|
Late in 1999, the Towson University student and Baltimore Ravens cheerleader saw a commercial for a contest to become WCW's next Nitro Girl. The lifelong dancer and aspiring actress had been a sports-entertainment fan for several years, but it wasn't as if becoming a Nitro Girl was the end-all, be-all aspiration of her life. "The commercial said, 'Win $10,000 and a chance to be the next Nitro Girl,'" she remembers. "What I got out of it was, 'Wow, $10,000!' Being a college student, that was a lot of money. It was basically a dance contest, and I had been dancing since I was 3, so why not? It was only an hour away. And it has literally been non-stop ever since." Keibler won the contest, and was offered a contract by WCW a day later. Within a week, she was dancing on Nitro under the name Skye. Stacy, a Baltimore native who was the youngest member of the Ravens cheerleading team at 18, is still staggered by her good fortune and sudden fame. But to her it's just another example of things happening for a reason. The contest, WCW's decision to pull her from the Nitro Girls and into a full-time role, WCW's purchase by WWE in 2001, and the roads not traveled in her life-it all seems like somebody has a plan for Stacy. "When I was getting out of high school I really thought about moving to New York City and getting into modeling," she says. "Right when I was fiddling around with that idea, I tried out for the Ravens and got that. From the Ravens I had the Nitro Girl tryout. So I look at is as proof that I wasn't meant to move to New York. In some strange way, this is what I was meant to be doing right now." Her WWE run has been similarly charmed. Introduced by Shane McMahon as part of the WCW insurgency, Stacy has teamed with fellow WCW alum Torrie Wilson against WWE Divas Lita and Trish Stratus, only to turn against Torrie a short time later. She has been the valet for the Dudley Boyz and Mr. McMahon's personal assistant, and has recently been involved in a storyline with Test. "From day one, I've had great storylines," she says. "I've never felt for one second like I was going backwards. What I'm doing in the ring right now with Test is exactly what I like to do. I couldn't be happier." While Stacy's sudden thrust into the spotlight might be more than many 23-year-old women could handle, she's completely taken it in her lengthy stride. "We were just in New York and there were fans waiting outside the hotel for autographs," she says. "I was with some friends from way back, and they hadn't been exposed to that. They were saying, 'What is going on here? This is just Stacy!' But I love the fact that my friends and family tell me I haven't changed one bit, and that I'm still the same Stacy. Even friends I hadn't seen since grade school tell me, 'You haven't changed a bit.'" That might be because this is the life she's always wanted. Stacy began dancing at the age of 3, and she's had a Screen Actors Guild membership card since she was 5. She had done acting and modeling jobs before the Nitro Girl contest, and has had extra roles in several movies, including 2001's Bubble Boy and 1998's Pecker-"If fans go out and rent the movies I did," she says, "if they blink, they'll miss me. I'm barely in them." Long before she ever thought about sports-entertainment, Stacy knew she would become an entertainer. She's certainly that now-Stacy's popularity among WWE fans is virtually unrivaled. And, like any born entertainer, it's the pops from the live crowd that has Stacy hooked. "Going out there and walking down that ramp couldn't be more exciting," she says. "It's never been a nervous thing for me, going back to the Ravens games. But here, it's so exciting that all those people are cheering for me. When I go out there by myself and they're all up and smiling and excited and waving, it's amazing. When you're a cheerleader, there are 75,000 fans in the stands and they don't even know you're there. Here, people recognize me." With that in mind, she's barely looked back once in her wild three-year ride. The 24/7/365 treadmill that is life in WWE was only thing that took some getting used to-WCW was running only one house show a month during her time there, compared to the three-per-week WWE schedule. But Stacy now says she barely knows what to do with herself when she is home with some time off. "This is my life now," she says. "Being around the wrestlers and the crew, they're like my family. Aside from my parents and family at home, it's the second-best thing." The only time Stacy looks back, it seems, is to appreciate how far she's come since that one night she happened to see a TV commercial and said "Why not?" Three years later, she looks back with appreciation and more than a little disbelief. "I'm 23 years old and I couldn't be more thankful for the opportunities I've been given," she says. "At 23 I've traveled the entire world because of what I do. I've seen so many things and places, and those are experiences that can never be taken away from me. I feel like I can do anything after this. I've been on the road and I've been independent. I can take care of myself. I've been good about taking care of my money. I hope to never go backward. Always forward." |