Jessie Ward (Courtesy Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
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Jessie Lynn Ward is an American former professional wrestler who was forced to retire after being diagnosed with vasovagal syncope. She has also worked for the professional wrestling promotion Total Nonstop Action Wrestling as a backstage producer.
Ward was one of the contestants on the World Wrestling Federation reality television program Tough Enough II, wherein thirteen would-be wrestlers trained under WWF employees Al Snow, Ivory, Tazz, Hardcore Holly, Chavo Guerrero, Jr. and John Gaburick for fourteen weeks. The trainers would select two winners by a process of elimination, and the winner would receive a WWF developmental contract. Ward joined the series at the outset in February 2002.
On the March 28, 2002 episode of Tough Enough, Ward's hands and legs went numb after she took a bump. She visited a doctor as a result, and was diagnosed with vasovagal syncope and given a heart rate monitor to wear throughout the following day. On the April 11 episode, she opted to leave the program as she was suffering from continuous pain and lethargy.
Shortly after dropping out of Tough Enough, Ward was hired by the WWF in October 2002 as a stage manager. She worked on Tough Enough III and travelled full time with the RAW and SmackDown! rosters. She left WWE in March 2004, and moved to Boston, Massachusetts to continue her education at Emerson College, majoring in television/video. Ward briefly worked for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling as an assistant director, beginning in September 2004, and returned to TNA on a full-time basis in July 2005, when she began working under head director David Sahadi.
Ward was released from TNA in July 2007. She had previously been suspended by the company after some parody videos that she had produced with TNA announcer Leticia Cline and other TNA employees (to help Cline win a Maxim contest) surfaced on the Internet. The company opted not to bring her back after the suspension.