Lita (wrestler)
Amy Christine Dumas is an American retired professional wrestler and singer. She is best known for her tenure in WWE, under the ring name Lita, where she performed full-time from 2000 to 2006.
Dumas began her wrestling career in 1998 under the ring name Angelica, training and performing in Mexico with Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre. She later competed on the U.S. independent circuit and had a brief run in Extreme Championship Wrestling in early 1999. In August 1999, she signed with the World Wrestling Federation, debuting as Lita in February 2000. Initially aligned with Essa Rios, she rose to prominence as part of Team Xtreme alongside Matt and Jeff Hardy, known for their high-flying and daredevil style.
Over the course of her career, she became a four-time WWE Women's Champion. She retired from full-time in-ring competition in 2006 but continued to make sporadic appearances. In 2014, she was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. She returned on a part-time basis in 2022, and in 2023, she won the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship with Becky Lynch, becoming the first female Hall of Famer to capture a WWE title after induction. She has also worked behind the scenes with WWE as a producer and trainer.
Outside of wrestling, Dumas formed the punk rock band The Luchagors, releasing their self-titled debut album on September 11, 2007.
Early life
Amy Christine Dumas was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Christine and Michael Dumas on April 14, 1975. She is of Mexican, Puerto Rican and French ancestry. She attended many different schools around Florida throughout her childhood and adolescent years and managed to finish school at Lassiter High School near Atlanta six months before graduation. She majored in education at Georgia State University, but dropped out in 1993 because she felt it was too much like high school.Later, in Washington, D.C., Dumas played bass guitar in several bands, and worked as a roadie for a band.
Professional wrestling career
Early career (1997–1999)
Dumas first became interested in wrestling after watching Rey Mysterio Jr., an American luchador, wrestle on an episode of World Championship Wrestling's Monday Nitro. She traveled to Mexico in 1997 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 El Dandy, Kevin Quinn and Ricky Santana. Following the completion of her training, Dumas made several appearances with the Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre in 1998, under the ring name of Angelica.After returning to the United States, Dumas continued working as a valet on the independent circuit as Angelica. She made her wrestling debut in a match against indie wrestler Strawberry Fields on January 9, 1999, where she won the match. She worked in Maryland Championship Wrestling, 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)
In April 1999, Dumas was approached by Paul Heyman, the owner and booker of Extreme Championship Wrestling. 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 with a condom.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 August 1, 1999, Dumas was signed to a WWF developmental deal. After six months with ECW, she made her final appearance on October 23, 1999, at Re-enter the Sandman.
World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment (1999–2006)
Debut (1999–2000)
Dumas debuted on the July 5, 1999, episode of Raw Is War as part of The Godfather's Ho-Train.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. 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. In May 2000, a storyline was developed in which Lita found Rios cavorting with The Godfather and his "hos", causing tension between them. Rios eventually turned on Lita by powerbombing her after she inadvertently cost him a match, with the Hardy Boyz coming to her rescue.
Team Xtreme (2000–2002)
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—right after she joined Team Xtreme, her popularity skyrocketed. During her time with Team Xtreme, Lita became the only female to ever be physically involved in Tables, Ladders, and Chairs matches in the WWF, effectively interfering at TLC I at Summerslam and TLC II at WrestleMania X-Seven on the Hardy Boyz’ behalf- but her interference was often short-lived as she was brutally Speared at ringside by Edge and 3-D’ed by the Dudley Boyz.In June 2000, Team Xtreme began a storyline with T & A, 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. The two rivals were then part of the main event of the July 31, 2000, edition of Raw Is War in Lita's hometown of Atlanta, which was a tag team match between Lita & The Rock vs Stratus & Triple H, which Lita and The Rock won. Subsequently, Lita began feuding with WWF Women's Champion Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley after winning the first-ever women's battle royal against the likes of Ivory, Jacqueline, Terri and The Kat. 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, with The Rock as special guest referee. Laster, that week Lita was involved in another main event match on Smackdown, this time teaming with the Rock in a winning effort against Kurt Angle and Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley.
Lita held the Women's Championship for 73 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 by side-slamming her into the mat, helping Ivory to 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 in a match at Survivor Series where Ivory cut Lita's lower forehead open with her boot heel and she bled heavily, and then another match at Rebellion but Lita 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. Even after repeated rejections from Lita followed by savage beatings by the Hardy Boyz, Malenko was undeterred in his quest to win Lita's affections.
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. On the April 9 edition of Raw is War, she took part in another WWF main event as part of Team Xtreme against a tag team of Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley and the Two Man Power Trip. They won, but Lita took a brutal beating immediately following the match, when she was Pedigreed by Triple H and hit four times in the back with a steel chair by Austin, who finished her off with a Stunner. Austin had just turned heel and this was an attempt to generate even more heat by beating up the most popular female wrestler in the WWF at the time.
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, when 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 hardcore title match between Jeff and WWF Hardcore Champion The Undertaker, when they were both tossed off the stage by 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.
Team Xtreme returned at the Royal Rumble event in January, with the Hardys as participants and Lita accompanying them. The trio attacked The Undertaker, but were unsuccessful in eliminating him. Lita resumed her pursuit of the WWF Women's Championship 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.