Daffney

Shannon Claire Spruill (born July 17, 1975) is an American retired professional wrestler and valet, and actress, better known by her ring name, Daffney. She is best known for her appearances with World Championship Wrestling between 1999 and 2001 and with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling from 2008 to 2011.[1]

Daffney
Daffney in July 2010
Birth nameShannon Claire Spruill[1]
Born (1975-07-17) July 17, 1975[1]
Wiesbaden Army Airfield, Wiesbaden, Hesse, West Germany[2] (now Germany)
ResidenceValrico, Florida, United States
Alma materGeorgia State University
Spouse(s)Rich Ward (divorced)
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Daffney[3]
Daffney Unger[1]
Lucy[1][3][4]
Lucy Furr[1][5]
Shark Girl[1]
Shannon[1]
The Governor[2]
Draculetta[6]
Billed height5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)[5]
Billed weight130 lb (59 kg; 9.3 st)[5]
Billed fromParadise Island
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (as Shark Girl)[7]
Badstreet, Atlanta, Georgia[7][8]
Unknown parts of Alaska
Sybil, Texas[9]
Charlotte, North Carolina
Transylvania (as Draculetta)
Trained byWCW Power Plant
Malia Hosaka
Selena Majors
Leilani Kai
Debut1999[1]
Retired2015

Early life

As a "military brat", Shannon Claire Spruill was born on July 17, 1975, at the Wiesbaden Army Airfield, a United States Air Force base in Wiesbaden, West Germany, where her father was stationed. In 1976, her family returned to the United States, residing first in Salt Lake City, Utah, then in Savannah, Georgia and finally on the Scott Air Force Base in St. Clair County, Illinois. They relocated to Oxford in the United Kingdom for three years, before moving to the Ramstein Air Base in Germany until 1987, when her father, by then a Lieutenant Colonel, retired.[3]

In 1985, she had a small, uncredited part in the film Santa Claus: The Movie. In March 1998, Spruill graduated from Georgia State University, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Film and Video production, with minors in Acting and Music. She went on to work in Media Production, before pursuing full time acting.

Professional wrestling career

World Championship Wrestling (1999–2001)

In November 1999, she responded to a World Championship Wrestling (WCW) contest looking to acquire new talent and was hired.[10][11] In WCW, Spruill played Daffney, the mentally deranged, besotted girlfriend of David Flair, managing him and Crowbar. One of Daffney's hallmarks was a piercing scream when she was lurking at ringside. The gimmick was based in part on Mallory Knox, the character played by Juliette Lewis in the film Natural Born Killers. Spruill has cited Batman supervillainess Harley Quinn as the original inspiration for the character.[12] Spruill's first appearance was on the December 6 episode of Nitro, when she was shown sitting on her bed and chanting Flair's name.

On May 8, 2000, Daffney was appointed by Vince Russo to wrestle Miss Elizabeth in Miss Elizabeth's first wrestling match. On May 15, 2000, Daffney and Crowbar defeated WCW World Cruiserweight Champion Chris Candido and his girlfriend Tammy Lynn Sytch in a mixed tag team match and were declared co-champions. The following week on the May 22 episode of Nitro, Crowbar and Daffney faced one another to determine the undisputed World Cruiserweight Champion. Crowbar held back during the match, but still dominated the smaller Daffney. After Candido entered the ring and hit Crowbar with a reverse piledriver, Spruill inadvertently pinned him while trying to revive him and thus became the second woman ever to hold the Cruiserweight Championship.[13] Her reign lasted until June 7 when Lieutenant Loco pinned Disco Inferno in a three-way title defense while Daffney was hurt following interference from Miss Hancock.[14] Daffney went on to feud with Hancock, who had stolen the affections of Flair.[15] Daffney defeated Hancock in the promotion's first ever Wedding Gown match after Hancock removed her own dress. Daffney then became solely the valet for Crowbar. She had a brief feud with Shane Douglas's valet, Torrie Wilson, but was sporadically used as a wrestler.

Daffney's gimmicks included frequently changing hair color, a wide selection of T-Shirts decorated with amusing or bizarre slogans, and her loud screams. She began screaming at the suggestion of WCW writer Ed Ferrara.[3] She was released by WCW on February 2, 2001 due to budget cutbacks (WCW itself was purchased by its rival, the World Wrestling Federation, a month later).

Independent circuit (2002–2013)
Daffney during an Anarchy Championship Wrestling event in March 2009

Spruill opted to continue wrestling, attending Dusty Rhodes' Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling training camp in Kennesaw, Georgia for eight months.[15]

She made several appearances for the fledgling Total Nonstop Action Wrestling promotion in 2002 as Shannon and Shark Girl (valet of Shark Boy),[11] and worked for Xtreme Pro Wrestling in 2003 as Lucy, the manager of Vic Grimes.[3] She also appeared in Ring of Honor, where she debuted on April 26, 2003 as Lucy, the valet of the Second City Saints.[11] In July 2003, Spruill was signed to a developmental deal by World Wrestling Entertainment. She worked in Ohio Valley Wrestling as the manager of Aaron Stevens until she was released on December 17 of the same year.[11]

After her release from WWE, Spruill decided to retire from professional wrestling.[13] Intending to focus on her acting career, she sold her wrestling boots to her then-roommate, Mickie James. While retired, Spruill worked as a personal trainer. In June 2005, she posed for a website owned and operated by wrestling divas Francine and Missy Hyatt.[4][13] In February 2006, Spruill returned to the independent circuit. Spruill debuted in Women's Extreme Wrestling on April 6 under the ring name Lucy Furr ("Lucifer"), acting as a lumberjill in a match between Amy Lee and Tai Killer Weed.[5] On June 2, 2006 in Irondale, Alabama, Spruill faced El Mexico for the NWA Wrestle Birmingham Junior Heavyweight Championship. With the help of her manager, Robert Fuller (who referred to Spruill as his "Million Dollar Baby"), Spruill defeated El Mexicano to win her third wrestling title.[4] In February 2007, she began making appearances with Georgia Wrestling Promotions both as a manager and a referee.

In April 2007, Spruill debuted as Daffney for Shimmer Women Athletes. She conducted an interview where she revealed her goal was to return to what she did from the beginning of her career and that was to manage. Later that evening she appeared as the manager of the wrestler MsChif. In April 2008 she began wrestling as her Shark Girl character. However, she returned to wrestling as Daffney after only a couple of months.

On November 8, 2009, Daffney teamed with Rachel Summerlyn against the International Home Wrecking Crew at Volume 27, only to turn villainous by abandoning Summerlyn during the match, causing a loss to the IHWC. Later in the night on Volume 28, Daffney got disqualified in a match with Summerlyn, after she did not release an illegal hold off her opponent.[16] On April 11, 2010, at the tapings of Volume 31, the evil Daffney defeated Summerlyn in a No Disqualification match.[17]

On June 27, 2010 Daffney won her only Women's Championship defeating Rachel Summerlyn in the 1st round of Anarchy Championship Wrestling's 2010 American Joshi Queen of Queens Tournament. She lost the title in the 2nd round to Jessica James.[18]

On April 6, 2013, Daffney returned to Shimmer Women Athletes at the promotion's first ever internet pay-per-view, Volume 53, where she appeared as the manager of Regeneration X (Allison Danger and Leva Bates).[19]

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling

Spruill re-emerged in TNA on the June 5, 2008 episode of TNA Impact! as Daffney. She was planted in the audience along with fellow wrestlers Amber O'Neal and Becky Bayless. The three women volunteered to wrestle Awesome Kong in the $25,000 Challenge. Daffney was selected and subsequently defeated by Kong.[1]

The Governor (2008–2009)

In December 2008 Spruill started playing the role of Alaska governor Sarah Palin in skits involving the Beautiful People.[13] On the January 15 episode of Impact!, it was revealed by Taylor Wilde and Roxxi that "Sarah Palin" was indeed fake, and it had all been a big joke by Roxxi and Taylor to get revenge on The Beautiful People.[1] The next week she was seen in an interview with Lauren, where they made fun of the Beautiful People. The Beautiful People then proceeded to viciously attack "The Governor" before being pulled away by Cute Kip as Spruill lay injured.[1] On the February 5, 2009, episode of Impact!, she made her return by attacking the Beautiful People, this time complete with entrance video and theme.[1] She made her PPV debut at Destination X in a winning effort when she teamed with Roxxi and Wilde to defeat The Beautiful People and Madison Rayne.[1]

Daffney; alliance with Dr. Stevie (2009–2010)
Daffney facing Abyss in a Monster's Ball match at Slammiversary

As a result of having her hair cut by the Beautiful People on the March 19 episode of Impact!,[1] Spruill transformed into her old Daffney ring name and gimmick on the April 2 episode of Impact!, when she appeared in on-screen psychiatrist Dr. Stevie's office for a therapy session.[1][13] On the April 16 episode of Impact!, she teamed with Stevie's other patient Abyss to defeat the duo of ODB and Cody Deaner in a mixed tag team match.[1] She competed in the Queen of the Cage match at Lockdown against ODB, Madison Rayne and Sojournor Bolt, but failed to win the match.[1] On the May 14 episode of Impact!, Daffney turned heel by assaulting Taylor Wilde, because she did not save her when The Beautiful People cut her hair.[13] At Sacrifice Wilde defeated Daffney, who had Abyss and Dr. Stevie in her corner, in the first ever Monster's Ball match.[13] After she and Dr. Stevie began associating themselves with the returning Raven, Daffney defeated Wilde with their help in a rematch on the June 4 episode of Impact with her swinging fisherman suplex named the Lobotomy.[1] The following week Daffney assaulted Wilde backstage after provoking her by attacking her on-screen best friend, backstage interviewer Lauren, earlier on the same night.[1] Daffney and Raven were defeated by Abyss and Taylor Wilde at Slammiversary in a Monster's Ball mixed tag match.[1] During the match Wilde slammed Daffney onto a pile of thumbtacks.[13] The following Thursday on Impact!, she and Wilde faced off in the first ever "Match of 10,000 Tacks", which she lost.[1]

At Bound for Glory, Daffney interfered in a Monster's Ball match between Abyss and Mick Foley, who had assigned Abyss' rival and Daffney's associate Dr. Stevie as the special guest referee of the match.[1] During the match Abyss chokeslammed Daffney from the ring apron through a barbed wire board, although reports indicated she had suffered a broken arm,[20] it was later reported to be inaccurate although she had instead suffered a concussion.[21][22] On the November 12 episode of Impact!, Raven once again returned to TNA to reform the group of himself, Dr. Stevie and Daffney.[23]

Singles competition and departure (2010–2011)
Daffney posing in the ring in 2010

Daffney spent the next couple of months mainly managing Stevie and Raven, before making her in-ring return on the February 18, 2010, episode of Impact!, losing to the TNA Women's Knockout Champion Tara via disqualification, after hitting her with a toolbox. After the match, Daffney continued her assault, before being dragged away by Dr. Stevie.[24] The following week on Impact! she annihilated ODB in similar fashion as it was noted that she had her eye set on the title.[25] On the March 8 episode of Impact!, Daffney cost Tara and her tag team partner Angelina Love the Knockouts Tag Team Championship by hitting her with the Women's Knockout Championship belt during a match for the vacant titles.[26] At Destination X Daffney failed in her attempt to win the Knockout Championship from Tara, but managed to steal her spider Poison from her after the match.[27] The following day on Impact! Daffney used distraction from Poison to pin Tara in an eight wrestler tag team match to earn her a First Blood match for the Women's Knockout Championship the following week.[28] The following week Tara defeated Daffney in a First Blood match after hitting her with a toolbox.[29] The following week Daffney was one of the four winners in an eight knockout Lockbox match, contested for four keys to four boxes containing prizes. During the contest Tara, one of the three other winners, won back Poison, while Daffney came up empty handed and was forced to strip down, but before she could she was attacked by Lacey Von Erich.[30] The attack resulted in a match on the April 19 episode of Impact!, where Daffney, now seemingly a face, and a partner of her choice, ODB, unsuccessfully challenged Von Erich and Velvet Sky for the TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championship.[31] At the following day's Impact! tapings, Daffney was injured in a dark match against Miss Betsy in her tryout match and was taken to a hospital, where she was diagnosed with a deeply bruised sternum, a severe stinger, and a concussion.[32][33]

On May 26 it was announced that Spruill had been cleared to return to wrestling.[34] She made her return at the June 14 tapings of Xplosion, wrestling once again as a heel and defeating Taylor Wilde with the help of a chain, only to have the referee of the match catch her afterwards, leading to Wilde defeating her after a restart.[35][36] On the December 9 episode of Impact!, Daffney teamed with Sarita in a first round match of a tournament for the vacant TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championship, where they were defeated by the Beautiful People (Angelina Love and Velvet Sky).[37] This marked Daffney's final appearance for TNA as on March 15, 2011, her contract with the promotion expired and was not renewed. Spruill announced that she had filed a workers' compensation claim against TNA for injuries suffered while wrestling for the promotion, believing she had been put in an unsafe working environment.[38] Spruill later also claimed that she did not believe she could ever wrestle again due to the accumulated injuries she had suffered during her career.[39] The lawsuit was settled out of court on March 8, 2013.[40]

Wrestlicious (2009–2010)

In early 2009 Spruill took part in the first season tapings of Wrestlicious, which started airing in March 2010, using the character of Draculetta.[6] She debuted on March 17 in the main event of the third episode of Takedown, teaming with White Magic in a tag team match, where they lost via disqualification to the team of Lacey Von Erich and Amber Lively.[41]

Shine Wrestling (2012–2015)

In July 2012, Daffney began working as the "hostess" of the new Shine Wrestling promotion.[42] She held the position until May 2013, when she returned to the role of a manager.[43] Daffney became a villainess in July 2015, when she became the manager of the Iron Maidens, sending them to attack various tag teams during matches.[44][45]

Ring of Honor Wrestling (2018)

In August 2018, Daffney made an appearance on Ring of Honor wrestling television for the Women of Honor Championship tournament between Sumie Sakai and Kelly Klein. After Sakai defeated Klein for the tournament, Daffney and the other women congratulated Sakai for her victory.

Personal life

Spruill was married to guitarist Rich Ward of Stuck Mojo and Fozzy.

On July 19, 2011, Spruill was arrested in Hillsborough County, Florida for "driving under the influence with property damage".[46] Spruill later pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced to one year probation and a fine of $1,580.[47]

Filmography
  • Santa Claus: The Movie (1985) as Bratty Kid at Ballet Class (uncredited)
  • I Surrender All (2001) as Gina
  • The Gorda (2014) as The Barracuda (Family Curse Films, LLC.)

Championships and accomplishments

Notes
  1. Daffney held the title jointly with Crowbar during her reign.
gollark: Yes, it *is* highly æ! Maybe you could stick randomly generated `?bees=12471248172481` query string parameters on the URL to "fix" it.
gollark: *Upcoming* things? How highly advanced.
gollark: Iowa is not, in fact, real.
gollark: HTML is also available/
gollark: Interesting.

References
  1. "Daffney profile". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved August 7, 2009.
  2. "Cagematch profile". Cagematch. Retrieved December 24, 2009.
  3. "Exklusiv-Interview mit Daffney". WrestlingData.com. January 18, 2003. Retrieved April 6, 2007.
  4. Walsh, James (July 15, 2006). ""Scream Queen" Daffney Unger". WrestlingEpicenter.com. Retrieved April 6, 2007.
  5. "Lucy Furr at WExtremeW.com". Archived from the original on November 18, 2006. Retrieved April 6, 2007.
  6. Gerretsen, Jasper (September 29, 2009). "That Was Then, Is This Too? 09.29.09: Wrestlicious, Baby!". 411Mania. Retrieved October 23, 2009.
  7. "Shimmer Roster". Shimmer Women Athletes. Visuex. Archived from the original on August 14, 2009. Retrieved November 11, 2009.
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  9. "Daffney of G.L.O.R.Y. Wrestling". GloryWrestling.com. Archived from the original on May 15, 2009. Retrieved April 6, 2007.
  10. "Shannon Spruill – She of Many Names". Retrieved April 6, 2007.
  11. "Shannon Spruill – She of Many Names: How it all Started". Retrieved April 6, 2007.
  12. Fowler, Matt (January 15, 2010). "TNA's Daffney Spreads Her Madness". IGN. Retrieved January 17, 2010.
  13. Kamchen, Richard (July 17, 2009). "Daffney at home in TNA". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved July 22, 2009.
  14. "Shannon Spruill – She of Many Names". Retrieved April 6, 2007.
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  49. "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) Female 50 for 2009". The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved January 11, 2015.
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