Stacy Keibler

Keibler began watching wrestling with her boyfriend at the time, Kris Cumberland.[5] She can be seen in the crowd on an episode of Nitro in 1997 and the Starrcade 1998 pay-per-view before the television title match, dancing in an NWO Wolfpac T-shirt.[13] In September 1999, Keibler entered a nationwide contest held by World Championship Wrestling to find a new member of the Nitro Girls dance troupe, which was organized in an attempt to boost the show's declining ratings. A total of 300 women participated in the contest; the results were decided by a series of polls on WCW's website, which narrowed down the field to eight finalists. Keibler was declared the winner of the contest on the November 8, 1999 edition of Nitro after receiving the most online votes out of the eight finalists and was given a spot on the dance troupe along with a $10,000 prize. Her winning routine was watched by 4.4 million viewers.[5] Keibler performed dance routines every week on WCW's flagship show Monday Nitro under the name Skye.[5] By 2000, Keibler was appearing on WCW as a Nitro Girl, attending school full-time, and cheering for the Baltimore Ravens.[5]

She soon accepted a larger role and became a heel valet using the stage name Miss Hancock (some weeks spelled "Handcock"),[6][14] briefly serving as an associate for the tag team of Lenny Lane and Lodi dubbed Standards and Practices.[15] Despite wearing business suits, her character was known to climb on top of the announcers' table and dance sensually.[6] It was also during this period that she began using what would become her trademark ring entrance: slowly putting her forty-two inch legs through the second tier of ropes, pausing to let the crowd momentarily see her panties underneath her incredibly short skirts.[16] At 5 feet 11 inches, Keibler was one of few women in professional wrestling tall enough to step over the middle of the three ropes that surround the ring.

During 2000, she dated David Flair (both on-screen and off-screen), who was already involved in an on-screen relationship with Daffney. Ms. Hancock set her eyes on Flair and ended up stealing him away from Daffney and continued to torment the woman whose boyfriend she stole, and the two would feud throughout the Summer of 2000. This led to Keibler's in-ring debut at the Bash at the Beach in a Wedding Gown match, which she lost after she removed her own gown.[17] Hancock next briefly feuded with Kimberly Page, but the storyline ended abruptly when Page quit the company.[5][18] Keibler and Flair then began a feud with the Misfits in Action stable, including a mud wrestling singles match against Major Gunns at New Blood Rising.[6][17] During the match, she was kicked in the stomach, and she revealed herself to be pregnant the next night, beginning a new angle for herself and Flair.[6] Two proposed endings to the storyline were for either Ric Flair or Vince Russo to be the father of her child.[14] The angle, however, ended prematurely, as she revealed the pregnancy to be false, broke up with David Flair, and was taken off of television.[7]

When Stacy returned in 2001, she dropped the name Ms. Hancock and went by her real name.[6] On the March 12, 2001 edition of Nitro, Keibler revealed Shawn Stasiak as her "baby" and continued her role as a heel manager, siding with Stasiak. Shawn and Stacy would feud with Bam Bam Bigelow, with the evil Stacy using underhanded tactics to help Stasiak win 2 matches from a series of 3, including on the final edition of Nitro two weeks later on March 26.

When WCW was purchased by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 2001, Keibler's Time Warner contract was bought by the WWF. Stacy made her WWF television debut on the June 14, 2001 episode of SmackDown! when then-face, Shane McMahon brought her to the ring to distract then-heel, Rhyno, causing him to lose a match. Not long after this she turned into a heel character as part of The Alliance. Stacy showed herself to be an evil mean girl that had a sadistic side, as she loved watching other people's pain and misfortune, and regularly enjoyed mocking them by pointing and laughing. She originally teamed up with real-life friend, then-heel, Torrie Wilson, and the pair feuded with Trish Stratus and Lita. During this feud the four wrestlers competed in the first-ever tag team Bra and Panties Match at the Invasion pay-per-view, which Trish and Lita won by stripping Stacy and Wilson down to their bra & panties.[6][19] After this she and Torrie moved on to targeting Jacqueline and were shown backstage enjoying watching Jacqueline cry over the elimination of Shadrick McGee from Tough Enough. Stacy and Torrie then defeated Jacqueline in a handicap match on Raw with help from Ivory. On the Heat before SummerSlam, Stacy along with Torrie and Ivory, brutally attacked Lita backstage by injuring her knee, with the intent of preventing her from competing against them later that night. Stacy also had a brief reunion with Shawn Stasiak, and a short alliance with Tazz, as they battled the likes of Spike Dudley and Tajiri. Stacy found it amusing how short these men were and told Torrie that their height made them lesser men. Torrie had begun dating Tajiri at this time and this caused the evil Stacy to begin an on-screen rivalry with her former friend. The feud started with a couple of mixed tag matches involving the women and included Stacy sneak attacking Torrie backstage on an episode of Raw.

Keibler during WrestleMania X8 in March 2002

As the WCW/ECW Invasion was nearing its end, Keibler became the manager of the heel Dudley Boyz. She made her first appearance in this role on the October 1, 2001 episode of Raw, and was nicknamed the "Duchess of Dudleyville".[6] During this time, Stacy continued to show her sadistic side as she took great pleasure in watching the likes of Torrie Wilson and Spike Dudley get driven violently through tables, and particularly enjoyed being the one to personally give the order to the Dudley Boyz to put Torrie through a table. Stacy couldn't hide her joy at seeing Torrie suffering at her feet and laughed at the sight. A few days later on Smackdown, Stacy watched with glee as the Dudley Boyz threw Spike to the outside of the ring and through a table, as commentator Michael Cole acknowledged how wicked Stacy was and called her “evil”. Torrie would return a couple of weeks later to get her revenge and gave Keibler a wedgie then pantsed her on an episode of SmackDown!. She then defeated Keibler in the first-ever lingerie match, a match wrestled in lingerie, at No Mercy.[19] Keibler made her WrestleMania debut at WrestleMania X8 alongside The Dudleyz.[19][20] Keibler's role with the Dudley Boyz came to an abrupt end during Raw after WrestleMania when she was powerbombed through a table after accidentally costing the team a match.[21] She then set her sights on the WWE Women's Championship at Judgment Day, facing Trish Stratus in a losing effort.[22] She faced Stratus several more times in the succeeding weeks, but she never won a match against her.[7]

Keibler was originally drafted to the SmackDown! brand in 2002,[23] where she immediately set her eyes on the man in charge, the heel WWE chairman, Vince McMahon.[4] McMahon was ready to hire another attractive woman until Keibler interrupted and performed a seductive table dance in the ring to successfully become McMahon's personal assistant,[4] as well as his on-screen mistress. She was frequently shown flirting and 'making out' with him in backstage segments.[21] During her time alongside the boss she lied that the young rookie Randy Orton had forced himself on her, which caused Orton to be punished with a match against the mean veteran Hardcore Holly. A few weeks later she sat at ringside and enjoyed watching the rookie Orton get beaten up some more, this time by Test. She also had a personal ringside view when Triple H was ambushed in a 6 on 1 beatdown by some of McMahon's henchmen. The sadistic Stacy looked on and grinned with pleasure as Triple H was beaten and bloodied in the assault. She also continued her rivalry with Torrie Wilson during this time period, and even tried to throw Torrie off the stage on an episode of SmackDown!, but a referee saved Torrie just in time and stopped Stacy's evil plan from being a success. Her time with McMahon came to an end when Stephanie McMahon became general manager of the SmackDown! brand.[24] Dawn Marie made her debut on SmackDown! as McMahon's legal assistant, who competed with Keibler for McMahon's affections.

A key storyline for Keibler's on-screen character occurred when she left SmackDown! for Raw. Keibler made her official Raw debut on August 12, 2002, and immediately began feuding with the women there. She was given the role of being a special referee on a couple of occasions and used them as opportunities to abuse her power. Stacy liked counting quickly when her fellow bad girls were making pin attempts and counted slowly for the fan favorites. In another role as a special referee, Stacy was put in charge of a match between Test and D'Lo Brown. At the start of the match Stacy slapped D’Lo in the face and hindered his attempts to win the match with slow counts. After D'Lo argued with Stacy about her actions, he was smashed in the face by a big boot from Test, which Stacy thoroughly enjoyed watching. She then made a quick 3 count to help the villain Test win the match. This would begin the on screen pairing between her and Test which would last for the remainder of 2002 and most of 2003. She enjoyed watching him rip apart fan favourites, such as the superhero Hurricane and would also use her deviousness to help him win matches, such as when she delivered a low blow to Goldust.

As Test's on-screen marketing agent, she came up with the idea that Test should call his fans "Testicles," cut his hair, and reshape his image.[25][26] This caused the gimmick to become popular with the audience and the couple switched from being villains into fan favorites in November 2002. This would be Stacy's first time as a babyface in WWE. In the spring of 2003, Test, however, became to verbally abuse Keibler, who also started managing Scott Steiner. After months of build-up, Keibler finally left Test for Steiner on the June 2 edition of Raw.[27] Steiner defeated Test for Keibler's services at Bad Blood, and Keibler seemed happy as Steiner's new manager, as the two alluded to having more than a professional relationship.[28] Test, however, continued to harass Keibler and Steiner until Steiner accepted a rematch with Stacy's services on the line. On the August 18 episode of Raw, Test won the match after faking a leg injury and then blindsiding Steiner with a big boot. A match was then set for Unforgiven with the stipulation that if Test won, he would not only retain Keibler's services,[16] but would acquire Steiner's services as well. During the match, Keibler's interference backfired, and Test won the match.[29] Steiner then turned heel by attacking Keibler after her interference in his match on the September 29 episode of Raw backfired.[30] For a time, Test and Steiner worked as a tag team, sharing the services of Keibler as their on-screen sex slave.[16] The storyline finally ended on the December 1 episode of Raw, when general manager Mick Foley freed Keibler from her obligatory contracts with Test and Steiner by temporarily firing them.[31]

Keibler was chosen to record a track on the album WWE Originals. She and WWE music producer Jim Johnston recorded the song "Why Can't We Just Dance?" for the album.[32] She was then placed in a feud involving Torrie Wilson and then-babyface, Sable, both of whom had recently posed for a Playboy cover. Keibler aligned with Miss Jackie, neither of whom had posed for the magazine, claiming that they deserved to be in Playboy over Sable and Wilson. Keibler and Jackie challenged Sable and Wilson to a Tag Team Evening Gown match at WrestleMania XX, which they lost when Jackie was pinned by Wilson, and the feud was dropped afterward. Before the feud was dropped, all the performers were playing face characters at the time.[33]

Keibler wrestling Trish Stratus during a house show in October 2004

She took over the 2004 Raw Diva Search for a few weeks, which led to several tag matches against the heel gimmicks of Gail Kim, Trish Stratus, and Molly Holly and with partners Nidia and the face gimmick of Victoria.[7] Keibler got upset victories over Kim, Stratus, and Holly.[7] She earned a Women's Championship title match on October 11, 2004, but she was defeated by Stratus, who retained the title.[7][34] Keibler also competed in the first-ever Fulfill your Fantasy Diva Battle Royal for the WWE Women's Championship at Taboo Tuesday along with Victoria, Nidia, Gail Kim, Molly Holly, Jazz, and then-champion Stratus.[33] She was eliminated second to last after jumping over the top rope to avoid hitting the turnbuckle, followed by Holly knocking her off the apron to eliminate her.[33]

In February 2005, Keibler began appearing in backstage segments with then-babyface, Randy Orton, and eventually became his on-screen girlfriend.[35] When Orton challenged The Undertaker to a match at WrestleMania 21, Orton ended the relationship by hitting Stacy with an RKO, incapacitating her. He justified it by claiming he was demonstrating how ruthless he could be in order to defeat The Undertaker.[36]

Keibler dressed as "Super Stacy" in 2005

Keibler then joined forces with The Hurricane and Rosey.[8] She became one-third of the trio as a superhero sidekick nicknamed Super Stacy, complete with her own superhero costume.[1] She was ringside during several matches as they defended their World Tag Team Championship.[7] During this time, Keibler feuded on-screen with then-heel, Victoria, including confrontations and a mixed-tag-team match on Raw and a singles match on Heat.[7][37]

After a long tenure on Monday nights, Keibler and Christy Hemme, were moved to SmackDown! on August 25, as part of a trade that brought Torrie Wilson and Candice Michelle to Raw.[38] On SmackDown! Keibler participated in lingerie matches and bikini contests.[7] After a short absence, Keibler began a short feud with Jillian Hall, which led to the two having a match on Velocity, which Keibler lost.[7] This would be Keibler's final match with WWE.[39] Keibler then asked for time off to appear on Dancing with the Stars.[40] During this time, Keibler's WWE.com profile was moved from SmackDown! to RAW, though she never made an appearance on the brand before leaving the company. Keibler's final mention on WWE programming occurred on the March 6, 2006 episode of RAW, where she was insulted by Candice Michelle for placing third on Dancing with the Stars during Michelle's unveiling of her Playboy magazine cover. After completing her stint on Dancing with the Stars, Keibler officially parted ways with WWE in July 2006 to move on to other endeavors.

After leaving WWE in July 2006, Keibler made a special guest appearance for WWE's reality show, Tough Enough in 2011. Being a former NFL Cheerleader, she helped prepare the contestants to perform publicly in Universal Studios.

On April 6, 2019, Keibler made a surprise return to induct Torrie Wilson into the WWE Hall of Fame. In 2021, WWE Network listed Keibler as one of the women who made an impact in WWE outside the ring.[41] On March 15, 2023, Keibler was reported to be entering the WWE Hall of Fame, being confirmed on March 27, 2023.[42] She was inducted by both Mick Foley and Torrie Wilson at the official ceremony ahead of WrestleMania 39, appearing with fellow inductees on-stage during the second night of the event.[43]