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"That's my family, Kay. It's not me." -Michael Corleone, The Godfather
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"That's my family, Kay. It's not me." -Michael Corleone, The Godfather
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Vital Statistics
Full
Name: Rachel Elizabeth Morris
Drinks: vodka martinis
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Biography |
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The "Black Sheep" of the
famed Morris clan, Rachel Elizabeth Morris came into the world on May
30, 1977, in Albany, NY. By all rights, she should have had a happy
childhood; her parents had made a fine, upper-middle class life for
themselves. Young Rachel was an outgoing child, and showed signs that
she would grow up to be a very beautiful woman. But Rachel wasn't happy.
Even though her family seemingly had everything, she couldn't take her
sights off what the other side of her family was doing.
Rachel's uncle Saul Morris was a wrestler, and a very successful one. At the family reunions, Rachel would sit in awe and listen as her cousins told her about the adventures they had traveling with their father. To |
| Rachel, Saul seemed like a super
hero, and she thought that his family must be the luckiest people on
earth. As she grew older, she came to idolize her uncle's family
even more, and to resent her parents for the normal, "boring"
life they had made for her.
Rachel continued her mediocre existence in Albany; and in spite of her ever-present attitude, she became one of the most popular students at her high school. She was a cheerleader, and even sat on the homecoming court a couple of times. (She never made Queen, a fact that still bothers her for some reason.) None of it brought her any happiness. She continued to despise her life in Albany, and looked on enviously as her cousins Grant and Violet followed in Uncle Saul's footsteps and found glory and fame in the squared circle. When she was 17, she decided to do something about it. Over her family's strongest possible objections, she dropped out of school to pursue a career as a professional wrestler. Her family refused to help her unless she went back to school first. Refusing to be dissuaded, Rachel used her meager savings and a fake ID to enroll in wrestling school. She trained for months, until she felt that she had mastered the craft. Finally, she was ready to go out and create the kind of life she'd always dreamed of. In a nod to the family, she took the ring name "Jade." Finally, the night had come for Jade's debut. And while her heart was definitely in it, there was one problem that she and her trainers had overlooked. For Rachel, while beautiful and charismatic, lacked even a shred of her cousins' athletic ability. She was awakened to this reality the hard way, as her much larger, stronger, and faster opponent beat her to a pulp, leaving Rachel with a concussion, a badly broken arm, and a crushed ego. Having no other options, she returned to her family in Albany. Her parents were happy that something had finally knocked the wrestling bug out of her system. If only they knew how deep her obsession went... |
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| Rachel grudgingly returned to school and graduated. Before too long, she was working at a local drive-thru, taking classes at a local community college, and totally sick of her "normal" life once again. Despite what had happened to her, wrestling remained her first love. Eventually, she worked up the courage to call her cousin Violet, who had by this time retired from active competition and taken a position in the AGW front office. Rachel shamelessly begged for months, and finally Violet relented and brought her into the organization. Initially thrilled, Rachel came to regret her decision. |
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| She had dreamed of achieving
wrestling glory in
the AGW, but in the AGW there was only one possible role a female
with no in-ring ability could play. And so, Rachel became one of the
Godfather's ho's. Night after night, she was paraded down to ringside in
one embarrassingly skimpy outfit after another. She began to think that
this was even worse than life in Albany, a feeling that she felt for
sure was confirmed when she met Mark Paris.
At the time Rachel entered the AGW, the Godfather was a member of Mark Paris' stable 25:17. It was a group where you fell into one of two categories: you were either Paris' ally, or you were Paris' flunky. The Godfather belonged to the latter group. He was one of several wrestlers who Paris used as cannon fodder in his wars with the AGW superstars. Rachel, whose headstrong attitude had been a constant throughout her life, found the Godfather's sycophantic behavior repulsive. And if she hated the slave, she truly despised the master. Mark Paris was ambitious, manipulative, and unbelievably arrogant, both in and out of the ring. Rachel had a bird's eye view to watch as numerous wrestlers careers were ruined by Paris' string-pulling and manipulation of the front office. It was more than she could take; she got Paris' attention when she started making a habit of interrupting 25:17 interviews and adding her less-than-flattering view of the group, and particularly it's leader. It wasn't exactly love-at-first site for Paris; he tried several times to have her fired. Being Violet Morris' cousin offered her a certain amount of protection, which only infuriated Paris further. Paris' flunkies started to make life very hard for her backstage. It was an ugly situation, and no doubt would have only gotten uglier, were it not for the events that occurred on the night of November 17th, 1998. That night, Rachel stood with the rest of 25:17 at ringside, as Mark Paris met Kid Nitro in the infamous two hour Death Match. Rachel watched the brutal spectacle with a mix of horror and fascination. On the one hand, the match was probably the most violent thing was had yet seen in her short life. On the other, the man who she believed to be nothing more than a manipulative coward spent almost two grueling hours in the ring with one of the sport's all-time greats, literally risking his career and his life several times over the course of the match. As the match wore on, and Paris and Nitro continued to beat each other mercilessly, she began to think that maybe she had misjudged him. Maybe, she thought, they were more alike than either of them had ever realized. After one hour and fifty-seven minutes of warfare, Mark Paris stood victorious. It had cost him, however; he and Nitro both were badly injured. But as Nitro (wisely) left to seek treatment at a hospital, Paris insisted on returning to the ring to rub his triumph in the face of the dejected crowd. The effort proved to be too much, and he nearly collapsed a couple minutes into his speech. Paris' group of stooges had accompanied him to the ring; although they were all concerned about what was happening, Paris had already refused to go to the hospital. None of them were willing to contradict the boss, even if his life was on the line. Rachel finally spoke up, to the utter shock of everybody present (herself included) and insisted that Paris get in one of the waiting ambulances backstage. He refused. Then she offered to drive him to the hospital herself. To her surprise, he agreed. The two of them left the arena together night. Neither one of them were seen for the next five days. When Paris next appeared at an AGW arena, Rachel was at his side. Her family, particularly Violet, were shocked. Paris had (and has) a bad reputation in the wrestling business. The last thing the Morris family wanted was to see their baby cousin hooked up a man who was known as a street thug who would stab his own mother to get ahead in the business. Rachel actually enjoyed the reaction; she knew her cousins were just jealous. Rachel had spent her childhood learning all about jealousy; now it was their turn. After all, whatever else you could say about Paris, he was a headliner. And now, by association, so was she. |
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Rachel's career, and indeed her
whole life, has become irrevocably tied to Paris. They've been together
for two-and-a-half years now (a record for both of them) and seen many
ups-and-downs. Rachel was at Paris' side as he and Speed Racer created
the Corporate Clique, and she enjoyed the many benefits that came with
Paris' power in the front office. She's also stayed with him through
several stints in rehab, brushes with the law, and long absences from
the squared circle. She was with him again as he joined the group that
reopened the AGW in the spring of 2000, and she left with him when he
chose to leave several months and two more World Title reigns later.
Aside from a couple noticeable legal controversies, they have lived in
seclusion ever since.
People who know Mark and Rachel say that their relationship is horribly codependent, and that it's unlikely either one could survive without the other anymore. Her family is especially saddened by the course Rachel's life has taken. Although they were the ones who initially stood in |
| her way when she tried to get into the business, they acted only out
of concern for her. Rachel is not on speaking terms with her cousins;
she even posed nude in the July 2000 issue of Playboy magazine
just to upset them. Still, they respected her dream, and it saddens them
that she seems to have given it up for a life that they just know she
never would have wanted.
So why does she stay? Why doesn't she leave Paris to his "extracurriculars" and try to make it in the business on her own. Maybe some observers are right, and she's become totally dependent on him. This would be exceptionally ironic; it would mean that she had become one of the sycophants that she always hated. Of maybe, she realizes that Paris is just like her. The business has as strong a hold on his soul as it does hers', and sooner or later, it's going to draw him back in. And maybe, when that happens, she wants to make sure she's along for the ride. |
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