REAL NAME: Jillian Fletcher
DATE OF BIRTH: September 6, 1980
HOMETOWN: Ashland, Kentucky
Jillian Hall, one of the more talented WWE divas, began her wrestling career in
Fit Finlay's wrestling school. By the time she was 18 years old, she had debuted
on the independent circuit under the moniker "Macaela Mercedes." Wrestling as
Mercedes, Jillian Hall tore up the independent scene, winning many championships
along the way.
Playing the role of a heel, Macaela Mercedes won the SWF Women's title, the SWF
tag team titles on two occassions (once with Tiny Tim, once with Randy Allen),
the HPW Cruiserweight title, the MCW Mid-American title, the WWA Women's title,
the CIWindy Women's title, the SSW Women's title, the BWCW Women's title, the
HPW Ladies title, and the PGWA title. For the benefit of those who aren't
familiar with independent wrestling, women's wrestling on the indy scene
involves an ability to actually wrestle -- it's not about skimpy outfits and
being a "diva." This girl can hang with the best of 'em in the ring.
In 2005, Jillian Fletcher joined WWE's developmental territory, Ohio Valley
Wrestling, and transformed herself into the "chronically cute" babyface, Jillian
Hall. She then underwent breast enhancement surgery, and was subsequently placed
in a ridiculous storyline that involved her breast implants leaking into her
brain and causing her to go psycho. Hall began her stint in OVW with a series of
matches against Alexis Laree (Mickie James), before becoming a valet along with
Melissa Coates for The Toland Brothers (aka The Dicks).
It wasn't long at all, less than eight months in fact, until Jillian Hall was
called up onto the SmackDown! brand, debuting as MNM's publicist with one of the
more ridiculous gimmicks of all time. She had a giant mole on her face -- not
just ANY mole though, this was a mutant mole that covered the majority of her
cheek. In any event, Hall's first order of business was to secure the cover of
the September 2005 issue of SmackDown! magazine for MNM. She began cutting
scathing promos and demanding the fans look into her eyes instead of her mole.
She started to accompany MNM to ringside, and helped Joey Mercury and Melina
secure a win over Booker T and Sharmell on the August 18, 2005 edition of
SmackDown! when she tripped Sharmell.
JBL liked what he saw. After losing to Rey Mysterio, JBL asked Jillian Hall to
work for him. She accepted. Thus began the next step in her career -- she was
now managing a main eventer. On the September 23 edition of SmackDown!, Jillian
Hall introduced JBL, who came out riding a horse in an attempt to suck up to the
Texas fans. The following week, she sent him out with a donkey and tequila in
the southern Texas town of Laerdo. The two were a brilliantly entertaining
combination.
Jillian had a short program with Stacy Keibler in October of '05. Keibler was on
Christian's "Peep Show," but was interrupted by Jillian Hall. The result was a
slap across the face and a good old fashioned cat fight. Jillian subsequently
defeated Keibler in a match taped for Velocity.
JBL then began a program with The Boogeyman. This resulted in Jillian having her
mole bitten off and chewed up by the worm-eating Boogeyman on the
January 13, 2006 edition of SmackDown! The program ended at the Royal Rumble,
where JBL was defeated by The Boogeyman.
JBL then began a program with Chris Benoit, eventually wrestling him in a cage
match for the United States title on the April 14, 2006 edition of SmackDown!
During the match, Hall, attempting to slam the door on Benoit's head,
accidentally slammed it on JBL instead, costing him the match. JBL wasn't too
happy about it, and the following week he fired her during an in-ring promo in
one of his "Great American celebration" segments.
The following week, Melina began to insult Jillian, which led to a backstage
fight. Hall then aligned herself with Paul London & Brian Kendrick, feuding with
MNM. At Judgment Day 2005, Hall defeated Melina. Hall was then relegated to
"diva duty," participating in events like the bullriding contest on Saturday
Night's Main Event, bra and panties matches, lingerie contests, the usual diva
stuff. Of note is a match she wrestled against Trish Stratus at a WWE house show
sometime in 2006, which has been described by some of the fans in attendance as
the "Flair/Steamboat of women's wrestling."
In January of 2007, WWE saddled her with a new gimmick -- that of a wannabe pop
star who thinks she can sing, but is actually quite terrible. This gimmick was
designed to be a shot at Hulk Hogan's daughter, Brooke, as Hogan had fallen onto
Vince McMahon's "bad side" after he drunkenly took a phone call from a WWE
official while on live radio, and gave away the Hall of Fame inductees which
were supposed to be kept a secret. One of the more entertaining segments was on
the February 2, 2007 edition of SmackDown! where Jillian was entered into a
bikini contest hosted by JBL, but instead of stripping down to her bikini, she
opted to sing Oh Baby, Baby by Britney Spears. She began wrestling on
SmackDown! against Michelle McCool on a weekly basis in the month of April. On
the May 25 edition of SmackDown!, she began her American Idol routine, only to
be interrupted by The Boogeyman, who spit worms on her.
On June 17, 2007, Jillian Hall was drafted to the Raw brand. This move was made
as part of the WWE.com portion of the draft, and was not a part of the televised
draft. The televised draft show ended with Vince McMahon's limo exploding and
the Mr. McMahon character was "presumed dead." Jillian Hall gave a brief
"memorial speech" on SmackDown!, and then made her first appearance on Raw.
Before her match, she came to the ring and wanted to sing Amazing Grace in
memory of Mr. McMahon. She was interrupted by Mickie James and Candice
Michelle.
The move to Monday Night Raw was certainly a step up for Hall, who is now in
contention for the Women's title. Without question, there will be some
impressive women's wrestling in the near future.
-- compiled by Mark Xamin
JILLIAN HALL LINKS
Jillian Hall Photo Gallery
November 19, 2010: Pre-winter cleanup sees six releases from WWE
