didn’t depart WWE on the best terms in 2006.
WWE Hall of Famer Lita was the latest guest on INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet to discuss a wide variety of subjects. When asked about her final match against Mickie James at the 2006 Survivor Series, Lita revealed that there were a lot of hurt feelings there about how things ended with the company.
“I mean, I was happy to work [with] Mickie James,” Lita said. “But in my mind, it was a good long match, and we hug at the end of it, and here’s the title. I see that it’s in good hands, and I’m out of here, you know? It just hurt my feelings, and I was very vocal about it. I went to my producer that day, I went to the head writer, I went to Vince, and I went back to my producer, I went back to the writer back to Vince being like, ‘Is there any way we can not do this? Can we just do this at a pre-tape later? Like, can I just have this match?’
The months leading up to the match at Survivor Series saw Lita, who was positioned as a heel, win the Women’s Championship at Cyber Sunday 2006 before she defeated James in consecutive non-title handicap matches. James then beat Lita after D-Generation X squirted mustard in her face, the first of several on-air angles done for comedic effect.
The Survivor Series match not only saw Lita being the recipient of derogatory slurs from fans throughout the match, but Cryme Tyme came out after the title change took place and sold her “personal belongings” (including her underwear and feminine hygiene products) to the crowd.
“The answer was, ‘You’re a heel. This is what we’re doing. You’re losing to somebody that we’re gonna boost up, and that’s what you do when you leave.’ And then I was like, ‘What did I do? What did I do to like to have this ending?’ and they’re like, you’re looking at it wrong, its business, you’re a heel. That’s what needs to happen.
“I remember saying, ‘Alright, well, that’s the last time you get to pull my strings. I guess you’re pulling them hard. I’ll go out there, and I’ll do business because I’m a professional, but I want you to know, this hurts my feelings. I know this is business you’re telling me which doesn’t involve feelings, but I want you to know as somebody who broke my neck for the business and for who has given everything, and this hurts my feelings.'”
Lita went on to say that she just chalks things up to where women’s wrestling was at back then, but it’s not something she tries to dwell on.
“It’s one of those things that was always so hard — I would get asked about it either by fans or in interviews and it was [hard]. You’re not trying to air your dirty laundry or go on these rants, or actively carry negative energy with you, right? But it wasn’t a thing where I could come up with something like a way to spin [it], like, ‘It’s great, it’s hilarious!’ I was just like yeah, it was a bummer. And they’d keep talking about it and I’m like, ‘Yeah…’ I’m not going to pile on, but I hear you.”
What do you make of Lita’s comments? Are you surprised to hear about how her WWE career initially ended back in 2006? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
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