Lita, a former WWE Women’s Champion, was involved in a romantic storyline with Dean Malenko in the early 2000s. As part of the angle, Lita appeared on television wearing lingerie and seemingly seducing Malenko before The Hardy Boyz attacked him. The segment received positive feedback from fans, and the company decided to book Lita for another appearance in her underwear.
In her book, “Lita: A Less Traveled R.O.A.D.–The Reality of Amy Dumas,” Lita revealed that she received a call from the company asking for her underwear size, and they told her she was going to The World to give Dean Malenko a “special Christmas lingerie show.” Lita felt uncomfortable with the segment and was unconvinced that her character and the storyline demanded her to do so. However, Michael Hayes told her there was nothing they could do about it at the time.
Lita felt cheap and embarrassed as she stood on stage in her underwear, and the crowd seemed to sense her discomfort. The following day, Vince and Stephanie McMahon pulled her aside to discuss the segment and told her how great they thought it was, even though Lita had expressed her unhappiness with it. Stephanie said that Lita’s shyness in the beginning of the segment came across great and they were happy with it.
“I did it. I stood there in red, white, and green bra and panties on the stage at the World—I was completely uncomfortable. I felt very cheap and totally embarrassed. The World was a very intimate environment. Usually when talent went there, we’d warm up the crowd, interact with them a bit, then do the little fifteen-second live segment. This time, I had to go out onto the stage three times— though it seemed more like fifty! I felt that the crowd could sense just how uncomfortable I was, and were almost reluctant to cheer and catcall me. It was like they knew Lita wasn’t the type of girl to respond to that kind of reaction,” she wrote in her book.
“The next morning I flew down to Charlotte for SmackDown! When I got to the building, Vince and Stephanie pulled me aside to tell me how great they thought the segment was. I guess they’d heard rumblings that I was unhappy, so they decided to make me feel better. ‘I thought it was phenomenal how you were a little shy in the beginning,’ Stephanie said. ‘I was freaking embarrassed,’ I explained. ‘It just didn’t make sense to me.’ ‘Well, it came across great,’ she said. ‘We’re really really happy with it.'”
