The Nitro Girls: Difference between revisions

On the November 22, 1999 episode of ''Nitro'', Spice and Tygress competed in the first professional wrestling match involving any of the group's members; Tygress defeated Spice after the latter suffered an injury to her eye.<ref name=battle>{{Cite episode|series=''[[WCW Monday Nitro]]''|date = November 22, 1999|network =[[Turner Network Television|TNT]]}}</ref>

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 [[WWE|WWF]] for the first time, Chiquita Anderson (Chiquita) replaced her. The D5 group released one CD single (I Promise/Shake Me Up) in 2001, but by the following year the group bottomed out when they appeared on the [[Fox Network|Fox]] reality show ''[[30 Seconds to Fame]]'' on October 31, 2002 and were promptly voted off.

|AC Jazz||Amy Crawford||1997–1999||Born on April 1, 1971 in [[Douglasville, Georgia|Douglasville]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], Crawford was a graduate of [[Jacksonville State University]] and was a [[cheerleader]] for the [[Atlanta Falcons]] for two years before joining. One of the original members, she initially handled the dance team's choreography and costume design. Crawford left the company in November 1999 due to disagreements with WCW management and her role was eventually taken over by Tygress. She subsequently returned to run a dance company.<ref name=skye/>

|Baby||Shannon McNeill||2000||Born on September 15, 1976<ref name="wcwmagf">{{Citation |last= |first= |title=Nitro Girls Spotlight: Baby |magazine=WCW Magazine |issue=66 |date=October 2000 |publisher=[[World Championship Wrestling|World Championship Wrestling, Inc.]] |page=66 |issn=1057-1396 }}</ref> in [[Wilkesboro, North Carolina|Wilkesboro]], [[North Carolina]], McNeill graduated from the [[University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill|University of North Carolina]] with a degree in special education and was [[New Orleans Hornets|a member of the Honeybees]] before joining the Nitro Girls in early 2000. During her time in WCW, she and Chameleon were valets for [[Chris Kanyon|"Champagne" Chris Kanyon]]. She eventually left WCW and returned to college before the end of the year.

|Chae||Chae An||1997–2000||Born on March 11,<ref name="wcwmagb">{{Citation |last= |first= |title=Nitro Girls Spotlight: Chae |magazine=WCW Magazine |issue=71 |date=March 2001 |publisher=[[World Championship Wrestling|World Championship Wrestling, Inc.]] |page=66 |issn=1057-1396 }}</ref> 1973 in [[Seoul, South Korea]] graduated from [[Armstrong State University]] in [[Savannah, Georgia]] with a General Studies degree. She went on to becomewas a [[cheerleader]] for the [[Atlanta Falcons]] and became an original in 1997. She was a member of the troupe until 2000, and appeared in a non-nude Nitro Girls pictorial in the September 1998 issue of ''[[Penthouse magazine|Penthouse]]'', along with Melissa Bellin, [[Teri Byrne]], and [[Kimberly Page]]. She got married on October 27, 2007.<ref name=OWOW>{{cite web|url=http://www.owow.com/RingsideWith/Sharmell-Sullivan/Interviews/08-26-07.html |title=Q&A with Queen Sharmell |accessdate=2010-07-28 |publisher=OWOW.com |date=2007-08-27 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100414112534/http://www.owow.com/RingsideWith/Sharmell-Sullivan/Interviews/08-26-07.html |archivedate=2010-04-14 |df= }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wrestlingepicenter.com/04050610articles//283028057.shtml |title=WCW Nitro Girl Spice Interview ONLINE! |accessdate=2010-08-05 |publisher=WRESTLINGEPICENTER.com |date=2010-08-05}}</ref>

|Chameleon||Carmel Macklin||1999-2000||Born on March 2, 1976 in [[Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania]], Macklin graduated from [[Temple University]] with a degree in [[psychology]]. She debuted in 1999, and occasionally accompanied [[Chris Kanyon]] (during his "Champagne" Chris Kanyon gimmick) to the ring as his valet with Baby. In 2000, she left the Nitro Girls and became the valet for [[Ernest Miller]] as Ms. Jones. Macklin danced along with Miller in his post-match dance routine, and later also acted as Miller's assistant when he was WCW Commissioner.<ref name=OWOW/> She and Miller defeated [[Tylene Buck|Major Gunns]] and [[Lance Storm]] in her only wrestling match (a mixed tag team match) on the December 18, 2000 edition of "''Nitro''." Macklin was last seen taking a "[[Professional wrestling aerial techniques#Flying neckbreaker|Buff Blockbuster]]" from [[Marcus Bagwell|Buff Bagwell]].<ref name=OWOW/> She was released in late 2000 when WCW made a decision to release most of the valets as a cost-cutting measure. After leaving WCW, Macklin became an [[actress]] and appeared in her first [[film]], ''Love & Orgasms'', in [[2003 in film|2003]].

|Fyre||[[Teri Byrne]]||1997–1999 ||Byrne last worked at the [[University of Phoenix]].<ref>[http://www.owow.com/frameindex.htm?goto=http%3A//www.owow.com/RingsideWith/Sharmell/Interview/Interview08-26-07.htm Teri, who was Fire, is working at the University of Phoenix – she’s doing great]</ref>

|Gold (Diane)<br>Silver (Elaine)||The [[Klimaszewski Twins]] || 2000 || The sisters were cast as the Coors Light Twins in 2002. The sisters have appeared as regular cast members on Steve Harvey's Big Time Challenge, as the Big Time Twins. They appeared in full makeup, and with CGI animated tongues, as alien strippers in the first episode of ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise]]'', which premiered in September 2001.

|Naughty-A||Jamie Cragwall||2000–2001 || Born in [[Nashville, Tennessee|Nashville]], [[Tennessee]] on June 1, 1978,<ref name="wcwmagc">{{Citation |last= |first= |title=Nitro Girls Spotlight: Naughty-A |magazine=WCW Magazine |issue=70 |date=February 2001 |publisher=[[World Championship Wrestling|World Championship Wrestling, Inc.]] |page=64 |issn=1057-1396 }}</ref> Cragwall joined WCW in October 2000,<ref name=wcwmagc /> and was one of the last members of the Nitro Girls before the promotion's demise.

|Skye||[[Stacy Keibler]]||1999||The winner of the 1999 Nitro Girl Search, Keibler later joined [[WWE]] as a diva. She left the company in 2006 after appearing on ''[[Dancing with the Stars (U.S. TV series)|Dancing with the Stars]]'' placing third in the show's [[Dancing with the Stars (U.S. season 2)|second season]]. She was also the girlfriend ofdated [[George Clooney]] from 2011 to 2013.

|Spice||Melissa Bellin||1997–2000||Born Melissa Grill on May 29, 1973, she was one of the original Nitro Girls. She is married and has a son.<ref name=OWOW/> {{As of|2019}}, she goes by Melissa Grill-Petersen andShe works as a [[life coach]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://drmelissagrillpetersen.com/about/ |title=About - Dr. Melissa |publisher=Melissa Grill-Petersen |accessdate=2019-06-18}}</ref>

|Storm||[[Sharmell Sullivan-Huffman|Sharmell Sullivan]]||1998–1999||After leaving the Nitro Girls, Sullivan managed [[Prince Iaukea|The Artist]] under the name Paisley. Sullivan is married to [[Booker Huffman|Booker T]] who now works with [[WWE]]. She was regularly featured on [[WWE]] television in 2003 as a backstage interviewer and from 2005 to 2007 as the valet of Booker T.

|Tayo||Tayo Reed||1997–1998||Born on February 28, 1971, after leaving the group, she began a career as a country singer.<ref name=skye/> Tayo Reed started entertaining as a singer at [[Six Flags Over Georgia]], performing in the Shake, Rattle, & Soul Show. She was then chosen to be a [[cheerleader]] for the [[Atlanta Falcons]] and a dancer for the [[Atlanta Hawks]]. Tayo also opened Tayo Reed's International Academy of Dance in [[Riverdale, Georgia|Riverdale]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]].

|Tygress||Vanessa Sanchez||1998–2000||Born Vanessa Bozman<ref name="motherarticle">{{cite web |url=http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/article1015784.ece |archive-url=https://archive.is/20130203101100/http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/article1015784.ece |dead-url=yes |archive-date=2013-02-03 |title=At HEART Literacy, Justa Bozman helps improve lives |first=Jean |last=Hayes |date=2009-07-05 |publisher=Tampa Bay Times |accessdate=2012-10-25 }}</ref> on January 21, 1971 in [[Syosset, New York|Syosset]], [[New York (state)|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 [[Manager (professional wrestling)|valet]] for [[The Filthy Animals]] [[List of professional wrestling terms#S|stable]]. She feuded with [[Misfits in Action]]'s valet [[Tylene Buck|Major Gunns]] and [[Torrie Wilson]]. At [[Halloween Havoc (2000)|Halloween Havoc]], she and [[Konnan]] defeated Wilson and [[Shane Douglas]].

|Whisper||[[Shawn Michaels#Personal life|Rebecca Curci]]||1997–1999||Born on January 23, 1976, RebeccaCurci joined WCW'sthe Nitro Girls as Whisper in October 1997.<ref>World Championship Wrestling Magazine, April Edition, (1998), Bill Apter, Pennsylvania, p.23</ref> 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|World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment]] (WWF/E) wrestler [[Shawn Michaels]] and did not return.<ref>Michaels, Shawn. 2005, Heartbreak & Triumph: The Shawn Michaels Story, Pocket Books, New York. (p296)</ref> She and Michaels have two children, one son, Cameron Kade, born January 5, 2000 and a daughter, Cheyenne Michelle, born on August 19, 2004. Rebecca has appeared various times on WWE programming such as [[WrestleMania 22]], and later appeared at the [[WWE Hall of Fame]] induction ceremony in 2011.