Debra Marshall

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Debra Marshall
An image of Debra Marshall.
Statistics
Ring name(s) Debra
Debra McMichael
Debra Williams
Queen Debra
Billed height 5 ft. 6 in. (167 cm)
Billed weight 120 lb. (52 kg)
Born March 2, 1960 (1960-03-02) (age 48)[1]
Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Resides Denver, Colorado
Trained by Steve McMichael[2]
Debut April 1996
Retired March 2003

Debra Gale Marshall (born March 2, 1960[1] in Tuscaloosa, Alabama) is an American Actress and former professional wrestling manager and WWE Diva. She is best known by her ring name, Debra. She is perhaps best known for her appearances with World Wrestling Entertainment between 1998 and 2002. Before becoming involved in wrestling, Debra was a beauty pageant participant, winning the runner-up for Miss Texas USA in 1984.

Contents

[edit] Wrestling career

Debra was raised in West Blocton and was a track runner, cheerleader, and Homecoming Queen in high school before attending the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute in New York. She then became a flight attendant before joining World Championship Wrestling along with her husband, Steve "Mongo" McMichael, in 1996.

[edit] World Championship Wrestling (1996-1997)

Debra was originally one of many women who would stand on the entrance ramp and clap as Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage entered the ring. On one occasion, she sat at ringside while her husband performed announcing duties. Then, Ric Flair hit on her, and she threw a drink in his face, which caused Mongo to demand a match with Flair. At the Great American Bash 1996, Mongo and his partner Kevin Greene competed against Flair and Arn Anderson. Late in the match, Woman & Elizabeth chased Debra McMichael & Terri Greene backstage. Debra McMichael returned a few minutes later with a metal brief case and gave it to her husband; Steve McMichael opened it and found a Four Horsemen T-shirt and a lot of money. Flair won the match after Mongo and Debra turned on Greene due to the brief case.[3] After the match, Chris Benoit came out and the reformed Four Horsemen continued to attack Greene.

During this time, Debra bickered with Woman. Mongo and Chris Benoit frequently had to step in and separate them from their disagreements. Debra would usually have the last word after Woman and Benoit had left the area.

Later in the same year, Jeff Jarrett came over to WCW from the WWF, and expressed his desire to join the Horsemen. He immediately gained a fan in Ric Flair and Debra, much to the chagrin of the other Horsemen (including Mongo). She eventually helped Jarrett defeat Mongo to gain membership by forcing Mongo to team with him. Just as the duo had began to co-exist peacefully, Debra and Jarrett turned on Mongo. Next, Debra recruited Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, Bill Goldberg, and Alex Wright into a shortlived stable, which disbanded when Debra left WCW (and divorced Mongo).

[edit] World Wrestling Federation

[edit] 1998

In 1998, Debra rejoined Jarrett in the World Wrestling Federation. At the beginning of her WWF career, Debra played the part of a shrewd businesswoman, wearing business suits and rarely smiling. She often helped Jarrett win matches through cheating and interference. Following Survivor Series in November 1998, Jarrett began a feud with "The Bizarre One", Goldust. A match was set for December 1998 at WWF In Your House: Rock Bottom. Goldust announced that it would be a "Striptease Match", meaning that if Jarrett won, Goldust would have to strip naked, but if Goldust won, Debra would have to strip naked. Debra played mind games[clarify] with Goldust in the weeks prior to the match by flashing him in order to distract him and cost him matches.

On December 13, 1998, Jeff Jarrett faced Goldust in the Striptease Match. The crowd was strongly behind Goldust because they wanted to see Debra strip. However, Debra hit Goldust over the head with Jarrett's trademark guitar, enabling Jarrett to win. This meant that Goldust had to strip. However, WWF Commissioner Shawn Michaels ruled that, since Debra had hit Goldust with a guitar, Jarrett was disqualified, meaning that Goldust was the winner, and Debra had to strip. Debra was hesitant at first, but soon warmed up to the crowd, and stripped down to her bra and thong. However, before Debra could unhook her bra, The Blue Blazer (a disguised Owen Hart) entered the ring and covered her up, just as Shawn Michaels took off her bra.

From that point on, in every Jeff Jarrett match, Debra would take off her blouse and show her bra in order to distract Jarrett's opponents. The strategy was normally successful, and it helped Jarrett and partner Owen Hart to defeat The Big Boss Man and Ken Shamrock to become World Tag Team Champions. Jarrett became a de facto face as a result of Debra, who would willingly take off her blouse to show the crowd her "puppies" (a nickname originally bestowed by wrestler Road Dogg and immortalized by commentator Jerry Lawler).

[edit] 1999

It was not until February 1999 that Debra had her first feud with a female, Ivory, in the WWF. The feud began with small catfights, but it escalated to wrestling matches. The first match that Debra was involved in saw her team with Jarrett against Ivory and D'Lo Brown on Monday Night RAW. Ivory and Brown won by disqualification after Debra hit Ivory over the head with a guitar. They also fought in a tag match at WWF St. Valentine's Day Massacre where Jarrett and Owen Hart retained their tag titles against Brown and Mark Henry, who were accompanied by Ivory. On March 1, 1999, Ivory stripped Debra during Jarrett's match. Debra then challenged Ivory to a match backstage, and Ivory accepted. On one occasion, Debra beat Ivory due to the interference from PMS (Terri & Jacqueline). During the month of April, Debra continued to manage Jeff Jarrett and Owen Hart.

On May 10, Debra "won" the Women's Championship from Sable in an Evening Gown Match.[4] Technically, in an Evening Gown Match, the winner is the woman who forcibly removes her opponent's dress. Because Sable removed Debra's dress, she therefore should have been the winner. However, Commissioner Shawn Michaels ruled that he considered the woman who had lost her dress the winner, crowning Debra the new Women's Champion. During her reign, she rarely defended the title, instead remaining a manager.

Jarrett and Debra then began feuding with Val Venis and Nicole Bass, culminating in a match at Over The Edge 1999 on May 23. The match that took place immediately after Owen Hart died after falling from the top of the arena while preparing for a stunt. The feud ended in a bikini contest between Debra and Bass, which Debra won.

Debra lost the Women's Title to Ivory on June 14, due to the interference from Nicole Bass. Debra was choking Ivory with a scarf when Nicole entered the ring and choked Debra so Ivory got the pin. Subsequently, she continued as Jarrett's manager. Jarrett began mistreating her during July and August, complaining that every match he lost was her fault. Jarrett then began another feud with D'Lo Brown. The two met at SummerSlam 1999, with Debra in Brown's corner. However, Brown's former tag team partner Mark Henry turned on him, along with Debra, resulting in Jarrett winning both the WWF European Championship and the WWF Intercontinental Championship. The following night, Jarrett awarded Henry the European title and gave Debra an assistant, Miss Kitty. However, he soon turned against Debra in favor of Kitty, after blaming her for a mixed tag team loss to Stephanie McMahon and Test. After losing that match, Jarrett applied the Figure Four Leglock on her. Finally, at Unforgiven on September 26, Debra turned on Jeff Jarrett, becoming a face, in the middle of his match against Chyna for the Intercontinental Championship. She smashed Jarrett's guitar over his head and told him she was no longer going to manage him. Chyna pinned Jarrett, but the referee overturned the decision due to Debra's involvement.

The next night on RAW, Jarrett and Tom Prichard challenged Chyna and Debra to a mixed tag match. Chyna accepted but added the stipulation that if she won, she would get a re-match for the Intercontinental Championship. Just as Chyna was about to lose, Debra got into the ring and pulled Jarrett's hair, and then Miss Kitty entered the ring to confront Debra. Debra also took her down by her hair. Chyna later pinned Jarrett, so Chyna and Debra won the match. Chyna was rewarded a re-match at No Mercy. In the following weeks, Chyna and Debra continued to feud with Jeff Jarrett and Miss Kitty.

Debra appeared sporadically thereafter, participating in an 8 women Sudden Death Match for the Women's Championship at Survivor Series. When Terri got into the ring to break up the pin, Debra got in and stripped Terri. At the end of 1999 Debra got an offer from Playboy to appear nude in the magazine however she turned the offer down.[5]

[edit] 2000-2002

In 2000, she acted as Ring Announcer for the World Tag Team Championship match between Edge and Christian against D-Generation X's X-Pac and "The Road Dogg" Jesse James at Backlash.[6] She disappeared in the summer of 2000, but made a full-time return in the fall of that year, playing the role of Lieutenant Commissioner,[7] the assistant of Commissioner Mick Foley. By this time, Debra had married Stone Cold Steve Austin, and the marriage was incorporated into onscreen storylines, such as the buildup of Austin's match with The Rock at WrestleMania X-Seven.

Debra disliked her husband's heel turn at WrestleMania X-Seven, but still stood by him as he slowly descended into madness throughout his reign as WWF Champion. It was not until Austin joined The Alliance during the InVasion angle that Debra officially turned heel again, and she began wearing tight black t-shirts with Stone Cold written on them and leather pants. While she did not accompany Stone Cold to the ring for his matches, she did join him in backstage segments and in interviews. She also started baking cookies, which she served to the other Alliance members. The cookies supposedly tasted terrible, but no one told her, except a somewhat tactless Austin. On August 2, 2001, Debra hit Austin with a tray in the middle of the ring after he repeatedly interrupted and disrespected her. One week later on RAW, Stone Cold and Debra took on Matt Hardy and Lita. Debra and Lita fought outside the ring until Stone Cold stunned Lita and won the match.[8]

In early 2002, Stone Cold entered into a feud with Triple H. This led into an argument between Debra and Stephanie McMahon on January 14, 2002. The argument turned into a battle when Debra slapped Stephanie and pulled her down by her hair. They fought for about 2 minutes until WWF officials separated them.[9]

[edit] World Wrestling Entertainment (2002)

Debra retained an on-screen role with Stone Cold even after the Alliance angle ended and Stone Cold had turned face again. However, her appearances became more and more infrequent, as she was not involved in any actual angles or storylines, and she just made random appearances backstage.

After the WWF changed its name to WWE in 2002, Debra made even more infrequent appearances. On June 3, 2002 Debra was shown with Stone Cold discussing both RAW and SmackDown! and about who Stone Cold would have to wrestle. On June 10, 2002, Debra was shown in a backstage interview about an incident between Lita and Austin. Debra's final appearance was on the live guest show WWF Excess where Debra and Trish Stratus guested. The show aired two days after her last RAW appearance.

In late June 2002, Austin walked out of WWE. Debra followed, and she has not been seen in the wrestling business since. On January 15, 2006, Debra was reportedly backstage at TNA Final Resolution 2006.[10]

[edit] In wrestling

  • Theme Music
  • "Tennessee Jam" -Used when managing Jeff Jarret

[edit] Championships and accomplishments

Debra as WWF Women's Champion.
Debra as WWF Women's Champion.

[edit] Other media

Before becoming involved in wrestling, Debra had a small role in the 1994 film Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation as a policewoman.

In 1999, Debra hosted the Teen Choice Awards, presenting two awards. On February 16, 2002, she and Steve Austin appeared on an episode of Mad TV. On March 10, 2002, Debra appeared on an episode of The Weakest Link alongside several other members of the WWE roster.

On August 7, 2006, Debra appeared on the British talk show GMTV, discussing both her WWE career and her current movie roles such as Just Another Romantic Wrestling Comedy where she plays "Jenny".[12]

[edit] Filmography

Debra's appearance as a policewoman in Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation.
Debra's appearance as a policewoman in Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation.

[edit] Personal life

In 1985, Debra married National Football League alumnus and professional wrestler Steve McMichael and changed her name to Debra McMichael. She and McMichael were divorced on October 12, 1998.[1]

On September 6, 2000, Debra married Stone Cold Steve Austin and changed her name to Debra Williams .[1] However, on June 15, 2002, police were called to their residence in San Antonio, Texas. They found a hysterical Debra with bruises and a bloody nose.[14] Austin had left the house and was asked by police not to return. On August 14, 2002, Austin was arrested and charged with domestic abuse. He pled no contest on November 25, 2002 and was given a year's probation, a $1,000 fine, and ordered to carry out eighty hours of community service.[15] In addition, he was banned from drinking alcoholic beer for a year, as alcohol was believed to be linked to his offense.

Austin filed for divorce on July 22, 2002,[16] and the couple were legally divorced in 2003. Debra later auctioned her wedding ring off on eBay. The money was donated by Debra to "SafePlace", a legal clinic which assists the victims of domestic abuse. The ring went for $34,000.

She is now involved in real estate.

[edit] Code of Silence

In June and July 2007 Debra made several appearances in various newspapers and news programs, (including the BBC in the UK and "Hannity & Colmes Fox News tonight") along with "Superstar" Billy Graham to discuss the Chris Benoit story. Debra revealed that steroids and drugs were the cause of Stone Cold hitting her and may be linked to the death of Chris and his family.[17] She said Chris was a "nice person" but that drugs can change people, as they did Austin. Austin beat her three times, including holding her down on the floor and hitting her in the head and back while on drugs, which was the reason she divorced him.

Debra also told Fox News that WWE had a "code of silence" where she was not allowed to reveal that Stone Cold hit her, as it would cost the company millions of dollars because Stone Cold was one of their biggest stars. Debra said she revealed the information five years later because she suffered from depression because of the whole ordeal.[18]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d Steve Williams and Debra's Marriage Certificate. Retrieved on 2007-04-08.
  2. ^ WWE Superstars - Debra
  3. ^ "2007 Wrestling Almanac & Book of Facts", Wrestling’s historical cards, Kappa Publishing, 2007, pp. 144. 
  4. ^ WWE.com. Debra Wins The Women's Belt. Retrieved on 2007-04-10.
  5. ^ Debra's profile. Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved on 2008-01-11.
  6. ^ PowerWrestling.com. Debra the special Guest Ring Announcer. Retrieved on 2007-05-27.
  7. ^ a b PowerWrestling.com. Debra is made LT Commissioner. Retrieved on 2007-05-02.
  8. ^ Debra & Steve vs. Lita & Matt. Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved on 2007-05-02.
  9. ^ Michael McAvennie. "WWE The Yearbook: 2003 Edition", Pocket Books, 2003, pp. 32. 
  10. ^ WrestleView. Debra Backstage at TBA Final Resolution 2006. Retrieved on 2007-05-02.
  11. ^ Debra Wins The Women's Belt. Retrieved on 2007-04-10.
  12. ^ Debra Appeared on GM:TV. Retrieved on 2007-04-11.
  13. ^ Film-Spot. Debra In Just Another Romantic Comedy Film. Retrieved on 2007-04-16.
  14. ^ Stone Cold surrenders to authorities (2002-08-14). Retrieved on 2007-04-08.
  15. ^ Stone Cold Plea. Retrieved on 2007-04-08.
  16. ^ Stone Cold Divorce Papers. Retrieved on 2007-04-08.
  17. ^ Pro Wrestling Wife Claims Drug Abuse, Domestic Violence 'Out of Hand in the WWE' (2007-06-27). Retrieved on 2007-08-21.
  18. ^ Debra on Fox News - July 2007 (July 2007). Retrieved on 2007-07-03.

[edit] External links


Persondata
NAME Marshall, Debra
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION
DATE OF BIRTH March 2, 1960 (1960-03-02) (age 48)
PLACE OF BIRTH Tuscaloosa, Alabama
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH
Languages