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1[[quoteright:285:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/002_5.jpg]]
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3Terri Lynne Boatright Runnels (born October 5, 1966) is a retired {{professional wrestling}} manager, and occasional professional wrestler. Runnels began her professional wrestling career in [[Wrestling/{{WCW}} World Championship Wrestling]] (WCW), where she did makeup for the wrestlers until booker Ole Anderson eventually asked her to become part of the roster as a manager. Runnels debuted in 1990 as Alexandra York, a laptop-carrying accountant who was the manager of The York Foundation, a group of wrestlers with finance-themed gimmicks.
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5She later joined the [[Wrestling/{{WWE}} WWF]], debuting at the ''Wrestling/RoyalRumble 1996'' as Marlena, [[TheGimmick a gimmick]] modeled after Creator/MarleneDietrich; the coolly, cigar-smoking, seductive, nonchalant and mysterious manager of her then real-life husband Wrestling/{{Goldust}}. The Marlena gimmick would disappear in the aftermath of Goldust's feud with Wrestling/BrianPillman, which was cut short after Pillman's death in the middle of the storyline. Runnels later re-emerged in 1998 under her real name, where she would form the Pretty Mean Sisters alliance, had both The [[Wrestling/MattHardy Hardy]] [[Wrestling/JeffHardy Boyz]] and Wrestling/{{Edge|Wrestler}} and Wrestling/{{Christian}} vying for her services in the Terri Invitational Tournament, had a feud with [[Wrestling/StacyCarter The Kat]], managed The Radicalz stable, and worked as a host and interviewer. During her time with the WWF/E, she briefly held the Hardcore Championship, her only championship during her career.
6----
7!!"She-Devil Tropes":
8* AbortedArc: The storyline with her as Wrestling/BrianPillman's valet in September 1997 was supposed to have led to her going heel on Goldust and join Pillman on her own volition, but [[RealLifeWritesThePlot Pillman's death]] cancelled those plans. Instead, she was PutOnABus of her own accord so she could focus on taking care of her and Dustin's daughter, Dakota.
9* AllWomenAreLustful: Her advice column in ''Raw Magazine'' was titled "Raw Sex."
10* AmbiguouslyGay: ''Very'' slightly alluded to when she first debuted as Goldust's valet - mostly through her smoking cigars. WWF booking wanted to put her in an ambiguously-lesbian angle with Wrestling/{{Sable}}, but Sable refused to do the angle and so the ambiguously gay aspect of Marlena's gimmick was quietly dropped. Ironically, when Sable returned to WWE in 2003, the first thing she did was kiss Wrestling/TorrieWilson.
11* ArchEnemy:
12** Wrestling/{{Chyna}} at first, because she debuted during the Goldust-HHH feud in February 1997, later the Kat.
13** From 2001 onward Wrestling/MollyHolly and Terri never saw eye-to-eye. First when the Radicalz were feuding with the Holly Cousins. Then in 2002 Molly took exception to Terri flaunting her sexuality and they had a few matches. Terri was also on the receiving end of a very nasty KickTheDog moment from Molly and Wrestling/GailKim - where they forced her to compete in a match, double teamed her and forcibly stripped her.
14* AskAStupidQuestion: And Wrestling/TheUndertaker will ask you, "What's your point?," as he did on the July 1, 2002 ''Raw'', when Terri asked him if he was concerned going into his ladder match with Wrestling/JeffHardy that night since he'd never been in one before.
15* BadBoss: To Meat during the [=PMS=] run. If he lost a match, she would pour ice water in his trunks.
16* BattleCouple: Subverted. She was supposed to wrestle alongside her boyfriend Perry Saturn in a mixed tag match. But she claimed she had forgotten her wrestling boots and took herself out of the match.
17* BodyPaint: In the 2001 Divas Magazine and the ''Divas in Hedonism'' DVD.
18* BreatherEpisode: Her "Thong [[AssKicksYou Stinkface]] Match" vs. the Kat at ''Wrestling/{{SummerSlam}} 2000'' was this. The match came right after the big TLC match between [[Wrestling/MattHardy the]] [[Wrestling/JeffHardy Hardys]], Wrestling/{{Edge|Wrestler}}[=/=]Wrestling/{{Christian}} and Wrestling/TheDudleyBoys, and was a chance for the announcers and the audience to catch their collective breath. After a match filled with all kinds of stunning, groundbreaking, exciting and innovative action, it was necessary to slow down the pace by putting on a match that, well, wasn't.
19* TheBusCameBack: In September 1998 for the Val Venis feud.
20* ByTheHair: Her go-to strategy if she was ever in a match.
21* CatFight: She and The Kat were in a sanctioned one at [=WrestleMania=] but that was hardly the only time.
22* CombatStilettos: In the Thong Stinkface Match, Terri and The Kat wrestled in go-go boots. Wrestling/{{Ivory}} also said in a shoot interview that Terri went to Kuwait to visit the troops and was able to walk over the rocky terrain in three-inch heels.
23* DoesNotLikeMen: As part of the '''P'''retty '''M'''ean '''S'''isters.
24* FakePregnancy: She tried to fake a pregnancy when she was with Val Venis. This backfired when Val revealed he'd had a vasectomy - meaning that Terri was either lying or had cheated on him.
25* GirlyGirl: Described herself this way in an installment of her "Raw Sex" advice column in ''Raw Magazine''.
26* HandOrObjectUnderwear: To introduce her [[FunWithAcronyms "Terri Invitational Tournament"]] (see SkirtsAndLadders below), she did a promo where she was sitting on a couch naked with money covering her. She did this regularly in her photo shoots.
27* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: 2002 especially where she would be a face interviewer, but still played a heel at some points.
28* HollywoodHomely: InUniverse. Alexandra York was supposed to be a frump, and she wore bulky suits and glasses. However, it was always clear that she was very attractive underneath it all.
29* HugeGuyTinyGirl: She's 5' even, Goldust is 6'6".
30* IHaveBoobsYouMustObey: Played straight, later averted:
31** '''Straight:''' On the premiere episode of ''[[{{BShow}} Shotgun Saturday Night]]'', January 4, 1997, Wrestling/{{Goldust}} (w/Marlena) faced [[Wrestling/{{Rikishi}} The Sultan (Rikishi)]] (w/[[Wrestling/BobBacklund Mr. Bob Backlund]]). At one point, the Sultan had Goldust trapped in the [[FinishingMove camel clutch]]. Marlena got up on the apron and, with her back to the camera, lowered the top of her dress (though she was wearing a paste-on bra), causing [=Backlund=] to [[BerserkButton freak out]] and attempt to cover the Sultan's eyes. Goldust ultimately won by countout, and Marlena was jokingly announced as the "winner."
32** '''Averted:''': Was the manager for the Radicals (Wrestling/DeanMalenko and Wrestling/PerrySaturn) in early 2001. Saturn had faced Mike Bell on the May 12 (taped May 7), 2001 episode of ''[[{{BShow}} Jakked]]'' in a match where Saturn got dropped on his head and retaliated by stiffing the heck out of Bell, leading to him being PutOnABus for a few weeks. On the May 21 episode of ''[=Raw=]'', Terri entered [[Wrestling/RonSimmons the]] [[Wrestling/JohnBradshawLayfield APA]]'s office and attempted to distract them by [[SexySoakedShirt pouring their beer on her white shirt]]. Later, the APA faced Saturn and Malenko (w[=/=]Terri, who had changed to a robe) in a match where, as Saturn's punishment for stiffing Bell, the APA beat the heck out of him, with Bradshaw [[NoSell No-Selling]] Terri flashing him. This led to Saturn's [[TheGimmick gimmick]] of saying goofy things that always ended with him saying [[CatchPhrase "You're welcome!"]] and carrying around a [[CompanionCube mop he called "Moppy."]]
33* ImprobableWeaponUser: As Alexandra York in The York Foundation, her laptop computer.
34* LingerieScene: The ''Divas Undressed'' photoshoot.
35* MadonnaWhoreComplex: Whenever she was pit against Molly Holly - who was the TokenWholesome of the division. In 2001 Molly was the heroic Madonna against Terri's villainous Whore - and then the other way around in 2002.
36* MaleGaze: Like a lot of the women of her era, she got a lot of attention for her breasts and her butt.
37* MsFanservice: Occasionally wrestled, but that really wasn't her job. After Val Venis defeated Marc Mero by DQ on the September 13 (taped September 1), 1998 ''[[{{BShow}} WWF Sunday Night Heat]]'', Jackie attacked her, prompting Wrestling/JimRoss to say, "She's a showhorse, not a workhorse."
38* NippleAndDimed: Ivory pulled her shirt off on the April 5, 1999 ''Raw'', and she wasn't wearing a bra, but she was face down on the mat before anything could be seen. Then the Undertaker made his way out and completely changed the subject.
39** Often subverted otherwise, since she is famous for pokies.
40*** FreezeFrameBonus: Her left nipple is visible in her open shirt at the start of her segment on the 2001 ''Divas in Hedonism'' DVD, making this an aversion.
41* OlderThanTheyLook: Take a look at her pictures on her [[https://twitter.com/theterrirunnels Twitter account]] or [[http://www.theterrirunnels.com/Photography.html her website]]. She still looks gorgeous at nearly 50 years old.
42* {{Pixellation}}: When she "flashed" The Sultan, and so that the paste-on bra she was wearing wouldn't be shown on camera.
43* PowerStable:
44** (in WCW): The York Foundation.
45** (in WWF): The Radicals and The Alliance
46* PowerTrio: The Pretty Mean Sisters with Wrestling/{{Jacqueline}} and Ryan Shamrock. Despite not liking men it became a quartet when they got a sex slave they called Meat (Shawn Stasiak).
47* RedBaron: "The Horny Little She-Devil".
48* SexySoakedShirt: Along with the example above, some during photoshoots. She was ''supposed'' to have a Wet T-shirt contest against Trish on the January 7, 2002 ''Raw,'' with Lawler "officiating" of course, but [[Wrestling/CarleneMoore Jazz]] ran in and beat up Trish instead.
49* ShoutOut: The name "Marlena" was a tribute to Creator/MarleneDietrich as part of her and Goldust's salute to the androgynous stars of classic Hollywood.
50* SkirtsAndLadders: The finals of her "Terri Invitational Tournament", where the winning team got $100,000 and Terri's managerial services, between [[Wrestling/MattHardy the]] [[Wrestling/JeffHardy Hardys]] and Wrestling/{{Edge|Wrestler}}[=/=]Wrestling/{{Christian}} was a ladder match at ''Wrestling/NoMercy 1999''. To promote it, she did a promo where she was climbing a ladder while wearing a skirt, complete with Lawler looking up, though, uncharacteristically, nothing was actually shown. The fact that her top was almost open likely had something to do with it.
51* SmokingIsGlamorous: As Marlena, though she used a cigar rather than a cigarette.
52* TarAndFeathers: On September 2, 2002, she faced Wrestling/StacyKeibler on ''[=Raw=]'' in the first-ever Lingerie Pillow Fight. Although Terri won, Stacy got revenge on her by KO-ing her with a giant alarm clock and then coating her in some sort of dark goo and pillow feathers.
53* TheThreeFacesOfEve: She was the Seductress to Jacqueline's Wife and Ryan Shamrock's Child.
54* TookALevelInBadass: Terri found herself getting into the ring a lot more in 2002. In a match against Molly Holly, she even pulled off a Frankensteiner.
55* TookALevelInKindness: For the first part of her career, she was a {{Troll}}ing mean girl. After the Invasion was over, she became a backstage interviewer and was considerably kinder to her fellow stars. Additionally she played the face in her matches from then on.
56* TrashTalk: On the January 6 (taped January 3), 2002 ''Sunday Night Heat,'' ran down Trish Stratus, saying how, when Trish arrived in WWE, everyone was saying that she was doing a "Terri Runnels she-devil gimmick," adding that she has better legs than Trish does and, "I even think I spent more money on my boob job than Trish." Terri finished by throwing to the premiere of Music/RobZombie's "Never Gonna Stop (The Red Red Kroovy)" video,[[note]]Which included clips of Wrestling/{{Edge|Wrestler}}, as this was his new theme song at the time[[/note]] saying that she's never gonna stop being better than Trish.
57* TropeNamers: InUniverse: While a member of [=PMS=], introduced the word "Diva" into WWE's lexicon, though she rarely gets the credit for it. (She wasn't even nominated for "Diva of the Decade" at the ''Raw X'' special in January 2003). She apparently hated the term.
58* TruthInTelevision: On the 2001 ''Divas in Hedonism'' DVD, she talked about her love of the then-WWF, saying that it has become "this business." This DVD was released in July 2001, following the demises of WCW and Wrestling/{{ECW}}, leaving the WWF as the one major promotion in the U.S.
59* {{Underboobs}}: Had a tendency for wearing half-shirts.
60* UnnecessaryRoughness: Sometimes in PMS Terri would burn their opponents with a lit cigarette.
61* VaporWear: Invoked. She would often try to make it appear like she was GoingCommando, but she just wore flesh-coloured underwear.
62* WalkingSwimsuitScene: MANY Divas photoshoots. She also competed in plenty of bikini contests.
63* WrestlingFamily: Ex-wife to [[Wrestling/{{Goldust}} Dustin "Goldust" Runnels]].

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