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2004-2005 Lita competed in the Women's division throughout early 2004, winning a battle royal to become the number one contender for the Women's Championship on the April 5 episode of Raw. Victoria defeated Lita to retain the Women's Championship at Backlash on April 18. The next night on Raw, Lita was reunited with Matt Hardy when Hardy attacked Kane in an attempt to prevent him from harming Lita, beginning a new storyline involving the trio. In the following weeks, Kane began repeatedly assaulting Hardy and attempting to seduce Lita. During the course of the storyline, he kidnapped Lita and held her tied up backstage, and he persuaded Eric Bischoff to give her a title shot at Bad Blood on June 13. The next night on Raw, Lita revealed that she was pregnant. One week later, it appeared that Hardy was going to propose to Lita, but he was interrupted by Kane, who claimed to be the father of Lita's child, as Lita had slept with Kane to persuade him to stop attacking Hardy. Two months later, it was revealed that Kane was, in fact, the father. Hardy and Kane feuded for several months, culminating in a "Till Death Do Us Part" match on August 15 at SummerSlam, with the stipulation that Lita would be obliged to marry Kane should Hardy lose. Kane won the match, leading to he and a reluctant Lita marrying one another on the August 23, 2004 episode of Raw. Despite being married to Kane, Lita harried him during his matches, constantly aiding his opponents. On the September 13 episode of Raw, Lita miscarried after Gene Snitsky struck Kane with a chair, resulting in him falling on Lita. The miscarriage led to Lita and Kane joining forces in order to take revenge on Snitsky. With the pregnancy storyline over, Lita returned to the women's division in November 2004. She began a feud with Trish Stratus after Stratus called Lita "chubby" because of her pregnancy weight gain. Lita challenged Stratus to a Women's Championship match at Survivor Series, however, due to the months of humiliation and being verbally berated by Stratus, Lita was more concerned with doing as much damage as possible, leading to her disqualification. The feud continued, and on December 6, Lita was booked to defeat Stratus in the main event of Raw to win her second WWE Women's Championship. During the course of the match, Lita botched a suicide dive to the outside when she over rotated by a fraction, barely escaping serious injury. This move was later used in the build up to the title rematch she was booked for at New Year's Revolution against Stratus, who claimed, "You had to practically kill yourself to take the title from me". She defeated Lita, ending her second reign as Women's Champion on January 9, 2005 at New Year's Revolution. In the course of the match, Lita tore her left ACL after executing a Thesz press off the ring apron. Edge and Lita in July 2005Lita returned to WWE television in March 2005, mentoring Christy Hemme, who was in the midst of a storyline with Stratus that featured a title match between them at WrestleMania 21. Despite Lita's coaching, Hemme was defeated by Stratus. Lita continued to feud with Stratus by proxy over the following weeks, with Kane defeating Stratus' companion, Viscera, at Backlash on May 1. The relationship between Lita and Kane lasted until the May 16 episode of Raw, when Lita took on a villainous role by betraying Kane, helping Edge defeat him in the finals of the Raw Gold Rush Tournament. On the May 30 episode of Raw, Lita announced that she had filed for divorce, and said things such as Kane was like a 4th grader in the bedroom. Also, that she wouldn't have to deal with things such as his sweaty body, the "stupid little" laugh he does, and the wedding ring flushing it down a toilet. She then attempted to marry Edge on the June 20 episode of Raw, but the marriage ceremony was interrupted by a vengeful Kane, who emerged from beneath the ring. The storyline with Kane ended shortly thereafter. Off-screen, at this time, Dumas had been involved with Matt Hardy romantically, but began a relationship with Adam Copeland (Edge). WWE then began to use the real-life issues between the three as an on-screen storyline. In April, Hardy was released from WWE, only to be rehired several months later. Lita continued to act as Edge's valet, and Edge defeated Hardy at SummerSlam. On the October 3 episode of Raw, Edge, with the assistance of Lita, defeated Hardy in a ladder match, and Hardy was obligated to leave Raw as a stipulation of the match 2005-2006 After Edge defeated John Cena to win the WWE Championship on January 8 at New Year's Revolution, he announced that he and Lita were going to celebrate by having sex in the middle of the ring the next night on Raw. During the segment, Lita and Edge stripped to their underwear before retreating beneath the covers of a bed that had been erected in the ring. The event was interrupted by Ric Flair, leading to Edge leaving the bed to fight him. Lita, left alone, hastily got dressed again as Cena entered the ring and attacked her, delivering an FU to her. Lita's bare breast was momentarily shown during the segment. This "Live Sex Celebration" segment earned Raw a 5.2 rating, its highest ratings in over a year. On the February 6 episode of Raw, Lita teamed with Edge in a loss to Cena and Maria. She continued to manage Edge into mid-2006, frequently interfering on his behalf during his feud with Mick Foley. In May 2006, Foley joined forces with Edge and Lita, with the trio defeating Foley's ECW rivals Terry Funk, Tommy Dreamer, and Beulah McGillicutty in an impromptu six person tag team match at One Night Stand after Edge speared and pinned Beulah. On the August 14 episode of Raw, Lita was booked to defeat Mickie James by hitting her in the face with the title belt in order to win her third Women's Championship. She also defeated James in their rematch on the August 28 episode of Raw by using the ropes for extra leverage during the pin. Lita and Edge then feuded with Trish Stratus and Carlito, culminating in a bout between Lita and Stratus at Unforgiven, in which Lita dropped the Women's Championship to Stratus in what was Stratus' last WWE match. After defeating both Candice Michelle and Maria in the semifinals of a Women's Championship tournament, Lita, as part of her last push, defeated Mickie James at Cyber Sunday to capture the vacant title and begin her fourth reign as Women's Champion. On the November 20 edition of Raw, after defeating a blind-folded Mickie James in a non-title match, Lita announced that she would be retiring from WWE after her match with James at Survivor Series. Because of the off-screen issues with Matt Hardy, fans began to shout obscenities to her during her matches. By November, Dumas had decided to let her WWE contract expire and retire. At Survivor Series, on November 26, 2006, Lita was pinned by Mickie James, losing the Women's Championship in her final match in WWE. After the match, Cryme Tyme humiliated Lita by selling her "personal items" in a "ho" sale. The day after her retirement, Lita stated that her plans to retire began around mid-2005, when the feud between Edge and Matt Hardy was at its height. Because of her involvement in the feud, the harassment she received from some fans was so strong that she felt as if "even when [she] was walking the dog there was going to be someone yelling 'You screwed Matt!' out the window." Eventually, she became so fed up with the treatment she was receiving from these fans, she decided that the only way to avoid such harassment was to retire altogether 2007 Lita made a special appearance on December 10, 2007 on the Raw 15th anniversary show by teaming up with Trish Stratus to rid the ring of Jillian Hall. Music career After her retirement from wrestling, Dumas moved back to Atlanta, Georgia and began writing songs with her new boyfriend Shane Morton. The two formed the band The Luchagors in the summer of 2006, and they debuted in September 2006 at a rock n' wrestling event called 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 CD, The Luchagors on September 11, 2007. In April 2007, Amy Dumas accepted a job in Atlanta as a radio DJ for a punk show on Sunday nights at 9 p.m. EST called PunkRockalypse. 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. Also in 2001, she appeared with The Hardy Boyz in Rolling Stone magazine's 2001 Sports Hall of Fame issue. Dumas' autobiography, written with Michael Krugman, Lita: A Less Traveled R.O.A.D. – The Reality of Amy Dumas was published in 2003. The book, which was featured on the New York Times bestsellers list, covered topics such as her family, childhood years, wrestling career, relationship with Matt Hardy, and her neck surgery and subsequent rehabilitation. 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. |