Line #79 Wrestling/Madusa


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/46504b610b39538623f59afe3b12256d.jpg]]
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3	Debrah Miceli (born February 9, 1964) is a retired Italian-American [[ProfessionalWrestling pro wrestler]] and valet best known for her work in the 1980s and 1990s as Madusa and (less frequently) Alundra Blayze.
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5	Wrestling/{{WWE}} brought in Madusa sometime in 1994 to revive the Women's Championship. ([[Wrestling/SherriMartel Sherri]] dropped the belt to Rockin' Robin who pretty much disappeared, and the title with her until Miceli showed up as "Alundra"). But she was only around for a year before jumping to {{Wrestling/WCW}}, where she dumped the belt in the trash. In doing so, she became the [[UsefulNotes/TheTrojanWar Helen]] of the Wrestling/MondayNightWars.
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7	Though Wrestling/RicFlair had shown up at WWF with the [[Wrestling/NationalWrestlingAlliance NWA]] belt, that incident was different. Flair and the WWF treated the belt with the reverence it deserved. This was the opposite. It was a public declaration that the old rules no longer apply. (In fact, it's generally believed to have been one of the deciding factors that led to the Wrestling/MontrealScrewjob.)
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9	After she retired from wrestling in 2001, Micelli became a full-time monster truck driver. The WCW had a fleet of monster trucks competing in the '90s and early '00s, and Micelli was the only wrestler to drive their own truck. Because she owned the Madusa name, she continued to drive the truck so after she left the WCW and the other wrestler trucks were all discontinued, and she has competed at events like UsefulNotes/MonsterJam. In 2004, she was part of a three-way tie for the Monster Jam World Finals for freestyle competition.
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11	In 2015, WWE inducted Miceli (under her WWE name) into their Hall of Fame. She actually took the belt out of the trash for her speech. Later that year , she became the commissioner of Wrestling/WorldWonderRingStardom's USA branch, in preparation for its USA tour later that month.
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13	Not to be confused with the mythical {{Medusa}}, or with....well, ''VideoGame/{{Alundra}}.''
14	----
15	!! "These tropes are Made in the U.S.A.":
16	* EightiesHair: Madusa always had loads of hair (unlike Alundra, her sportier alter-ego).
17	* AmbiguouslyBi: The story was that Madusa caught her then-boyfriend Evan Karagias with Melissa Bellin a.k.a. "Spice" (part of the "Nitro Girls" dance team), resulting in a nasty breakup. Spice came out as Evan's valet at ''Starrcade'', but ended up turning on him and becoming friends with Madusa. There were subtle hints of a lesbian relationship between Spice and Madusa, but it never came to be.
18	* AdvertisedExtra:
19	** Her appearances in the WWF had already been less and less before they fired her, the reigning champion, and discontinued the women's division with no kind of fanfare.
20	** Aside from a few guest appearances, the girls (big or otherwise) Did Not Play™ in WCW, so she sat at home for a month... until they inserted her into a [[LoveTriangle romance angle]] between two non-wrestling managers. It wouldn't even be fair to call the women's division a failure, since they [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WCW_Women%27s_Championship never really tried to create one.]] It is notable only for the [[ClumsyCopyrightCensorship lawsuits]] it created. (However, on the ''Nitro'' airing after the historic ''Bash at the Beach'', we got Madusa vs. Malia Hosaka, and it's a pretty good match.)
21	* AllAmericanFace: Her name is a {{Portmanteau}} of "Made in the U.S.A."
22	* AlliterativeName: As '''M'''adusa '''M'''icelli.
23	* AmazonianBeauty: Her big appeal was being a tall, attractive blonde in the ring. What people forget is that 80's Madusa was also RIPPED as hell. Add to that her martial arts skills, and you have a UFC-caliber monster.
24	* ArchEnemy:
25	** Wrestling/LunaVachon. Even when the two did not wrestle each other, Vachon was known for managing other people so she could [[LetsYouAndHimFight direct them]] at Alundra Blayze. Madusa was Vachon's first major enemy when she joined the big leagues. By her later admission, she wasn't ready to work a match with Madusa because she'd mostly worked as a valet and didn't have the cardio fitness needed to keep up with her. It doesn't help that Madusa was just back from a long stretch in Japan, where they take this business '''very''' seriously. Madusa took that opportunity to beat the stuffing out of Vachon and put herself over.
26	** Ed "Oklahoma" Ferrera, a boss heel who became fixated on proving the inferiority of woman wrestlers in WCW. Unlike Paul Heyman, who got decked by Madusa after making sexist remarks about her, Oklahoma actually scored a few victories. The character was universally reviled and viewed as little more than a mouthpiece for Wrestling/VinceRusso and Ferrara to air their dirty laundry.
27	* BadassDriver: Her monster truck career showed that she's quite the force to be reckoned after she became co-champions (alongside ''Max D''[[note]]Then known as ''Maximum Destruction''[[/note]]'s Tom Meents and ''El Toro Loco'''s Lupe Soza) in the freestyle category of UsefulNotes/MonsterJam World Finals in 2004 (the only time a co-champion has been crowned in Monster Jam's history). Then the next year, she won the racing category ''outright'', becoming the first female driver to win a monster truck world championship on her own.
28	* BellyFlopCrushing: She adopted the [[Wrestling/{{Sting}} Stinger Splash]].
29	* TheBusCameBack: She surprised everyone, again, by returning in 1999 as part of Wrestling/RandySavage's Team Madness group. She would go on to become the first woman to hold the WCW Cruiserweight Championship, before retiring in 2001.
30	* CallBack: Her appearance in the 2019 ''[[Wrestling/WWERaw Raw]] Reunion'' had her win the 24/7 Championship and pull out a trash can to dump the title into it... but Wrestling/TedDiBiase appeared and [[BribingYourWayToVictory bought the title from her]] (which in turn was a CallBack to the time he tried to buy the WWE Championship by having Wrestling/AndreTheGiant win the title and then sell it to him) before she could bin it.
31	* CerebusSyndrome: Her interviews after becoming a STARDOM commissioner described STARDOM moving in a more serious direction. Mostly this means stopping the [[PrincessTropes sillier angles]], toning down the whimsical atmosphere and hiring [[RealWomenDontWearDresses fewer models]] as the promotion has the identity of people being [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown beat stupid]] then cleaning up for [[MoodWhiplash photo shoots or costume parties.]]
32	* {{Crossover}}: In 1999 SFX Motorsports began building WCW themed monster trucks. Chad Fortune of The Pit Crew TagTeam was the only other wrestler who drove his own truck but WCW buried him (moreso than Madusa), so he was not as famous.
33	* CurbStompBattle
34	** When Team Madness split, it split hard, and [[Wrestling/MollyHolly Miss Madness]] ended up on the receiving end of a harsh beating from Madusa. Madusa did lose the match but Miss Madness left worse for wear. All of Miss Madness's subsequent attempts to fight Madusa saw Madusa give Miss Madness progressively worse beatings while no selling most of Miss Madness's offense.
35	** Madusa gave plenty to Oklahoma, particularly after he got involved in the cruiserweight title scene, only to see him usually slip away somehow. And he's one of the bookers, imagine that.
36	** She also [[DynamicEntry bum rushed]] Sherri on two separate occasions: once during her drive-thru wedding to Col. Parker (the brawl spilled over into--what else--the buffet table, turning this into a Garbage Wedding Match), and again that following night during an interview with Gene Okerlund (who rabbited). This was surely the most [[https://33.media.tumblr.com/6a90cf1ccc021dfd5b79bbc1d7c8243b/tumblr_nj07z0XYvV1tihmddo1_400.gif one-sided brutal beatdown]] Sherri had ever received. Even the commentators were imploring her to stop. It had to look "real" enough to put Sherri in traction for a year, during which time Martel entered treatment for pill addiction.
37	* DavidVersusGoliath: Madusa was often the Goliath many women and some of the smaller guys were afraid to face and was often cold blooded enough to fit the role but this was reversed when she was pitted against Monster Ripper (or if you watched the WWF, when Alundra Blayze was pitted against Bertha Faye). She was taller than Bull Nakano and Wrestling/AjaKong but they outweighed her by enough margin to make her play David too.
38	* {{Determinator}}: Her nose being broken four times in Zenjo lead to her being awarded the most inspirational wrestler award in 1990.
39	* TheDogBitesBack: At ''WCW Halloween Havoc 92'', October 25, 1992, [[Wrestling/{{Vader}} Big Van Vader]] (w/manager Wrestling/HarleyRace) defended the U.S. Heavyweight Title against what remained of The Dangerous Alliance. After the match, [[Wrestling/PaulHeyman Paul E.]] kicked Madusa out of the Alliance, saying that he only hired her "because the other hooker had prior engagements." Madusa, of course, took some exception to that. This is made funnier by Vader and Harley seeing the rage in Madusa's eyes and "noping" out of there. (Vader, who had just retired "Russian Nightmare" Wrestling/NikitaKoloff, would go on to become the company's resident ''[[WrestlingMonster monster heel]]'', and Race is an eight-time NWA World Champion.)
40	* DownerEnding: In her mid-90s WCW run and feud with Akira Hokuto, a title vs career match was booked. Madusa lost, Hokuto took the WCW Women's Title back to Japan with her, and that was the end of WCW's Women's division. To make it worse, after the match they showed her in the back having her leg looked over by the medics, and commentator Wrestling/TonySchiavone said roughly "the division's dead, how does [her injury] matter anymore"
41	* EasyComeEasyGo: Shockingly won the IWA Women's title (Canadian/Japanese version) from Chigusa Nagayo only to lose it back in a day.
42	* TheFace: Before Madusa debuted, there had been exactly one women's match: a fantastic tag team match of four women from Wrestling/AllJapanWomensProWrestling. In 1993, she debuted as Blayze, bringing with her AJW vets like Wrestling/BullNakano. She would hold the WWF Women's Title three times, but when the company's fortunes started to go south, Miceli was released.
43	* FashionableAsymmetry: In the AWA, she would wear a leotard that only had one legging.
44	* FemmeFatale: When it comes to her actual career, probably her best remembered role was part of The Dangerous Alliance, where her role as "Director of Covert Operations" involved things like walking out dressed like a [[BedlahBabe harem girl]] at ''Clash of the Champions XVII'' to seduce WCW United States Champion Wrestling/{{Sting}} to distract him so that Wrestling/LexLuger could clip Sting's knee, en route to Dangerous Alliance Wrestling/RickRude facing (and beating) Sting for the title.
45	* FireForgedFriends: When Bull Nakano appeared unannounced before the final match of the 2015 5*Star Grand Prix to have one last stare down with her old rival, Madusa was elated to see her.
46	* FiveMovesOfDoom: She had a lot of moves but when she had taken a beating and was teasing a comeback Alundra Blayze's would usually be kip out, three flashbacks/flying mat slams, missile drop kick, German suplex.
47	* ForeignWrestlingHeel: Played that role in Zenjo. Averted in STARDOM, where Oedo~tai does go out of its way to undermine her, but [[NonIndicativeName in spite of its name]] it is a [[EqualOpportunityEvil cosmopolitan group]] and Madusa is the face by default in this scenario just by ''trying'' to be an impartial authority.
48	** During the dying days of the AWA, she turned heel, and then took on the gimmick of a [[WrestlingDoesntPay fashion model]], and making sure to emphasize she was born in Milan, Italy.
49	* FriendToAllLivingThings: She has her own grooming/pet spa/doggy bakery in Lecanto, Florida called [=Koolkats and Hotdogs=].
50	* FunnyAfro: Revealed that she had one prior to her wrestling career.
51	* GirlishPigtails: Near the end of her WCW career, she began putting blue and/or red highlights in her hair, tying them into oversized pigtails like a pair of pom-poms.
52	* HeroicSecondWind: Usually after someone attempted a lateral press on her without hooking the leg. She would back bridge out of the pinfall and go back on the offensive.
53	* HumiliatingWager
54	** Madusa and Wrestling/EddieGilbert defeated Luna Vachon and [[Wrestling/MickFoley Cactus Jack]] in a tag team hair versus hair match.
55	** At ''WCW Hog Wild'', Bull Nakano put her motorcycle on the line in a match against Madusa. Madusa destroyed it after winning.
56	* IKnowKarate: Before signing with All Japan Women's Wrestling, she took up training in Muay Thai, boxing and kickboxing. The result? When she got tired or frustrated with wrestling she could really lay down an ass kicking.
57	* ImmigrantPatriotism: Several times the Italian native was called on to represent USA against Japan, Canada or just in general while in Japan.
58	* ImpersonationGambit: Not her, but {{Jobber}} Mike Thor at ''WCW Clash of the Champions XXI.'' She was scheduled to face Paul E. (w/Michael Hayes) in a "Battle of the Sexes" Exhibition Match. Before the match, Thor ran in dressed as her with his face disguised. Paul smashed the phone over "her" head, which was considered pretty shocking right there, until Paul and Hayes discovered it was Thor. Madusa herself then showed up to beat up Paul, including [[NoSell no-selling]] his one move, a flying axhandle, hitting a missile dropkick and ripping his pants off until the 5-minute time limit expired. Doubles as a downplayed UriahGambit, since Thor had to get clobbered in order for the plan to work.
59	* InsigniaRipOffRitual: One way to see her tossing away the WWF women's title belt, which signaled the death of the WWF women's division (and with it the decline of women's wrestling in the United States) in a big way, which gave WWF a pretext for scattering it to the winds. In 2015, she tweeted [[https://40.media.tumblr.com/e515309e1bab5c2af8233ce46f99c986/tumblr_nkltbvlRD91qlhou3o1_540.jpg proof]] that she didn't actually throw away the belt.
60	* InsultBackfire: When called out by "The Fallen Flower" Kikyo, Madusa ended her rebuke with "bitch got balls". Kikyo interpreted that as her [[BuxomBeautyStandard being more woman than Madusa.]]
61	* MurderousThighs: Applying her powerful knee to an opponent's face, threatening to squash it like a grape on the mat. It's not strictly legal, not that the referees cared much. (At best, the ref gently taps the knee with a "naughty, naughty" gesture.)
62	* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Wrestling/{{Meng}} defeated her in the tournament for the vacant [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wcw/wcw-h.html WCW World Heavyweight Title]] on the October 25, 1999 ''Nitro.'' The "Nice Job Breaking It, Hero!" comes in that Meng had decided to resort to mostly just roar at her until she actually attacked him with a missile dropkick. Then he flipped out and put her in the Tongan Deathgrip.
63	* OhNoNotAgain: Madusa's reaction to seeing Sherri turn up in WCW.
64	* {{Omniglot}}: She speaks Japanese and recorded a music CD in the language.
65	* TheParagonAlwaysRebels: The on screen story was that she revived the WWF's women's division only to later destroy it. Off camera, the end of the division was not her fault at all, [=McMahon=] wanted to cut costs and decided the women would get the ax, Bischoff wanted to taunt [=McMahon=] and Madusa was too good an opportunity to pass up. Nonetheless, Madusa was long associated with title belts and garbage bins.
66	* PerkyFemaleMinion
67	** She replaced rival Sherri Martel as "Mr. Magnificent" Kevin Kelly's manager in the AWA. At that time Madusa also managed the AWA World Heavyweight Champion Curt Hennig. Randy Savage brought her out of "retirement" to be part of Team Madness with Gorgeous George and Miss Madness/Mona.
68	** Madusa would eventually get her own perky female minion in Nitro Girl Spice.
69	* PinkMeansFeminine: Madusa the wrestler wears Red, White and Blue. Madusa the monster truck driven by Madusa the wrestler was painted pastel pink in 2011, though it was repainted red, white and blue after Brianna Mahon served as a substitute driver.
70	* PowerStable:
71	** In the AWA: [[Wrestling/DiamondDallasPage The Diamond Exchange]]
72	** In WCW: Wrestling/TheDangerousAlliance w/Paul E. Dangerously, Wrestling/RickRude, Steve Austin, Wrestling/BarryWindham, Larry Zybysko, and Bobby Eaton(who left with Wrestling/ArnAnderson); and Team Madness w/ Randy Savage, Miss Madness, Gorgeous George([[GorgeousGeorge not]] that [[Wrestling/GeorgeWagner one]]), and Sid Vicious.
73	** On the independent circuits, Deuce's Alliance with Shotzi Blackheart, Wrestling/CheerleaderMelissa and a mystery wrestler (Willow Nightingale).
74	* PretenderDiss: She's said in the past that likes getting into character and cutting social media "promos". She has feuded with Wrestling/{{Paige}} on Twitter once (Paige has stated that her moveset is very much inspired by Bull Nakano), and Madusa got a lot of flak from fans of Wrestling/AJLee for proclaiming the belt was hers because she never lost it (erm...), and challenging AJ come and face her for the right to wear it. All because WWE did a photoshoot of AJ with the classic belt design. In normal situations, the IWC would recognize when they're getting worked, but with Madusa the backlash should have been expected.
75	* PrecisionFStrike: At ''WCW Halloween Havoc 99'', the beginning of the first Wrestling/VinceRusso regime, she walked out in a bikini to shill the new WCW cologne. She said "This is BULLSHIT!", poured it on Wrestling/BobbyHeenan and left.
76	* ReluctantFanserviceGirl:
77	** In the AWA she had a [[WrestlingDoesntPay runway model gimmick]], but her job was to model ''clothes'', not her body. She did pose for Playboy, but that was just for money, and even if it it wasn't, it would still be about what's comfortable in what ''time'' and ''place''.
78	** In WCW, Madusa would prefer to be in matches rather than bikini contests, and became visibly annoyed if she had to compete in the latter. Didn't stop commentators of being happy to see her in such contests if the occasion arose. One example is ''Beach Blast 1992'' when she faced Missy Hyatt in a bikini contest. Despite Hyatt being the opposite to Madusa and being a ShamelessFanserviceGirl, while Madusa did everything she can to cover herself during the contest (from wearing chaps in one instance and a bulgy leather jacket in another), Missy only won narrowly, as host Wrestling/JesseVentura clearly enjoyed the sight of both women the same. The contest even ended with Ventura going after ''Madusa'' after Madusa left, much to Missy's chagrin.
79	** Averted during her run in Wrestling/TheDangerousAlliance, where, as the "Director of Covert Operations", she walked out dressed like a [[BedlahBabe harem girl]] at ''Clash of the Champions XVII'' to seduce United States Champion Wrestling/{{Sting}}, distracting him so that WCW World Heavyweight Champion Wrestling/LexLuger (with whom Sting was feuding at the time) could clip Sting's knee before his match with Dangerous Alliance member Wrestling/RickRude, who would go on to defeat Sting for the title. Also averted during her later WCW run, where she was more than willing to seduce Evan Karagias for her own convenience.
80	* RetiredBadass: After Bull Nakano directed Kikyo Nakamura, Kris Wolf and Dynamite Didi's [[KickTheDog unprovoked attack]] on Cheerleader Melissa at RISE, Madusa [[ChairmanOfTheBrawl grabbed a chair]] to [[TheCavalry stop them from doing the same]] to Shotzi Blackheart. She and Melissa then took Blackheart under their wings.
81	* RingOldies: Born in Milan, she began wrestling for the [[Wrestling/AmericanWrestlingAssociation AWA]] in the mid-eighties under an runway model gimmick. She worked in every major US promotion in her time and held women's belts in all of them. She was the first woman to achieve cross over success in Japan (facing off with Asian legends like Chigusa Nagayo and Wrestling/AjaKong) and introduced American audiences to several Japanese female stars. She had ongoing feuds with women who have already been inducted like Sherri Martel and Wendi Richter. She was part of the Dangerous Alliance with a young Wrestling/SteveAustin and Wrestling/PaulHeyman, and had her own small but significant moment in the Monday Night Wars when she unveiled the WWF belt on ''WCW Nitro''. She even managed Wrestling/CurtHennig and Wrestling/DiamondDallasPage. In 1988, ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' named her "Rookie of the Year," ahead of Wrestling/ChrisBenoit, Maxx Payne and Wrestling/ScottSteiner. So yeah, she had clout.
82	* TheRival
83	** Sherri Martel was Madusa's first big one, and they faced each other in a few promotions.
84	** Madusa also faced Bull Nakano under a few different banners. In the RISE promotion Nakano put together a new version of Gokumon-to and Madusa in turn started Deuce's Alliance to oppose them.
85	** Missy Hyatt after Paul E. Dangerously fired her from the Dangerous Alliance.
86	* SignatureMove:
87	** When whipped into the ropes, she would often do a handspring over the top rope to the apron, similar to Wrestling/RicFlair.
88	** She would slide out of a lateral press pinfall attempt by doing a back bridge.
89	** Madusa would attempt moonsaults while driving Madusa. Moreso than she would in matches, where handstands and rolls were usually the flippiest things she did.
90	* StatuesqueStunner: She's 5'10", which is tall enough to do the top rope headscissor pull off Wrestling/TrishStratus became known for ''without'' putting her hands on the bottom ropes for aid.
91	* SuplexFinisher: She used the ''German'' Suplex despite being an Italian native and an all-American face.
92	* TournamentArc
93	** Madusa won a tournament for the vacant AWA Women's Championship, defeating Candi Devine
94	** Alundra Blayze won a tournament for the vacant WWF Women's Championship, pinning Heidi Lee Morgan.
95	* UnnecessaryCombatRoll: Especially in her last ''Survivor Series'' match.
96	* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: A lot of people suspect that Madusa taking the WWF Women's Championship belt to WCW and throwing it in the bin made Wrestling/VinceMcMahon so paranoid about the possibility of Wrestling/BretHart doing the same thing with the WWF Championship that he resorted to the Wrestling/MontrealScrewjob to prevent even the ''possibility'' of it happening again.
97	* UrExample
98	** First American wrestler to sign with All Japan Women's Pro Wrestling (but ''far'' from the first American to wrestle there, as they had been relying on {{foreign wrestling heel}}s for the first ten years of their existence, back in the 1960s)
99	** Madusa was the first monster truck driven by a woman to win a world championship.
100	* TheVamp: Distracted Sting to set up Wrestling/LexLuger attacking him.
101	* WhamLine: ''"Now, this is where big'' '''GIRLS''' ''play!"'' {{mic drop}}

Context Wrestling / Madusa