Katie Lea Burchill remains a remnant of one of the most forgettable times in WWE history – but that hasn’t stopped her incredibly creepy storyline with her brother being remembered even to this day.
The English superstar made waves in the WWE for her controversial storyline involving her…interesting relationship with her on-screen brother, Paul Burchill. This was after his Jack Sparrow-inspired Pirate became a hit, before being nixed by Vince McMahon who couldn’t understand why it was popular, and instead was repackaged as…whatever this was.
She was signed to a WWE contract in 2006 but spent two years in developmental. After working had in OVW and winning their women’s championship twice, she was called up to the main roster in 2008 just prior to Wrestlemania 24.
Due to her nationality, she was paired up with Paul Burchill when she reached Monday Night Raw. The pair linked up as Kayfabe brother and sister, even though they had no relation whatsoever. This is not uncommon in wrestling, however, as many famous siblings are not actually related, including Bubba Ray & D-Von Dudley, as well as Edge and Christian.
What made Paul and Katie Lea Burchill different was their gimmick. The pair were not just brother and sister – but something much more. It was implied that the pair were a couple, as well as being siblings. They would stand a bit too close, and be a bit too touchy feely toward one another. Burchill’s catchphrase “If Katie wants, Katie gets” also had weird sexual undertones that I’d rather not remember.
It was a far cry from Burchill’s ridiculous pirate gimmick, but also much, much worse. It seems difficult to believe that they could think of something to make you cringe more than a man pretending to be a pirate, but Vince McMahon’s love for incest will do that.
Mr McMahon had been begging to do an incest angle for years. He originally wanted himself (in story, mind you) to impregnate his own daughter Stephanie. When she obviously refused the obscene angle, he instead went for something more sensible – her own brother, Shane McMahon, did it instead. I’m sure her husband, 14 time world champion Triple H, was thrilled with the idea.
Clearly this storyline was his way of getting what he wanted. Thankfully, WWE was turning PG soon after their debut and they needed to clean up their act. This meant abandoning the controversial incest storyline and repackaging Katie Lea Burchill and her brother Paul. She went into the women’s division and actually had a women’s championship match with Mickie James, but her career soon faltered. She wound up in a tag team with Jillian Hall, which we can all agree is pretty much the worst thing that could happen.
She would accompany her brother to the ring for the next two years, with little success, until her release from WWE in 2010. Katie Lea Burchill was released by WWE on April 22nd 2010 due to budget cuts after Wrestlemania 26. She was released alongside five other WWE superstars, which included;
- Mickie James
- Shelton Benjamin
- Kung Fu Naki
- Slam Master J (Jesse)
- Jimmy Wang Yang
Her on-screen brother, Paul Burchill, had been released two months prior. Katie Lea then moved to TNA, where she became a two-time Knockouts Champion and a one-time Knockouts Tag Team Champion (alongside Angelina Love).