When asked whom Amy 'Lita' Dumas has been associated with on WWE television, most fans will point to The Hardy Boys or Edge. The name Essa Rios is one that's unlikely to be mentioned, but he was Lita's first partner, way back at the turn of the millennium. The high-flying Mexican won the WWF Light-Heavyweight Title, but didn't experience any greater success and mainly wrestled on Sunday Night Heat. Before using the gimmick of Rios, the man had played the role of 'Mr. Aguila'. Most notably facing Taka Michinoku at WrestleMania XIV, Aguila was a masked wrestler that didn't appear all too often. Perhaps Essa's biggest Pay-Per-View offering came at Backlash 2000, when he faced Eddie Guerrero for the WWF European Title. Going down to defeat during that particular encounter, it wasn't long before Rios disappeared from screens. Performing Moonsaults on her man's downed opponents, Lita started to outshine the man, and it was obvious top brass were more interested in her. Relatively quickly, Lita was moved over to managing her real-life boyfriend, Matt Hardy, and Essa Rios left the company in 2001.
Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.
