Before the Four Horsewomen of NXT and even before Gail Kim and Awesome Kong, there were loads of awesome female wrestlers making an impression on fans, even in eras of the sport that didn’t entirely value female talent. This includes the late-period WCW of the early 2000s, which had no women’s division to speak of but did have performers like Daffney.

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Memorable for her gothic look and signature shriek, Daffney was definitely a highlight of the declining WCW, and her pro wrestling career didn’t stop there, as she moved on to the indies, Impact Wrestling, and even WWE for a brief spell. There’s a lot fans should know about her, so let’s take a look at the life and career of Daffney.

10 Film Production And Acting Background

Daffney was one of those performers who didn’t grow up with the intention of entering the squared circle. Instead, Daffney — born Shannon Claire Spruill — attended Georgia State University in the late 1990s, studying film production and acting with the intention of working in media. However, in 1999 WCW put out a call for auditions, so she pursued that and scored a job in pro wrestling. To prepare for an in-ring career, she ended up training at the WCW Power Plant under Nora Greenwald, who’d later become known as WWE’s Molly Holly.

9 David Flair’s Kayfabe Girlfriend

Daffney was introduced on WCW television in late 1999 as David Flair’s unhinged girlfriend, serving as the manager of both Flair and his enforcer, Crowbar. Inspired by the film Natural Born Killers and Harley Quinn from Batman: The Animated Series, Daffney certainly set herself apart from all the female talent fans were used to at the time, but the character wasn’t 100% solidified upon her debut. Initially, Daffney tried to deliver a maniacal laugh as her thing, but found that fans in the crowd really hated it when she did a high-pitched shriek, so she ended up switching to that as her signature instead.

8 The Second Cruiserweight Champion

While WCW’s attempt at a Women’s Championship lasted a little more than a year since its inception in 1996, that didn’t mean that women didn’t win titles in the promotion — including Daffney. In May of 2000, Daffney and Crowbar teamed up to beat Chris Candido and Tammy Lynn Sytch (a.k.a. Sunny) in a mixed tag team match with Candido’s Cruiserweight Championship on the line, winning the belt in the process.

RELATED: 10 Things Fans Should Know About Chris Candido

Initially, Crowbar and Daffney were touted as co-champions, but the following week the two fought one another to decide who kept the belt for good. Candido interfered in the match, taking out Crowbar while Daffney accidentally got the pinfall victory in trying to check up on her teammate.

7 Feuded With Miss Hancock

Behind the scenes, David Flair began dating Miss Hancock (a.k.a. Stacy Keibler), which ended up being incorporated into kayfabe as Hancock stole Flair away from Daffney. A feud between the two women ensued, which involved Hancock interfering in one of Daffney’s Cruiserweight Title defenses, costing her the belt. From there, the two clashed in a Wedding Gown match at Bash at the Beach 2000, which Hancock lost by taking off her own dress. From there, Daffney’s appearances became less frequent and she was released by the company in February 2001, shortly before the promotion was bought by WWE.

6 Valet For the Second City Saints In ROH

Release from WCW wasn’t the end of Daffney’s career, however. From there, she started performing on the indies, including in Ring of Honor, where she was presented as Lucy Furr, the valet to the faction Second City Saints, which included CM Punk, Colt Cabana, and Ace Steel. Daffney’s time with ROH would only last a few months, but would have implications that carried on after she left, as she was written off due to a mysterious attack, leading to a huge feud between the Saints and another faction, the Prophecy.

5 Signed To WWE In 2003

The reason for Daffney’s departure from ROH was actually a pretty big deal: she had signed to WWE, which was undeniably the biggest wrestling promotion in North America. Signed to a developmental contract, Daffney performed for Ohio Valley Wrestling, where she functioned as the manager of Aaron Stevens, who’d debut on the main roster in the 2010s as Damien Sandow. However, Daffney would only last in developmental half a year, as she got released from her contract by the end of 2003.

4 Showed Up In Impact As A Sarah Palin Parody

After making a couple of appearances for Impact Wrestling in its early days, Daffney returned to the promotion in 2008, first as an audience plant to challenge Awesome Kong when the star was doing big-money challenges. But later that year, she started showing up in vignettes with the Beautiful People faction, playing former Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

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However, the Beautiful People believed she was the real Sarah Palin, which sparked a feud once they found out the truth. Billed as “The Governor,” Daffney teamed with Taylor Wilde and Roxxi Laveaux to take on the Beautiful People in a winning effort at Destination X 2009.

3 Allied With Stevie Richards

Despite the loss, the Beautiful People ended up attacking The Governor and cutting her hair, resulting in a nervous breakdown that resulted in the Daffney persona resurfacing. From there, she became a patient of Dr. Stevie — Stevie Richards doing a psychiatrist gimmick — and began hanging out with him and one of the doctor’s patients, Abyss. Now a heel, she turned on Taylor Wilde, resulting in the first women’s Monster’s Ball Match, and soon began teaming with not only Dr. Stevie, but also Stevie’s old partner, Raven, once Abyss moved on.

2 Severely Injured In Impact

After a spell managing Raven and Dr. Stevie, Daffney started focusing on her in-ring career more, becoming an increasingly violent force in the Knockouts Division and feuding with Tara for the Knockouts Championship. Daffney was unsuccessful in her efforts and eventually turned face, but her time with Impact would be cut short, as she’d end up severely injured during a dark match with the reportedly inexperienced Rosie Lottalove. Daffney would eventually recover, but Impact would decline to renew her contract once it expired, and she ended up suing the company for worker’s compensation due to her injury.

1 Vocal About CTE

After Impact, Daffney wrestled her final match in an indie promotion in 2011, but remained active as a manager for the all-women’s promotion SHINE, and made odd appearances elsewhere. As the years went on, Daffney got increasingly vocal about concussions and CTE in pro wrestling, as they ended her career and adversely affected her life outside the ring. In 2021, just before her tragic death by suicide, Daffney asked on an Instagram Live stream that her brain be donated to science for CTE research, which it reportedly had.