Lita

Neck injury and return (2002–2003) On April 6, 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. During her time recovering, Matt and Jeff split thus ending Team Xtreme; Jeff would leave the WWE the following year and Matt would move to SmackDown!.

On the April 21, 2003, episode of Raw, as part of a new storyline, she was fired from her position on commentary by general manager Eric Bischoff after she rejected his advances and his request that she follow in the footsteps of SmackDown! Torrie Wilson and pose for Playboy. 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.

As Lita and Christian appeared to be developing an on-screen relationship, so did Stratus and Chris Jericho. One week later, Stratus and Lita confronted the men about their real intentions, 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 ended in a no contest the next night. On February 23, 2004, Lita was involved in a fatal-4-way elimination match for the Women's Championship which also included Molly Holly, Jazz, and Victoria, who won the match.

Storyline with Kane and feud with Trish Stratus (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 the course of the storyline, he kidnapped Lita and held her tied up backstage, Kane won the match, leading to him marrying a reluctant Lita on the August 23 episode of Raw. The miscarriage led to Lita and Kane joining forces in order to take revenge on Snitsky. The feud raged on, and on December 6, Lita defeated Stratus in the main event of Raw to win her second WWE Women's Championship. 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." During the match, Lita legitimately tore her left ACL after executing a Thesz press off the ring apron, leaving her unable to continue the match and resulting in a rushed finish, in which Stratus reclaimed the title.

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. Lita continued to feud with Stratus by proxy over the following weeks, with Kane defeating Stratus's companion, Viscera, at Backlash on May 1.

Relationship with Edge and first retirement (2005–2006)

The relationship between Lita and Kane lasted until the May 16 episode of Raw, when Lita turned on Kane, helping Edge defeat him in the finals of the Raw Gold Rush Tournament, turning heel for the first and only time in her career. 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 an affair with Adam Copeland (Edge), who was one of Hardy's closest friends. only to be rehired several months later under constant outcry from fans from shows and pay-per-views every week for months on end. Lita had been one of the most popular performers in the WWE since the beginning of her association with the Hardy Boyz in 2000 and after Hardy was fired in April, her popularity had taken a massive dive. Starting with a Raw event at Madison Square Garden where after hobbling to the ring on a crutch to do a segment with heel Trish Stratus, she was booed heavily and fans chanted "You screwed Matt!" and "We want Matt!" - and Lita was still a face at this time. The booing and jeering got so bad that Stratus, angered by the abuse, went off script and berated the crowd; after the segment Dumas was shaken by the experience. Hardy was rehired in July (by which time Lita had turned heel) and would engage in a three-month feud with Edge, while Lita, awkwardly watching and sometimes interfering in these matches from ringside continued to act as Edge's valet. 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, ending their feud.

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 that night in the family-friendly amusement park town of Hershey, Pennsylvania, Edge held up to that promise by engaging in foreplay with Lita in a bed inside the ring 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 highest Raw rating in over a year, leading Edge to call himself the "most watched champion ever". In 2021, Lita revealed that she was uncomfortable with the segment, but WWE threatened to fire her if she didn't do the segment. 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.

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. At Cyber Sunday, Lita defeated James again in the finals of a tournament for the vacant Women's Title in a lumberjill match. In the three editions of Raw after Cyber Sunday, Lita faced James in three non-title handicap matches, the first where James had one hand tied behind her back, the second where James had her feet tied together, and the third with James being blindfolded. Lita easily won the first (November 6) and third (November 20) of those matches, but on the November 13 episode of Raw, James was able to defeat Lita after D-Generation X squirted mustard in Lita's face. By this time, Lita had become so fed up with the continued negative intrusion for 18 consecutive months WWE fans had on her personal life, that she cut a series of intense promos, with the normally relaxed Lita yelling and screaming into the microphone over her intense frustration of being treated the way she had been treated, insulting the crowd and the millions watching on TV. At Survivor Series, Lita lost the women's title to Mickie James in her last match before retiring, ending her 7 year tenure with WWE.

Return to the independent circuit (2007, 2017) 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.

Lita made her in-ring return for the first time in five years as part of an eight-person tag match for MCW Pro Wrestling in Joppa, Maryland on March 3, 2017, where she teamed with The Bruiser, and The Hell Cats to defeat MCW champion Sean Studd, Andy Vineberg, Rayo and Jeremiah.

Return to World Wrestling Entertainment/WWE (2007–present)

Sporadic appearances (2007–2012) Lita returned on December 10, 2007, on Raw's 15th Anniversary Special by teaming up with Trish Stratus to rid the ring of Jillian Hall, turning face for the first time since 2005. Later that night, she had a backstage reunion with Kane, her former on-screen husband.

She appeared on the November 1, 2010, episode of Raw in a segment with Pee-wee Herman. On December 12, 2011, Lita presented a Slammy Award to Kelly Kelly for Divalicious Moment of the Year.

Lita returned on the 1000th episode of Raw on July 23, 2012, defeating Heath Slater in an intergender no disqualification, no countout match with the help from the WWE legends who had defeated Slater during the past weeks, as well as the APA.

WWE Hall of Famer and various roles (2014–2018) In 2014, she was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by her best friend and fellow wrestler Trish Stratus. The next night at WrestleMania XXX, she appeared during transmission while she was introduced as part of the 2014 Hall of Fame class.

Lita served as a trainer on the sixth season of Tough Enough, alongside Booker T and Billy Gunn. She appeared on the July 13, 2015, episode of Raw to introduce the Tough Enough contestants. From October 2015 to July 2016, Dumas was a creative writer and backstage producer for the WWE on a full-time basis.

During the WrestleMania 32 pre-show on April 3, 2016, Lita announced the retirement of the WWE Divas Championship and unveiled the new WWE Women's Championship belt, being won by Charlotte. She was working as one of the pre-show hosts for Raw, SmackDown and pay-per-view events until 2017.

Lita appeared during the WrestleMania 33 pre-show on April 2, 2017. She was also color commentator for the first edition of the Mae Young Classic, alongside Jim Ross.

Lita participated in the first edition of the Women's Royal Rumble in 2018. She also wrestled at WWE Evolution, WWE's first all women's pay-per-view, where she and Trish Stratus defeated Mickie James and Alicia Fox following a brief feud.

Return and WWE Women's Tag Team Champion (2022–2023) Ahead of her appearance in the 2022 edition of the Royal Rumble, Lita returned to SmackDown, as a face, which led to a confrontation with Charlotte Flair. At the event, Lita entered at #26 and eliminated former rival Mickie James before being eliminated by Flair.

Ending a one-year hiatus, Lita returned to Raw on February 6, 2023, during a Steel Cage match between Lynch and Bayley. She proceeded to assault all three members of Damage CTRL (Bayley, Dakota Kai, and Iyo Sky) and giving Lynch the victory. On the February 27 episode of Raw, Lita would team with Lynch to defeat Kai and Sky for the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship after an assist from the returning Trish Stratus, giving Lita her first title reign since 2006. On March 6, Stratus, Lynch, and Lita challenged Damage CTRL to a six-woman tag team match at WrestleMania 39, where they were victorious. This was Lita's second WrestleMania match and first-ever win.

On April 10, 2023, Lita was scheduled to defend the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship on Raw against Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez. However, Lita was assaulted just prior to the start of the show, with Trish Stratus teaming with Becky Lynch to defend the title on her behalf. Morgan pinned Stratus with a roll-up, costing Lita and Lynch the titles. Stratus then attacked Lynch following the match. On the following episode of Raw, Stratus revealed herself as Lita's attacker, citing frustration with Lita appearing as Lynch's sidekick and overall anger at her legacy seemingly being forgotten.

On the November 14, 2023, episode of NXT, Lita announced the qualifiers for the Iron Survivor Challenge at NXT Deadline.

Legacy Lita is cited as inspiration for several women, such as Paige, AJ Lee, Bayley, Liv Morgan, Deonna Purrazzo, Melina Perez, Taryn Terrell, Maria Kanellis, and Maryse.

Lita was involved in the first three Raw main events featuring women. She won all three matches—the first on July 31, 2000, in Atlanta being a mixed tag-team match pairing her and The Rock against Trish Stratus and Triple H, the second against Stephanie McMahon on August 21, 2000, with The Rock as the special guest referee in which she captured her first Women's Championship, and the third against Trish Stratus on December 6, 2004, where she won her second Women's Championship. This was the first time women had main-evented Raw where no men were involved in any capacity. In November 2003, she faced Victoria in the first-ever women's steel cage match in WWE.

WWE mentions Lita as "a Diva who always kept the WWE Universe on their toes. Whether she was flying high with The Hardy Boyz or shocking censors alongside Edge, the four-time Women's Champion knew how to elicit a reaction around the world." This match is also cited as one of the most unforgettable Divas matches, along with her match against Mickie James at Survivor Series 2006, and against Victoria in a cage match on Raw.

Music career

Dumas formed the band The Luchagors in mid-2006, and they debuted in September 2006 at the rock and wrestling event 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.

Other media

Lita was featured in the June 2001 video and DVD release Lita: It Just Feels Right. The video featured discussions of Lita's career to that point and showcased several of her matches.

Dumas also appeared on a variety of television shows including Dark Angel, and The Weakest Link's "WWF Superstars Edition" in 2002. In 2004, she appeared on an episode of Headbangers Ball.

Lita began hosting a local Atlanta radio show called Amy's Discordia in 2013.

Lita was interviewed and profiled for the 2016 Nine Legends movie.

On May 9, 2018, Dumas debuted as the host of a series for the ASY TV web platform titled The UFO Sho where she visits UFO-themed locations and examines the culture around them.

In 2019, Dumas appeared on The Special Without Brett Davis during WrestleMania week.

In March 2020, Dumas, along with Christy Hemme and Gail Kim, announced "KAYfABE," a new wrestling show which was inspired by true events and was to blend scripted drama with pro wrestling. The production launched a crowd-funding campaign on Kickstarter to raise money for the pilot episode, however they were only able to raise $62,919.96 of the $400,000 goal. Following the failure of the campaign, the team cited the financial impacts of the global COVID-19 pandemic as a reason for the campaign's difficulties and assured fans that the show would secure funding elsewhere at a later date.

On November 18, 2020, Lita made an appearance on a TV show along with Tatiana Suarez of the UFC on The Bachelorette.

Lita also joined Booker T and Mick Foley as a co-host of WWE Studios' A&E reality series WWE's Most Wanted Treasures about searches for collectibles related to various wrestlers for its second season in 2023.

Filmography

Personal life Dumas is a known animal lover and vegan. In 2003, she founded the animal charity Amy Dumas Operation Rescue and Education (A.D.O.R.E.). In 2007, she acquired a sleeve on her left arm, featuring Mexican skulls, one of which has the band 7 Seconds' logo on its forehead. She previously had two piercings in her tongue and another two in her nose.

In 1999, Dumas began dating Matt Hardy. They first met in January 1999 at a NWA Mid-Atlantic show, and began dating a few months later. In February 2005, it was revealed that Dumas had been romantically involved with fellow wrestler Adam Copeland for several months while still in a relationship with Hardy, who had been at home recovering from a knee injury. Following a public revelation of the affair, Matt Hardy was released by WWE. Hardy was rehired several months later and the real-life situation was translated into a storyline.

Dumas dated fellow band member Shane Morton from 2006 to 2008. Dumas also dated CM Punk from 2009 to 2010, and then again from late 2012 to September 2013.

After retiring from wrestling in 2009, Dumas bought a house in Nicaragua and splits her time between her home in Atlanta and her house in Nicaragua, where she enjoys surfing.

Dumas was arrested on December 9, 2011, in Columbia County, Georgia, for speeding and driving with a suspended license. After one night in jail, Dumas was released on a bail bond posted at $2,200.

Championships and accomplishments

American Chronicles Female of the Year (2006) Bleacher Report Ranked No. 49 of the top 50 Greatest WWE Superstars of All Time (2024) Complex.com Ranked No. 45 of the top 50 Greatest WWE Wrestlers of All Time (2024) Digital Spy In August 2020, Digital Spy held a World Cup tournament to discover the greatest female WWE wrestler of all time. Lita was declared the winner from a list of 32 female wrestlers. Diva Dirt Woman of the Decade (2009) Greatest Raw Diva Ever (2012) Raw's New Diva of the Decade (2013) Wrestling's Greatest Couple (2014) Best Ladder Moment (2014) — Legacy Award (2015) IGN Ranked No. 39 of the top 50 WWE Wrestlers of All Time (2017) ONE37pm Ranked No. 22 of the 30 Best WWE Wrestlers of All Time (2023) Pro Wrestling Illustrated Feud of the Year (2005) Woman of the Year (2001) Rolling Stone Hot List (2001) Sports Illustrated Ranked No. 93 of the top 101 Wrestlers of All Time (2016) The New York Times The New York Times Best Seller list (2003) — World Wrestling Federation / Entertainment / WWE WWF/E Women's Championship (4 times) WWE Women's Tag Team Championship (1 time) — with Becky Lynch Women's Championship Tournament (2006) WWE Hall of Fame (Class of 2014)