As part of our celebration of Lita‘s WWE Hall of Fame induction, Diva Dirt will highlight fan-written retrospectives on her storied career.
“Love, Fury, Passion and Energy” by Numero47
“Before me, all women were eye-candy. There were no moonsaults, there were no ‘Litacanranas'” These were only some of the words that would come from Amy “Lita” Dumas’ retirement speech on that cold November night in 2006. While these words may have been in part of Lita’s alerted Heel Character, it’s hard to look pass them and not see the precision in them.
Before Lita’s debut to the WWE during the Attitude Era, fans had yet to see a high flying women step in the ring or one that was willing to mix it up with some of the male superstars. Perhaps this is what appealed Lita to both male and female fans. Males seeing an edgy and risky women while still maintaining that sexual image. Females seeing an alternative image in the fiery red head, with an eye catching tattoo and attire that was unique to her style.
That popularity would soon payoff, as Lita would get the opportunity to face then Women’s Champion Stephanie McMahon on the main event of Raw. At the time, it was unheard of having two women main event on Raw but with Lita getting the equal pops that the male superstars were getting and Stephanie playing an unfair Champion during what is known as the McMahon-Helmsley Era, it was only fitting that Lita would win her first Women’s Champion in such a setting.
While there may be some that say this match between Stephanie and Lita had the star power help of The Hardys, Kurt Angle, The Rock and Triple H, that wouldn’t be the case for the second Raw main event Lita would compete in. After being humiliated and tormented for most of the summer of 2004 at the hands of rival Trish Stratus, Lita would once again highlight the main event of Raw, earning only her second Women’s Championship. This time it would only feature Lita and Trish in a solid one on one match; a long way since their early managing days.
Despite this peak in her feud with Trish Stratus, Lita’s style of risky high flying moves eventually caught up with her when she tore her ACL this forcing her to drop the Women’s Title shortly after winning it at the start of the new year and was sitting sidelines until she recovered. Once recuperated, Lita did something she had never done before in her WWE career, she turned Heel!
This only happening shortly after her dirty laundry of her affair with Edge started spreading with fans turning on the once beloved Diva. Instead of hiding from the cameras, Lita made the most of the bad situation and played her role extremely well aside her new beau Edge which not only have us one of WWE’s greatest onscreen couple but it also earned Lita her third Women’s Championship.
While it was another short lived reign when Lita unsuccessfully defended it against Trish at Unforgiven in what was considered Trish’s last match, it did give fans one more chance to see these two rivals go at it one more time. While Trish was sent off in a Fairy Tale ending to her WWE career, Lita unfortunately did not have the same ending to her WWE run. Despite winning the vacated Women’s Title in her fourth reign as champion, Lita would lose in her final match against Mickie James and be sent off in a humiliating matter at the hands of Cryme Time. An ending that isn’t worthy to someone who would become a future Hall of Famer.
How much love did Lita have for the business? Enough love to travel down to Mexico, a country foreign to her, in order to begin her wrestling training. How much fury did Lita have? Enough fury to take down any for she stepped into the ring with. How much passion did Lita have for the business? Enough passion to come back injury after injury and getting better and better each time. How much energy did Lita have? Enough energy to have crowds chant her name that would be comparable to pops that her fellow male superstars were getting. All in all, Lita’s induction to the WWE HOF should come to no surprise as she, much like her longtime rival and friend Trish Stratus, helped revolutionize women’s role in the WWE.
