Trivia / Lisa Marie Varon

• Actor-Inspired Element: Her 2005 feud with Christy Hemme was her idea. She noticed that Christy was getting pushed despite having no wrestling training - so she offered to work with her to help her get started.
• Approval of God: When Peyton Royce started using the Widow's Peak, she first asked Lisa for permission, and she told her to "go for it"; stating she felt flattered that someone would want to homage her.
• Awesome, Dear Boy: Joining TNA was motivated by seeing the likes of ODB, Awesome Kong, the Beautiful People and Daffney - realising she had never wrestled them before and deciding it would be fun. She did so for "half the pay".
• Blooper: At a live event in France, Victoria making a mistake led to Mickie James pinning her to become an accidental three-time Women's Champion (defeating Melina). They covered up by giving Melina an automatic rematch, which she won the title back in.
• Breakup Breakout: From The Godfather's Ho Train, since she was only one of two Hos to be named while members of the group and the only one to go on to success. (The other, Mandy, simply faded away.)
• Corpsing: In a Halloween battle royal, she was dressed as a sumo wrestler and Torrie Wilson as a football player. They did a spot where they had a comedy face off and Torrie tackled her. Lisa claims she was on the verge of bursting out laughing at how cute Torrie looked when she was trying to look aggressive.
• Creator Backlash:
  • A little embarrassed by how she won her first Women's title. Using a snap suplex was her panicking, as the original finish had to be skipped (see below).
  • She wasn't happy about being used as enhancement talent in her later WWE years (though she felt no ill-will towards the women she wrestled) and left as soon as she was told they didn't see her as a title contender. She later clarified that she didn't mind jobbing so much, but getting constant comments from fans to the effect of "why did you lose to X?" made her realise they weren't believing her character.
  "I didn't care who I lost to, but when the fans start shitting on me, it's not a good feeling."
  • She openly criticised TNA's low pay for the entire Knockouts division while she was still under contract and it was assumed she left for this reason. She returned to TNA a few months later, presumably getting the raise others had been denied. She later said that, while the other wrestlers were great to work with, she felt TNA was run terribly and didn't like Dixie Carter.
  • The dancing gimmick she got in 2004-2005 upon a Heel–Face Turn. She was told to do something different for her entrance and tried to incorporate her hip hop dancing background into it - but she felt she wasn't suited to playing a fun dancing face. Apparently everyone backstage made fun of her for the gimmick too.
• Enforced Method Acting: When she was in developmental at OVW, she would do extra practice sessions before the regular classes to get better at wrestling.
• Executive Meddling:
  • In her cage match with Lita, she wanted to bleed to sell the intensity of it but the office refused. She had Lita throw her into the side of the cage hoping it would happen naturally, but it didn't.
  • While with Torrie Wilson and Candice Michelle, the higher-ups told them they were wrestling "too much like the guys" and they needed more sexiness. Lisa suggested a triple kiss between them for their entrance. Torrie didn't want to, but Candice did, so the entrance became Victoria and Candice kissing while Torrie kissed her dog Chloe.
  • Michelle McCool claims that she and Victoria had to re-film one of their matches because the office thought their punches looked too brutal.
• Friendship on the Set: She's known for being one of those workers in the 2000s that everyone was friends with backstage - her, Candice Michelle and Torrie Wilson continue to tour together years after their Vince's Devils alliance. The Bella Twins put Victoria over as someone who really helped them when they first started out. Additionally, Michelle McCool had such great respect for her that she asked if she could put her over in her retirement match.
• God Never Said That: She often gets people claiming she hated the term 'Diva' or the butterfly belt. She herself didn't mind either, saying it was entertainment and a championship belt was a championship belt.
• I Am Not Leonard Nimoy: She's more likely to be referred to by her real name, as seen on This Very Wiki, due to having notable runs with different names in WWE and TNA. Whether someone calls her Victoria or Tara largely depends on whether that person is a bigger fan of WWE or TNA.
• Never Work with Children or Animals: Her pet spider Poison in TNA was the property of Universal Studios and they were legally required to have a handler at ringside every time she appeared - as the spider was venomous. Lisa joked that she lived in fear of getting bitten whenever Poison was used. According to her, the handler was paid "more than the wrestlers".
• Playing Against Type: In WWE she mostly played heel, with a brief face run lasting about a year in 2004 (though she was the face in her retirement match). In TNA by contrast she was mostly a face.
• Real Life Writes the Plot: Her heel turn in 2010 was suddenly interrupted when she decided to leave TNA over pay disputes. This meant that she suddenly played the face in her Title vs Career match against Madison Rayne. This also wrote her return storyline, where Madison got her back in as her assistant.
• Real Song Theme Tune: As Victoria in WWE, she first used t.A.T.u.'s "All The Things She Said."
• Reality Subtext: She dressed as a cheerleader in MCW and wore a cheerleading outfit for a costume contest. She had been a high school cheerleader.
• Romance on the Set: While married at the time, she briefly had an affair with John Cena, something Kenny Dykstra first mentioned.
• Serendipity Writes the Plot: Her second Women's title win came because Molly Holly wanted to shave her head for WrestleMania XX and recommended Victoria to be the one she worked with.
• She Also Did:
  • As a body builder she won the 1995 NPC Inland Empire, Middleweight, 1997 ESPN2 Fitness America Series and 1999 Debbie Kruck Fitness Classic contests and was an NPC Middleweight Bodybuilding Champion.
  • As a cheerleader she was an All-American.
  • Had an uncredited role as a bodyguard on the V.I.P. episode "Lights, Camera, Val."
  • She and her former husband owned a car shop called Black Widow Customs from 2008-10 and a restaurant called the Squared Circle from 2013-15. The latter is still open but she left it in his care during their divorce.
  • She's also written for magazines.
• Throw It In!:
  • While paired with Stevie Richards, she was just supposed to kiss him, but got so Lost in Character she would lick him and bite his ear - which became a routine she would frequently do.
  • One night before Raw, she and Candice Michelle and Torrie Wilson discovered that they all had the exact same outfit - a sleeveless black bodysuit with a Navel-Deep Neckline - and asked to be booked together that night. It was Candice's idea to be called 'Vince's Devils' and, although they were told not to use that term after that show, it caught on with fans.
• Trolling Creator: During segments like bikini contests, she would frequently be as goofy as possible and insert many pratfalls to try and get the other Divas to start Corpsing.
• What Could Have Been:
  • The first gimmick planned for her in 2002 was a G.I. Jane inspired one, where Sgt Slaughter would be her manager. Lisa didn't want to cut her hair for the gimmick, and it was abandoned.
  • Her match at Survivor Series 2002 was supposed to end with her smashing a mirror over Trish's head. However Trish accidentally stepped on the mirror at some point and the finish had to be improvised.
  • When WWE first noticed fans cheering for her psycho character in 2003, they tossed around the idea of Victoria going to therapy in vignettes as a way to transition between the psycho and the dancing character. They ultimately didn't do anything, so Victoria just swapped personas.
  • She wanted to wear a giant penis costume for the 2008 Cyber Sunday costume contest. The office protested, so she wore the big banana costume instead.
  • Apparently Michelle McCool asked the office if she could put Victoria over in her final match, but they insisted Michelle win (it's tradition for a retiring wrestler to put another one over in their last match).
• Word of God: After she left TNA, rumours circulated that she would become a trainer for WWE. She quickly silenced them, saying she was too busy with her restaurant and that she'd never even been asked.