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Many observers pinpoint Tammy Lynn Sytch as a pioneer of sorts and THE WOMAN to usher in the free-for-all of wrestling divas that would surface in pro wrestling within the next decade.
Before Tammy Sytch came onto the scene, the likes of Bull Nakano and Bertha Faye were running rampant and there were no "wrestling divas".
Tammy changed all that with her mere presence and had it not been for her, the likes of Trish Stratus, Stacy Keibler, Torrie Wilson and dozens of other females may not have come around in pro wrestling.
Even if you don't like Tammy, the least you can do is thank her for all the beautiful women that have come into pro wrestling because of her.
Tammy Lynn Sytch began her pro wrestling career in 1992 in Jim Cornette's Smokey Mountain Wrestling as a valet for boyfriend Chris Candido. Originally, she just came along to see his matches and be with him on the road, but SMW brass thought she had what it took to be a wrestling manager.
Before long, Candido and Sytch were among the hottest acts on the indy circuit and it would only be a matter of time before the World Wrestling Federation would pick them up, especially considering that Smokey Mountain Wrestling was a minor league feeder for the WWF at the time.
Tammy Sytch quietly entered the WWF in early 1995 under the name of "Tamara Murphy Sytch" and her initial TV appearances were as a commentator at the "WWF Live Events News Desk" which aired between matches on the syndicated shows.
That didn't work out too well for her and she was soon repackaged as "Sunny" in the summer of 1995 as a "Bodydonna" along with Chris Candido, who now went under the name of Skip. The concept of "The Bodydonnas" was that the smug duo would
mock the out of the shape people in the audience and talk about how perfect they were. Skip was mired in midcard throughout the duration of his time in the WWF, but Sunny took off like a rocket as wrestling fans hadn't seen anything like her before.
In 1996, Sunny's role in the WWF would expand significantly and she would be their resident "pinup girl". Next to Shawn Michaels, Sunny was the WWF's hottest property and one of the main reasons why people would still be tuned into the WWF what with the likes of Duke Droese and T.L. Hopper running amok.
She was soon phased out from Skip and The Bodydonnas gimmick and just became herself turned up to the max. Not only did she get the ball rolling for more women to be involved with pro wrestling but she also got the ball rolling for wrestling personalities to start shying away from cartoony gimmicks and to being themselves turned up to the max.
Sunny bounced around from tag team to tag team as she managed Skip (Chris Candido) and Zip (Tom Prichard), The Godwins (Henry O. Godwin and Phineas Godwin) and The Smoking Guns (Billy and Bart Gunn) in 1996 and they all were WWF Tag Team champions under her watch.
She also managed fearsome newcomer Farooq Asad (Ron Simmons) but came up short in guiding him to the WWF Intercontinental Championship. They soon parted ways amicably, unlike when she parted ways with The Bodydonnas, The Godwins and The Smoking Gunns after they'd all lose the WWF Tag Team titles respectively.
Come the fall season, Sunny was on her own. She became a minor mainstream star, something WWF hadn't had since Hulk Hogan.
She appeared on various TV shows nationwide such as MTV's "Singled Out" and "Entertainment Tonight". In the early stages of the AOL-ized internet, she was the most downloaded person.
And Playboy even came her a call to pose for their magazine, but she declined posing nude as she felt she wasn't ready yet.
The odds and ends duties continued into 1998 but Sunny would make a dazzling return to managing at Wrestlemania 14 when she led the rejuvenated Legion Of Doom 2000 to victory in the tag team battle royal.
Their success wouldn't last too long as LOD 2000 would lose their momentum and the presence of Sunny at ringside sometimes seemed to be almost non-existent. She managed them throughout the spring of 1998 and was off television by the summer.
TO BE CONTINUED....
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