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In June 1997, she met [[National Football League]] player [[Ken Blackman]], and they married seven months later on February 14, 1998.<ref name=murphy>{{cite news|url=http://www.cincypost.com/sports/1999/black061199.html|title=Blackman wed to WCW star|author=Mike Murphy|first=Mike|last=Murphy|work=[[The Cincinnati Post]]|publisher=[[E. W. Scripps Company]]|date=1999-06-11|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20041225062554/http://www.cincypost.com/sports/1999/black061199.html|archivedate=2004-12-25}}</ref> They shared homes in both Cincinnati and [[Homosassa, Florida]].<ref name=murphy/> In 1998, they opened a motorcycle shop called Spookee Custom Cycles, which made motorcycles for other NFL players such as [[Kimo von Oelhoffen]], [[Darnay Scott]], [[Bradford Banta]], and [[Dan Wilkinson]].<ref name=murphy/> The couple later divorced.<ref name=tampa/>
In June 1997, she met [[National Football League]] player [[Ken Blackman]], and they married seven months later on February 14, 1998.<ref name=murphy>{{cite news|url=http://www.cincypost.com/sports/1999/black061199.html|title=Blackman wed to WCW star|author=Mike Murphy|first=Mike|last=Murphy|work=[[The Cincinnati Post]]|publisher=[[E. W. Scripps Company]]|date=1999-06-11|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20041225062554/http://www.cincypost.com/sports/1999/black061199.html|archivedate=2004-12-25}}</ref> They shared homes in both Cincinnati and [[Homosassa, Florida]].<ref name=murphy/> In 1998, they opened a motorcycle shop called Spookee Custom Cycles, which made motorcycles for other NFL players such as [[Kimo von Oelhoffen]], [[Darnay Scott]], [[Bradford Banta]], and [[Dan Wilkinson]].<ref name=murphy/> The couple later divorced.<ref name=tampa/>


During her wrestling career, Miceli appeared in the movie ''[[Streetfighter II]]'', in which she choreographed her own fight scene.<ref name=radio/> In Japan, she released a CD of songs sung in Japanese.<ref name=radio/> By 2005, she also owned both a pet shop and pet grooming business.<ref name=tampa/>
During her wrestling career, Miceli appeared in the movie ''Shootfighter II'', in which she choreographed her own fight scene.<ref name=radio/> In Japan, she released a CD of songs sung in Japanese.<ref name=radio/> By 2005, she also owned both a pet shop and pet grooming business.<ref name=tampa/>


==In wrestling==
==In wrestling==

Revision as of 02:18, 13 August 2009

This article is about the professional wrestler and monster truck driver; for the ancient Greek mythological figure, see Medusa
Debra Miceli
Born (1963-02-06) February 6, 1963 (age 61)
Milan, Italy[1]
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Alundra Blayze
Madusa
Madusa Miceli[1]
Billed height5 ft 10 in (178 cm)
Billed weight136 lb (62 kg)
Trained byEddie Sharkey[2]
Brad Rheingans[3]
Debut1984[2]
Retired2001[1]

Debra Ann Miceli[4] (born February 6, 1963), better known as Madusa (shorthand for Made in the USA)[1] or Alundra Blayze, is a former professional wrestler. Her early career was spent in the American Wrestling Association, where she held the AWA World Women's Championship one time. In 1988, Miceli was also the first woman to be awarded Pro Wrestling Illustrated's Rookie of the Year. The following year, she signed a contract with All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling, making her the first foreign wrestler to do so. She later joined World Championship Wrestling (WCW), where she was a member of the Dangerous Alliance, a group of wrestlers managed by Paul E. Dangerously. In 1993, she joined the rival World Wrestling Federation (WWF) under the name Alundra Blayze. In the WWF, she feuded with Bull Nakano and Bertha Faye, while holding the WWF Women's Championship a total of three times. Two years after joining the WWF, Miceli returned to WCW, showing up on an episode of Monday Nitro to throw the WWF Women's Championship belt into a trash can. For the next six years, she worked in WCW, where she feuded with Bull Nakano, Oklahoma, and became the first women to hold the WCW World Cruiserweight Championship. After training wrestlers at the WCW Power Plant, she left the company in 2001.

In addition to wrestling, Miceli competes in the world of monster trucks. She drives a truck named Madusa, which was also her ring name for much of her professional wrestling career. She won the 2004 co-championship at the Monster Jam World Finals for freestyle in the first-ever three-way tie. The following year, she was the only female competitor in the Superbowl of Motorsports, and she won the Racing Championship in the Monster Jam World Finals.

Professional wrestling career

Early career (1987–1991)

In 1984, Miceli trained with Eddie Sharkey in Minneapolis, Minnesota and began working on the independent circuit for $5 a match.[2] In 1986, she started wrestling in the American Wrestling Association (AWA) as Madusa Miceli.[2] In a tournament final, she won the AWA World Women's Championship over Candi Devine on December 27, 1987.[5] She later lost it to Wendi Richter on November 26, 1988.[6] In 1988, Miceli was also the first woman to be awarded Pro Wrestling Illustrated's Rookie of the Year.[2]

Miceli wrestled a six week tour for All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling at the beginning of 1989,[2] where she won the IWA Women's title from Chigusa Nagayo before dropping it back to her the very next day. She then began training in Japan, learning the Japanese wrestling style, as well as Mauy Thai, kickboxing, and boxing.[2] She eventually signed a three-year deal with All Japan, which made her the first non-Japanese wrestler to do so.[2] In addition, she worked for the TWA, feuding with Luna Vachon, whom she faced in a Hair vs Hair Mixed Tag Team match in September 1991.[7] Miceli and her partner Eddie Gilbert defeated Vachon and Cactus Jack, which resulted in Vachon having her head shaved.[7]

World Championship Wrestling (1991–1993)

She then went to WCW and helped Paul E. Dangerously form his Dangerous Alliance.[8] She acted primarily as Alliance member Rick Rude's manager.[5] In October, Dangerously kicked her out of the Dangerous Alliance at Halloween Havoc.[5] She, however, defeated him by count-out on November 18, 1992 at the Clash of the Champions.[5]

World Wrestling Federation (1993–1995)

In 1993, the WWF reinstated its Women's Championship, a title that had been vacant since 1990,[9] and Miceli was brought in by the company to revive the women's division.[10] She debuted under the ring name Alundra Blayze, because WWF owner Vince McMahon did not want to pay Miceli to use the name Madusa, which she had trademarked.[3] She wrestled in a six-woman tournament to crown a new Women's Champion, and in the finals, she pinned Heidi Lee Morgan on December 13 to win the title.[9]

After the tournament, Miceli asked WWF management to bring in new women for her to wrestle.[10] In mid-1994, Bull Nakano joined the WWF roster and began feuding with Miceli, who was still using the name Alundra Blayze. Blayze defeated Nakano at SummerSlam, but lost the belt to her on November 27, 1994 in Japan.[11] Five months later on April 3, 1995, Blayze regained the title from Nakano on an edition of Monday Night Raw.[12] As part of the storyline, immediately following the win, she was attacked by Bertha Faye, who broke her nose.[13] In reality, the storyline was written so Miceli could take time off to get breast implants and a nose job.[13] She returned to the ring in August 1995, losing the Women's Championship to Faye at SummerSlam on August 27.[12] Two months later, she won the title a third time, defeating Faye on October 23.[14] In December, she was stripped of the title following her jump to rival company World Championship Wrestling, and the WWF Women's Championship remained vacant until 1998.[14]

World Championship Wrestling (1995–2001)

In December 1995, Miceli signed with WCW and, as part of a storyline concocted by booker Eric Bischoff,[4] showed up on WCW Monday Nitro on December 18 where she threw the WWF Women's Title belt into a trash can.[2] Miceli immediately began using the Madusa name again, and the company brought in Bull Nakano to feud with her; they battled in a match at Hog Wild in August 1996.[15] Due to pre-match stipulations, Madusa was allowed to destroy Naknao's motorcycle after the match.[15] The company then decided to establish the WCW Women's Championship, but Madusa lost to Akira Hokuto in the finals of the tournament to crown the first champion on December 29 at Starrcade.[16] On June 15, Hokuto retained the title against Madusa at The Great American Bash.[17] The latter then took a nearly three year hiatus from the company.

Madusa returned to WCW in April 1999 as part of Randy Savage's faction 'Team Madness' with Gorgeous George and Miss Madness.[18] After that storyline ended, Madusa was entered into a tournament for the WCW Championship, but she was defeated and eliminated from the tournament.[19] She was later re-entered into the tournament in a match against Evan Karagias, but was eliminated the next week.[19] After her elimination, Madusa put all her focus in managing Karagias, with whom she also formed a romantic relationship.[20] After Karagias won the WCW World Cruiserweight Championship at Mayhem,[21] he was found flirting with Spice of the Nitro Girls.[22] At Starrcade, however, Spice gave Karagias a low-blow during the match, and Madusa pinned him to become the first female ever to win the WCW World Cruiserweight Championship.[23][24] Spice them aligned herself with Madusa and became her manager for a short time.[25]

In January 2000, Madusa developed a rivalry with Oklahoma.[26] In a farcical Evening Gown match on an episode of WCW Thunder on January 12, Madusa defeated Oklahoma by stripping off his dress, but he attacked her after the match.[27] She eventually lost the Crusierweight belt to Oklahoma at Souled Out on January 16, 2000.[23]

In the meantime, Miceli became an instructor at the WCW Power Plant, where she helped train women such as Nora Greenwald (Molly Holly) to wrestle.[28] Before WCW's collapse, she engaged in a brief feud with Torrie Wilson and Shane Douglas, who defeated her and partner Billy Kidman at Fall Brawl in a Mixed Tag Team Scaffold match.[29] She left the company when she heard that Vince McMahon, the owner of the World Wrestling Federation, was going to buy WCW.[30] Because she had a previous falling-out with McMahon, she opted not to stay with the company.[30] She retired from professional wrestling for good in 2001 because she did not like the direction in which women's wrestling was going; according to her, it was becoming less about real wrestling and more about Bra and Panties matches.[1][30]

Monster trucks

Miceli entered the monster truck business under Dennis Anderson in 1999.[1][2] She made her first American hot rod appearance at the Trans World Dome.[31] Afterward, she purchased her own truck and named it Madusa, as she still held the rights to the name.[1][30] She began winning freestyle competitions in 2001.[31] Miceli won the 2004 co-championship at the Monster Jam World Finals for freestyle in the first-ever three-way tie.[1][31] A year later in 2005, she beat her trainer Dennis Anderson in the final bracket of the Monster Jam World Finals for the Racing Championship.[31] Also in 2005, she was the only female competitor in the Superbowl of Motorsports.[1]

As of January 2008, she is also the Executive Vice President of the Major League of Monster Trucks.[32] In 2009, she returned to Monster Jam for the first time since 2005.[33]

Personal life

Miceli was born in Milan, Italy, but raised in several foster homes in Minneapolis, Minnesota.[2][30] Before entering professional wrestling, she participated in both gymnastics and track, and at age 14, she worked at an Arby's fast-food restaurant.[2][3][30] During the beginning of her wrestling career, Miceli also worked as a nurse part-time.[3]

In June 1997, she met National Football League player Ken Blackman, and they married seven months later on February 14, 1998.[18] They shared homes in both Cincinnati and Homosassa, Florida.[18] In 1998, they opened a motorcycle shop called Spookee Custom Cycles, which made motorcycles for other NFL players such as Kimo von Oelhoffen, Darnay Scott, Bradford Banta, and Dan Wilkinson.[18] The couple later divorced.[1]

During her wrestling career, Miceli appeared in the movie Shootfighter II, in which she choreographed her own fight scene.[3] In Japan, she released a CD of songs sung in Japanese.[3] By 2005, she also owned both a pet shop and pet grooming business.[1]

In wrestling

Championships and accomplishments

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Brink, Graham (January 21, 2005). "Have truck, will crush". St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved 2009-03-19.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Eck, Kevin. "Madusa's Bio". Madusa.com. Retrieved 2009-03-20.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Carolan, Vinnie and Ed Symkus (2004). Wrestle Radio U.S.A.: Grapplers Speak. ECW Press. pp. 99–108. ISBN 1550226460.
  4. ^ a b Bischoff, Eric (2006). Controversy creates cash. Simon and Schuster. p. 187. ISBN 141652729X.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Madusa's profile". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2009-05-17.
  6. ^ "Wendi Richter's profile". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2009-05-17.
  7. ^ a b Shoot with Gangrel and Luna Vachon (DVD). RF Video.
  8. ^ a b Reynolds, R.D. and Randy Baer (2003). WrestleCrap: The Very Worst of Pro Wrestling. ECW Press. p. 123. ISBN 1550225847.
  9. ^ a b "Alundra Blayze's first reign". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-03-22.
  10. ^ a b Reynolds, R.D. and Blade Braxton (2007). The Wrestlecrap Book of Lists!. ECW Press. pp. 76–77. ISBN 1550227629.
  11. ^ "Bull Nakano's first reign". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-03-22.
  12. ^ a b "Alundra Blayze's second reign". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-03-22.
  13. ^ a b Laroche, Stephen (January 9, 2001). "SLAM! Wrestling Canadian Hall of Fame: Rhonda Sing / Monster Ripper". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2008-08-23.
  14. ^ a b "Alundra Blayze's third reign". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-03-22.
  15. ^ a b Reynolds, R.D. and Bryan Alvarez (2004). The Death of WCW. ECW Press. p. 76. ISBN 1550226614.
  16. ^ Furious, Arnold (2006-12-25). "The Furious Flashbacks – WCW Starrcade '96". 411mania. Retrieved 2008-06-07.
  17. ^ "Great American Bash PPV History: All-Time Results". World Wrestling Entertainment. Archived from the original on 2007-12-12. Retrieved 2009-05-19.
  18. ^ a b c d e f g h Murphy, Mike (1999-06-11). "Blackman wed to WCW star". The Cincinnati Post. E. W. Scripps Company. Archived from the original on 2004-12-25. {{cite news}}: More than one of |author= and |last= specified (help)
  19. ^ a b Reynolds, R.D. and Bryan Alvarez (2004). The Death of WCW. ECW Press. p. 221. ISBN 1550226614.
  20. ^ a b "Evan Karagias's profile". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2009-05-19.
  21. ^ Powell, John (November 22, 1999). "Hart executes sixth world title reign". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2009-05-19.
  22. ^ Wade. "WCW Monday Nitro - December 13, 1999". DDT Digest. Retrieved 2009-05-19.
  23. ^ a b "Cruiserweight Championship: Title History". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-03-22.
  24. ^ Powell, John (December 20, 1999). "Goldberg screwed at Starrcade". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2009-05-19.
  25. ^ a b "Spice's profile". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2009-05-19.
  26. ^ Wade. "WCW Monday Nitro - January 10, 2000". DDT Digest. Retrieved 2008-07-31.
  27. ^ Wade. "WCW Thunder - Wednesday, January 12, 2000". DDT Digest. Retrieved 2008-07-31.
  28. ^ Spears, Jim (January 4, 2005). "Women's wrestlers today are tougher, better". The Times and Democrat. Retrieved 2009-05-18.
  29. ^ Powell, John (September 18, 2000). "Orndorff injured at Brawl". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2009-05-18.
  30. ^ a b c d e f Di Cresce, Greg (February 6, 2004). "Madusa a natural for monster trucks". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2009-03-21.
  31. ^ a b c d e f "Madusa bio". Monster Jam Online. Retrieved 2009-03-22.
  32. ^ "MLMT Pre-event Truck Display Program announced". Major League of Monster Trucks. January 1, 2008. Retrieved 2009-03-22.
  33. ^ "Monster Jam legends return to Rogers Centre for action filled tour stop". Rogers Centre. January 14, 2009. Retrieved 2009-03-22.
  34. ^ a b World Championship Wrestling, TNT (1999-11-22). "Asya Vs Madusa w/ Evan Karagias". WCW Monday Nitro.
  35. ^ "DDP's career". Wrestling museum. Retrieved 2009-07-29.
  36. ^ "Paul Heyman's proflle". Obsessed With Wrestling. Retrieved 2009-07-29.
  37. ^ "Women's Championship: Title History". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-03-22.
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