5 WWE women whose real-life partners got them into wrestling
A few former and current female WWE Superstars got into the wrestling business because of their real-life partners.
Many female competitors have made history in WWE over the past few decades. Some have already reserved their place in the Hall of Fame, like Trish Stratus, Lita, and Torrie Wilson. Several others will also join them in the Hall of Fame in the coming years.
While some of the former and current female superstars were wrestling fans growing up and dreamt of becoming WWE Superstars, others were not. However, their real-life partners were the ones who introduced them to the business and helped them get into it.
Here are five WWE women whose partners got them into wrestling.
#5. The Kat
Several years before making her professional wrestling debut, The Kat (AKA Stacy Carter) started dating WWE Hall of Famer Jerry Lawler. They lived together for nearly nine years before tying the knot in 2000. However, their marriage lasted only three years before the couple divorced.
Lawler was the one who got The Kat into the wrestling industry. She kicked off her career working for Lawler's United States Wrestling Association before making her in-ring debut in 1998 at a Power Pro Wrestling event.
In an interview with Wrestling Epicenter, The Kat disclosed that she pursued a wrestling career only because she was with Lawler back then.
"Yeah, absolutely [because I was with Lawler]. He had been doing wrestling years and years before I ever even met him. We were together for probably six years before he literally picked me up and threw me out onto the show," she said.
The Kat officially joined Vince McMahon's company as a competitor in 1999. In Lawler's autobiography "It's Good to be The King-- Sometimes," the Hall of Famer disclosed that he was the one who got his partner into WWE.
"I never even thought about involving Stacy in the WWE until all the Divas stuff started. In 1996-1997 the girl thing was busting open and started to get really hot. We were in a little rut in Memphis. It was very difficult to get any female talent down there but I thought it would be good to have a pretty face on the show in some capacity. I didn't have to look too far from home to find one of those," he wrote in his book.
The Kat spent only two years in Vince McMahon's company, during which she won the Women's Championship once. WWE then released her from her contract in 2001.
The former Women's Champion retired from professional wrestling in 2001 and became a real estate broker. However, she briefly returned to the squared circle between 2010 and 2011, competing in four matches on the independent circuit.
#4. Sable
Growing up, Sable never thought about becoming a professional wrestler. Instead, she wanted to become a singer or a model. However, her marriage to former WWE Superstar Marc Mero led her to pursue a wrestling career.
In an interview with the It's My House Podcast, the former Intercontinental Champion disclosed that he demanded that Sable travels with him everywhere to accept WWE's offer in 1996.
"He [Vince McMahon] said to me, 'What is it going to take to get you here?' and I said , 'Vince, this is what I want' and I laid it out. I said I wanted a guaranteed contract, with at least a $50,000 bump every year and a big signing bonus and I want my ex-wife Sable to travel with me wherever I go and he agreed to those terms," he said.
During his appearance on The Steve Austin Show, Mero also revealed that Vince McMahon decided to hire Sable instantly after seeing her at one of their meetings.
"We fly in, and we walk into Vince's office, and he sees her. He goes, 'I've got to put her on television.' And that's how it started. And so, he gave us a list of these names for her and we came up with the name, Sable. And that's how it was started," Mero explained.
Sable had two runs in Vince McMahon's company. Her first lasted for nearly three years between 1996 and 1999, during which she won the Women's Championship. The 53-year-old then returned to WWE in 2003. However, she left the company again a year later.
The former Women's Champion is no longer married to Marc Mero. The couple officially divorced in 2004. Two years later, she tied the knot with Brock Lesnar. They have now been together for over a decade and a half.
#3. Stacy Keibler
Stacy Keibler knew nothing about professional wrestling until she met her first boyfriend, Kris Cumberland. The 42-year-old started dating Cumberland after her first year at the Catholic High School of Baltimore.
Cumberland was a big wrestling fan and regularly watched WCW. Although she was initially reluctant to join him in watching professional wrestling, Keibler later fell in love with the business. In 1999, Keibler joined WCW after winning a contest to become a Nitro Girl. Nearly two years later, she moved to WWE.
Although the former Nitro Girl broke up with Cumberland shortly after joining WCW, she gave him a shoutout on Instagram several years later for getting her into wrestling.
"I was 19 and a crazy WWE fan. My friends and I would watch the matches every Monday night (shoutout to @kriscumberland for getting me into it!), and drive to any city within 2 hours of Baltimore to see the shows and meet the wrestlers. Being a super fan is what not only led me to my career in WWE, but so much more," she wrote.
Keibler spent nearly five years in Vince McMahon's company before hanging up her boots in 2006.
#2. Doudrop
Unlike all previous entries, Doudrop fell in love with professional wrestling at a young age. However, she kept her passion for the sport a secret for several years because she was afraid her female friends would consider her weird for liking what they considered a boys' sport.
Nevertheless, her passion for wrestling rekindled when she became a teenager. Her boyfriend then suggested that she give wrestling a shot at a wrestling school near her Ayrshire home when she was 16.
"It never occurred to me that it was something you could do. I got totally beat up but I loved it. I went every week for about seven years," she told BBC.
Doudrop competed for nearly 12 years on the independent circuit before joining WWE in 2019. She wrestled for about two years on NXT UK before making her main roster debut in June 2021. The 30-year-old is currently active on Monday Night RAW.
#1. WWE NXT Women's Champion Mandy Rose
Before dating former WWE Superstar Tino Sabbatelli, Mandy Rose was in a romantic relationship with Michael Lubic. The couple even appeared together on WWE's reality show, Total Divas.
In an interview with After The Bell, the NXT Women's Champion revealed that her ex-boyfriend encouraged her to pursue a wrestling career.
"My ex at the time was a big wrestling fan and he always kind of pushed me and motivated me to like pursue that but I didn't really know much about wrestling. I didn't really grow up watching it to be honest," she said.
When Rose then received an opportunity to audition for WWE's reality show Tough Enough, she gave it a try. The 31-year-old ended up joining Vince McMahon's company in 2015 after finishing second on Tough Enough.
God's Greatest Creation is currently active on NXT 2.0. She recently retained her NXT Women's Championship after defeating Cora Jade, Io Shirai, and Kay Lee Ray in a Fatal 4-Way Match at NXT Stand and Deliver.