Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
When Dusty Rhodes signed with the World Wrestling Federation back in 1989, he was given the gimmick of the ‘Common Man.’ There was a series of vignettes hyping his arrival by showing Dusty willing to do common every day things like working as a plumber or a gas station attendant. To add to his gimmick, Pat Patterson wanted to give Dusty a valet. A woman who looked ordinary that could be called a common woman.
It was WWF road agent Rene Goulet who suggested a woman from St. Louis, Missouri named Juanita Wright. Juanita was a huge wrestling fan, who volunteered to pick up pro wrestlers at the airport and drive them to the arena or hotels when they stopped into that city. Juanita was hired and given the name of Sweet Sapphire or just Sapphire for short. Many considered that a very racist name as ‘Sapphire’ was a term used for angry, oppressive black women from the 1800’s through the mid 1900’s. Dusty Rhodes wasn’t completely sold on the idea of having Juanita as his valet, but said he was convinced to do it after talking to a black cab driver who gave him his blessing.
Sapphire was first introduced to WWF audiences as a “Dusty Rhodes Super Fan” who always sat in the front row during the matches rooting him on. Eventually, Dusty noticed his number one fan and brought her to the ring to dance after matches. Soon, Sapphire transitioned from just being a fan to his valet and always accompanied Dusty to the ring for his matches. When Dusty had his feud with ‘The Macho King’ Randy Savage, Sapphire was the equalizer to make sure Savage’s valet/manager Queen Sherri didn’t interfere.
In reality, Juanita Wright was not a trained pro wrestler. When they had mixed tag team matches between The Macho King and Sherri versus Dusty Rhodes and Sapphire….Juanita was trained to work those matches by none other than Sherri. Sherri recalled making Juanita cry by yelling at her for not doing a basic move properly during their training sessions.
In the middle of this feud, Sapphire began receiving gifts from a supposed secret admirer. Every week, it was something new and extravagant. Dusty seemed concerned, but Sapphire was in awe of all the lavish gifts she was receiving. At Summerslam ’90, Sapphire was scheduled for a one on one match against Sherri. Sapphire no showed the match and lost to Sherri via forfeit. A worried Dusty Rhodes began searching the entire arena for his ‘Sweet Sapphire’ but had no luck.
When Sapphire was finally spotted in the arena, she quickly ran into a dressing room and locked the door refusing to be interviewed or even speak to Dusty himself. A confused Rhodes went out for his one on one match with the Macho King. While in the ring, the ‘Million Dollar Man’ Ted Dibiase and Virgil unexpectedly appeared. Dibiase introduced his newest acquisition and it was none other than Sapphire who had sold out.
A distraught Dusty was then attacked and brutalized by the Macho King as Dibiase and his contingent looked on. After Savage defeated a beleaguered Rhodes, Dusty ran to the back to get answers from Sapphire. The Million Dollar Man, Virgil and Sapphire scurried away into an awaiting limousine and took off as Dusty tried to catch them, but to no avail.
The next week on WWF television, Dusty Rhodes cut a promo saying he felt hurt and betrayed by Sweet Sapphire, but did not blame her for turning her back on him. He put the blame on The Million Dollar Man and decreed that he could not and would not be bought. Meanwhile Dibiase said by buying Sapphire (the common woman) he proved that everybody has a price. Dibiase started making Sapphire do menial tasks like ironing his money…etc.
While this whole storyline played out, the reality was Juanita Wright wasn’t happy. According to Sherri, Juanita was devastated that the WWF broke up her team with Dusty Rhodes and her heart simply wasn’t into the angle with Dibiase. Dusty Rhodes added that Juanita Wright made more money than she ever did in her whole life with the WWF. The money apparently wasn’t the issue, it was her heart was apparently broken and she eventually left the company. Her disappearance was explained in kayfabe that Ted Dibiase took back his gifts from Sapphire and fired her.
According to friends, Juanita ultimately enjoyed her time spent with the WWF and would constantly receive autograph requests even years after her character disappeared. Juanita did have another brief run in wrestling for the USWA as ‘Princess Dark Cloud.’ Juanita Wright sadly passed away of a heart attack in 1996.