In November of 1999, she responded to a World Championship Wrestling (WCW) contest looking to acquire new talent and was hired. In WCW, Shannon became Daffney, the mentally deranged, besotted girlfriend of David Flair, managing him and Crowbar. One of Daffney's hallmarks was a high piercing scream when she was lurking at ringside. The gimmick was based in part on Mallory Knox, the character played by Juliette Lewis in the film Natural Born Killers. Daffney has cited Batman supervillainess Harley Quinn as the original inspiration for the character. Daffney's first appearance was on the December 6 episode of Nitro, when she was shown sitting on her bed and chanting Flair's name.
On May 15, 2000 Daffney and Crowbar defeated WCW World Cruiserweight Champion Chris Candido and his girlfriend Tammy Lynn Sytch in a mixed tag team match and were declared co-champions. The following week on the May 22 episode of Nitro, Crowbar and Daffney faced one another to determine the undisputed World Cruiserweight Champion. Crowbar held back during the match, but still dominated the smaller Daffney. After Candido entered the ring and hit Crowbar with a reverse piledriver, Daffney inadvertently pinned him while trying to revive him and thus became the second woman ever to hold the Cruiserweight Championship. Her reign lasted until June 7 when Lieutenant Loco pinned Disco Inferno in a three-way title defense while Daffney was hurt following interference from Miss Hancock. Daffney went on to feud with Hancock, who had stolen the affections of Flair. Daffney defeated Hancock in the promotion's first ever Wedding Gown match after Hancock removed her own dress. Daffney then became solely the valet for Crowbar. She had a brief feud with Shane Douglas's valet, Torrie Wilson, but was rarely used as a wrestler. Daffney was notable for her constantly changing hair color, wide selection of T-Shirts with slogans on them, and her propensity to scream loudly and shrilly for no apparent reason. She began screaming at the suggestion of WCW writer Ed Ferrara. Though Daffney's somewhat gothic character earned her a small but loyal fan base, she was released by WCW on February 2, 2001 due to budget cutbacks (WCW itself was purchased by its rival, the World Wrestling Federation, now known as World Wrestling Entertainment or WWE; a month later).
Daffney re-emerged in TNA on the June 5, 2008 edition of TNA Impact! as Daffney. She was planted in the audience along with fellow wrestlers Amber O'Neal and Becky Bayless. The three women volunteered to wrestle Awesome Kong in the $25,000 Challenge. Daffney was selected and subsequently defeated by Kong. As a result of having her hair cut by the Beautiful People on the March 19 edition of Impact!, Spruill transformed into her old Daffney ring name and gimmick on the April 2 edition of Impact!, when she appeared in on-screen psychiatrist Dr. Stevie's (The incomparable Steven Richards) office for a therapy session. On the April 16 edition of Impact!, she teamed with Stevie's other patient Abyss to defeat the duo of ODB and Cody Deaner in a mixed tag team match. She competed in the Queen of the Cage match at Lockdown against ODB, Madison Rayne and Sojournor Bolt, but failed to win the match. On the May 14 edition of Impact!, Daffney turned heel by assaulting Taylor Wilde, because she did not save her when The Beautiful People cut her hair. At Sacrifice Wilde defeated Daffney, who had Abyss and Dr. Stevie in her corner, in the first ever knockouts' Monster's Ball match. After she and Dr. Stevie began associating themselves with the returning Raven, Daffney defeated Wilde with their help in a rematch on the June 4 edition of Impact with her swinging fisherman suplex named the Lobotomy. The following week Daffney assaulted Wilde backstage after provoking her by attacking her on-screen best friend, backstage interviewer Lauren, earlier on the same night. Daffney and Raven were defeated by Abyss and Taylor Wilde at Slammiversary in a Monster's Ball mixed tag match. During the match Wilde slammed Daffney onto a pile of thumbtacks. The following Thursday on Impact!, she and Wilde faced off in the first ever Knockout's "Match of 10,000 Tacks", which she lost. At Bound for Glory, Daffney interfered in a Monster's Ball match between Abyss and Mick Foley, who had assigned Abyss' rival and Daffney's associate Dr. Stevie as the special guest referee of the match. During the match Abyss chokeslammed Daffney from the ring apron through a barbed wire board, although reports indicated she had suffered a broken arm, it was later reported to be inaccurate although she had instead suffered a concussion. On the November 12 edition of Impact! Raven once again returned to TNA to reform the group of himself, Dr. Stevie and Daffney. Daffney spent the next couple of months mainly managing Stevie and Raven, before making her in-ring return on the February 18, 2010, edition of Impact!, losing to the TNA Women's Knockout Champion Tara via disqualification, after hitting her with a toolbox. After the match, Daffney continued her assault, before being dragged away by Dr. Stevie. The following week on Impact! she annihilated ODB in similar fashion as it was noted that she had her eye set on the title.On the March 8 edition of Impact! Daffney cost Tara and her tag team partner Angelina Love the Knockouts Tag Team Championship by hitting her with the Women's Knockout Championship belt during a match for the vacant titles. At Destination X Daffney failed in her attempt to win the Knockout Championship from Tara, but managed to steal her spider Poison from her after the match. The following day on Impact! Daffney used distraction from Poison to pin Tara in an eight Knockout tag team match to earn her a First Blood match for the Women's Knockout Championship the following week. The following week Tara defeated Daffney in a First Blood match after hitting her with a toolbox. The following week Daffney was one of the four winners in an eight knockout Lockbox match, contested for four keys to four boxes containing prizes. During the contest Tara, one of the three other winners, won back Poison, while Daffney came up empty handed and was forced to strip down, but before she could she was attacked by Lacey Von Erich. The attack resulted in a match on the April 19 edition of Impact!, where Daffney, now seemingly a face, and a partner of her choice, ODB, unsuccessfully challenged Von Erich and Velvet Sky for the TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championship. At the following day's Impact! tapings, Daffney was injured in a dark match against Miss Betsy in her tryout match and was taken to a hospital, where she was diagnosed with a deeply bruised sternum, a severe stinger, and a concussion. On May 26 it was announced that Spruill had been cleared to return to wrestling. She made her return at the June 14 tapings of Xplosion, wrestling once again as a heel and defeating Taylor Wilde with the help of a chain, only to have the referee of the match catch her afterwards, leading to Wilde defeating her after a restart.
On the December 9 edition of Impact! Daffney teamed with Sarita in a first round match of a tournament for the vacant TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championship, where they were defeated by the Beautiful People (Angelina Love and Velvet Sky). This marked Daffney's final appearance for TNA as on March 15, 2011, her contract with the promotion expired and was not renewed. Spruill announced that she had filed a workers' compensation claim against TNA for injuries suffered while wrestling for the promotion, believing she had been put in an unsafe working environment. Spruill later also claimed that she did not believe she could ever wrestle again due to the accumulated injuries she had suffered during her career.
Spruill opted to continue wrestling, attending Dusty Rhodes' Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling training camp in Kennesaw, Georgia for eight months. She made several appearances for the fledgling Total Nonstop Action Wrestling promotion in 2002 as Shannon and Shark Girl (valet of Shark Boy), and worked for Xtreme Pro Wrestling in 2003 as Lucy, the manager of Vic Grimes. She also appeared in Ring of Honor, where she debuted on April 26, 2003 as Lucy, the valet of the Second City Saints (which consisted of Colt Cabana and current WWE Champion CM Punk). In July 2003, Spruill was signed to a developmental deal by World Wrestling Entertainment. She worked in Ohio Valley Wrestling as the manager of Aaron Stevens until she was released on December 17 of the same year. After her release from WWE, Spruill decided to retire from professional wrestling. Intending to focus on her acting career, she sold her wrestling boots to her then-roommate, Mickie James. While retired, Spruill worked as a personal trainer. In June 2005, she posed for a website owned and operated by wrestling divas Francine and Missy Hyatt. In February 2006, Spruill returned to the independent circuit. Spruill debuted in Women's Extreme Wrestling on April 6 under the ring name Lucy Furr ("Lucifer"), acting as a lumberjill in a match between Amy Lee and Tai Killer Weed. On June 2, 2006 in Irondale, Alabama, Spruill faced El Mexico for the NWA Wrestle Birmingham Junior Heavyweight Championship. With the help of her manager, Robert Fuller (who referred to Spruill as his "Million Dollar Baby"), Spruil defeated El Mexicano to win her third wrestling title. In February 2007, she began making appearances with Georgia Wrestling Promotions both as a manager and a referee. In April 2007, Spruill debuted as Daffney for Shimmer Women Athletes. She conducted an interview where she revealed her goal was to return to what she did from the beginning of her career and that was to manage. Later that evening she appeared as the manager of the wrestler MsChif. In April 2008 she began wrestling as her Shark Girl character. However, she returned to wrestling as Daffney after only a couple of months. On November 8, 2009, at the tapings of Volume 27 Daffney turned heel on Rachel Summerlyn as the two of them were facing the International Home Wrecking Crew. Later in the night on Volume 28 Daffney got disqualified in a match with Summerlyn, after she did not release an illegal hold off her opponent. On April 11, 2010, at the tapings of Volume 31, Daffney defeated Summerlyn in a No Disqualification match. In July 2012, Daffney began working as the "hostess" of the new Shine promotion.
But then, Daffney proved she was indeed mortal after her car crash. She posted the following on her Facebook few days after that:
PLEASE READ…
Monday night I was in a car accident. I was driving along I-4 and I hydroplaned at 70 mph, went off the road, and my car flipped. I landed upside-down in 3 feet of water. I was able to climb out of the passenger side and waded to safety. Luckily someone saw and stopped to help. It took 2 1/2 hours to tow my car out as it was wedged deep in the ditch in the woods. Thank God I had my seatbelt on. If I hadn’t I’m sure my injuries would have been much worse…if not fatal. I want to emphasize to all my Daffanatics to please remember to buckle up.I cannot explain the feeling I had when I realized what had happened. When I saw my totaled car the next day at the junkyard it really hit me. I’m so grateful to be alive. Now, I’m just trying to pick up the pieces and get things back to normal.
I lost a lot of things that night. As I landed in so much water – my phone, ipod, video camera (with all the bonus footage for Shine 2), some clothing, and some other things were destroyed. They are all material objects and can be replaced, however it is going to cost a pretty penny.
I will be auctioning off quite a few items in the near future to try and make up for this loss, so please check out ebay in case you see something you like and want to bid.
Thanks for letting me share this unfortunate incident with you guys, and thanks in advance for the love and support.Live LOUD (but be careful driving in the rain)
Daff
Who knows when the "Goth Goddess" will ever wrestle again? Time will tell. But for now, the Scream Queen is still screaming away, immortal or not, at everyone and everything in sight.
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