Michelle Pfeiffer

## Overview

Having reached at least the Semi-Finals of the first five WWYD tournaments, Pfeiffer is considered a WWYD Legend. A favourite of notorious purist Alan Hansen, Pfeiffer is notable for relying exclusively on The Straight Bat for her victories. Over the first three tournaments, she had developed a reputation for gliding through the early rounds of the tournaments only to "choke" at the penultimate hurdle. Pfeiffer somewhat overcame this reputation during WWYD4 by reaching the final although she was still unable to defeat Jennifer Connelly. Pfeiffer has only ever lost to world-class opponents. Of her 6 losses to date, 3 are to Connelly, 2 are to Liz Hurley, and the other is to Penelope Cruz in either Semi-Final matches or the third-place playoff. Because of this, Pfeiffer can sometimes be perceived as the ultimate dividing line between "the best" and "the rest". Her 52-48 Quarter-Final victory over Liz Hurley in WWYD4 marks the first time a contestant has ever overturned a previous loss on a rematch. Her other major victories include defeating Brooke Shields (twice), Cindy Crawford, Xenia Onatopp, Claudia Cardinale, Catherine Bach, Olivia Hussey, Jane Seymour and Route 2-pioneer Nikkita Lyons. Of other talents typically considered "world-class", she has not faced either Scarlett Johansson or Monica Bellucci to date. She was one of three judges in the X-Factor story arc which preceded the Queen's Cup IV and was notable for being very harsh. She once again reached the semi-finals in WWYD5, and became officially the most experienced WWYD superstar having played 28 matches, more than the 26 played by Connelly.

# Storylines and Controversies

## WWYD1

Pfeiffer reached the Semi-Finals in which she was defeated by Liz Hurley. The match was controversial owing to the activities of The Pfeiffer Brigade who had campaigned relentlessly on Pfeiffer's behalf throughout the tournament. After crying foul when Pfeiffer was losing the match, they persuaded Head Referee Walter Day to hold an unofficial second match with different shots to see if it would produce a different result. When Hurley won that vote also, the brigade disbanded. Due to these events, there is a rule named after her, "The Pfeiffer Rule" which wards against "excessive cheerleading". She officially finished third.

## WWYD2

Pfeiffer had a largely quiet and uneventful tournament but glided through to the Semi-Finals with a series of almost effortless wins. Her highlight was defeating Brooke Shields 51-49 in Round 2. Shields and Pfeiffer would later become friends and stable-mates in The Pantheon. She officially finished fourth after losing the third-place playoff to Liz Hurley.

## WWYD3

Another quiet tournament for Pfeiffer in which she seemed effortlessly to reach the Semi-Finals. She gave an interview to Philippa Forrester before the Semi-Finals in which she said she'd been training hard and was feeling confident. However, she lost once again to Connelly. Again, Pfeiffer officially finished fourth after losing the third-place playoff to Penelope Cruz.

## WWYD4

The tournament was dominated by the Med Event Mafia vs. The Pantheon storyline and Pfeiffer was a prominent member of The Pantheon. Before the tournament started, very few commentators expected Pfeiffer to do well and many predicted an upset against her Round 1 Med Event Mafia opponent, Lauren "Chungus" Jauregui. Pfeiffer fell behind in that match but dramatically came back to win 55-45. She was then the beneficiary of a BYE in Round 2 when Natalie Dormer and Natalie Portman were eliminated according to "The Watson Rule". Pfeiffer then defeated Jane Seymour in Round 3 before a sensational 52-48 victory over her long-term rival Liz Hurley -- the first time a defeated WWYD Superstar has ever overturned a result in a rematch. Pfeiffer then shocked the WWYD world by defeating her fellow-Pantheon member Cindy Crawford in the Semi-Finals. Crawford had been highly tipped following her great form after winning the Queens Cup III. Although Pfeiffer was not able to defeat Jennifer Connelly in the final, the story of her heroic and at times almost fairy-tale-like "come back" in this tournament won her the admiration and respect of many WWYD fans all over the world.

When analysing how Pfeiffer was able to improve on her past performances, despite the field being notably more packed with world-class talent, some commentators pointed out that she restricted herself exclusively to shots from her 1979-1981 period very early in her career and eschewed shots from the late 1980s and early 1990s when she was more famous as a movie star. Although the difference was marginal, it was enough to see her defeat Hurley and finally overcome her label as a "choker" in the Semi-Finals.

## The Queen's Cup IV

After WWYD4, The Pantheon were reduced to just five members, which reduced further to four after Scarlett Johansson left the group and joined Liz Hurley to form GTFO. Pfeiffer, along with Brooke Shields and Cindy Crawford set out on a scouting mission to find new talent who might be worthy of joining The Pantheon. In addition, in the nominations to WWYD5 the "Present" category was oversubscribed, a total of 34 hopefuls were nominated for just 8 places. Pfeiffer, Shields and Crawford agreed to take part in the X-Factor as a panel of judges who would decide 16 out of the 34 to go forward. Pfeiffer was a notably harsh judge who only said "yes" to 5 out of the 34 contestants. Towards the end, the process was appearing to take a toll on her mental health. Eventually, 16 contestants were chosen to go ahead to the Present-Day Playoffs which were to take place at The Queen's Cup IV: The X-Factor. Of the 34 contestants, the panel only thought that one, Barbara Palvin had a chance of joining The Pantheon and were said to be "keeping tabs" on her progress.

## WWYD5

Pfeiffer had another strong tournament, with impressive tight wins over Ana de Armas in Round 3 and Penelope Cruz in the Quarter-Finals. However, she narrowly lost to her fellow member of The Pantheon, Cindy Crawford in the Semi-Final, 51-49, the tightest possible score-line. During the tournament Pfeiffer tracked the progress of Barbara Palvin who impressed in a 50-50 draw against the iconic Marylin Monroe. Had Palvin won the match, Pfeiffer would have invited her into the Pantheon.

Pfeiffer was appalled at Damian Hurley's decision to disqualify Brooke Shields after her draw with Monica Bellucci in an event known as Shields-gate. As a result, she boycotted the third-place playoff match (against Shields), and is refusing to appear in the scheduled number 1 contender group at Queen's Cup V.

## Queen's Cup V

Pfeiffer participated in the Pantheon Boycott which led to the removal of Damian Hurley as Commissioner.

## 1st Tag-Team Tournament

Pfeiffer teamed up with her new protégé Barbara Palvin to form Facial Attraction. They suffered a Group Stage exist after losing to The BFFs, an arch-rival team from the Med Event Mafia. Later, following the Med Event Mafia's Hospitalisation of Brooke Shields, both Pfeiffer and Palvin visited the injured Shields in hospital and were visibly upset.

# Facts

* **Signature shots**
	+ Delta House
	+ Amazing Grace

* **Stables**
	+ The Pantheon