Dawn Marie Psaltis Dawn Marie Psaltis ( November 3 , 1970 ) is an American professional wrestler and professional wrestling valet , better known by her ring name , Dawn Marie . She is perhaps best known for her appearances with Extreme Championship Wrestling and the " SmackDown ! " brand of World Wrestling Entertainment during which she was known as one of the WWE Diva s . Wrestling career . Early career . In her youth , Dawn Marie was a fan of the World Wrestling Federation ( WWF ) , admiring wrestlers such as Bob Backlund , Jimmy Snuka and Roddy Piper . She graduated from the New York University Stern School of Business at the age of 23 and went on to work for a real estate consultancy firm in Manhattan , New York , reaching the position of Director of International Real Estate . After meeting an ex - boyfriend who had aspired to play football professionally and finding out that he had been signed by the Chicago Bears , Dawn Marie decided that she would pursue a career in entertainment . She resigned from the firm and moved into the entertainment industry with the goal of becoming either a model or an actress . While signing modeling posters for Jonathan Gold , a talent agent and professional wrestling promoter , Dawn jokingly told Gold that she would be interested in pursuing a career in wrestling . Gold took her comment at face value and later contacted Dawn Marie , informing her that she was scheduled to appear at a wrestling show in New Jersey . With some trepidation , Dawn Marie went to the show and managed Tony Atlas in his match against Jimmy Snuka . Following the event , Dawn Marie stopped modeling and began appearing on the independent circuit , managing and learning from wrestlers such as Devon Storm , Buddy Landell , Snuka , Tom Brandi and Steve Corino and Spanish Angel in ( LIWF ) . She wrestled her first match in January 1995 . Extreme Championship Wrestling . Dawn Marie spent four years working on the northeastern independent circuit , appearing with promotions such as Maryland Championship Wrestling and the Mid - Eastern Wrestling Federation . In 1998 , she was told by Jeff Jones that Extreme Championship Wrestling ( ECW ) employee Buh Buh Ray Dudley was interested in bringing her into the company . At the behest of Dudley , Dawn Marie travelled to the ECW Arena in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , where ECW promoter Paul Heyman told her that he would book her for several appearances in a storyline with Lance Storm . Dawn Marie debuted in ECW on August 28 , 1998 as the manager of Lance Storm , feuding with Chris Candido and his manager , Tammy Lynn Sytch . Heyman was impressed by the chemistry between Dawn Marie and Storm , and offered Dawn Marie a contract , which she accepted . Storm and Dawn Marie feuded with Candido and Sytch for several months , during which time Dawn Marie was renamed Tammy Lynn Bytch to spite Candido and his manager . She used a similar tactic during a feud between Storm and Tommy Dreamer in early 1999 , after the respective feuds ended , Dawn Marie used the ring name Dawn Marie Bytch , which was eventually shortened to simply Dawn Marie . After Storm formed a tag team with Justin Credible known as the Impact Players in the summer of 1999 , Dawn Marie managed both men , helping them win the ECW Tag Team Championship on two occasions . Dawn Marie continued to manage Storm until he left ECW for World Championship Wrestling ( WCW ) in May 2000 . Dawn Marie was also offered a contract by WCW , but declined to leave ECW in order to remain with her fiancé , ECW wrestler Simon Diamond . After Storm departed ECW , Dawn Marie became a color commentator on both ECW pay - per - views and the television series " ECW on TNN " . In August 2000 , she began managing Steve Corino ; the alliance was short - lived , as Dawn Marie quickly betrayed Corino . On December 3 , 2000 at the " Massacre on 34th Street " pay - per - view , Dawn Marie announced that she would become the manager of the winner of the opening match between Simon Diamond and Swinger and Christian York and Joey Matthews . Although York and Matthews won the bout , Dawn Marie opted to join forces with Simon and Swinger . She managed the duo until ECW declared bankruptcy in April 2001 . Following the bankruptcy of ECW , Dawn Marie returned to the independent circuit , managing Simon and Swinger . The trio made several appearances with the short lived X Wrestling Federation in November 2001 . In addition to wrestling , Dawn Marie worked as a stock trader and co - hosted a radio show known as the " Rock and Wrestling Radio Show " . During her time on the independent circuit , Dawn Marie trained as a wrestler under Simon Diamond and Mikey Whipwreck . World Wrestling Entertainment . In April 2002 , Dawn Marie began negotiating with World Wrestling Entertainment , eventually agreeing to a deal . She wrestled her first WWE match on April 14 , 2002 , defeating Kim Neilson at a house show in Hattiesburg , Mississippi . She debuted on WWE television on the May 30 , 2002 episode of " SmackDown ! " as Vince McMahon ' s legal assistant , Dawn Marie Renaldi . Dawn briefly had a feud with Stacy Keibler over McMahon ' s affections until McMahon turned over the General Management position to his daughter , Stephanie McMahon , followed shortly by Keibler departure for the " Raw Brand " , after backstabbing McMahon . In her next angle , Dawn was in a relationship with Torrie ' s father Al . Torrie and Dawn had sex at a hotel to avoid her marrying him , even though the kissing was just shown both Torrie and Dawn said it went much farther than kissing . Despite this , Dawn and Al Wilson " married " anyway . As part of the storyline , Al Wilson died during their honeymoon . Outside of kayfabe , Dawn was called ' Mom ' by Torrie . This led to the First - Ever Stepmother vs . Stepdaughter Match at the 2003 Royal Rumble in Boston . Dawn for the most part dominated the match due to the fact that Wilson was too distraught over her father ' s death to really fight back . In the end though , Wilson surprised Dawn with a roll - up and won yet another Pay - Per - View Match against Dawn Marie . On April 15 , 2003 , in Norfolk , Virginia Dawn Marie along with Rhyno , Rey Mysterio and Sable , visited the USS Vella Gulf , a guided missile cruiser . The WWE superstars expressed their gratitude to the Navy for their efforts during the Iraq War . Dawn Marie also gave an emotional speech to the soldiers about how she knew what it ' s like for their families at home , since Dawn has a brother in the military . During the WWE ' s tour of Iraq , Dawn spent the night in one of Saddam Hussein ' s palaces . The palace was gutted and she slept on a cot as did the other WWE Superstars . Dawn began a short feud with Wilson for the second time over Dawn ' s jealousy of Torrie ' s exposure in Playboy and the WWE Divas magazines . The two had a match with Torrie ' s career on the line thanks to the Smackdown ! GM at the time ( Kurt Angle ) who made that stipulation at the 2004 WWE Judgment Day pay per view . Wilson won the contest with a backslide , in the progress accidentally exposing Marie ' s thong following a botched school - girl roll - up in which Marie ' s pants ripped . After being on hiatus from " SmackDown ! " programming , Dawn began a feud with Miss Jackie , bragging that she and Jackie ' s fiancée Charlie Haas had an affair . This angle lead up to a match between the two at Armageddon 2004 , with Haas as the guest referee . Dawn won the match but afterward , Haas confirmed their affair and broke off both relationships . Months later , she began a short feud with Michelle McCool . In May 2005 , it was reported that Dawn Marie Psaltis was pregnant . In June 2005 , she confirmed her pregnancy on WWE ' s internet talk show , Byte This ! . Before she was released by WWE on July 6 , 2005 , she appeared at One Night Stand 2005 . At the time of her pregnancy , there was much speculation in the wrestling community regarding who exactly the father of her child was . While under WWE contract , Dawn traveled once a week to Louisville , Kentucky , the home of Ohio Valley Wrestling ( OVW ) where she and the rest of the Divas practiced and teamed up . They listened to Fit Finlay ' s ideas and suggestions and worked on some matches together . As of May 8 , 2007 she is currently involved with a lawsuit again with WWE over her departure from the company back in 2005 for being pregnant . Independent circuit . On November 5 , 2005 , a visibly pregnant Dawn Marie appeared at the ECW reunion event Hardcore Homecoming : November Reign , holding the key for the main event steel cage match between Jerry Lynn and P . J . Polaco . The match was won by Polaco after Dawn Marie , Jason and Lance Storm interfered on his behalf . After giving birth on December 20 , 2005 , Dawn Marie began training for a return to wrestling . She was briefly scheduled to team with Jackie Gayda to face Traci Brooks and Lollipop in a tag team match on April 26 , 2006 , but backed out of the match , believing that she would not be in ring - shape in time for the event . In June 2006 , Dawn Marie managed Johnny Candido in a match for the National Wrestling Superstars promotion . Acting career . Dawn Marie starred in the 1999 independent film " The Vampire Carmilla " as " Rachel " . She also appeared in the original " Austin Powers " MTV special as an extra , and can be seen on the " Clerks . " tenth anniversary DVD in the Jay and Silent Bob MTV spots . Personal life . Psaltis is of French , Greek and Italian descent . Throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s , Psaltis was in a relationship with Pat " Simon Diamond " Kenney . On December 20 , 2005 , Psaltis gave birth to her first child , a boy named Matthew . He was born seven days prematurely . In January 2006 , she filed a complaint against WWE with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission , claiming that her contract had been wrongfully terminated as a result of her pregnancy , and that she had suffered mental duress as a result of the release . She maintains that Kenney is not the father . Psaltis is good friends with several other female wrestlers , including Torrie Wilson , Stacy Keibler , Jackie Gayda , Lita and Victoria . She attended the wedding of Wilson and Billy Kidman and was a bridesmaid at Jackie Gayda ' s marriage to Charlie Haas . She and fellow ECW alumnae Francine share a mutual dislike for unknown reasons .