Amy Christine Dumas (born April 14, 1975) is an American professional wrestler and singer. She is best known for her tenure in WWE, under the ring name Lita.
Dumas began her wrestling career in 1998 under the ring name Angelica, training and performing in Mexico with Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL). She later competed on the U.S. independent circuit and had a brief run in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) in early 1999. In August 1999, she signed with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, later WWE), debuting as Lita in February 2000. Initially aligned with Essa Rios, she rose to prominence as part of Team Xtreme alongside Matt and Jeff Hardy, known for their high-flying and daredevil style.
Over the course of her career, she became a four-time WWE Women's Champion. She retired from full-time in-ring competition in 2006 but continued to make sporadic appearances. In 2014, she was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. She returned on a part-time basis between 2022 and 2023, and in 2023, she won the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship with Becky Lynch, becoming the first female Hall of Famer to capture a WWE title after induction. She has also worked behind the scenes with WWE as a producer and trainer.
Outside of wrestling, Dumas formed the punk rock band The Luchagors, releasing their self-titled debut album on September 11, 2007.
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Early life
Amy Christine Dumas was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Christine and Michael Dumas on April 14, 1975. She is of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Spanish and French ancestry. She attended many different schools around Florida throughout her childhood and adolescent years and managed to finish school at Lassiter High School near Atlanta six months before graduation. She majored in education at Georgia State University, but dropped out in 1993 because she felt it was too much like high school.
Later, in Washington, D.C., Dumas played bass guitar in several bands, and worked as a roadie for a band.
Professional wrestling career
Early career (1997–1999)
Dumas first became interested in wrestling after watching Rey Mysterio Jr., an American luchador, wrestle on an episode of World Championship Wrestling's (WCW) Monday Nitro. She traveled to Mexico in 1997 to learn more about the sport and how to wrestle. Dumas financed her training by dancing in a club under the pseudonym Misty. During her stay in Mexico, Dumas trained under numerous wrestlers, including El Dandy, Kevin Quinn and Ricky Santana. Following the completion of her training, Dumas made several appearances with the Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre in 1998, under the ring name of Angelica.
After returning to the United States, Dumas continued working as a valet on the independent circuit as Angelica. She made her wrestling debut in a match against indie wrestler Strawberry Fields on January 9, 1999, where she won the match. She worked in Maryland Championship Wrestling (MCW), at one point managing Christopher Daniels. She also made appearances in NWA Mid-Atlantic, where she first met Matt and Jeff Hardy, who offered to train with her.
Extreme Championship Wrestling (1999)
In April 1999, Dumas was approached by Paul Heyman, the owner and booker of Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). Dumas debuted in ECW as Miss Congeniality, the on-screen girlfriend of Danny Doring. Dumas later began using the name Angelica once again and made her pay-per-view debut on July 18 at Heat Wave where Doring, as part of their storyline, proposed to her with a condom.
Dumas was introduced to veteran wrestler Dory Funk, Jr. by ECW wrestler Rob Van Dam, and Funk invited her to attend his wrestling school, The Funkin' Conservatory. Dumas attended Funk's school alongside twenty-three men, graduated from the school in August 1999, and returned to ECW. Meanwhile, Funk and his wife compiled video footage of Dumas and sent it to the World Wrestling Federation. The Federation was sufficiently impressed, and on August 1, 1999, Dumas was signed to a WWF developmental deal. After six months with ECW, she made her final appearance on October 23, 1999, at Re-enter the Sandman.
World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment (1999–2006)
Dumas debuted on the July 5, 1999, episode of Raw Is War as part of The Godfather's Ho-Train.
After honing her skills at the Memphis Championship Wrestling developmental territory, Dumas was given the ring name Lita and paired with luchador Essa Rios. Lita and Rios made their WWF debut on the February 13, 2000, episode of Sunday Night Heat, where Rios was booked to win the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship from Gillberg (it was only by watching the episode that the two learned their new ring names, decided post-production). Lita mimicked his moves, notably the moonsault and hurricanrana, immediately after he had performed them on an opponent. Essa Rios and Lita had a feud with Eddie Guerrero and Chyna which led to a European title match between Ríos and then-champion Guerrero at Backlash. In May 2000, a storyline was developed in which Lita found Rios cavorting with The Godfather and his "hos", causing tension between them. Rios eventually turned on Lita by powerbombing her after she inadvertently cost him a match, with the Hardy Boyz coming to her rescue.
As a member of Team Xtreme, Lita developed a more "alternative" image, wearing baggy pants with a thong, which was hiked up high above her pants, clearly exposed—right after she joined Team Xtreme, her popularity skyrocketed. During her time with Team Xtreme, Lita became the only female to ever be physically involved in Tables, Ladders, and Chairs matches in the WWF, effectively interfering at TLC I at Summerslam and TLC II at WrestleMania X-Seven on the Hardy Boyz’ behalf- but her interference was often short-lived as she was brutally speared at ringside by Edge and 3-D'ed by the Dudley Boyz.
In June 2000, Team Xtreme began a storyline with T & A (Test and Albert), with Lita engaging in a rivalry with their manager, Trish Stratus. The rivalry developed into an off-and-on long-term feud between the two women that lasted until Stratus retired in 2006. The storyline ended shortly after Fully Loaded, where Lita pinned Stratus in a six-person intergender tag team match. The two rivals were then part of the main event of the July 31, 2000, edition of Raw Is War in Lita's hometown of Atlanta, which was a tag team match between Lita & The Rock vs Stratus & Triple H, which Lita and The Rock won. Subsequently, Lita began feuding with WWF Women's Champion Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley after winning the first-ever women's battle royal against the likes of Ivory, Jacqueline, Terri and The Kat. In the main event of the August 21, 2000, episode of Raw is War (her second main event in three weeks), Lita defeated Stephanie with a moonsault to win the Women's Championship for the first time, with The Rock as special guest referee. Later, that week Lita was involved in another main event match on Smackdown, this time teaming with the Rock in a winning effort against Kurt Angle and Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley.
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. Dumas made her debut for Family Wrestling Entertainment on the April 28 episode of FWE Television, as a special guest referee for the match where Winter retained the FWE Women's Championship against Melina Perez.
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)
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.
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.
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."
Her Women's Championship match against Trish Stratus at Unforgiven 2006 was ranked No. 3 by WWE in 2015 on the "10 greatest Divas Matches of all time" list. 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's autobiography, written with Michael Krugman, Lita: A Less Traveled R.O.A.D. – The Reality of Amy Dumas was released on September 16, 2003. The book covered topics such as her family, childhood years, wrestling career, relationship with Matt Hardy, and her neck surgery and subsequent rehabilitation. Lita is considered to be a sex symbol.
Dumas also appeared on a variety of television shows including Dark Angel, Fear Factor, 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.
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.).
Dumas's hair is naturally brown, although she has dyed it red throughout her WWF/E career. She has a wide variety of tattoos: a three-eyed green gargoyle on her upper right bicep, the word "Punk" on the inside of her lower lip, and the word "rebel" (Russian: бунтарь) written in Russian Cyrillic letters on her lower back neck, all of which she got in the 1990s. 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) with Edge
Best Ladder Moment (2014) — Lita hurricanranas Christian off ladder (Unforgiven, 2000)
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
