10 Most Sexually Explicit WWE Attitude Era Angles-8

8. Debra Stripping Leading To The “Puppies” Craze

WWE.com

The Debra character in WWE wasn’t that complicated. She was there as the eye candy for Jeff Jarrett. She was Jarrett’s manager for about a year from late 1998 until the fall of 1999 when the story fell apart as Jarrett turned into a guy that blamed women for his problems. At its peak, though, the “puppy” craze for Debra was off the charts.

When Jarrett was in a match, he would find himself in a position where he was losing the match, so Debra took it upon herself to jump on the apron. She wore a business suit that was buttoned up in the early going, but then she started showing a lot more cleavage. The more she showed, the more she got cheered. She would get on the apron, unbutton her top and show off her “puppies” in her bra. The crowd cheered, Jarrett’s opponent (or the opponents of Jarrett & Owen Hart since they were a tag team) would get distracted and usually Jarrett or Owen would capitalize to win the match.

The “puppies” line happened in the spring of 1999 when Road Dogg was in a match with Owen Hart. Dogg said that since he was the “D-O-double G” that he wanted to see Debra’s puppies if he could beat Owen, which meant her breasts. From there it took off. Jerry Lawler mentioned “puppies” in every broadcast. It was WWE’s way of being cute by talking about a woman’s breasts openly without actually saying in that way.

It was a case of Debra using her sex appeal to get her man or her team the win. We have seen plenty of women use their sexual charm to gain an advantage, but Debra is the one that did it in nearly every match (even house shows) and it was the same sort of thing every time. The “puppies” thing is still pretty popular too although now that WWE is PG that died down since women do tend to cover up more.

Starting chants and getting a woman to be popular because of her big “puppies” was a blatant use of sexuality to get the response they wanted. It was smart, that’s for sure.