Nickla Roberts

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nickla Roberts
Statistics
Ring name(s)	Andrea the Lady Giant Baby Doll
Billed height	5 ft. 10 in.
Billed weight	unknown
Born	February 13, 1962 (1962-02-13) (age 46) Lubbock, Texas
Resides	Joplin, Missouri
Trained by	Nick Roberts Loraine Johnson Jake Roberts Nelson Royal
Debut	1984

Nickla Roberts (born February 13, 1962) is a former professional wrestling valet better known as Baby Doll.

[edit] Career

Nickla Roberts is the daughter of wrestlers Nick Roberts and Lorraine Johnson.

Roberts was always a strong and hefty woman. She held school records at her high school for shot put which, according to Jim Cornette, have not been broken.

Nickla started in wrestling in the Texas area in 1984 as "Andrea, the Lady Giant". She would destroy men and women in the ring and wore her hair in a punk rock type style, leather pants and jacket, Aerosmith and Mötley Crüe scarves and T-Shirts, metal studded belts, and spiked dog collar and wristbands.

She quit that gimmick and showed up in the NWA's Jim Crockett Promotions in 1985 and became the valet for Tully Blanchard. She was known as "The Perfect Ten", Baby Doll. She assisted Blanchard in his feuds against Dusty Rhodes and Magnum T.A.. After Rhodes defeated Blanchard for the World TV Title at the Great American Bash, Baby Doll was forced to be Rhodes' valet for 30 days. Vignettes were filmed in which Rhodes tried to turn her into a "real lady."

In 1986, Blanchard added James J. Dillon to manage him and was on the verge of forming the original Four Horsemen. Tully publicly fired her and to get heat slapped her down. Dusty Rhodes came to the rescue and she helped Dusty Rhodes feud with the Horsemen. Later in 1986, at a weekly Monday night TV taping in Greenville, S.C., Jim Cornette and Beautiful Bobby Eaton attacked her with the tennis racket. She returned with The Warlord to get revenge. He was green though, so he was sent away for more training after a brief feud with Big Bubba Rogers. During the 1986 Great American Bash, she teamed with several different wrestlers to battle against Cornette and his Midnight Express. Her team mates included Dusty Rhodes, Magnum T.A., Dick Murdoch, and Hawk and Animal, the Road Warriors. In August of 1986, Baby Doll turned on Rhodes. During a World Title match in Charlotte, North Carolina, Baby Doll put the foot of Ric Flair on the rope to stop the 3 count. Dusty was in total disbelief of Baby Doll's actions. Eventually, Baby Doll entered the ring with a steel chair. Dusty used the chair against his opponent, allowing Flair to retain the NWA World Title. After a brief run with Ric Flair, the Crockett booking office sent her to the Central States Territory. Nickla was sent away because of the bookers' (especially Dusty Rhodes) disapproval of her recent marriage to wrestler Sam Houston.

She left the NWA for the UWF in 1987 with her new husband, Sam Houston. She traveled the independents with Houston until her return to the NWA to work with the Living Legend Larry Zbyszko, whom she managed in a short feud with Barry Windham over the Western States Title. Baby Doll's marriage to Sam Houston again made her NWA return brief. The NWA office saw it as a conflict of interest. Baby Doll's husband was working for the rival WWF promotion.

Roberts gave birth to a daughter, Mikka Smith, in 1991; and Mikala Joy, in 1992. Baby Doll chose to devote her time to her new baby girls instead of returning to wrestling. She divorced Houston in 1994, claiming Houston wanted to "be the life of the party."

[edit] Trivia

Roberts is not to be confused with the current independent wrestler Baby Doll, nor with a bondage model of the same name.
Roberts did a shoot interview with Tully Blanchard for Highspots in 2007 talking about their partnership in Jim Crockett Promotions.