A few weeks ago, news broke about a female wrestler/valet in World Wrestling Entertainment who was on her way out of the company. At a glance, this does not seem particularly newsworthy. Women's wrestling is way down. It had a brief moment of glory early in this year, but by and large, it is at best an afterthought in WWE. Women who are generally valets are even further down the ladder. Pretty faces are a dime a dozen. It may not seem like this departure is a big deal...but it is.
Lita is leaving WWE and the ripple effects of this goes all the way to the WWE Championship.
How so? How can this seemingly unimportant character on Raw have any real impact on the top title scene? Before we get into that, let's learn a little bit about Amy Dumas. In 1998, Amy traveled to Mexico to learn the art of professional wrestling. While she is known for being a student (of sorts) of the Hardy Boyz, her original training was under Kevin Quinn, Ricky Santana and Miquel Perez. She competed in EMLL, Empress Mexicana de la Lucha Libre.
Back in the United States, Amy made herself "Angelica" and became a manager/valet in the independents. Not long after, she was hired by ECW to be Miss Congeniality, the valet and girlfriend of Danny Doring. Her time in ECW was short-lived. WWE gave her a spot in Dory Funk Jr.'s dojo and eventually was offered a developmental contract.
In February of 2000, Amy was paired with Essa Rios and given the name Lita. Considering the time of her professional debut in Mexico to her WWE debut, she made it to the big time fairly quickly. Most modern fans know what all happened next, so there is no need to be lengthy here. She managed the Hardy Boyz but continued with a solo career as occassional Women's Champion. In all honestly, her abilities in the ring weren't (and still aren't) very good. Even dangerous at times. Although, compared to some of the women wrestlers of that time, she was at least adequate, and far more importantly, very much over with the crowd as a babyface.
In April of 2002, Lita suffered cracks in her C5 and C6 vertebrae in an accident out of the ring. During what I believe was supposed to be a head scissors takedown on the set of Fox's Dark Angel, she landed awkwardly and injured herself. She was out of action for seventeen months. Since then, she has feuded with Trish Stratus, been impregnated by the evil Kane and had been involved in an oh-so-classy miscarriage angle.
What brings us to the point of this is her current role as on-screen girlfriend and valet of WWE Champion Edge. In 2004, after a long and boring run as a babyface singles star, Edge finally turned heel around that year's Taboo Tuesday. In 2005, Edge was making it as a singles star and serious heel. He defeated Shawn Michaels at Royal Rumble, but as time went on, Edge didn't seem like he was reaching the upper echelon. That is, until he joined up with Lita.
Now I know many will say that it is impossible to tell if Lita really contributed so much to Edge's act that it led to two WWE Championship reigns. Without Lita, he may have had similar success. It's certainly possible. However, consider all of what Lita brings to the table. The extra added dimension of the sinister, slutty valet.
First of all, Lita is incredibly over as a heel. All on her own! Before her official turn when she sided with Edge over Kane in that horrible marriage angle, Lita was booed in a big way. Partly because the internet informed a lot of fans that she had cheated on Matt Hardy and the resulting fallout led to Matt being released by the company. Also partly because she had to talk a lot with Kane and she isn't so great on the microphone. In other words, Lita's individual heat added to Edge's. It made him more hated than he was before.
Edge's heat is his greatest facet. It isn't his ring work, which is good but usually not great. It isn't his mic work, which is about the same. He's a main eventer because his heat is off the charts. Lita adds to it. How does she do it exactly? For one, she can just...stand there! People hate the very sight of her. For another, the gift of a valet is that they can cheat on the behalf of the wrestler. A more specific example was what she did the night after Edge won his first WWE Championship. In one of the highest rated segments WWE has produced in the new monopoly era, Edge and Lita had their live sex romp. It would be kinda tough for Edge to do that alone. The ratings success let WWE know Edge could handle being the champion. He was scheduled for a three-week reign, but when WWE needed a heel this Summer, Edge got the call again.
Later this year, Lita will be gone. Shortly after we learned of this, she was given the Women's Championship. Either as a thank you and one last run with the belt or as incentive to stay. Difficult to tell. She probably won't be wrestling all that much because her role as valet comes first. Let's face it. Being the WWE Champion's valet is the best thing Lita has ever done in her career. Her matches weren't much of anything but her heat and the way she added to Edge's character were something special.
Whether Edge will be champion when Lita goes or not, we do not know yet. What we do know is that Edge is about to face the toughest test of his career in the main event. When he originally turned heel, he was alone. He did well on his own. True. Although, he wasn't where he is right now at the top of the ladder.
The question is this: Will Edge be able to maintain his status with Lita gone? I want to say yes. I'm an Edge fan. One of many, I'm sure. I want him to do well all by himself, but after looking at his track record of being alone and also looking at all that Lita added to the act, I'm afraid I have my doubts. Edge is set for a rude awakening and nobody is going to be there to hold his hand when it happens.
