Nitro Girls

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Stable
Nitro Girls
Members	See below
Debut	1997
Disbanded	2001
Promotions	WCW

The Nitro Girls were a dance team in World Championship Wrestling. Similar to the Fly Girls from In Living Color, their initial function was to dance and entertain the live crowds during commercial breaks.^[1]

1 History
2 Involvement in storylines
3 Diversity 5
4 Members
5 See also
6 Notes
7 References
8 Further reading
9 External links

[edit] History

The Nitro Girls were formed in 1997 by Kimberly Page at Eric Bischoff's request and made their debut on July 14 in Orlando, Florida. Their main focus was to entertain the live fans during the commercials of Monday Nitro.^[1] They also occasionally performed in short segments on the show.

During the Nitro Girls’ opening dance routine on the October 7, 1997 edition of WCW Monday Nitro from the Target Center in Minneapolis, one of Chae’s nipples accidentally popped out of her top. Cameras immediately cut to a shot of the live audience. This incident is frequently known as the "Nitro Nipple." The Nitro Girls filmed their own pay-per-view that aired in 1999.

In late 1999, the group held a competition to find a new member.^[1]^[2] In November, Stacy Keibler defeated 300 other girls for a spot on the dance troupe and $10,000.^[2] Her winning routine was watched by 4.4 million viewers.^[2]

The Nitro Girls also made appearances at WCW promotional events and were featured in the WCW produced film Ready to Rumble. As the group became more and more involved in storylines, it slowly dissolved, but never officially broke up until 2001 when WCW was sold to Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation.

[edit] Involvement in storylines

When Kimberly Page, the group's founder quit as a result of being stalked by a wrestler, the heel and face Nitro Girls began to feud.^[2] Spice feuded with A.C. Jazz over the new leadership position and won.^[2] After Jazz left the group, Tygress attempted to gain control.^[2]

[edit] Diversity 5

Several former Nitro Girls formed a pop music group called Diversity 5: Teri Byrne (Fyre), Melissa Bellin (Spice), Sharmell Sullivan (Storm), Chae An (Chae) and Vanessa Sanchez (Tygress). When Sharmell went to the WWF for the first time, Chiquita Anderson (Chiquita) replaced her.

[edit] Members

Nitro Girl	Given Name	Years
AC Jazz	Amy Crawford	1997-1999	Born April 1, 1971 in Douglasville, Georgia was a graduate of Jacksonville State University and was a cheerleader for the Atlanta Falcons for two years before joining the dance team. One of the original members of the Nitro Girls, Crawford initially handling the dance team's choreography and costume design. Crawford left the company due to disagreements with WCW management and her role was eventually being taken over by Tygress. She subsequently returned to run a dance company.^[2]
Baby	Shannon McNeill	2000	Born on September 15, 1976 in Wilkesboro, North Carolina, McNeill graduated from the University of North Carolina with a degree in special education and was a cheerleader for the Charlotte Hornets basketball team before joining the Nirto Girls in 2000. During her time in WCW, she and Nitro Girl Chameleon were valets for "Champagne" Chris Kanyon. She eventually left the Nirto Girls and returned to college before the end of the year.
Chae	Chae An	1997-2001	Born June 8, 1973 in Seoul, South Korea graduated from Armstrong State University in Savannah, Georgia with a General Studies degree. She went on to become a cheerleader for the Atlanta Falcons and became a member of the original Nitro Girls in 1997. She was a member until 2000. She dated wrestler Kevin Nash from 1996-2002. She appeared in a non-nude Nitro Girls pictorial in the September 1998 issue of Penthouse, along with Melissa Bellin, Teri Byrne, and Kimberly Page. She got married on October 27, 2007.^[3]
Chameleon	Carmel Macklin	2000	Macklin became Ms. Jones, WCW Commissioner The Cat's personal assistant in WCW up until the promotion closed.
Chiquita	Chiquita Anderson	2000-2001
Fyre	Teri Byrne	1997-1999	She is working at the university of Phoenix.^[4]
Fire	Alexzandria Hardy	1999-2001
Gold	Diane Klimaszewski	2000
Kimberly	Kimberly Page	1997-1999
Naught-A	Jamie	2000-2001	Born in Nashville, Tennessee on June 1, 1975, she was one of the last members of the Nitro Girls before the promotion's close.
Silver	Elaine Klimaszewski	2000
Skye	Stacy Keibler	1999	The winner of the 1999 Nitro Girl Search, Keibler later joined WWE as a diva.
Spice	Melissa Bellin	1997-2000	Born May 30, 1973, she was one of the original Nitro Girls. She is now married and recently had a baby boy.^[5]
Starr	Jennifer Bancalum	2000-2001
Storm	Sharmell Sullivan-Huffman	1998-1999	After leaving the Nitro Girls, Sullivan managed The Artist under the name Paisley. Sullivan is currently married to Booker T and is currently working in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling.
Syren	Allison Pfau	2000-2001	Born May 4, 1976, she was involved in a storyline romance with Billy Kidman and Reno, her "boyfriend" after he broke up with Torrie Wilson and she sided with Shane Douglas.
Tayo	Tayo Reed	1997-1998	After leaving the group, she began a career as a country singer.^[2]
Tygress	Vanessa Sanchez	1998-2000	Born January 21, 1971 in Syosset, New York, she graduated from Oglethorpe University with a degree in accounting. She later became a certified public accountant. She joined the Nitro Girls in 1997, but left them in 2000 to become a wrestler and valet for The Filthy Animals stable. She feuded with Misfits in Action's valet Major Gunns and Torrie Wilson. At Halloween Havoc, she and Konnan defeated Wilson and Shane Douglas.
Whisper	Rebecca Hickenbottom (nee Curci)	1997-1999	Born June 16, 1973, Rebecca joined WCW's Nitro Girls as Whisper in October 1997.^[6] Her signature move was to put a finger to her lips at the end of each routine, in keeping with the name "Whisper". She left WCW in 1999 to marry World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) superstar Shawn Michaels and did not return.^[7] She and Michaels have one son, Cameron Kade, born January 5, 2000 and a daughter, Cheyenne Michelle, born on August 19, 2004.