Jeannie Clark

Infobox Wrestler
name=Jeanie Clark

|180px|thumb
names=Jeannie Clark
Lady Blossom
height=
weight=
birth_date =
death_date =
birth_place = London, England
resides= Southend-on-Sea, England
billed=
trainer=Christopher Adams
debut=1990 (WCCW)
retired=November 1991|

Jeanie Clark is a former professional wrestling manager and the former wife of three professional wrestlers, including Stone Cold Steve Austin, one of the biggest stars of the 1990s. She was also known as "Jeannie Adams" and later became known as "Lady Blossom".

Wrestling career

Early career

Jeanie Clark was married to professional wrestler/Judo star Christopher Adams in the 1970s and 1980s. She made one appearance on television in his corner in a match broadcast on October 28, 1978. The couple divorced sometime in the early-1980s. In 1983, in order to stay in the United States, Clark was shortly married to Billy Jack Haynes. Clark then got together with Steve Austin in 1989, and the couple got married in 1992. Both she and Austin engaged in a memorable feud with her ex-husband (Adams) and his second wife Toni Adams in WCCW in 1990. Both Clark and Austin left the promotion for World Championship Wrestling in May 1991.

World Championship Wrestling

Jeannie Clark, known as Lady Blossom replaced Vivacious Veronica as Steve Austin's valet in 1991.Stone Cold Steve Austin. "The Stone Cold Truth" (p.85-86)] She was given the name by Dusty Rhodes, who said it was because her "chest was blossoming out of her top". During her debut, Blossom came down to ringside to distract Bobby Eaton in his WCW Television Championship match with Austin. Thanks in part to the distraction of Blossom, Austin defeated Eaton for the WCW Television Championship. From that point on, she accompanied him to the ring until her departure from the company seven months later. The duo didn't have a distinctive gimmick, but they tried to portray themselves as being a couple of high society. Austin came down to the ring in an extravagant robe whereas Lady Blossom frequently donned a luxurious cleavage-baring evening gown. In a sharp contrast to her time in World Class Championship Wrestling, Lady Blossom didn't get an opportunity to speak much on camera - she spoke on camera on less than a handful of occasions throughout her WCW tenure - perhaps due to her noticeable British accent. Blossom used her actions instead of her words as she didn't hesitate to involve herself in Austin's matches in order for him to retain his WCW Television title. Blossom frequently interfered in his matches, although her interference backfired from time to time, not to mention that she was susceptible to being attacked by the wrestlers in which she attempted to cause a distraction to. Lady Blossom wasn't above taking a bump from time to time.

On one occasion, Lady Blossom hopped onto the ring apron in an attempt to distract the referee from the action in the ring. As she was arguing with the referee, Tracy Smothers inadvertently ran into her just as Austin had moved out of the way. Smothers' collision with Blossom jostled her and she fell to the floor mat a few moments later. Also, Lady Blossom constantly interfered in Austin's TV title matches with PN News and thus he retained his title time and time again due to her interference. Right when the 10-minute time limit was drawing near, Blossom interfered in the match just as Austin was about to be pinned, thus causing a disqualification. Blossom's most frequent method of a disrupting a match was to jump on the back of Austin's opponent just as he was about to be pinned. She then scratched Austin's opponent's face with her sharp fingernails. Another memorable instance in which Lady Blossom's interference backfired took place in August 1991 on an episode of "WCW Power Hour" during a TV title match pitting Austin and Ron Simmons. Simmons was on the verge of victory in the match, but Lady Blossom entered the ring and jumped on his back to cause a disqualification. Still on his back, Simmons backed up fairly gently into a corner of the ring. Austin then recovered and attempted to clothesline Simmons but he ducked and Blossom took the brunt of the clothesline. Although, given her classy, lady-like demeanor, Blossom seemed much more concerned with being voyeuristicly exposed than with performing her in-ring actions with full concentration during the entire ordeal with Simmons. Though Blossom had no qualms in regards to flaunting her sexuality, more specifically, her large breasts, she did take issue with potential upskirts occurring - and it was especially evident in this particular situation. On this night, Blossom happened to be wearing a miniskirt in which she was hastily attempting to pull down to prevent her undergarments from being exposed to the audience - while on the back of Simmons no less. After being on the receiving end of the clothesline, Blossom was supposed to have been unconscious due to the devastating maneuver, but she had her mind elsewhere. Blossom performed a rookie mistake by subtly pulling down her miniskirt once again in an attempt to prevent the audience from catching a glimpse of her panties while she was laying flat on the mat in an unconscious state of mind. To Blossom's probable relief, her undergarments were never visible on television due to the camera angle, but she wasn't so lucky on another evening. On this occasion, Blossom had once again latched on to the back of Austin's opponent to prevent a pinfall, in this case, PN News. In an attempt to fend her off, News used a great deal of force and flipped her upside down. As a result, Blossom's undergarments were ultimately exposed once and for all.

For a string of weeks in October 1991, both Blossom and Austin did an angle involving a pair of brass knuckles. During Austin's matches, Lady Blossom pulled out of a pair of brass knuckles that was underhandedly hidden underneath her substantial cleavage and tucked inside one of the cups of her brassiere. When the referee's attention was drawn elsewhere, she pulled the brass knuckles out of her bra and hand the weapon over to Austin so that he could use them on his opponent. Unbeknownst to the official, Austin struck his opponent with the knuckles and then quickly handed them back over to Blossom. Lady Blossom then cleverly concealed the brass knuckles inside of her bra again and behave as if nothing ever happened. Austin then pinned his unconscious opponent for the victory. The couple's shenanigans worked for a few weeks, but they were caught within due time. At the conclusion of a match between Steve Austin and PN News on "WCW Saturday Night", Lady Blossom helped Austin cheat to win yet again. After the match, an enraged Dustin Rhodes came down to ringside to explain to the referee that Austin had cheated in his match by striking his opponent with a pair of brass knuckles and that the weapon was hidden inside of Lady Blossom's dress. Both Blossom and Austin egged Rhodes on to prove to the referee that they had cheated in the match, but he reluctantly refused to place his hand down her dress knowing the potential sexual harassment issues his action caused. Moments later, Madusa arrived on to the scene to confront the perpetrators and attempt to verify Rhodes' claims. Madusa then did what Rhodes was much too uncomfortable to do by literally taking matters into her own hands and sticking her hand inside of Blossom's dress. Not so coincidentally, Lady Blossom was wearing a strapless black gown and thus she was braless on this rare occasion. Due to Blossom's braless nature, Madusa was quickly able to pull the concealed weapon out of Blossom's dress and show off her discovery to the crowd. Considering that the referee now had visible evidence that Austin did in fact cheat to win the match, he reversed his decision in favor of News. Both Blossom and Austin could only look on in disbelief due to the events that had just transpired.

Blossom made her final WCW (and wrestling) appearance on November 19, 1991 at Clash of the Champions XVII. Blossom's services were no longer required because Austin was joining Paul E. Dangerously's Dangerous Alliance and thus he didn't need her as a manager anymore. Clark has not appeared in a wrestling ring since that night.

In 2007, Clark spoke out against the use of drugs and alcohol in professional wrestling, which resulted in the death of her first husband Chris Adams and the deaths of several other wrestlers she knew during her time in the sport, including Brian Pillman, Rick Rude, Chris Benoit, Gino Hernandez and others.

Personal life

Clark initially began her relationship with Stone Cold Steve Austin during their time in the United States Wrestling Association.Stone Cold Steve Austin. "The Stone Cold Truth" (p.79)] He was married at the time to his high school sweetheart. She has two daughters with Williams: Stephanie, born in 1992, [Stone Cold Steve Austin. "The Stone Cold Truth" (p.95)] and Cassidy, born in 1996. Jeannie Clark divorced Austin in 1999 prior to WrestleMania XV.

She currently lives in her native England. She also has another daughter with Chris Adams: Jade (who was legally adopted by Steve Austin after Chris' death), born around 1980, who splits her time between Colorado and England. She was very close to Chris and kept in regular contact with him until his death in 2001. Both Jeannie and Jade are part-time contributors to Chris Adams' official website (http://www.thesuperkick.com). Jeannie is slated to appear in her late ex-husband's upcoming documentary "The Gentleman's Choice", currently in post-production.

Notes

References

*cite book|author=Stone Cold Steve Austin and Jim Ross|title=The Stone Cold Truth|publisher=Pocket Books|year=2003|isbn=0743477200

External links

* [http://www.pwpix.net/superstars/l/ladyblossom/ Lady Blossom Pro Wrestling Pix]