With the Divas Battle Royal at WrestleMania 25 quickly approaching, Diva Dirt has decided to take a closer look at each of the known and rumored participants in the matchup and assess their odds of winning as being High, Moderate, or Low. The winner, of course, will be crowned the first ever “Miss WrestleMania.†This is a new feature that will take place right up until the big day in Houston, TX on April 5th, 2009 and will be covered by yours truly, the “Mouth of the South,†Hassan! I will save my prediction for the winner as the very last WrestleMania Spotlight profile I do. Be sure to leave your opinion in the comments! Let’s get right into it… pump yourselves up for Raw Diva Jillian!
Diva: Jillian Hall
Real Name:Â Jillian FletcherÂ
Hometown:Â Ashland, Kentucky
Birthday: September 6, 1980
Brand: Raw
Height: 5’5″
Weight: 130 lbs.
Finisher: High Note (450 Splash), Boob Job (choke in breasts), Crash Test (cartwheel into vertical splash), Lifting Sitout Full Nelson Bulldog
WWE Debut: July 28, 2005 edition of SmackDown
Career Highlights: Her album Jingle With Jillian reached #120 in the US and #76 in the UK, BWCW Women’s Champion, CIW Indy Women’s Champion, FEW Women’s Champion, GLORY Champion, HPW Women’s Champion, HPW Cruiserweight Champion, MCW Mid-American Champion, PGWA Champion, SSW Women’s Champion, SWF Tag Team Champion, SWF Women’s Champion, WWA Women’s Champion, named #34 of the 50 best female wrestlers of 2008 by Pro Wrestling Illustrated
“Did You Know?†Fact: I bet you didn’t know Jillian won half of those Championships! It has also been rumored that Jillian’s singing gimmick was done to make fun of Brooke Hogan
Jillian entered the wrestling business back in 1998, after attending Finlay’s wrestling school where she was trained by Dave Finaly himself. Her big break came when the WWE signed her to a developmental contract in the spring of 2003, where she further trained in OVW. While in OVW, Jillian worked initially as a face before eventually turning heel. The change was right after Jillian got her first plastic surgery done, a boob job, accompanied by straightening her hair and bleaching it platinum blonde, and the story went that her boob job leaked into her brain and caused her to go psychotic. She worked with her bodyguard, Melissa Coates, attacking face Divas in OVW by putting rubbing alcohol in their faces (hmm… Beautiful People and their hairspray anyone?)
In July of 2005, Jillian was called up to SmackDown and joined the Divas roster as an image consultant, first to MNM and then to John “Bradshaw” Layfield after he lost to Rey Mysterio (who are coincidentally in a match again at WrestleMania 25). While with JBL, her “growth” was bitten off her face by The Boogeyman. When JBL fired her after she accidentally slammed a cage door in his face, Jillian began competing on SmackDown. Her first feud was with Stacy Keibler, and Jillian defeated Stacy in Stacy’s final WWE matchup on Velocity. She also feuded with the likes of Melina, Kristal, and Michelle McCool (all of whom she defeated at one point), before turning on her partner, Ashley Massaro, when Ashley posed for Playboy in February 2007. She wanted to show that she was better than Ashley and didn’t have to take her clothes off, which is when her singing gimmick initially began. This was also during the time of Timbaland’s music video shoot for Throw It On Me, which Jillian was not featured in. She tried to impress him in the audience by singing (horribly). The gimmick has stuck with her ever since as she hasn’t turned face since that time period, much less had any character development. By the way, is it weird that I actually don’t mind her singing voice?
The feud between Ashley and Jillian continued until Ashley’s “suspension” and Jillian was eventually sent to Raw in the 2007 Draft. On Raw, Jillian won her Raw debut by teaming with Melina to take on Mickie and Candice. Then, she feuded with Mickie James, beating her in singles and tag team action on a few occasions. Jillian resumed her singing gimmick, even engaging in a rivalry with Lilian Garcia. On November 19, 2007, Jillian was the focus of a lot of the wrestling world’s attention when she executed a 450 splash onto Melina (intended for Maria), a move which had been allegedly banned in the WWE. Since then, Jillian has feuded with virtually every Diva on the Raw roster, losing most of the matches.
Jillian Hall is the original jobber, and I admire her for sticking around as long as she has. She is without a doubt in my mind the most under utilized Diva in the WWE, which is a shame if you look at the amount of experience she has and success under her belt. She clearly won’t be Miss WrestleMania, considering she hasn’t even won a singles match in probably a year. I just don’t get how someone as decorated an athlete as she is gets mistreated so poorly by the WWE while Divas like Maria and Candice get over-pushed. The only flaw I see in Jillian is her lip-injection, because I think she was much better looking before it and now she looks like pouty Maria. Poor Jillian, poor poor jobbing Jillian. Let’s all hope that 2009 is the year Jillian finally gets some recognition, a championship, or at least a few wins. Maybe even a draft to SmackDown and a run with the Divas Title would be fitting. She really deserves it, although for now, she’s going to be singing her way to another loss at WrestleMania. Too bad there isn’t a Slammy for the most under-utilized, unappreciated Diva!
Jillian’s Odds of Winning On The Hassan-O-Meter: Low
