Chapter 3.
August 2001 – Grand Rapids, Michigan
Angela's Debut
The WWE Women's Champion Chyna stood in the ring, head held high as she waited for the crowd to calm down. Referee Chad Patton remained almost motionless in the corner.
Over the past few weeks, she had been holding open invitationals for the women of the WWE to challenge her for the title. So far no one had been able to defeat her. The closest had been Lita, who, the week before lost after missing with a Litasault and falling victim to Chyna's Pedigree.
The challenger had soon gone from just being competitive and being a good sport to becoming cocky and arrogant at the lack of women who could compete against her.
"Now," Chyna began, "I know you were all expecting another Chyna invitational, but… I honestly see no point." She scoffed as the crowd began to boo.
"Sorry to disappoint you all, but there is no one who has the skill to take me on, no one with my confidence, no one with my ability…" She paused. "I've single-handedly taken out everyone in the diva's division." The boos grew louder.
"I have proven that no one can compete against me and succeed."
"I'd hate to admit this but I can't disagree with that." Jim 'JR' Ross droned over commentary.
"I am above and beyond the rest of the diva's division. And that's why I am the Women's Champion." She held the championship belt high above her head when a mix of electric guitars and sirens played over the sound system.
"What's going on?" Jerry Lawler wondered.
Angela made her way through the curtain and strutted straight down the ramp, taking note of the cheering and bewildered crowd as she made her way down.
Dressed in black high-waist shorts, a black sleeveless cropped waistcoat and black thigh high wrestling boots, with her long thick hair straightened to flow down her back; she looked ready for a fight.
"Whoa," Jerry cooed, excitement in his voice, "who is that?"
"She's a stunning young woman, whoever she may be," JR agreed with the tone in his co-commentator's voice, "but I don't know what exactly she thinks she's doing out here."
A smug look appeared on Chyna's face as the smaller woman climbed up the steps and entered the ring. They both locked eyes as Angela grabbed a microphone from the back end of the ring.
Without saying a word, Angela stood in the middle of the ring and kept her hands behind her back as she stood in front of the champion. A haughty smirk remained on the challenger's face as she swayed her hips left and right.
"Who are you?" Chyna asked slowly. "Should I call security?"
As Angela put the microphone to her mouth to speak, Chyna interrupted her.
"Actually, I don't know whether I should be calling security or your parents, little girl." Chyna cackled to herself.
"Well," Angela let out a short, sarcastic laugh, "you might have a little trouble calling my parents." Her eyes narrowed, as she looked Chyna up and down.
"My name is Angie Sapphire," Angela presented her in-ring name, "I flew twenty hours from Sydney, Australia, where I'm from in case you didn't catch on," she quipped insultingly causing Chyna to raise her eyebrows and clench her jaw, "to be in the WWE."
This time Angela disrupted Chyna as she brought her microphone up to say something.
"I'm actually surprised, no not surprised…" Angela looked towards the ceiling as she tried to come up with another word, "I'm a little pissed off, to be honest, that you don't remember me."
"What…?" Chyna shrugged and held her hands out in confusion.
"I sure as hell remember you." A cynical smile grew on Angela's face, "When you, and the WWE, came to Sydney back in '99 I was so excited to meet you, ecstatic. You seemed like the most appropriate person to ask, so I asked you for advice on making it in the WWE. Bringing back any memories?"
Chyna scrunched up her face and shook her head.
"You gave me that same look," she pointed to the expression on Chyna's face, "you looked me up and down, and you told me that I should consider another career path."
"And was I wrong?" Chyna scoffed as jeers soared through the crowd. "Look, maybe if you grew a few inches taller you might have a chance." Chyna gawked at Angela, staring her down, before snickering.
"If you came here to challenge me, you flew a long way for nothing." Chyna stated matter-of-factly. "You've certainly flown a long way to be broken in half."
Angela smiled, but the smile didn't reach her eyes, as she held the microphone back up.
"Is that so?" Angela questioned to Chyna's nodding. "Well, the way I see it is…" In that instant she gave Chyna a hard whack across her right cheek.
"Ooh," Jerry winced along with the 'oohs' of the crowd.
"I don't know if that was such a good idea." JR remarked in a lower register as Chyna stumbled back, obviously perplexed at the actions of this newcomer.
Angela started to shake slightly, almost reading JR's mind, when she saw the anger slowly building on Chyna's face, her cheek now a glowing red.
Suddenly, Chyna lunged forward and Angela, reacting quickly, jumped and kneed Chyna in the gut, causing her to clench her stomach and the bell to ring.
Before Chyna could turn around, Angela grabbed her by the hair and then hooked her right arm tightly around the back of her neck, squeezing tightly. She then executed a Russian legsweep, slamming the back of Chyna's head hard onto the mat.
"Great Russian legsweep!" JR marveled with a tone of shock in his voice.
Angela flipped over and hooked Chyna's leg to pin, only to get a one count.
Chyna pushed Angela off over her head and struggled to stand, a mixture of wrath and surprise clouded over her face as she turned around.
As Chyna ran once again towards her, Angela, putting her quick reflexes to good use, hooked her left arm under Chyna's and flipped her over in an arm drag, her back crashing on the mat.
"Whoa-ho-ho!" Jerry cheered along with thrilled crowd.
"Look at this young woman go!" JR mimicked Jerry's excitement. "Fantastic arm drag."
Angela held tightly onto the champion's arm and pulled it back, pressing a palm into her shoulder.
Using her strength, Chyna stood up and put her arms around Angela's waist. She then flipped the inexperienced Australian over, smacking the back of her skull against the mat.
Angela's hands immediately went to her head as a sharp pain struck when Chyna grabbed her by the temples, pulling her head under her right armpit.
Suddenly, Chyna struck with a DDT, planting Angela's forehead resulting in boos from the crowd.
She then flipped Angela and laid down across her chest for a pin fall, only to get a count of two.
Subsequently, Chyna slowly stood back up, taking Angela's head as she got to her feet. She then gripped onto the challenger's pale hand before Irish Whipping her into the ropes.
As she flung off of the ropes, Angela used any momentum she had and hit Chyna with a strong flying clothesline.
While Chyna stood up Angela took hold of her head and kept her bent forward before leaping up and performing a hurricurana, placing Chyna in a leg cradle pinning hold.
"One, two…" Chyna shoved Angela off right before a three count.
As Chyna rose, Angela darted towards the back ropes and bounced off only to be pulled in a snap scoop Powerslam by Chyna.
Angela's back felt like it was on fire as it hit the mat and Chyna went for the cover.
"One, two, th…" Angela jerked her shoulder towards the ceiling.
Chyna pulled Angela up and whipped her towards the turnbuckle, before running towards her and performing a handspring, then a back elbow, the elbow smacking into Angela's jaw.
Chyna pushed herself away from the turnbuckle only to turn around to a kick to the gut and then a hard bicycle kick to under her chin, the hit echoing through the arena and over an enthusiastic crowd.
"That kick damn near almost knocked Chyna's head off." JR observed.
Going for another pin, the referee only made it to a two count, with Chyna pushing Angela off of her again.
Getting up before the challenger could, Chyna scurried and hit a boot into Angela's ribs.
Gasping and clutching her sides Angela rolled under the ropes before Chyna dragged her by the arm into the middle of the squared circle.
Standing the younger opponent up, Chyna placed Angela into a front face lock under her right arm and swiftly applied a snap suplex. She then flipped over and tried for another pin, to no avail. Angela was able to kick out just before the three count.
Angela mustered all the energy she could to get on her knees as the champion raked her hands through her hair in frustration.
The Women's champion grabbed the exhausted Angela by the hair when the young Australian stuck her hand between Chyna's legs, taking hold of her right one, and grabbed the arm pulling her hair and yanked it over her shoulder.
Angela rose as much as she could and, using all the upper body strength she could, lifted Chyna off of her feet. The roars from the crowd grew louder than thought possible.
"Wow!" Jerry screeched. "Look at this!"
"I am amazed at the upper body strength of this young woman!" JR complimented.
Not sure how much longer she could hold the larger woman up and before her knees started to buckle, Angela threw Chyna off of her shoulders and into a Death Valley driver, slamming her head and shoulders into the mat and pressing her into a pin.
"One, two, three!" The referee counted to an exuberant crowd and an uncertain Angela.
"No way!" Jerry rejoiced.
It took a moment to wash over her as she listened to the deafening claps, whistles and screams; she had won.
"This little Aussie wonder has done it!" JR chimed loudly. "Completely outta nowhere!"
"Here is your winner," Lilian Garcia announced, "and new Women's Champion, Angie Sapphire!"
Angela pumped her fists in the air before collapsing onto the mat, worn out.
The referee grabbed Angela's wrist and helped her up to hand her the title.
Taking hold of the championship, Angela found a tiny bit more energy to stand up.
Chad Patton held Angela's wrist high up in the air as she lifted the belt proudly. Chad left her side to tend to Chyna when Angela thought of something.
She struggled to the back ropes and asked for a microphone. After being given one, she walked in front of Chyna and smiled, placing the belt over her shoulder.
"You didn't think I could do that," Angela remarked, "did ya?" She cocked her eyebrows once and dropped the microphone with a thud, leaving the ring to her theme music.