Debrah Ann Miceli (born February 9, 1963), better known as Madusa, is an American monster truck driver and retired professional wrestler. She is currently signed to

National Wrestling Alliance The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) is an American professional wrestling professional wrestling promotion, promotion and governing body owned by Billy Corgan and operated by its parent company Lightning One, Inc. Founded in 1948, the NWA be ...

(NWA) as a producer. In professional wrestling Miceli is also known by the

ring name A ring name is a type of stage name or nickname used by an athlete such as a professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, or boxer whose real name is considered unattractive, dull, difficult to pronounce or spell, amusing for the wrong reasons ...

Alundra Blayze, which she used while in the WWF/WWE. Outside of the WWF, she wrestled under her professional name of Madusa, which was shortened from "Made in the USA". Her early career was spent in the American Wrestling Association, where she once held the AWA World Women's Championship. In 1988, she was the first woman to be awarded ''

Pro Wrestling Illustrated ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publishing Group. The maga ...

's'' Rookie of the Year. The following year, she signed a contract with All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling, making her the first foreign wrestler to do so. She later joined

World Championship Wrestling World Championship Wrestling (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of National W ...

(WCW), where she was a member of The Dangerous Alliance, a group of wrestlers managed by Paul E. Dangerously. In 1993, she joined the rival World Wrestling Federation (WWF) under the name Alundra Blayze. In the WWF, she feuded with

Bull Nakano is a Japanese retired professional wrestler and professional golfer better known as . She began competing in All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW) as a teenager under the ring name Bull Nakano. As a wrestler she was a villain, who often team ...

and Bertha Faye, while holding the WWF Women's Championship three times. Two years after joining the WWF, Miceli returned to WCW, showing up on an episode of '' Monday Nitro'' to throw the WWF Women's Championship belt into a trash can; she was blacklisted by the WWF for the next 20 years as a result. In her second WCW run, Miceli feuded with

and

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

, and became the first woman to hold the WCW World Cruiserweight Championship, as well as the first and only woman to win a championship in WWF and WCW. After training wrestlers such as Torrie Wilson, Stacy Keibler, and

Nora Greenwald Nora Kristina Greenwald (born September 7, 1977) is an American retired professional wrestling, professional wrestler. She is signed to WWE, under the ring name Molly Holly, as a producer. She is also known for her tenure in World Championship Wr ...

(Molly Holly) at the WCW Power Plant, she left the company in 2001. On March 28, 2015, she was inducted into the

WWE Hall of Fame The WWE Hall of Fame is a List of halls and walks of fame, hall of fame which honors professional wrestlers and professional wrestling personalities maintained by WWE. Originally known as the "WWF Hall of Fame", it was created in 1993 when An ...

class of 2015, under the Alundra Blayze moniker. In 2015, she additionally served as the commissioner of Japanese promotion World Wonder Ring Stardom. Miceli is a former monster truck driver, and second longest tenured female driver in the sport to Scarlet Bandit. She drove a truck named Madusa, and won the 2004 co-championship at the Monster Jam World Finals for freestyle in the first-ever three-way tie. The following year, she won the Racing Championship in the Monster Jam World Finals.

Early life

Miceli was born in

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

. Before entering professional wrestling, she participated in both gymnastics and track, and at age 14, she worked at an Arby's fast-food restaurant. During the beginning of her wrestling career, she also worked as a part-time nurse.

Professional wrestling career

American Wrestling Association (1986–1989)

In 1984, Miceli trained with Eddie Sharkey in

and began working on the

independent circuit In professional wrestling, the independent circuit (often shortened to the indie circuit or the indies) is the collective name of independently owned promotions which are deemed to be smaller and more regionalized than major national promotions. ...

for $5 a match. In 1986, she started wrestling in the American Wrestling Association (AWA) feuding with Sherri Martel as Madusa Miceli. After Martel left the AWA, she replaced her as "Mr. Magnificent" Kevin Kelly's manager, who often teamed with Nick Kiniski as "The Perfect Tag Team". In a tournament final, she won the AWA World Women's Championship over Candi Devine on December 27, 1987. At that time Madusa also began managing the AWA World Heavyweight Champion Curt Hennig. She later lost the title to Wendi Richter on November 26, 1988. Hennig and Madusa joined the Diamond Exchange, a stable led by Diamond Dallas Page that included Badd Company. With Badd Company she faced the team of the Top Guns ( Ricky Rice and Derrick Dukes) and Wendi Richter at the only AWA

pay-per-view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program ...

SuperClash III. Both Badd Company's Tag-Team Title and Wendi Richter's AWA World Women's Championship were on the line, but since Richter pinned Miceli, Badd Company remained the champions. In 1988, Miceli was also the first woman to be awarded ''

s Rookie of the Year.

All Japan Women's Pro Wrestling (1989–1991)

Miceli wrestled a six-week tour for All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling at the beginning of 1989, where she won the IWA Women's title from Chigusa Nagayo before dropping it back to her the very next day. She then began training in Japan, learning the Japanese wrestling style, as well as

Muay Thai Muay Thai or Muaythai (, , ), sometimes referred to as Thai boxing, the Art of Eight Limbs or the Science of Eight Limbs, is a Thai martial art and full-contact combat sport that uses stand-up striking, sweeps, and various clinch fighting, cl ...

, kickboxing, and boxing. She eventually signed a three-year deal with All Japan, which made her the first non-Japanese wrestler to do so. In addition, she worked for the TWA, feuding with Luna Vachon, whom she faced in a Hair vs Hair Mixed Tag Team match in September 1991. Miceli and her partner Eddie Gilbert defeated Vachon and Cactus Jack, which resulted in Vachon having her head shaved.

World Championship Wrestling (1991–1993)

She then went to WCW and helped Paul E. Dangerously form his Dangerous Alliance. She acted primarily as Alliance member

Rick Rude Richard Erwin Rood (December 7, 1958 – April 20, 1999), better known by his ring name "Ravishing" Rick Rude, was an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler who performed for many Professional wrestling promotion, promotions, incl ...

's valet. On October 25, Dangerously kicked her out of the Dangerous Alliance at

Halloween Havoc Halloween Havoc is a professional wrestling List of NWA/WCW closed-circuit events and pay-per-view events, event currently produced by WWE. Since 2020, it has been held annually for the company's WWE brand extension, developmental brand, NXT (WWE ...

. She, however, defeated him by count-out on November 18, 1992, at '' Clash of the Champions XXI''.

World Wrestling Federation (1993–1995)

In 1993, the WWF reinstated its Women's Championship, a title that had been vacant since 1990, and Miceli was brought in by the company to revive the women's division. She debuted under the ring name Alundra Blayze, because WWF owner

Vince McMahon Vincent Kennedy McMahon ( ; born August 24, 1945) is an American businessman and former professional wrestling promoter. McMahon, along with his later-estranged wife Linda McMahon, Linda, is a co-founder of the modern WWE, the world's largest ...

did not want to pay Miceli to use the name Madusa, which she had trademarked. She wrestled in a six-woman tournament to crown a new Women's Champion, and in the finals, she pinned Heidi Lee Morgan on December 13 to win the title. After the tournament, Miceli asked WWF management to bring in new women for her to wrestle. In mid-1994,

joined the WWF roster and began feuding with Blayze. Blayze defeated Nakano at SummerSlam, but lost the belt to her on November 20, 1994, in Japan at the Big Egg Wrestling Universe event. Five months later on April 3, 1995, Blayze regained the title from Nakano on an edition of ''Monday Night Raw''. As part of the storyline, immediately following the win, she was attacked by Bertha Faye, who broke her nose. According to Rhonda Sing (Faye), the storyline was written so Miceli could take time off to get breast implants and a nose job. She returned to the ring in August 1995, losing the Women's Championship to Faye at SummerSlam on August 27. Two months later, she won the title a third time, defeating Faye on October 23. In December, due to financial troubles the WWF was having at the time she was released from her contract and was stripped of the title following her jump to rival company

, and the WWF Women's Championship remained vacant until 1998. Miceli was blacklisted by the WWF for the next 20 years, owing to her participation in a controversial incident upon returning to WCW during which she dropped the WWF Women's championship belt into a trash can.

Return to WCW (1995–2001)

In December 1995, Miceli signed with WCW, and as part of a storyline by booker Eric Bischoff, showed up on ''

WCW Monday Nitro ''WCW Monday Nitro'', also known as ''WCW Nitro'' or simply ''Nitro'', is an American professional wrestling television program that was produced by World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and broadcast weekly every Monday night on TNT (American TV ...

'' on December 18, where she threw the WWF Women's belt into a trash can. She later admitted that she regretted the action and would not have done it had Bischoff not coerced her. Miceli immediately began using the Madusa name again. Upon her debut she attacked Sherri Martel during her wedding to Col. Robert Parker. She had a match the following Monday on ''Nitro'' against Sherri Martel which she lost. After that, the company brought in

to feud with her; they battled in a match at Hog Wild in August 1996. Due to pre-match stipulations, Madusa was allowed to destroy Nakano's motorcycle after the match. The company then decided to establish the WCW Women's Championship, but Madusa lost to Akira Hokuto in the finals of the tournament to crown the first champion on December 29 at Starrcade. On June 15, Hokuto retained the title against Madusa at The Great American Bash in a Title vs. Career match. Madusa then took a nearly two-year hiatus from the company. Madusa returned to WCW in April 1999 as part of Randy Savage's faction Team Madness with Gorgeous George and Miss Madness. After that storyline ended, Madusa entered into a tournament for the WCW Championship, but she was defeated and eliminated from the tournament. She was later re-entered into the tournament in a match against Evan Karagias, but was eliminated the next week. After her elimination, Madusa put all her focus on managing Karagias. After Karagias won the WCW World Cruiserweight Championship at Mayhem, he was found flirting with

Spice In the culinary arts, a spice is any seed, fruit, root, Bark (botany), bark, or other plant substance in a form primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices are distinguished from herbs, which are the leaves, flowers, or stems of pl ...

of the Nitro Girls. At Starrcade, however, Spice gave Karagias a low blow during the match, and Madusa pinned him to become the first female ever to win the WCW World Cruiserweight Championship. Spice then aligned herself with Madusa and became her manager for a short time. In January 2000, Madusa developed a rivalry with

. In a farcical Evening Gown match on an episode of '' WCW Thunder'' on January 12, Madusa defeated Oklahoma by stripping off his dress, but he attacked her after the match. She eventually lost the Cruiserweight belt to Oklahoma at Souled Out on January 16, 2000. In the meantime, Miceli became an instructor at the WCW Power Plant, where she helped train women such as

(Molly Holly) to wrestle. Before WCW's collapse, she engaged in a brief feud with Torrie Wilson and Shane Douglas, who defeated her and partner Billy Kidman at Fall Brawl in a Mixed Tag Team Scaffold match. Madusa took a big bump during this match and wasn't seen again on WCW TV. She left the company when she heard that

, the owner of the World Wrestling Federation, was going to buy WCW. Because she had a previous falling-out with McMahon, she opted not to stay with the company. She retired from professional wrestling for good in 2001 because she did not like the direction in which women's wrestling was going; according to her, it was becoming less about real wrestling and more about Bra and Panties matches.

Late career and WWE Hall of Fame (2001–present)

On March 2, 2015, it was announced that Miceli would be inducted into the

class of 2015, under her Alundra Blayze moniker. On Twitter, she said this was a sign of respect, since that was her name in WWE, but "that bitch Madusa will be on stage speaking." During her speech, in response to constant questions about her dumping the WWF Women's Championship belt in the trash on ''Monday Nitro'', her inductor, Natalya, wheeled a trash can onstage. Miceli (calling herself both Madusa and Alundra Blayze) withdrew the belt, which she stressed was a good-looking "women's ''wrestling'' belt", and said it was finally "back home where it belongs" after 20 years. She held the belt on her shoulder, and referred to herself as the reigning WWF Women's Champion. Following her Hall of Fame induction, she made a special appearance during the WrestleMania 31 event the following day on March 29, along with the other Hall of Fame inductees. In September 2015, Miceli was appointed the commissioner of Japanese women's promotion World Wonder Ring Stardom. On January 27, 2016, Miceli appeared on WWE Network's program '' Table for 3'', along with fellow wrestlers

Ivory Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and Tooth, teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mamm ...

and Molly Holly. In September 2017, the WWE Network released a documentary entitled "TrailBlayzer" detailing Miceli's careers in both wrestling and monster truck driving. Miceli as Alundra Blayze was announced as an entrant into the battle royal for a women's championship opportunity at WWE Evolution, marking a return to the ring after an 18-year hiatus, however she was eliminated by Nia Jax On July 22, 2019, Alundra Blayze appeared as a heel and attacked 24/7 Champion Candice Michelle, after which she captured the title from Candice by forcing her to submit, with Melina acting as the official, becoming the third woman to win the title, while also becoming the first individual to win the title via submission. She also became the second woman to hold both the WWE Women's Championship, and the 24/7 Championship. She later attempted to toss the 24/7 Championship into the trash (similar to when she did the same to the WWF Women's Championship in 1995), only to instead sell the title to

r Ted DiBiase. Returning to TNT for the first time in 20 years, Miceli was presenter of the

All Elite Wrestling All Elite Wrestling (AEW) is an American professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. It is owned and operated by Shahid Khan, Shahid and Tony Khan, with the latter serving as President (corporate title), president an ...

(AEW)'s Women's Tag Team Cup Tournament: The Deadly Draw, which began on August 3, 2020. The tournament concluded on the August 22, 2020, Saturday episode of ''

AEW Dynamite ''AEW Dynamite'', also known as ''Wednesday Night Dynamite'' or simply ''Dynamite'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by the American Professional wrestling promotion, promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW). It air ...

'', where she gave the championship cup to the tournament winners Ivelisse and Diamante. Miceli would also appear in WWE on the July 26, 2022, episode of '' NXT'' in a backstage segment with Roxanne Perez and McKenzie Mitchell, announcing a fatal four-way elimination match for the vacant NXT Women's Tag Team Championship. On January 23, 2023, Miceli appeared backstage during Raw is XXX, celebrating the 30th anniversary of ''Monday Night Raw''. Miceli inducted

into the

class of 2024.

National Wrestling Alliance (2019–present)

On April 27, 2019, at Crockett Cup Miceli appeared on

(NWA) as Madusa, where she presented the vacant NWA Women's Championship before Allysin Kay and Santana Garrett competed for it. She would later accompany The Wild Cards ( Royce Isaacs and Thomas Latimer) who challenged the Villain Enterprises ( Brody King and PCO) at the Crockett Cup finals for the vacant NWA World Tag Team Championship, but were unsuccessful. Madusa would later become a producer in NWA.

Monster truck career

Miceli entered the monster truck business under

Dennis Anderson Dennis Montague Anderson (born October 24, 1960) is an American former professional monster truck driver. He is the creator, team owner, and former driver of "Grave Digger (monster truck), Grave Digger" on the United States Hot Rod Association, ...

in 1999. She made her first American hot rod appearance at the Trans World Dome. Afterward, she purchased her own truck and named it Madusa, as she still held the rights to the name. She began winning freestyle competitions in 2001. Miceli won the 2004 co-championship at the Monster Jam World Finals for freestyle in the first-ever three-way tie. In March 2005 in Las Vegas, she beat her trainer Dennis Anderson in the final bracket of the Monster Jam World Finals for the Racing Championship, thus making her the first woman to win the Monster Jam World Finals racing championship. Also in 2005, she was the only female competitor in the Super Bowl of Motorsports. As of January 2008, she is also the Executive Vice President of the Major League of Monster Trucks. In 2009, she returned to Monster Jam for the first time since 2006. On October 10, 2014, she was injured in a Monster Jam event in Melbourne, Australia, and was taken to a Melbourne hospital for treatment.

Other media

She appeared in the video games '' WCW Nitro'', '' WCW Backstage Assault'', '' WWE 2K16'', '' WWE 2K17'', '' WWE 2K18'', '' WWE 2K19'' and '' WWE 2K25''.

Personal life

After a brief first marriage to Eddie Gilbert in 1990, Miceli's second marriage was on February 14, 1998, to NFL player Ken Blackman, eight months after they met in June 1997. They shared homes in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

and Homosassa, Florida. In 1998, they opened a motorcycle shop called Spookee Custom Cycles, which made motorcycles for other NFL players such as Kimo von Oelhoffen, Darnay Scott, Bradford Banta, and Dan Wilkinson. The couple later divorced in 2008. On June 25, 2011, Miceli married Alan Jonason, a sergeant major in the U.S. Army, in Memphis. The wedding took place at Graceland and was broadcast over the internet for over 22,000 fans. In 1995, she appeared in the films ''Shootfighter II'', ''Death Match'', and ''Intersanction II''. In Japan, she released a CD of songs sung in Japanese entitled ''Who's Madusa''. She owns a grooming, pet spa, and doggy bakery called Koolkats and Hotdogs in Lecanto, Florida. In February 2004, she provided commentary for boat races.

Championships and accomplishments

Professional wrestling

* All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling ** IWA World Women's Championship ( 2 times) ** Tag League the Best (

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

) – with Mitsuko Nishiwaki * American Wrestling Association ** AWA World Women's Championship ( 1 time) * Cauliflower Alley Club ** Iron Mike Mazurki Award (2020) * George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame **Lou Thesz Award 2025 * International World Class Championship Wrestling ** IWCCW Women's Championship ( 1 time) * ''

'' ** Rookie of the Year (1988) ** Stanley Weston Award (2020) * Women's Wrestling Hall of Fame **Class of 2023 *

** WCW Cruiserweight Championship ( 1 time) * World Wrestling Federation/WWE ** WWF Women's Championship ( 3 times) ** WWE 24/7 Championship ( 1 time) **

( Class of 2015)

Motorsports

* United States Hot Rod Association ** USHRA Monster Jam World Finals Freestyle Co-Championship (2004) ** USHRA Monster Jam World Finals

Racing In sports, racing is a competition of speed, in which competitors try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time. Typically this involves traversing some distance, but it can be any other task involving speed to reach a specific g ...

Championship (2005)

Notes

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Madusa 1964 births American female professional wrestlers American professional wrestlers of Italian descent AWA World Women's Champions Italian emigrants to the United States Italian female professional wrestlers Living people Monster truck drivers Professional wrestling managers and valets Female professional wrestling trainers American expatriate professional wrestlers in Japan Sportspeople from Milan Dangerous Alliance members WWE 24/7 Champions WWE Hall of Fame inductees WWF/WWE Women's Champions 21st-century American women 20th-century female professional wrestlers 20th-century American professional wrestlers WCW/WWE Cruiserweight Champions IWA World Women's Champions Tag League the Best winners 20th-century American sportswomen 20th-century Italian sportswomen