
Teaming & Feuding with Trish Stratus; Injury (2001–2004)
In July 2001, Lita and Trish Stratus joined forces to combat Stacy Keibler and Torrie Wilson, members of The Alliance: Extreme Championship Wrestling and World Championship Wrestling wrestlers who were invading the WWF as part of The Invasion storyline. At the Invasion pay-per-view on July 22, Lita and Stratus defeated Keibler and Wilson in the first ever tag team bra and panties match by stripping their opponents to their underwear. Throughout The Invasion, Lita, Stratus, and Jacqueline feuded with Alliance members Keibler, Wilson, Ivory, and Mighty Molly. The Invasion storyline ended on November 18 at 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 month; Stratus won the match and the title.
In late 2001, the Hardy Boyz began a storyline in which they were feuding with one another. Lita refereed a match between them at Vengeance on December 9. Jeff won the match with a scripted finish that had Lita failing to notice that Matt had placed his leg on the rope during Jeff's successful pin attempt. Continuing the storyline 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. On the December 17 episode of Raw, both Jeff and Lita were sidelined with storyline injuries following a 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 episode of SmackDown!, Matt faced The Undertaker but was also injured. All three members of Team Xtreme were then removed from WWF television for several weeks.
The Hardy Boyz, 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, facing Stratus and WWF Women's Champion Jazz in a match in which Jazz retained her title by pinning Lita.
Dumas posing for a photo at the Kansas Air National Guard in Forbes Field in Topeka, Kansas.
On April 6, 2002, Dumas 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. The rehearsal required that she practice the hurricanrana that would be used in the episode, however, the stunt double Dumas was working with dropped her as she swung through the move, causing her to land on her neck and shoulders. After she underwent a CAT scan, it was revealed that she had suffered three cracks in her vertebrae, necessitating surgery. On April 30, Dumas underwent neck surgery under Dr. Lloyd Youngblood, during which he used a section of her hip to fuse her C5 and C6 vertebrae together. She spent the subsequent year rehabilitating, making appearances on Sunday Night Heat as a color commentator, beginning in October 2002. On the April 21, 2003 episode of Raw, as part of a new storyline, she was 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 SmackDown!'s Torrie Wilson and pose for Playboy.
She returned to the ring after an absence of seventeen months on the September 15 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 at Unforgiven. Lita feuded with Holly into late 2003, unsuccessfully challenging her for the Women's Championship on November 16 at Survivor Series. On the November 17 episode of Raw, Lita and Matt Hardy were reunited after Hardy was moved from SmackDown! to Raw. Continuing the storyline, Holly interrupted as Hardy was about to propose to Lita, challenging the duo to face her and Bischoff in an intergender tag team match later that evening. Bischoff later added the stipulation 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 used his Survivor Series favor to get Bischoff to reinstate her. One week later, Lita lost to Victoria in the first ever women's steel cage match in WWE history, due to interference from Hardy.
As Lita and Christian appeared to be developing an on-screen relationship, so did Stratus and Chris Jericho. Subsequently, Stratus and Lita participated in an intergender tag team match as partners on the December 1 episode of Raw. After the match, Stratus overheard Jericho talking to then-heel, Christian, about who could sleep with their respective woman first. One week later, Stratus and Lita confronted the men about their actions, leading to a feud between the two men and women which resulted in a "Battle of the Sexes" match at Armageddon, which the women lost. A rematch the next night ended in a no contest.
Storyline with Kane and Matt Hardy (2004–2005)
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 5 episode of Raw. Victoria defeated Lita to retain the Women's Championship at Backlash on April 18. The next night on Raw, Lita was reunited with Matt Hardy when Hardy attacked Kane in an attempt to prevent him from harming Lita, beginning a new storyline involving the trio. In the following weeks, Kane began repeatedly assaulting Hardy and attempting to seduce Lita. During this time also there had been a lot of fan base between the subtle tension going on between Lita and Trish Stratus, with Stratus teasing Lita in backstage segments, which had led to the two divas being placed in fatal-fourway match for the Women's Championship (also due to the Kane/Lita storyline). During the course of the storyline, he kidnapped Lita and held her tied up backstage, and he persuaded Eric Bischoff to give her a title shot at Bad Blood on June 13, where she was defeated by Trish Stratus in a Fatal Four Way match that also included Gail Kim and entering champion Victoria. The next night on Raw, Lita revealed that she was pregnant. One week later, it appeared that Hardy was going to propose to Lita, but he was interrupted by Kane, who claimed to be the father of Lita's child,. 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 at SummerSlam, with the stipulation that Lita would be obliged to marry the winner of the match. 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 thwarted him during his matches, constantly aiding his opponents. On the September 13 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 on Snitsky. With the pregnancy storyline over, Lita returned to the women's division in November 2004. Through the pregnant storyline in June 2004 – November 2004, there were multiple segments where Lita had been teased and harassed by Trish Stratus but was not able to properly retaliate due to the "pregnant" scripted storyline. This involved being insulted during a baby shower that Trish had thrown with fellow heel divas to tease Lita, also interrupting Lita's forced wedding with Kane, and other segments throughout the course of months had pitted Trish constantly degrading Lita. She began a feud in November 2004 with Trish Stratus following the events of her pregnant storyline ending when Stratus called Lita "chubby" because of her pregnancy weight gain, and Lita finally retaliated due to no longer carrying a child by attacking Stratus backstage. Lita challenged Stratus to a Women's Championship match at Survivor Series, however, due to the months of humiliation and being verbally berated by Stratus, Lita was more concerned with doing as much damage as possible, leading to her disqualification. The feud continued, and on December 6, Lita was booked to defeat Stratus in the main event of Raw to win her second WWE Women's Championship. During the course of the match, Lita botched a suicide dive to the outside when she over rotated by a fraction, barely escaping serious injury.[39] This move was later used in the buildup to the title rematch she was booked for at New Year's Revolution against Stratus, who claimed, "Lita had to practically kill herself, just to beat me". This women's title match had been considered one of, and if not, the best women's championship match in WWE history. The match had also been reported to have been used during diva training segments, to show new divas joining the WWE how significant and influential this match is in terms of diva performance. This was also the second time that Lita had captured the Women's Championship, and it was the second time she captured the championship in a main event match. However, Lita's title reign that was supposed to gain more momentum and length had come to a short end almost a month later where Stratus had defeated Lita, ending her second reign as Women's Champion on January 9, 2005 at New Year's Revolution, to regain her championship and becoming a record breaking six time Women's Champion. In the course of the match, Lita tore her left ACL after executing a Thesz press off the ring apron, which resulted in an injury that left her unable to properly participate so the two divas had to end the match as quickly as possible with Stratus delivering a chick kick to Lita after inflicting some damage on her knee to place Stratus back on top of the Women's Division. It had been reported that Lita was booked to originally lose this match before even becoming injured, and that down the road at Wrestlemania 21 it was scripted that the feud between her and Stratus would end with Lita regaining the title once again and becoming a three time Women's Champion.
Lita returned to WWE television in March 2005, mentoring Christy Hemme, who was in the midst of a storyline with Stratus that featured a title match between them at WrestleMania 21. Originally it was supposed to be Lita vs. Trish Stratus at this Wrestlemania Event, however Lita was not able to participate back in the ring yet due to her torn ACL recovery, so instead the storyline between Christy and Trish had been booked with the addition of Lita training Christy to take over the spot in the Wrestlemania slot. (Also to give Lita a return after her injury months ago back onto WWE television). Despite Lita's coaching, Hemme was defeated by Stratus. The following night on Monday Night Raw, Stratus had demanded a re-match against Christy to defend her Women's Championship against, however Stratus had requested the rematch only to knock out Christy with a chick kick even before the match was even started. An angry Lita had confronted Trish despite her injury and the two had exchanged punches, but due to Lita's injury Stratus had delivered a low blow to Lita's torn knee and inflicted even more damage on Lita. Through the following weeks because of this, Lita could not participate back in the ring so instead she had her husband Kane torment and harass Trish as revenge. During this time also is the famous Madison Square Garden segment where in April 2005 Stratus had asked Lita to come to the ring so she could apologize for all of the terrible things she had done to her over the past year, but the crowd had nearly booed Lita out of the arena due to internet leakage of her affair with Adam Copeland. The scripted segment had been cut short when Stratus had spoken off lines and addressed the crowd to stop insulting Lita and even shared a moment with Lita that wasn't part of the scripted commentary. Following this in order to keep true to the scripts, Lita had knocked out Trish with her crutches and had her husband come to the ring to attack Trish, only for Trish to be saved by Viscera whom she had hired to protect her from Kane. Lita continued to feud with Stratus by proxy over the following weeks, with Kane defeating Stratus' companion, Viscera, at Backlash on May 1.
Relationship with Edge and retirement (2005–2006)
See also: Rated-RKO
The relationship between Lita and Kane lasted until the May 16 episode of Raw, when Lita took on a villainous role by betraying Kane, helping Edge defeat him in the finals of the Raw Gold Rush Tournament. On the May 30 episode of Raw, Lita announced that she had filed for divorce, and said things such as Kane was like a 4th grader in the bedroom, that she would not have to deal with things such as his sweaty body, the "stupid little" laugh he does, and the wedding ring being flushed down a toilet. She then attempted to marry Edge on the June 20 episode of Raw, but the marriage ceremony was interrupted by a vengeful Kane, who emerged from beneath the ring, destroyed the ceremony, and as Edge and Lita escaped from the ring, Kane tombstoned their priest. The storyline with Kane ended shortly thereafter.
Off-screen, at this time, Dumas had been involved with Matt Hardy romantically, but began a relationship with Adam Copeland (Edge). WWE then began to use the real-life issues between the three as an on-screen storyline. In April, Hardy was released from WWE, only to be rehired several months later. Lita continued to act as Edge's valet, and Edge defeated Hardy at SummerSlam. On the October 3 episode of Raw, Edge, with the assistance of Lita, defeated Hardy in a ladder match, and Hardy was obligated to leave Raw as a stipulation of the match. Edge defeated John Cena to win the WWE Championship on January 8 at New Year's Revolution.
In an interview conducted after the event, on WWE.com, Edge announced that he and Lita would have "hot, unbridled sex" in the middle of the ring on Raw the following night to celebrate his victory. On Raw, Edge held up to that promise by engaging in foreplay with Lita until they were interrupted by Ric Flair, who called Edge a disgrace and "that he was horrible in the sack." Flair, however, ended up on the receiving end of a con-chair-to on the announcers' table until Cena came out to Flair's aid and performed an FU on Lita. The "Live Sex Celebration" segment earned Raw a 5.2 rating, the highest Raw rating in over a year, leading Edge to call himself the "most watched champion ever".
On the February 6 episode of Raw, Lita teamed 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 One Night Stand after Edge speared and pinned Beulah. On the August 14 episode of Raw, Lita won her third Women's Championship by defeating Mickie James. She lost the title to longtime rival, Trish Stratus, at Unforgiven in Stratus's retirement match. The next night on Raw, the Women's Championship was vacated and a tournament was scheduled to determine a new champion. Lita won the tournament at Cyber Sunday defeating Mickie James. With her 4th championship reign, Lita announced that her final match would be at Survivor Series. Lita lost her final match and the title to rival, Mickie James.
Post retirement appearances and Hall of Fame (2007–present)
Lita was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2014.
She made a special appearance on December 10, 2007 on Raw's 15th Anniversary Special by teaming up with former long-time rival/real-life friend Trish Stratus to rid the ring of Jillian Hall, and afterwards celebrated in the ring with Stratus, turning face in the process, and later that night, she had a backstage reunion with Kane, her former on-screen husband.
She also appeared on the November 1, 2010 episode of Raw in a backstage segment with Pee Wee Herman.
On December 12, 2011, Lita appeared as the Slammy Award presenter for the "Divalicious Moment of 2011" on Raw, which was presented to Kelly Kelly.
Lita returned on the 1000th episode of Raw defeating Heath Slater in a no disqualification, no countout match with the help from the legends who had defeated Slater during the past weeks as well as the APA.
Lita was also seen as an audience member in the 2012 WWE Hall of Fame ceremony where she was thanked by Edge during his induction speech, and was likewise seen and thanked by Trish Stratus during hers the following year.
On the February 10, 2014 episode of Raw, WWE announced that Lita would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame the night before WrestleMania XXX. On March 25, 2014, on the WWE Podcast with Renee Young, Lita called her "bestie" Trish Stratus and asked her to induct her into the WWE Hall of Fame. Lita was the seventh woman inducted, after The Fabulous Moolah, Mae Young, Sunny, Sherri Martel, Wendi Richter and Stratus.
Return to the independent circuit (2007–2008, 2012)
Dumas made her debut for United Wrestling Federation (UWF) on April 21, 2007 where she served as a special guest referee for the match between Christy Hemme and April Hunter. The following day, Dumas made her in-ring debut teaming up with Jerry Lynn in a winning effort defeating Austin Starr and Christy Hemme. Dumas made her debut for Family Wrestling Entertainment on the April 28 episode of FWE Television, as a special guest referee for the match where Winter retained the FWE Women's Championship against Melina Perez.
Music career
Main article: The Luchagors
Dumas formed the band The Luchagors in mid-2006, and they debuted in September 2006 at a rock n' wrestling event called Rock -N- Shock at The Masquerade in Atlanta. Dumas wore a top emblazoned with the symbol of the band during her final match in WWE. The band released their self-titled debut CD, The Luchagors, on September 11, 2007.
Dumas contributed vocals to the song "From The Shadows" (appearing on the track alongside Dez Cadena of Black Flag/Misfits) from Recognise, the debut album from UK band JD & the FDCs, which was released in July 2012. A video for the song was released in March 2013.