Why Lita Retired So Young From WWE, Explained
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Lita is one of the first names mentioned when talking about the most important female performers in WWE history. The rise of Lita saw her becoming a huge reason for women’s wrestling receiving more of a spotlight in the early 2000s. WWE pushed Lita in a major way as part of the Team Xtreme faction with the Hardy Boyz.
However, a heel turn aligning with Edge led to many major changes to her character and eventually her life. Lita continued to be a professional and made it work to the best of her abilities, but things became too much. WWE witnessed Lita being one of the few major stars to retire at a young age. The story of Lita’s retirement deserves another look back for how real wrestling can get.
The Love Triangle Between Lita, Matt Hardy, And Edge
WWE had Lita in a face role as the wife of Kane when things started to get complicated over time. The real-life love triangle between Matt Hardy, Edge and Lita impacted all three of their careers. WWE fired Matt despite being the one cheated on since they felt it would be easier to escape the drama that way. The internet was starting to become more prominent, and Hardy sharing the story impacted WWE TV.
RELATED: 5 Reasons Lita Was Better As A Wrestler (& 5 She Was A Better Manager)
Both Lita and Edge were met with loud “you screwed Matt” and “we want Matt” chants every time they were on screen. Edge playing a heel meant that he could at least get away with an upset audience. Lita, however, had to undergo a massive change by accepting reality into the scripted product. WWE had Lita betray Kane to become involved with Edge in a mirroring of the real incident.
Chants for Hardy continuing influenced Vince McMahon to rehire Matt and make some money off this. Lita was forced to relive one of the toughest moments in her life with a hostile crowd treating her worse than ever before. Everyone involved had to be okay with their real lives being used in the storyline, but Lita had the toughest time.
Lita Fell Out Of Love With Wrestling
The heel run of Lita dating and managing Edge is considered a huge success for everyone but her. Edge finally got to the main event level after years of trying when Lita was his manager. Lita added a lot to the act and is a tremendous wrestling character from both the face and heel sides. However, this new character forced her into segments that she loathed.
WWE putting Lita and Edge in segments together to set up her on-screen heel turn led to things growing uncomfortable, but the entire angle unfolding made it escalate. Matt Hardy coming back saw him cutting promos running down Lita while she had to endure the crowd cheering it. There is an infamous segment from the online series Byte This where Matt and Edge personally trash each other, and Lita clearly looks uncomfortable the entire time.
Another change of upping the sexual element of being in the “Rated R” couple with Edge put Lita in more situations that made her fall out of love with wrestling. Lita has stated that the live sex segment which did huge ratings was a miserable experience for her. Fans chanting derogatory and offensive things at Lita coincided with the on-screen booking, leaving Lita unhappy.
Lita Retired From WWE In Her Prime
WWE was shocked when Lita announced she was leaving the company after her contract ended in late 2006, and no money offer would change her mind. Lita’s on-screen rival and real-life best friend Trish Stratus retired after defeating Lita at Unforgiven 2006. Stratus leaving meant that Lita’s emotional support during her rough times was no longer going to be there. Lita made it clear she was leaving after her final contracted date at Survivor Series 2006.
The mental health of Lita reached new lows dealing with the unhappiness of going to work every week. Lita revealed she felt sick the day before leaving for a tour knowing she’d be miserable at each event. Fans should give Lita huge credit for still performing at a high level as a great heel character during this time of depression. Injuries started to make her physical issues become a huge problem as well at the end.
However, WWE continued to egg on the crowds being hostile towards Lita. Even her final match against Mickie James ended with Cryme Tyme stealing her luggage and selling embarrassing items to the crowd. Lita was placed into moments where fans chanted horrible things at her, her love life was criticized on public television, and she felt miserable in the business she loved. The retirement of Lita came due to her life suffering from this final full-time chapter of her career.
