Debra Marshall Manager of Jeff Jarrett; Women's Champion (1998-1999) what happened in 1998? In 1998, Marshall rejoined Jarrett in the WWF. what did she do in the wwf? she played the part of a shrewd businesswoman, wearing business suits.
who did she work with?
who did debra marshall work with?
In 1998, Marshall rejoined Jarrett in the WWF. At the beginning of her WWF career, known simply as Debra, she played the part of a shrewd businesswoman, wearing business suits. She also played the part of Jarrett's girlfriend. In late 1998, Jarrett began a feud with Goldust that culminated in December at Rock Bottom: In Your House in a "Striptease match". During the match, Debra hit Goldust over the head with Jarrett's trademark guitar, enabling Jarrett to win. WWF Commissioner Shawn Michaels, however, disqualified Jarrett, and Debra had to strip due to the match's stipulations. As she stripped, The Blue Blazer and Jarrett covered her up. Debra, however, began utilizing a new strategy during matches, distracting Jarrett's opponents by unbuttoning her blouse. She would willingly take off her blouse to show the crowd her "puppies", a nickname originally bestowed upon her chest by wrestler Road Dogg and later utilized by commentator Jerry Lawler. The strategy helped Jarrett and partner Hart defeat The Big Boss Man and Ken Shamrock to become World Tag Team Champions in January 1999. In February, Debra feuded with female professional wrestler Ivory, and Jarrett and Hart retained the tag title in a tag match against Ivory's associates Mark Henry and D'Lo Brown at St. Valentine's Day Massacre. In March, the team lost their tag title to the team of Kane and X-Pac. As Debra continued to manage Jarrett and Hart, a potential storyline developed where Hart and Debra would have an affair, but the creative team vetoed the idea before it played out on-screen. A team name was also in the works--Debra favoring "Talent and Attitude" (T&A)--but Hart died in May 1999 at Over the Edge. Later in the event, Debra and Jarrett lost a mixed tag team match against Nicole Bass and Val Venis. Debra and Jarrett were interviewed moments after Hart's fall from the rafters at Kemper Arena, where Debra was noticeably shaken and fighting back tears of concern for her friend, and was unable to stay in her persona. On May 10, 1999, Debra won the Women's Championship from Sable in an Evening Gown match. Usually, in an Evening Gown match, the woman who forcibly removes her opponent's dress wins. Because Sable removed Debra's dress, she therefore should have been the winner. Commissioner Shawn Michaels, however, ruled that he considered the woman who had lost her dress the winner, crowning Debra the new Women's Champion. Debra lost the Women's Title to Ivory on June 14, due to interference from Nicole Bass. At SummerSlam in 1999 Jarrett faced D'Lo Brown. During the match, Debra and Brown's former tag-team partner Mark Henry interfered on Jarrett's behalf, allowing him to win both the European Championship and the Intercontinental Championship. The following night, Jarrett awarded Henry the European title and gave Debra an assistant, Miss Kitty. At Unforgiven on September 26, Debra turned on Jarrett and hit him over the head with a guitar in the middle of his match against Chyna for the Intercontinental Championship. Chyna pinned Jarrett, but referee Tom Prichard overturned the decision due to Debra's involvement. CANNOTANSWER
She also played the part of Jarrett's girlfriend.
Debra Gale Marshall (formerly McMichael and Williams; born March 2, 1960) is an American former professional wrestling valet, occasional professional wrestler, and actress. She is best known for her appearances with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) between 1995 and 1998 as Queen Debra and with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) between 1998 and 2002 as simply Debra. 

Marshall began her career in professional wrestling in 1995, accompanying her husband Steve "Mongo" McMichael to the ring in WCW. She joined the WWF in 1998, where she managed the tag team of Jeff Jarrett and Owen Hart until Hart's in-ring death in May 1999. Later that year, she won the WWF Women's Championship from Sable in an evening gown match. She later appeared on-screen with her second husband Stone Cold Steve Austin until 2002, when the duo left the company.

Early life
Raised in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Marshall became a track-runner, cheerleader, and Homecoming Queen in high school before attending the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute in New York City. She then became a flight attendant. Before her involvement in wrestling, she competed and won the title of 1987 Mrs. Illinois America in Elgin, Illinois and went on to compete in the Mrs. America pageant that same year in Las Vegas, Nevada. She later competed and won in the 1992 Mrs. Texas USA pageant held in Houston, Texas and went on to compete in the National Mrs. USA pageant. Marshall also attended the University of Alabama.

Professional wrestling career

World Championship Wrestling (1995–1997) 

Marshall first appeared in WCW in late-1995 and early-1996, making occasional unnamed appearances as an audience plant, and as part of a group of valets for the team of Hulk Hogan and "Macho Man" Randy Savage. In April 1996, she began appearing regularly as a valet for her husband, Steve "Mongo" McMichael as he transitioned from commentator to wrestler. Based on her real-life participation in beauty pageants, Debra took on the role of a beauty-pageant queen character, giving herself the nickname "The Queen of WCW" and often making remarks about other wrestlers and valets in kayfabe interviews.

At The Great American Bash 1996, Steve McMichael and his partner Kevin Greene competed against two of the Four Horsemen (Ric Flair and Arn Anderson). Flair won the match after Mongo and Debra turned on Greene by hitting him with a steel briefcase, joining the 4 Horsemen. She managed the stable with Miss Elizabeth and Woman.  The briefcase later became one of Debra's signature objects. At Bash at the Beach in July 1997, Debra turned on Mongo during his WCW United States Heavyweight Championship match against Jeff Jarrett by handing Jarrett the steel briefcase, which he then used to knock Mongo out and thus to win the match. Next, Debra briefly managed Goldberg and Alex Wright. On the November 24, 1997 edition of Nitro, Wright fired Debra after she accidentally distracted him, causing a loss to Prince Iaukea. After her divorce from McMichael, Debra left WCW.

World Wrestling Federation (1998–2002)

Manager of Jeff Jarrett; WWF Women's Champion (1998–1999) 
In October 1998, Marshall rejoined Jarrett in the WWF. At the beginning of her WWF career, known as Debra McMichael and later simply as Debra, she played the part of a shrewd businesswoman, wearing business suits. She also played the part of Jarrett's girlfriend. In late 1998, Jarrett began a feud with Goldust that culminated in December at Rock Bottom: In Your House in a "Striptease match". During the match, Debra hit Goldust over the head with Jarrett's trademark guitar, enabling Jarrett to win. WWF Commissioner Shawn Michaels, however, disqualified Jarrett, and Debra had to strip due to the match's stipulations. As she stripped, The Blue Blazer (Owen Hart) and Jarrett covered her up. Debra, however, began utilizing a new strategy during matches, distracting Jarrett's opponents by unbuttoning her blouse. She would willingly take off her blouse to show the crowd her "puppies", a nickname originally bestowed upon her chest by wrestler Road Dogg and later utilized by commentator Jerry Lawler.

The strategy helped Jarrett and partner Hart defeat The Big Boss Man and Ken Shamrock to become World Tag Team Champions in January 1999. In February, Debra feuded with female professional wrestler Ivory, making her in-ring debut in a mixed tag match on Monday Night Raw, which ended in a no contest. Immediately after the bell rang, she attacked Ivory and hit her with Jarrett's guitar. The same month, Jarrett and Hart retained the tag title in a tag match against Ivory's associates Mark Henry and D'Lo Brown at St. Valentine's Day Massacre with Debra's assistance. In March, the team lost their tag title to the team of Kane and X-Pac. She also competed in her first single's match, against Ivory but lost via disqualification after Jacqueline and Terri Runnels attacked Ivory during the match. As Debra continued to manage Jarrett and Hart, a potential storyline developed where Hart and Debra would have an affair, but the creative team vetoed the idea before it played out on-screen. A team name was also in the works—Debra favoring "Talent and Attitude" (T&A)—but Hart died in May 1999 at Over the Edge. Later in the event, Debra and Jarrett lost a mixed tag team match against Nicole Bass and Val Venis. Debra and Jarrett were interviewed moments after Hart's fall from the rafters at Kemper Arena, where Debra was noticeably shaken and fighting back tears of concern for her friend, and was unable to stay in her persona.

On May 2, 1999, Debra was scheduled to take on Sable in a 'Nightgown' match, but was made to compete against Nicole Bass, against whom she lost. On May 10, 1999, Debra won the WWF Women's Championship from Sable in an evening gown match. Usually, in an Evening Gown match, the woman who forcibly removes her opponent's dress wins. Because Sable removed Debra's dress, she therefore should have been the winner. Commissioner Shawn Michaels, however, ruled that he considered the woman who had lost her dress the winner, crowning Debra the new Women's Champion. She held the Women's title for a month and eventually lost it to Ivory on June 14, due to interference from Nicole Bass.

At SummerSlam in 1999 Jarrett faced D'Lo Brown. During the match, Debra and Brown's former tag-team partner Mark Henry interfered on Jarrett's behalf, allowing him to win both the European Championship and the Intercontinental Championship. The following night, Jarrett awarded Henry the European title and gave Debra an assistant, Miss Kitty. Following an attack by Jarrett after losing a mixed tag match against Stephanie McMahon and Test, on September 26, Debra turned on Jarrett at Unforgiven and hit him over the head with a guitar in the middle of his match against Chyna for the Intercontinental Championship. Chyna pinned Jarrett, but referee Tom Prichard overturned the decision due to Debra's involvement. On the following episode of RAW, Debra participated in an intergender tag match with Chyna against the team of Jarrett and Prichard, in a winning effort.

Sporadic appearances (1999–2002) 

In November 1999, Debra participated in an eight-women Sudden Death match at Survivor Series where she teamed with The Fabulous Moolah, Mae Young, and Tori in a winning effort against Ivory, Jacqueline, Luna Vachon and Terri Runnels which also served as her last appearance as an in-ring performer, despite being trained at the time to compete. Debra subsequently stayed off television while her partner Stone Cold Steve Austin recovered from neck surgery. She reappeared in April 2000, acting as a guest ring announcer at Backlash for the opening match. In the fall of that year she played the role of Lieutenant Commissioner, the assistant of Commissioner Mick Foley.

Debra resigned as Lieutenant Commissioner on the March 5, 2001 episode of Raw to pursue managing again, while it was revealed on-screen that she was the wife of Stone Cold. Mr. McMahon subsequently gave her the duty of managing The Rock, who at the time was feuding with Stone Cold. During the feud, she appeared on an episode of RAW and slapped Vince McMahon Although she was advertised to be involved in a high-profile Wrestlemania 17 match between the two, she was later pulled due to both competitors lobbying not to have her out at ringside. After Wrestlemania, she returned on an episode of RAW, questioning Vince McMahon for his role in Stone Cold's villainous persona, and subsequently slapping him after he insulted her. During an episode of Smackdown, she appeared in a backstage segment and slapped The Undertaker, who was feuding with Austin at the time. 
By the second half of 2001, Debra accompanied Austin, as he defected to the Alliance, with a running gag about her famous chocolate chip cookies being repulsive (although Debra herself remained oblivious to this). Following a miscommunication, during a prank on Kurt Angle, Stacy Keibler and Shawn Stasiak accidentally dropped a bucket of milk on Debra. The following week, Debra beat up Keibler with a tray of cookies in a backstage segment, following a failed peace offering.
In August, during an episode of Smackdown!, Debra also clocked Stone Cold in frustration with a cookie tray in the middle of the ring. The next week on RAW, she accompanied her husband to the ring for a match against Matt Hardy, and was involved in a physical altercation with Lita during the match.

In 2002, Debra was involved in a major backstage brawl with Stephanie McMahon after arguing over their respective husbands. Debra appeared sporadically thereafter in backstage segments, leaving the company in June 2002 after her last RAW appearance with Austin, fanning the flames of their well-publicized marital fallout. 

Following domestic abuse charges against Austin and arrest, Austin eventually returned to WWE in 2003. Debra however, was never invited back. References of Debra were subsequently dropped from WWE programming and media altogether, although, in 2021, she was acknowledged by WWE.com in a list of female performers who made an impact outside the ring.

Other media
Before becoming involved in wrestling, Marshall studied acting in Texas. Her first acting jobs involved commercials and two music videos for country musician George Strait. She also had a small role in the 1994 film Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation as a police officer. The producers originally offered her the lead in the film, but when the director's first choice changed her mind and accepted the role, Marshall was given the small role instead.

On March 10, 2002, Marshall appeared on an episode of The Weakest Link alongside several other members of the WWE roster. In addition, she has a role in the 2010 film Gathering of Heroes.

Personal life
Marshall's marriage to National Football League alumnus and professional wrestler Steve McMichael lasted thirteen years. McMichael's mother, whom Marshall met on an airplane, set up their first meeting as a blind date. They divorced on October 12, 1998.

Debra met Steven Williams, known on-screen as Stone Cold Steve Austin, in 1998; they moved in together in 2000. On September 13 of that year, they married at The Little White Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas, and she changed her name to Debra Williams. On June 15, 2002, police responded to a call to the couple's residence in San Antonio, Texas, and found Debra with bruises and a bloody nose. On August 14, the authorities arrested Austin and charged him with misdemeanor assault. He pleaded no contest on November 25 and received a year's probation, a $1,000 fine, and an order to carry out eighty hours of community service. Austin filed for divorce from Marshall on July 22, 2002, and the divorce was finalized on February 5, 2003. Marshall later auctioned her wedding ring off on eBay for $27,100 and donated a portion of the proceeds to "Safe Place", an organization which assists the victims of domestic abuse.

In June and July 2007, Marshall made several appearances to discuss the Chris Benoit double-murder and suicide. She described steroids and drugs as the cause of Austin hitting her in June 2002 and suggested links between such substances and the death of Benoit and his family. She also alleged that Austin beat her three times. She however maintains a cordial relationship with Austin following the divorce.

Marshall graduated cum laude from the University of Alabama with an undergraduate interdisciplinary degree in 2013. In December 2017, she was awarded a Master of Science degree in criminal justice from the University of Alabama. While working on her master's of science degree, Marshall was awarded the University of Alabama College of Arts and Science's Mary Avis Todd Award for "outstanding work in community studies".

Championships and accomplishments 
 Pro Wrestling Illustrated
 PWI Manager of the Year (1999)
 World Wrestling Federation
 WWF Women's Championship (1 time)

Filmography

Film

Television

References

Further reading

External links 

 
 
 

1960 births
21st-century American women
American film actresses
American beauty pageant winners
American female professional wrestlers
Living people
Professional wrestlers from Alabama
Professional wrestling authority figures
Professional wrestling managers and valets
Sportspeople from Tuscaloosa, Alabama
The Four Horsemen (professional wrestling) members
WWF/WWE Women's Champions
Ha Soo Whang (1892-1984), also known as Hwang Hae-su, was a social worker. She was the first Korean social worker in Hawaii, and acted as a bilingual interpreter for the families under her care. A graduate of Athens College, she was affiliated with the YWCA's International Institute. She is credited with spreading the art of Korean dance in Hawaii.

Career 
Whang was born in Korea and was educated in missionary schools there. She came to America for college. On her way back to Korea in 1922, she stopped in Hawaii, and was offered a job at the YWCA International Institute. While there, she started the HyungJay Club, where young Korean-American women could learn about traditional Korean culture, and the Mother's club, where elderly Korean women could become more familiar with American culture. Her goal was to bridge the gap between first- and second-generation Korean-Americans, but was foremost concerned with the well-being of the Korean community in Hawaii.

Dance 
Before Whang began her work, "respectable" Korean women did not dance, and men did so only when they were intoxicated. Whang did not teach dance herself, but rather found dancers who were willing to teach and connected them with students. Susan Chun Lee and Chai Yong Ha were two dancers she worked closely with in this capacity. Whang organized performances until 1942, when the International Institute was dissolved. She left Hawaii in 1943. Her work promoting Korean dance and culture in Hawaii was continued first by Halla Pai Huhm, then Mary Jo Freshley.

Personal life 
Her family was involved with the Korean National Association and her brothers were ordained Methodist ministers. Her nieces, Mary and Elizabeth, came to live with her in Hawaii after their mother, Chang Tae Sun, passed away.

See also 
 Halla Pai Huhm

References

Bibliography

External links 
 Interview with Mary Whang Choy about Ha Soo Whang, her aunt

1892 births
1984 deaths
Athens State University alumni
American social workers
American people of Korean descent Erin Macdonald is an astrophysicist, aerospace engineer, and science fiction consultant. She hosts the YouTube channel, Dr. Erin Explains the Universe, teaches STEM through popular culture, and consults with science fiction creators.

Education and early career 
Macdonald credits fictional characters such as Dana Scully and Kathryn Janeway (the latter of whom she even acknowledges in her Ph.D. dissertation) with providing the inspiration to pursue a science career. She earned her bachelor's degrees in astrophysics and mathematics at the University of Colorado Boulder (after transferring there from the University of New Mexico) and her Ph.D. at the University of Glasgow, where she concentrated in general relativity.

Macdonald did post-doctoral work with the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) collaboration as part of an attempt to detect gravitational waves from the Crab Pulsar. She also did post-doctoral work at Cardiff University, still with LIGO, where she was the first female researcher in her department. During this period she became involved with the Actors Workshop, in Cardiff, which she credits with helping her efforts at science communication. Macdonald's first job after leaving academia was at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. She also began teaching at local community colleges and eventually found work analyzing data in the aerospace industry.

Science communication 

While searching for a better work-life balance than that provided in research and academia, Macdonald found opportunities to still teach through a combination of conducting introductory courses and speaking at science fiction conventions. She would discover that these activities put her “in front of students and kids who may find inspiration in a punk-redhead woman covered in tattoos who also happens to have a PhD.” After deciding not to pursue an academic research career, Macdonald began giving talks at science fiction conventions in the areas of her expertise that link the science to the various fandoms of her audience members. For example, she has used Voltron: Legendary Defender to teach about spacetime. She has made appearances at such conventions as Awesome Con and Dragon Con. This led her to meeting and working with science fiction writers in the entertainment industry.

Science fiction consultation 
Macdonald moved to Los Angeles from Colorado and works with writers and producers in Hollywood to bring scientific accuracy to their productions. She has, for example, served as technical consultant on several episodes of Orbital Redux. In 2019, Macdonald produced a Great Courses course on the science of science fiction via Audible.

In late 2019, Macdonald became a science consultant for Star Trek. She would work with producers and writers throughout the Star Trek franchise.

References

External links 
 Official web site
 Dr. Erin Explains the Universe

American women physicists
American women engineers
Women space scientists
Science communicators
University of Colorado Boulder alumni
Alumni of the University of Glasgow
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
Aerospace engineers
21st-century American women